[B!!!] Eight-Tails in B's body let out a heart-wrenching roar!
The Tailed Beast Bomb condensed by the Black Nine-Tails far surpassed those of the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails in both quality and size.
The shadow of death instantly descended!
The fully transformed B roared. Driven by the instinct to survive, his eight massive tentacles frantically curled upward and intertwined, stacking layer upon layer in front of his head to form a thick wall of flesh and blood!
Simultaneously, a massive amount of Tailed Beast Chakra was poured into it regardless of cost, attempting to withstand this catastrophic blow!
Boom-!!!
The dark red sphere of destruction, with its light-devouring black core, smashed violently into the Eight-Tails' hastily constructed defense!
Time seemed to freeze for an instant, then… an indescribably terrifying explosion erupted at point-blank range!
The explosion instantly swallowed the Eight-Tails and the nearby Two-Tails!
The blinding flash of light turned Hell Valley as bright as day. The ensuing shockwave was no longer a spreading ring but condensed into a destructive torrent of energy.
Rock vaporized instantly. The ground was plowed into a massive, bottomless trench flowing with molten rock!
When the destructive light finally faded, and the deafening roar subsided into a low hum, the permeating smoke and energy particles slowly settled.
The scene at the explosion's epicenter was utterly devastating.
The figure of the Black Nine-Tails still stood imposingly, dark red Chakra surging around it, seemingly unscathed. It exhaled a stream of air from its maw, as if quite pleased with its handiwork.
Eight-Tails, which it still held, was in an extremely wretched state.
The eight tentacles used for defense were completely blown off, leaving only charred, broken stumps like the remnants of felled giant trees!
On its massive bull head, the sharp horns symbolizing power were mostly obliterated, leaving only jagged breaks oozing with molten, lava-like blood.
Its colossal body was covered in deep, charred wounds that reached the bone. The dark red corrosive energy clung to the wounds like maggots in bone, spreading and burning with a sizzling sound.
B's Tailed Beast Form was extremely listless, emitting pained and weak whimpers. Its massive body teetered precariously, only held upright by the Black Nine-Tails' giant claw.
"B-!!!" Yugito let out a grief-stricken and furious shriek upon seeing the Eight-Tails' miserable state!
The ghostly blue flames surged with anger!
A massive cat's claw, carrying the fury to burn everything to ash, slammed viciously towards the Black Nine-Tails' flank!
At the same time, Raikage's figure transformed into a blue lightning bolt tearing through the air!
His Lightning Release Chakra Mode was pushed to its absolute limit, emitting a piercing shriek. He leaped high into the air, his left arm wreathed in rampant lightning capable of cutting metal and jade.
His target was the black-robed figure standing imposingly atop the Black Nine-Tails' head.
[Liger Bomb!]
"Shura! Die-!!!" Raikage's roar was filled with deep-seated hatred and the desperation of mutual destruction!
Facing the pincer attack from above and below, Menma atop the Black Nine-Tails didn't move an inch.
His cold gaze swept over the burning giant claw lunging from below. One of the Black Nine-Tails' massive tails swept out casually, like swatting a fly, accurately striking the Two-Tails' wrist!
Bang-!
A dull, massive impact accompanied by the crisp sound of shattering bone!
Yugito let out a piercing cry of pain. Her massive body was thrown off balance by this tremendous force, sent tumbling towards the distant rock wall. Her ghostly blue flames dimmed considerably!
Simultaneously, facing Raikage descending from the sky like a meteor with his killing lightning, Menma simply raised his left hand slightly.
In his palm, a pitch-black rod, seemingly condensed from pure shadow, materialized out of thin air!
There was no sound of tearing air, no energy fluctuation… only an ultimate, piercing chill!
Whoosh!
The black rod shot forth as if teleporting!
Thump… squelch-!
A soft sound, yet it exploded in Raikage's heart like thunder!
That seemingly insignificant black rod actually ignored his Lightning Release Chakra Mode's armor. Like a hot knife through butter, it effortlessly pierced through the palm of his left hand, which was concentrated with his strongest Lightning Attribute Chakra!
A cold and domineering force instantly surged up his arm's Chakra Pathway!
"Ugh-!" Raikage let out a suppressed grunt of pain. The terrifying lightning concentrated on his left arm dispersed instantly like a snuffed-out candle!
The Liger Bomb was forcibly interrupted!
What shocked him even more was that the black rod not only pierced his palm, but the strange power attached to it instantly disrupted and sealed the Chakra Flow in his entire left arm!
His arm went numb, all strength lost!
