The monstrous centipede's revival shocked Uchiha Shigure, but only for a brief moment. He was not the kind of shinobi to waste time dwelling on surprise. His sharp mind quickly pieced the truth together.
"I see now… It's just a puppet, but as long as it's being fueled by the boundless energy of the Dragon Veins, it can break through even my ninjutsu."
From the glowing tower above, he could see streams of crackling violet chakra pouring down into the creature's body. That endless infusion made it all but invincible, a living fortress made of wood and steel.
The centipede lunged.
"Puppet Spinning Fist!"
Its body twisted unnaturally as it lashed out with enormous force. Shigure reacted instantly.
"Immortal Art: Dance of Ksitigarbha!"
From his hair, hundreds of ivory-white bone spines shot outward like a deadly storm, piercing holes straight through the monster's armored body.
He followed up without hesitation. "Dance of the Iron Wire Flower!"
His right arm transformed into a spear of living bone that drove deep into the centipede's midsection, pinning it with crushing force.
And yet, instead of collapsing, the centipede laughed.
"Wahaha! Futile! Don't you get it, brat?! You can't kill me!"
Another surge of violet lightning poured down from the tower into its body. In an instant, all the damage was undone, the wooden shell knitting itself back together stronger than before.
"Tch… completely invincible as long as that tower keeps feeding it. Then there's no point in wasting chakra here."
Shigure blurred, vanishing into motion as he disengaged in a flash.
The centipede ignored him, its many legs pounding across the sand toward its true prey.
"Run if you like! My real target is Queen Sara! She must die!"
Naruto and Minato had seen many things in their lives, but when the towering centipede puppet burst into view, both of them froze. Twilight glinted across its grotesque body, giving it an almost godlike presence.
"Wha—what the hell is that thing!?" Naruto's eyes bulged. He immediately summoned a shadow clone, gathering whirling chakra into his palm.
"Rasengan!"
He launched himself forward recklessly, slamming the spiraling sphere into the puppet's side. The centipede merely flicked its tail.
"Gahhh!" Naruto was swatted like an insect, sent flying.
"Naruto!" Minato's eyes went wide as he caught his son midair. He quickly steadied him and pushed him back.
"Leave this one to me! Your priority is to protect Queen Sara!"
"But—!"
"No time to argue!" Minato's tone left no room for debate. "Head-on, this thing will just tear you apart. I'll find its weakness!"
Naruto clenched his fists, then nodded reluctantly. "Got it!" He sprinted toward the queen.
Minato faced the puppet alone. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled a shuriken skyward.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
In an instant, one weapon multiplied into hundreds, then thousands. The air filled with streaking green steel that crashed down like rain on the colossal puppet, riddling its body with holes. For a moment, his sharp eyes caught sight of something beneath the carapace—the heart of the mechanism at its chest.
"There! That's your weakness!"
But before he could act again, another wave of lightning crashed down from the tower. The damage mended instantly. The puppet's movements grew wilder, faster.
"The regeneration speed is absurd! At this rate we can't—" Minato muttered, jaw tight.
Meanwhile, Shigure had reached the base of the towering mechanism. His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the massive crystalline structure pulsing with violet light.
"So this is what's supplying its power. If I can just destroy this thing…"
He raised his palm, swirling chakra into a devastating attack.
"Big Rasengan!"
The colossal sphere slammed into the tower—
CRACK!
"—!?"
Instead of crumbling, the Rasengan was violently repelled. A force unlike anything Shigure had ever felt surged through him, tossing him back like a ragdoll.
"Guahhh!" He hit the ground hard, any ordinary shinobi likely to be killed outright. Only the protection of his White Dragon Scale Armor kept him alive, though blood spilled from his lips.
"What… is this power?!" Shigure gasped. "It's not… normal chakra… it's something else entirely!"
The tower's entire body glowed. Violet lightning surged outward like a storm and launched itself at him.
"So fast!"
Even his instantaneous body flicker and Flying Thunder God Technique meant nothing; the current hit him before he could move. Pain shot through his veins as his chakra was drained out of him in a torrent, ripped away by the dragon vein's hunger.
Blue chakra exploded outward from him on instinct, filling the air with such force that even the giant puppet froze.
"This chakra!" the centipede hissed. "No… impossible… That pressure, greater than the Five Kage combined! Could it be… Is he the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki?!"
Minato narrowed his eyes, holding stance in front of the monster. "He's no jinchūriki. He's Konoha's shinobi. My comrade."
Shigure's body shook violently. His super shadow chakra reserves had all but vanished, his sage chakra completely burned away. He felt his entire being being swallowed by the dragon veins. Cells screamed as they tore, the energy ravaging him from inside out.
"Dammit… If this goes on, I'll be nothing but a husk!"
There was only one option left.
"The Hundred Healings Technique… Release!"
The diamond seal across his forehead shattered, pouring decades' worth of stored chakra into his failing body. The release was cataclysmic. The very air trembled, the entire tower complex collapsing under the crushing waves of raw energy.
"What the—?! Just how much chakra does this boy have!?" the centipede recoiled, momentarily stunned.
But even then, the power of the dragon veins dwarfed him. A single surge ripped through his body, reminding Shigure that even infinite chakra could be drowned. It wasn't chakra alone. It was something beyond—an energy so potent that it rivaled, no, exceeded even the mythical Ten-Tails. His mind whispered of the Ōtsutsuki, those alien gods who had shaped their world, and admitted even they might fear this.
His knees buckled. His body screamed in agony.
"No choice… there's only one technique left…!"
Golden light burned in his eyes as he forced the words out.
"Immortal Art… Eight Dragon Reincarnation!"
If the Gate of Death was a torch consuming every shred of life in the body, then this was a collapsing star—every drop of chakra ignited and detonated at once.
"HRRAAAHHHH!"
His scream tore across the battlefield. Explosive waves of chakra smothered the raw might of the dragon veins. Slowly, impossibly, the violet storm began to quiet. The tower's furious screaming pulses faltered. Bit by bit, the wild current yielded before his burning determination.
His Senjutsu faded. The technique collapsed. And yet—
Shigure staggered, panting, but alive. A swirl of violet chakra still hung in the air, then suddenly rushed toward him. Where once it sought to devour, now it sank into him.
"This feeling…" He gasped, eyes wide. "It's the same power as before… but now… it's flowing back into me!"
Endless chakra coursed through his body, stronger and purer than ever before. His wounds knit shut, his strength multiplied.
"The dragon vein… it's… lending me its power." He grinned weakly, astonished. His body trembled not with exhaustion but exhilaration.
The centipede reeled, mandibles clacking in fear. "Wh-Why… why hasn't he been consumed? Why can't it stop draining, stop feeding him!?"
Shigure clenched his fist, feeling the unimaginable reservoir within him. Each heartbeat echoed with power rivaling natural disasters.
"Besides…" He raised his gaze, golden eyes shining. "I'm just getting started."
--
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