Consequently, Menma didn't hesitate any longer.
Clap!
He slammed his hands together.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Biting Explosion!"
A massive amount of chakra surged forth. As the hand seals were completed...
Rumble!
The recently calmed lake violently churned once again. Wave after wave continuously surged, rippling outward in a relentless tide.
The moment the energy erupted...
Directly beneath the surface...
A colossal whirlpool instantly formed.
The very mountains and seas seemed to tremble!
Locked onto the exact coordinates within his sensory range, Menma swung his single arm down.
Swoosh!
From all four corners of the massive whirlpool, several colossal water dragons erupted, their eyes blazing with a fierce, red-gold light.
Rumble!
In an instant, they all crashed down simultaneously.
Boom!
The next second, the entire lake shuddered violently under the devastating impact.
Roar!!
Deep beneath the lake's surface, a massive entity had clearly taken the hit.
Following an infuriated bellow...
Rumble!
Tearing through the curtain of surging water with a terrifying roar, a colossal shadow violently erupted from beneath the lake. Instantly, a boundless, suffocatingly sinister wave of chakra blanketed the area.
A titanic, turtle-like beast covered in jagged spikes with three massive tails sweeping behind it filled Menma's vision.
A familiar silhouette.
A terrifyingly dense chakra.
This was Menma's absolute target—the Three-Tails, Isobu!
However, Isobu was clearly not in a good mood. He radiated a violently tyrannical aura, his chakra wild and raging. A cruel, blood-red light gleamed in his eyes.
"Isobu, you're finally willing to come out. I am—"
Menma felt a surge of relief, glad he had finally forced the beast into the open. But just as he started to speak...
Hum!
Isobu didn't waste a single word.
Bang!
Raising his massive right limb, he slammed it ruthlessly onto the water's surface.
Rumble!
The lake instantly exploded.
Splash!
Wall after wall of water blasted upward, forming a cascading tsunami that relentlessly crashed toward Menma's position.
The rolling, catastrophic waves...
"!"
...forcefully shoved Menma's words right back down his throat.
Swoosh!
His eyes narrowing, Menma had no choice but to blur into motion, leaping high into the air to dodge the strike.
But mid-air...
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Countless massive bullets of water shrieked toward him one after another. The sheer oppressive force of the attack was suffocating; a single hit from this Water Style jutsu would instantly obliterate any ordinary ninja.
Menma took a deep breath.
"Earth Style: Earth Pillar Spike!"
His hands blurred through the seals at maximum speed. Clapping his hands together, his chakra flooded the earth. Following a violent tremor, massive boulders rapidly converged from the ground, shaping themselves into jagged, diamond-like spears.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
They shot forward, meeting the assault head-on.
Squélch! Squélch!
The stone spears cleanly pierced the incoming water bullets.
Boom! Boom!
Splash!
The shattered water bombs erupted into colossal waves, sending a torrential downpour blasting in all directions.
It was a clash of absolute, devastating scale. A top-tier confrontation rarely seen in the ninja world.
"Isobu, please calm down! I genuinely have no malicious intent. Just listen to me!"
Having barely neutralized the assault, Menma immediately canceled his own follow-up attacks. Flickering to the other side of the battlefield, he called out loudly with a serious, sincere expression.
"Hmph. Humans... all deserve to die!"
Isobu didn't trust Menma for a second. Even though Menma had called him by his true name, Isobu didn't care. To him, it was just another deceptive human trick. Yes, he could sense the Nine-Tails' chakra inside the boy—but so what?!
All humans were treacherous scum!
Refusing to give Menma a single opportunity to speak...
Boom!
He violently struck the water again.
Splash!
The endless splashing waves instantly congregated mid-air, forming an impossibly massive sphere of water. With a brutal flick, Isobu hurled it directly at Menma.
At the same time, the beast curled up, transforming into a colossal, spiked wrecking ball.
Hum!
He revved up and charged, hurtling forward at terrifying speed.
"!"
The beast absolutely refused to listen to reason.
"Every single one of you is more troublesome than the last..." Menma muttered, a wry, exasperated smile twisting his lips.
Clap!
Left with no choice, he slammed his hands together.
Rumble!
