The two colossal beasts collided, the shockwaves from their attacks directly sending nearby prisoners and buildings flying. Wherever the two beasts passed, houses cracked apart and high walls crumbled—it was like an amplified scene of flying sand and rolling stones.
Crash!
Darui stood up, a cascade of rubble sliding off him. Watching the distant battle, he couldn't help but scratch his head.
"Looks like there's not much for me to do here."
He had half a mind to join in, but then he glanced at his own relatively slim arms and legs and silently retreated to a safer spot to observe the battle between the two—no, the two beasts.
"It's strange," Uchiha Sasuke mused, puzzled as he watched the distant battle. "It could dodge Lightning Release ninjutsu at such close range, so why has it now chosen to engage the Two-Tails in a direct confrontation?"
"Its ability must be restricted in some way," Naruto Uzumaki conjectured, equally perplexed. But there was too little useful information at present to analyze the limitations of the opponent's abilities.
"Speaking of which," Naruto asked with a smirk, "is it really okay for you, the squad leader of this 'Shinobi Squad,' to just stand here and watch your team member get beaten up?"
"I'm only the captain in name." Sasuke shrugged. "Every single one integrated into that Shinobi Squad is a prodigy from one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. How could they possibly listen to my commands?" He then added, "Besides, Yugito isn't even a member of my Shinobi Squad. What's it to me if she gets thrashed?"
"So, how did you end up becoming the captain of that Shinobi Squad anyway?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Simple. I just beat every single one of them."
"Tsk..." Naruto clicked his tongue.
BOOM!
The Two-Tails, Matatabi, was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the outskirts beyond Hozuki Castle.
"Too much chakra was absorbed earlier," Matatabi's voice echoed in Yugito's mind. "I might not be able to maintain this state for much longer."
Hearing Matatabi's warning, a flicker of anxiety crossed Yugito's mind. I was careless, she thought. To think that Kusagakure, a village without even a Tailed Beast, was hiding something this terrifying.
"I can feel it. You're afraid." Satori, the black monster, flapped its feathered wings powerfully, appearing before her. It weaved through her attack and sent her flying once more.
"It can predict Yugito's attacks again," Sasuke observed, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched Yugito in her Two-Tails form being ruthlessly pummeled after just one setback.
BOOM!
A crimson energy sphere shot out from the Box of Ultimate Bliss, heading straight for the building where Naruto and Sasuke stood.
"Talk about collateral damage," Naruto sighed. Without any visible movement from him, a powerful repulsive force—a Shinra Tensei—crushed the crimson energy sphere in mid-air. "Don't just stand there, hurry up and make your move. Careful your subordinate doesn't report you to the Five Kage for dereliction of duty," he said, gesturing towards Darui, who was leaping across rooftops, rapidly approaching their position.
"I haven't even settled the score with him for acting on his own," Sasuke retorted with a sneer. Though his words were harsh, his figure vanished from the spot.
Meeting Darui's gaze, Naruto tapped his forehead lightly with his fingers, and his figure also disappeared.
"Uzumaki Naruto? Why is he here?" Darui's expression shifted as he recognized Naruto's face. "Could the Dragon Heritage organization be the true mastermind behind this incident?" But then he recalled their past actions and felt something was off. Although Naruto was a wanted criminal by the Five Great Shinobi Villages, he had never actually committed any truly heinous crimes. "Ah, forget it," Darui muttered, shaking his head. "I'll leave this kind of brain-busting stuff for Lord Raikage and the others to figure out."
ROAR!
A deafening roar snapped his attention back to the fight.
"This is bad!" His expression changed as he saw Yugito revert to a half-Tailed Beast state, clearly weakened.
"It's over, little kitty!" Satori, soaring in mid-air, split open the blood-red maw on its abdomen. A bright crimson energy sphere began to slowly condense within it.