In the instant Raikage was stunned by the pain and shock, another massive tail of the Black Nine-Tails, with a shrill whistle that tore through the air, swept towards him like a siege battering ram!
Bang!
A solid, dull impact!
Raikage's burly figure was sent flying backward faster than he had arrived, like a blue afterimage struck by a train at full speed!
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, he smashed into the not-yet-fully-collapsed rock wall hundreds of meters away!
Rocks shattered and flew, dust billowed. He was deeply embedded within it!
"Raikage-sama!" Yugito, who had struggled to her feet in the distance with blood trickling from her mouth, cried out in alarm.
"Brother~ you okay~" The transformed B managed a weak, pained cry.
Raikage struggled free from the indentation in the rock wall, rubble falling around him.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. His left arm hung uselessly, a gruesome, penetrating hole in his palm, blood dripping from his fingertips.
What chilled him to the bone even more was that the Chakra in his entire left arm felt frozen, completely impossible to mobilize!
That bizarre black rod hadn't just caused physical damage… it had completely crippled the combat ability of his entire arm!
He looked up. The center of the battlefield was a scene of apocalypse.
Two-Tails, which Yugito had transformed into, had just climbed out of the rubble of the rock wall, its ghostly blue flames dimmed, clearly also seriously injured.
And B, who had taken a direct hit from the Tailed Beast Bomb, was left with only half a shattered body in his transformed state, barely breathing, struggling futilely in the Black Nine-Tails' giant claw.
Eight-Tails, which had once sent the entire Kumogakure into a panic upon its rampage, requiring the whole village to mobilize to suppress it...
Before the Black Nine-Tails, it was like a three-year-old child, being manhandled at will!
Utterly powerless to resist!
Raikage couldn't help but recall the legends passed down by his elders. While the strength ranking of the Nine Tailed Beasts wasn't strictly based on the number of tails, the strongest was undoubtedly the Nine-Tails.
Raikage had once dismissed this. He had participated in suppressing the rampages of both the Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails.
Though both Tailed Beasts were terrifyingly powerful, they hadn't reached world-ending levels. And throughout the several Great Ninja Wars, Konoha had never deployed its Nine-Tails's Jinchuriki.
However, today-
Seeing the absolute strength and the despair-inducing, overwhelming pressure displayed by that terrifying dark red Nine-Tails and the figure in the white three-eyed fox mask standing atop its head...
An unprecedented sense of powerlessness and fury welled up in Raikage's heart.
'So this is the power of a Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki?' Now, Raikage had to admit it… the opponent was absolutely the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki!
'So those Konoha's bastards! How could they even lose their Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki?!'
The crushing defeat three years ago, the humiliation today, the casualties among his men, the critical injury to his brother... All these emotions boiled in his chest like magma.
He glanced at his completely useless left hand, then at B and Yugito still struggling desperately in the distance. A desperate, fierce glint flashed in his eyes!
"Raaaahhhhh-!!!" A beast-like roar erupted from the depths of Raikage's throat!
He violently raised his right hand, fingers together like a blade. Powerful Lightning Attribute Chakra instantly condensed upon it, forming a dazzling blue lightning blade!
Without the slightest hesitation, he brought it down savagely onto the elbow joint of his left arm… the arm pierced by the black rod, devoid of Chakra!
Squelch-!
Blood spurted!
A powerful arm was severed cleanly at the elbow, falling heavily onto the charred ground!
Excruciating pain twisted Raikage's face instantly, but he forcefully swallowed the scream!
Blood gushed from the stump, which he cauterized with savage Lightning Attribute Chakra, even emitting a charred smell.
His remaining right hand clenched into a fist. Lightning Attribute Chakra once again covered his entire body. Though his aura was somewhat disordered from blood loss and agony, his fight-to-the-death battle spirit burned even more fiercely!
Like a wounded lone wolf, he charged once more, with a tragic momentum, towards the demonic Black Nine-Tails!
"The dignity of Kumogakure! I will protect it!!!" Raikage's roar echoed across the battlefield, heroic and desperate!
Atop the Black Nine-Tails' head, Menma watched quietly as Raikage, even after losing an arm, still roared and charged forward.
Behind the mask, a flicker of emotion passed through his eyes for the first time… a faint, barely perceptible acknowledgment of pure will and courage.
'Though the successive Raikage have all been brutes, they do possess some backbone worthy of a Kage.'
Just then, a subtle yet clear thought transmitted through the [Chakra Network] engraved in his mind. It was from Kakuzu.