The moment a brilliant red-gold light flared in his eyes...
Clack clack clack!
Two golden chains violently erupted from Menma's body, shooting forward to suppress the incoming threat head-on.
Clang!
The speeding, spiked wrecking ball met the incoming golden chains.
Even though this was the first time Isobu had ever laid eyes on the Adamantine Sealing Chains, the innate, suffocating suppression they radiated against Tailed Beast chakra caused his heart to instantly drop.
Bang!
Forcibly halting his momentum mid-charge, he abruptly violently swerved to the right.
Clang!
He smashed heavily into the chain on his right. Without giving it a chance to react, he rebounded off the impact, reoriented himself mid-air, and accelerated, diving ruthlessly toward Menma's position.
A pincer attack. Two massive spheres of destruction closing in from different angles.
Yet Menma remained completely unfazed.
Kurama!
He called out softly in his mind.
Hum!
In an instant, he transitioned into the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. Wanting to end this quickly, he raised a single hand.
Boom!
High overhead, a colossal, glowing fox claw materialized, viciously swiping at the massive water sphere on his left.
Bang!
Splash!
The water sphere was effortlessly shredded. The sheer concussive force exploded outward, sending a torrential downpour of water blasting across the entire area.
A veritable torrential rainstorm.
Seeing this with his own eyes... witnessing Menma's specialized form and clearly feeling the extraordinary density of the Nine-Tails' chakra, Isobu's heart tightened.
The next second.
Menma smiled faintly.
From within his body, two more golden chains abruptly shot out.
"!"
Striking directly from the front with extreme speed and overwhelming force... caught completely off guard...
Bang!
Clank!
Isobu was forcibly bound by the golden chains. The initial two chains that had shot out earlier snapped back a fraction of a second later, wrapping tightly around the Three-Tails as well.
His chakra was brutally suppressed. His movements were entirely restricted.
In the blink of an eye, the Three-Tails Isobu was stripped of every ounce of resistance.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The sensation of absolute imprisonment was sickening. With his chakra flow forcibly ground to a halt, Isobu flew into a blind rage. He struggled frantically, but his thrashing only managed to make the golden chains rattle slightly.
Breaking free was entirely impossible.
Keep in mind, these chains were capable of flawlessly binding the Nine-Tails at its absolute peak. To think a mere Three-Tails could snap them was a joke.
Menma's mastery over the Uzumaki clan's jutsu had already rivaled his mother's—no, it was safe to say he had surpassed her. The Uzumaki clan's power stemmed entirely from their physical vitality. Menma's current physical durability vastly eclipsed anyone else in the ninja world. He was only a single step away from achieving the legendary Sage Body of the First Hokage.
While that final step was as difficult as ascending to the heavens, he had undeniably already transcended the limits of ordinary human biology.
Therefore, while dodging Menma's Adamantine Sealing Chains was one thing, once they actually locked onto a target, there wasn't a single human or beast in the current world capable of breaking free.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains were undeniably the absolute strongest sealing jutsu in existence—or at the very least, tied for first place.
"Damned human! Damned human!"
The overwhelming, undeniable sensation of absolute helplessness drove Isobu even further into a frenzy. He glared murderously at Menma, looking as if he wanted to swallow the boy whole.
"I already told you, Isobu, please calm down. I'm not here to fight you. I come bearing goodwill."
Watching the beast practically lose its mind, Menma waved his hand with a helpless sigh. He kept his tone as gentle as possible, doing his best to radiate pure, unadulterated sincerity.
After all, the circumstances were different. Even in a chaotic scenario like this, Menma still maintained his original, diplomatic stance.
This time, Isobu actually froze. He looked at Menma with a heavy gaze of suspicion.
"And I didn't come alone. You should be able to sense Kurama's chakra inside me. But it's not just Kurama; I also carry the chakra of Chomei, Matatabi, and Saiken. I'm going to release you now. Please, take a moment and feel for yourself, Isobu."
Menma took a deep breath, delivering the words with a soothing, unthreatening tone. With a single thought...
Clack!
The golden chains binding Isobu instantly dissipated into thin air. Without a second thought, he completely released his absolute restriction over the beast.
This was naturally Menma's way of proving his sincerity. But at the same time, wasn't it also a glaring display of his absolute confidence in his own power?