"Damn it." Yugito looked up at this, gritting her teeth. If that thing hadn't absorbed so much of her chakra, she wouldn't be in such a sorry state. Mud splattered beneath her as she began to sprint, circling the airborne monster, attempting to evade its attack while also looking for an opportunity to strike.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of explosions erupted wherever she passed.
"Not good!" Seeing the cliff edge not far off, panic flared in Yugito's heart. She was running out of room to maneuver. She now had only two choices: one, take the enemy's attack head-on; two, jump into the turbulent, current-filled sea below. Both were choices with a slim chance of survival.
"Game over!" Satori's blood-red maw twisted into a ferocious grin as an energy sphere, several times larger than before, condensed within it.
"Indeed, the game is over," a calm voice reached its ears.
Out of the corner of its eye, Satori saw a massive arrow, wreathed in terrifying black flames—Amaterasu—streaking straight towards it.
Pfft!
The arrow pierced its right wing. Immediately, the black flames, like a plague clinging to bone, spread from the wing across its entire body. Satori's enormous body thrashed wildly on the ground, attempting to extinguish the flames with dirt and rock. But to its horror, not only did the black flames refuse to die out, they actually seemed to flare even stronger. On the ground, anything that came into contact with the black flames due to its thrashing immediately ignited.
"What is this fire?" On the cliff edge, the half-transformed Yugito stared in shock at the colossal Susanoo that had manifested in the distance. The formidable enemy that had pushed her to the brink of life and death was reduced to such a pathetic state by a single attack from this person. Is this the power of the Shinobi Squad's captain?
"Amaterasu," Matatabi explained in her mind. "It will never extinguish until it has completely incinerated its target. I didn't expect someone else to have awakened this dojutsu."
The moment Yugito understood what the black flames were—
Satori let out a horrifying shriek. With a desperate exertion of strength, it ripped off its own burning right wing and, turning its gaze, hurled the Amaterasu-immolated limb crashing down towards Yugito's position.
Yugito's pupils contracted. Knowing the terror of Amaterasu's flames, she immediately leaped off the cliff. She had no desire to resort to such drastic measures as tearing off a limb, like that monster had just done.
Another crimson energy sphere shot from Satori's mouth, aimed at the falling Yugito.
Sasuke's Sharingan spun. From the arm of his Susanoo, another chakra arrow launched. The two attacks collided, exploding into a massive fireball in mid-air.
Meanwhile, beside the Box of Ultimate Bliss, Naruto looked up, carefully observing the grotesque faces on the box that were continuously firing energy spheres. As if sensing his presence, one of the faces shot a crimson energy sphere straight at him.
Just as the energy sphere was about to hit him, a giant golden Kurama-chakra claw suddenly shot out from Naruto's body and swatted the sphere away like a tennis ball, sending it flying into the distance.
"Does it have its own consciousness? Or is it being controlled by that thing over there?" Naruto mused, tapping the surface of the box with his finger, referring to Satori. "I've never seen this material before. Don't tell me it's also a creation of the Otsutsuki Clan?"
"It's highly possible," Kurama rumbled from within.
Rumble, rumble. The Box of Ultimate Bliss began to shake violently, as if trying to burrow back underground.
"Stay still!" Naruto extended his right hand. The black markings signifying Sage Mode instantly formed around his eyes, and he threw a punch.
CLANG!
With a loud bang, a huge dent appeared directly on the surface of the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
"I have no intention of harming you for now," Naruto stated calmly. "If you don't want me to tear you apart, then behave and let me study you."
As if it understood his words, the Box of Ultimate Bliss immediately stopped shaking and remained obediently in place.
"What's your operating principle?" Naruto asked it. "Do you use human fear as an energy source?"
"…"
Naruto couldn't help but slap his forehead. The box had shown such signs of intelligence that he'd momentarily forgotten it was, in fact, just a box.
"That thing over there should be able to talk, right?" He shifted his gaze towards the black monster, Satori, in the distance.