[Sir, the surviving members of the Chinoike Clan have been successfully evacuated from Hell Valley under the leadership of Oyashiro En and Oyashiro Jin. They are proceeding along the predetermined route towards the coast. The Kumogakure's Ninjas have been repelled by us. Their casualties are severe, with survivors likely number less than seven.]
Kakuzu's report was concise.
Menma's gaze swept over the completely altered, trashed landscape of Hell Valley.
The massive ring-shaped crater, the trenches flowing with magma, the collapsed rock walls, the permeating smoke of gunpowder and the smell of blood... The setting sun's afterglow cast a layer of tragically beautiful blood-red hue over everything.
This encounter had achieved its intended effect.
The Chinoike Clan was secured, and Kumogakure was heavily damaged once more.
Raikage had lost an arm, and the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails were severely injured. The goal of intimidation had been over-fulfilled.
Menma knew now was not the time to completely destroy Kumogakure and let the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails fall into the hands of the Akatsuki.
The timing wasn't right. His own stage wasn't fully set yet.
Watching the one-armed Raikage charging forward with another roar, and the transformed B and Yugito struggling to assist him with their broken bodies, Menma made a decision.
The Black Nine-Tails' massive tail swept out casually. Raikage leaped to dodge, his Lightning Release Chakra Mode blazing at full power as he tried to close the distance again.
But he was struck by several other tails, swatted away like a fly, and landed heavily near B and Yugito.
Raikage struggled to his feet, coughing up blood. Propping himself up with his single arm, his gaze remained unyielding.
B and Yugito moved in front of him, emitting weak growls, preparing to meet the final assault.
However, the expected fatal attack never came.
Menma, standing atop the Black Nine-Tails' head, slowly raised his right hand.
"Heh. I've had my fun. This was more enjoyable than last time, at least."
"Consider this a parting gift."
Above his palm, a heart-stopping surge of dark red chakra, even colder and more savage than before, began to frantically gather and compress!
It wasn't a pure energy sphere like a Tailed Beast Bomb this time. Instead, it formed a rapidly spinning sphere with a pitch-black core, wreathed in a destructive ring of dark red energy.
B's eyes widened.
It was the very same terrifying Jutsu that had devastated Kumogakure three years ago, leaving B with permanent scars.
[Great Spiralling Ring!]
This dark purple energy ball was only the size of an apple, but the aura of destruction it emitted made the severely wounded B and Yugito feel their very souls tremble!
The darkness at its core seemed capable of devouring all hope!
"If you cannot survive-" Menma's cold voice came through the mask, clear in the ears of the three below, carrying an air of aloof indifference and final judgment.
"-then die here."
As the words fell, he shoved his hand gently.
The dark purple Great Spiralling Ring, like a falling star of death, descended with a silent trajectory of destruction towards the location of Raikage, the shattered Eight-Tails, and the battered Two-Tails!
Raikage, B, and Yugito watched helplessly as the dark purple sphere representing their end grew larger in their vision!
Just as the Great Spiralling Ring was about to hit the ground-
Hum-!
Menma atop the Black Nine-Tails' head, and the massive Black Nine-Tails itself, suddenly grew blurry, then vanished on the spot like phantoms!
The next instant, he appeared high in the sky. The dark red chakra cloak burned around him like flames, holding him aloft.
Boom-!!!!
The Great Spiralling Ring finally made contact!
An explosion even more condensed and terrifying than the previous Tailed Beast Bomb's collision occurred!
A deep, light-devouring sphere of dark purple energy expanded rapidly!
It then transformed into blinding white light.
Everything in its path was silently annihilated!
The ground collapsed and vanished like a fragile sandcastle!
A giant crater, even deeper than the one caused by the previous Tailed Beast Bombs, was born within the destructive white light!
Savage shockwaves once again swept across the entire Hell Valley, turning the already ruined terrain completely into dust!
A 'white light mushroom' formed by the explosion grew madly over Hell Valley!
The figures of Raikage, the transformed B, and Yugito, along with their roars, were instantly completely swallowed by the expanding blast!
High in the sky, Menma hovered against the backdrop of the burning sunset, his white fox mask coldly gazing down at the area below, now consumed by dark purple destructive light.
His black robe snapped in the biting high-altitude winds. He watched silently the hellish scene unfolding below.
The blinding white light continued to expand and contract, finally transforming into a massive energy pillar connecting heaven and earth before slowly dissipating.
All that remained was a giant crater dozens of meters deep and over three kilometers wide, its depths churning with molten rock. The silence was permeated with the smoke of gunpowder and despair.