Honestly, the current Menma already stood at the absolute apex of the ninja world. With his increasingly flawless mastery over the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, combined with the Flying Thunder God and his Adamantine Sealing Chains... Menma's combat power was undeniably at the transcendent, Super-Kage tier.
It was safe to say that in the past thousand years, barring Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, he was the absolute strongest existence to walk the earth. Among the Tailed Beasts, excluding the Nine-Tails, only the Eight-Tails was even remotely qualified to spar with him.
A mere Three-Tails? Menma had absolute, supreme confidence that he could effortlessly crush it again if needed.
Regaining his freedom and feeling his massive chakra flow normally again... Isobu was genuinely stunned.
He truly hadn't expected Menma to actually release him just like that. This was a blindingly undeniable show of sincerity. Earlier, consumed by blind rage and absolute distrust, Isobu hadn't bothered to carefully scan the boy's energy.
But now, standing face-to-face with him... Menma proactively released thin tendrils of distinct chakra.
Isobu could instantly, perfectly recognize the unique signatures of his old companions. More importantly, he could tell that they had willingly shared this chakra with the boy.
In that exact moment, Isobu was completely dumbfounded. This defied everything he had anticipated.
Above all, the fact that Menma had so casually released his unbreakable restraints was the most powerful proof of goodwill he could offer.
"Brat... you're not playing some kind of sick trick on me, are you?"
Even though his mind was already 99% convinced, decades of ingrained paranoia and suspicion forced Isobu to ask the question.
"Heh. I'd say this is the utmost sincerity I can offer, wouldn't you?"
Menma smiled faintly.
Whoosh!
He directly dropped out of the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and sequentially flared the chakra of the other beasts. Starting with the Two-Tails, Matatabi, it shifted seamlessly to the Six-Tails, Saiken, and finally the Seven-Tails, Chomei.
The undeniable, authentic chakra signatures... utterly erased the last lingering shred of doubt in Isobu's mind.
This was absolute proof. Earning the trust of one old companion might have been a fluke. But the willing trust of four? That held a completely different, earth-shattering weight.
"So... uh... what exactly did you come here looking for me for?"
At this point, Isobu had completely dropped his hostile, murderous aura. Leaning his massive body slightly forward, he looked at Menma with a peaceful expression and asked quietly.
"I'm here because of our mutual enemy, Isobu."
Menma looked up at the colossal beast's head, his expression turning deadly serious and cold.
"Mutual enemy?" Isobu blinked in surprise, instinctively repeating the words.
"That's right. Our mutual enemy. It's too complicated to explain with just a few words. Let's bump fists. I'll show you everything."
As Menma spoke, he extended his right fist forward.
"A fist bump?"
Seeing this, Isobu paused for a second. Soon after, a highly visible, almost gentle smile surfaced on his terrifying, monstrous face.
He slowly raised his massive right limb.
Thud!
The moment the impossibly disproportionate fist of a human and the palm of a beast connected...
"!"
In a fraction of a millisecond... a direct psychic link was established. A torrential flood of information rapidly streamed through the connection.
Time itself seemed to freeze in that exact second.
After a long while, Isobu finally seemed to snap back to reality, slowly retracting his colossal limb. An incredibly complex emotion washed over the Three-Tails' face.
"So it's really come to this? After a thousand years, we're still going to be dragged back to that cursed fate?"
A profound, unnamable sorrow flickered in Isobu's eyes.
Why they were born.
Where they came from.
The nine Tailed Beasts possessed absolute clarity regarding the nature of their own existence. Even if, strictly speaking, they weren't entirely "real" biological creatures, they possessed sentience and self-awareness. And no sentient being willingly walked toward 'death.'
The resurrection of the Ten-Tails.
That was the absolute nightmare scenario. The one thing all nine beasts hated and feared above all else in the universe. Not to mention, the enemy had already finalized the most critical preliminary steps—securing the Rinnegan and the Ten-Tails' husk, the Gedo Statue.
Isobu finally truly understood what Menma meant by a 'mutual enemy.' And he completely understood why Kurama, Saiken, Chomei, and Matatabi had all willingly chosen to lend this boy their strength.