Shigure watched Utakata, who stood frozen—startled, uneasy, and visibly shaken.
"Didn't you always say you didn't want the Tailed Beast? Didn't you hate being a Jinchuriki?" Shigure said calmly. "I granted that wish. The Six-Tails has been extracted from you. From now on, you're just an ordinary shinobi."
Utakata blinked, disbelief flashing in his eyes. Was this some kind of Genjutsu?
No… impossible.
A Jinchuriki couldn't be trapped in Genjutsu so easily. Genjutsu worked by disrupting an opponent's chakra flow, and breaking it required an external surge of chakra. A Jinchuriki naturally possessed two flows of chakra: their own and their Tailed Beast's. Even the faintest nudge from the beast's chakra would dispel any illusion.
But now… Utakata felt nothing. The familiar presence of the Six-Tails was gone.
His voice cracked. "Where did you take Saiken?! Give it back to me!"
Shigure raised an eyebrow. "Give it back? You despised being a Jinchuriki before, didn't you?"
Utakata's expression hardened, his voice trembling with anger. "The Six-Tails and I… we're not just Jinchuriki and Tailed Beast. Saiken is my friend. I won't let you take it from me!"
Shigure's eyes narrowed slightly. "So, in the end, you still refuse to give up the Six-Tails…"
"I said give it back!!" Utakata roared, lunging forward recklessly.
But stripped of his partner, his strength was a shadow of what it had been. Shigure didn't even bother to raise a hand.
Two pale vines burst from the ground, whipping forward from both sides. They coiled tightly around Utakata, binding him in place.
With a casual flick, Shigure hurled him aside.
Bang!
The impact shook the ground.
"You don't even have a Tailed Beast anymore," Shigure said coldly. "You weren't my opponent before, even with Saiken. Do you really think you can stand against me now?"
Utakata lay on the ground, coughing from the pain, yet he still forced himself up on trembling arms. His voice was ragged but defiant.
"What method… did you use to extract the Six-Tails from me?!"
If the Tailed Beast had truly been extracted, Utakata should already be dead. That was the rule. The fact that he was still standing meant only one thing in his mind—Shigure must have used some unknown method to temporarily suppress his link with the Six-Tails.
"Method?" Shigure raised his hand. From his palm, countless chakra threads shimmered into existence.
"The simplest and most direct method—pulling out the Tailed Beast's chakra with chakra itself."
Pulling out chakra… with chakra?
Utakata's heart pounded. Such a technique sounded impossible—something beyond logic or reason.
His eyes flickered toward Shigure, then toward Haku and Chōjūrō. He couldn't hope to defeat Shigure head-on. But if he seized one of the others as a hostage…
Chōjūrō wielded Hiramekarei and was rumored to be strong enough to inherit the title of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Risky. That left—Haku.
But before Utakata could make a move, Shigure's eyes narrowed. He had already read his thoughts.
Without lifting a finger, mist coiled out from behind Shigure and wrapped itself tightly around Utakata, locking him in place. The temperature plummeted, and the icy fog seeped into his very core.
A biting cold gnawed at Utakata's body. His limbs numbed. Even his chakra slowed, as though frozen solid.
"You… what kind of power is this?!" he gasped.
"Don't resist," Shigure said evenly. "You're no longer a Jinchuriki, but I still need to bring you back to the Hidden Mist Village. As for your friend…" His hand lit up, and dark red chakra pulsed in his palm. "…Saiken now belongs to me."
The chakra of the Six-Tails surged outward.
Utakata's eyes widened. He knew that aura better than anyone—it was Saiken's power.
"How… how is that possible?" His voice trembled.
It wasn't just that Shigure had pulled Saiken out of him—it was that Shigure had absorbed the Six-Tails' chakra and could wield it freely. Such a thing should be impossible.
"You came for the Six-Tails' power, didn't you?" Utakata said hoarsely. Suspicion hardened in his eyes. "Are you even part of the Mist's pursuit squad?"
Shigure shook his head lightly. "Of course not."
"Then you're just like the rest of them," Utakata spat. "Another person chasing the power of the Tailed Beasts."
"You're not so different yourself," Shigure replied coldly. "You claim to hate being a Jinchuriki, yet you can't bear to part with Saiken. Isn't that contradiction?"
Utakata's jaw tightened. "The Six-Tails isn't just power. Saiken is my friend. You may have stolen its chakra, but you'll never gain its recognition!"
But even as he said it—Shigure's lips curved.
Behind him, six long tails unfurled, swaying in the air. The Six-Tails' presence radiated unmistakably from his body.
Inside Shigure, Saiken shuddered. It could feel the oppressive gazes upon it—the cold, calculating eye of the Great Sage, and the greedy hunger of Gluttony, eager to consume it whole.
This vessel… contained two entities far more terrifying than itself. If Saiken resisted, its fate would be annihilation. Without the Great Sage's restraint, Gluttony would have already devoured it.
Utakata staggered back, horrified.
"Why… why would Saiken recognize you so quickly?!"
Shigure flexed his hand, feeling the Six-Tails' power coursing through him. His lips curved. Good chakra.
'Great Sage, can we begin the conversion now?'
[Great Sage: Commencing Tailed Beast chakra conversion. Through Gluttony, the Six-Tails' chakra will be devoured and transmuted into Natural Energy. This will enhance the One-Tail Shukaku's chakra reserves within your skill bar.]
'How long until Shukaku's chakra is fully restored to 100%?'
[Great Sage: Approximately three days.]
Three days. After that, he would effectively wield both the One-Tail's chakra and the Six-Tails' power at once.
Though Shukaku's chakra would exist without its consciousness, that mattered little—because the Great Sage would control it directly.
'So you can fully control it?'
[Great Sage: Correct. Once Shukaku's chakra is restored, it will become an energy-type life form without will or thought, perfectly usable as a defensive mechanism. With my guidance, it will surpass even Gaara's sand defense.]
[Any attack aimed at the host will be intercepted immediately.]
Shigure's eyes gleamed. "Perfect."
...
TN:
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