Kazu couldn't help but smile as he looked up at the mountain-sized tanuki looming over him.
"What a chunky tanuki."
Shukaku, fully manifested now, froze for a beat—then exploded.
"Konoha brat! What the hell do you mean by that?! You dare mock the great Shukaku?!"
"Great?" Kazu said lazily. "You're just a tailed beast."
Behind him, Sakumo Hatake and Minato Namikaze were tense. The pressure Shukaku gave off was crushing.
"Hokage-sama…"They even glanced back, instinctively checking for an escape route.
If Kazu somehow lost to Shukaku, they at least needed a way to retreat.
But Sunagakure was already swarming from every direction.
Kazu just smiled. "Sakumo, Minato—relax. I'm here."
That calm made Shukaku even angrier.
"Hmph! I can smell that disgusting aura on you!" Shukaku snarled. "You Konoha ninja… you reek like that idiot! I'm going to kill you!"
Shukaku's hatred for Wood Release ran deep. He still remembered the man from Konoha who once captured all the tailed beasts like they were livestock and sold them off to the villages.
Even if Shukaku had lived comfortably in the Sand afterward, that hatred never went away.
Now Kazu stood in front of him with that same chakra signature.
"Tailed Beast Bomb!"
Shukaku roared, and a black sphere of condensed chakra formed in his mouth.
In seconds, it fired.
The air warped under the destructive pressure—this kind of blast could wipe out huge chunks of the village.
Kazu raised a hand.
"Wood Release: Wood Wall Technique!"
Rumble!
A fang-faced wooden shield rose and swallowed the impact.
Shukaku's eyelids twitched.
That mask-like wood… that smell… it was the same.
Kazu spoke calmly, almost bored.
"Alright then. If you want to play…"
"Wood Release: Wood Golem Jutsu!"
A gigantic wooden titan erupted from the ground—hundreds of wooden hands fanning behind it.
Rasa—still bound—stared so hard his eyes nearly bulged out. Chiyo and Ebizō went stiff.
They were old enough to remember the stories.
That figure.
That pressure.
Hashirama Senju.
This kid… is really Hashirama's shadow.
Chiyo's throat tightened. She had heard Kazu was connected to Hashirama's bloodline, that he'd risen to Hokage in a flash because of terrifying military merit.
She had thought: maybe he's strong… but not that strong.
Then she saw the Wood Golem.
And her face changed.
If Hashirama hadn't been worn down at the Valley of the End… the shinobi world might have been unified under one man.
Now, Kazu carried the same momentum.
Even Shukaku went blank for a moment.
That golem—he remembered it.
Back then, Hashirama hadn't even needed to personally move.
It was the Wood Golem that grabbed him.
Rasa, still dangling, wheezed, "Ugh…"
The golem was easily a hundred meters tall. Compared to it, Shukaku looked like a kid throwing a tantrum.
Kazu's voice dropped.
"Get down."
A massive hand descended, blotting out the sky.
The aura alone made Shukaku's fur stand on end.
Fear—raw, instinctive—hit him.
"Tailed Beast Bomb—!"
Another black sphere formed.
He fired.
The bomb detonated in the golem's palm, blowing the hand apart.
But the next second—
the other wooden hand came down.
"No—!"
Shukaku's scream was pure panic.
BOOM!
Like an earthquake.
Dust surged.
When it cleared, Shukaku was pinned under the giant hand like a bug beneath a mountain.
Total domination.
For Sunagakure, the One-Tail was their ultimate deterrent.
And now their deterrent had been slapped down by a boy.
A weapon turned into a toy.
"Let me go, you brat!" Shukaku thrashed.
Kazu stared at him with open curiosity.
"Huh. You talk better than the Two-Tails."
"So it's true—more tails means more brains?"
Shukaku went nuclear.
"You—! You're the one with more tails! Shukaku-sama is the smartest!"
"What's your name again?" Kazu asked, deadpan.
Then he punched.
BANG!
Shukaku's head slammed into the crater.
He tried to roar—
Kazu punched again.
BANG!
Again.
BANG!
Three hits in a row, driving Shukaku deeper into the ground.
Shukaku finally stopped struggling, voice muffled and humiliated.
"…I was wrong, big brother. I'm a tanuki, not a dog…"
"Cat, dog, tanuki—doesn't matter," Kazu said. "Obey."
Everyone in Sunagakure stared, stunned.
A tailed beast… getting bullied like this?
Sakumo and Minato exchanged a look.
They were completely convinced now.
All that thinking about "escape routes" earlier—embarrassing.
They'd been frogs in a well.
Kazu ignored the crowd.
He formed a seal and pressed his palm down.
A black mark spread—an Uzumaki-style sealing formula.
A wooden rectangular prism formed like a coffin around Shukaku, binding him.
Shukaku's eyes widened.
"No—!"
His voice cut off as he was forced into sleep.
The Sand shinobi went pale.
Chiyo stepped forward, trembling but forcing herself to speak.
"Fourth Hokage… what exactly do you want?!"
Kazu looked down at her. "Like I said. Sunagakure submits to Konoha."
Chiyo shook her head. "Impossible. Even if we agree, the Land of Wind won't. This isn't just between villages—it's between great powers."
Kazu didn't bother arguing.
He completed the seal and forcibly separated most of Shukaku's chakra, sealing it into a summon contract—an Uzumaki clan forbidden technique, long lost after Uzumaki Ashina's era: tailed beast sealing into a summoning vessel.
Shukaku let out a miserable scream as the seal closed.
The remaining trace of chakra returned to Bunpuku so he wouldn't die.
Kazu said casually, "Relax. The old monk's alive."
Then he faced the Sand shinobi.
"Now. Do you want to die…"
"…or surrender?"
No one moved.
Tens of thousands of shinobi, and not a single one wanted to be the first to die.
Some were already looking for ways to flee.
Even the elders had lost their will to resist after watching Shukaku get sealed like a pet.
Chiyo's voice shook. "Hokage-sama… even if we submit, our daimyo won't allow it."
Kazu's eyes narrowed slightly. "You mean the Wind Daimyo?"
"Yes. What you're doing will start a war between great powers. You'll anger him!"
"Anger him?" Kazu said, almost amused. "Take me to him."
Chiyo recoiled. "You—what do you want to do?!"
Kazu smiled. "What else? Make him submit too."
"That's impossible! You'll only enrage the daimyo!" the elders shouted.
Kazu's gaze swept over them.
Silence fell instantly.
"Two choices," Kazu said calmly. "Take me to the daimyo… or die here."
One elder tried to speak up angrily—
Roots burst from the ground and strangled him mid-sentence.
Swish.
Dead.
He hit the sand.
Everyone's hearts jumped into their throats.
This kid was a demon.
Kazu smiled like nothing happened.
"I don't have much patience."
Minato watched from the side, mouth twitching.
Kazu is… different today.
More ruthless. More direct.
But in truth, Kazu was simply adapting to what he was now.
With his strength, he stood at the top of the shinobi world.
He didn't need to care what others thought.
If they didn't obey—kill them.
Especially enemies.
To friends: warm as spring.
To enemies: as cold and merciless as winter.
If a village submitted, then it could count as "friend." Barely.
Chiyo finally stopped the others with a look.
"Enough," she said hoarsely. "We'll take you."
Kazu nodded.
A jōnin stepped forward to lead.
Kazu followed, with Minato and Sakumo close behind.
Sakumo sighed quietly. "We're really going to meet the daimyo like this…?"
Kazu smiled. "A daimyo is just a title."
Minato and Sakumo both fell silent, chewing on those words.
And somehow, their respect for Kazu climbed again.
After Kazu left, several Sand elders slumped.
"It's over," one muttered. "No one can control him now."
"The only chance is if the four great villages join forces."
Chiyo shook her head, exhausted. "Join forces? Have you forgotten how Hashirama founded Konoha?"
"He used a Wood Golem and crushed Shukaku. Kazu hasn't even used Sage Art Wood Release on a large scale yet."
Despair spread through the room like smoke.
Ebizō stared into the distance, eyes dark.
"With his power… even a four-village siege might not win."
"We have to think long-term. Find an opportunity."
"Even if he's invincible, not everyone around him is."
"There are always weaknesses."
"Not on him…" Ebizō said quietly.
"…but on the people he loves."
…
By the time Kazu reached Wind City, the capital where the Wind Daimyo resided, the place was thriving—merchants, samurai, civilians flowing through the streets.
Kazu looked up at the towering walls.
At the gate, samurai stopped them immediately.
"Sand shinobi. What's your business?"
Even though the guide was a Sand jōnin, the samurai's tone was openly disrespectful.
In the eyes of Wind City's samurai, they were the "proper army."
Sand shinobi were just hired blades funded by the daimyo.
Murakami, the Sand jōnin leading them, said stiffly, "This is the Fourth Hokage of the Land of Fire—Konoha's Hokage. He demands an audience with the Wind Daimyo."
"The Fourth Hokage?" The samurai looked Kazu up and down—young, calm, no fear—and scoffed.
"Where are your documents?"
Murakami swallowed. "He was appointed recently. He came quickly. He doesn't have paperwork."
The samurai sneered. "No paperwork, no audience. Are you shinobi brain-burnt?"
"Our daimyo isn't someone any random cat or dog can meet."
Sakumo moved instantly.
A kunai pressed to the samurai's throat.
"Kneel and apologize to our Hokage-sama."
The samurai went stiff with horror.
Then the gate exploded into motion—hundreds of samurai rushing forward, and thousands appearing along the wall, bows drawn and aimed at Kazu.
Merchants and civilians screamed and scattered.
Murakami went white. "Hokage-sama… don't do this!"
A samurai captain stepped up arrogantly.
"Drop your weapons and bind your hands. Otherwise, you will be killed on sight!"
Sakumo didn't answer. He glanced back at Kazu.
Kazu's voice was flat.
"Then kill."
Sakumo's kunai slid in.
The samurai's throat opened.
He clutched his neck, eyes wide with disbelief, and collapsed.
The entire gate fell silent for half a heartbeat—
then rage ignited.
"Good!" the captain snarled. "Get them!"
He charged with a long sword.
A flash—
and Minato appeared behind him.
"Rasengan."
BOOM.
The captain slammed into the ground and went limp.
The crowd stared.
That captain was one of Wind City's top fighters—able to channel chakra—and he got dropped in one move.
On the wall, thousands of samurai pulled bows in unison.
Murakami's knees nearly gave out.
"No—!"
Kazu's eyes narrowed slightly.
Sage Mode snapped on.
He pressed both palms to the ground.
"Sage Art Wood Release: True Thousand Hands!"
He'd gotten addicted to this jutsu—he liked crushing opponents with sheer presence.
The earth split.
A colossal Buddha head rose under Kazu's feet, then the full Thousand-Armed Buddha surged up, towering above the city like a god.
Murakami—standing behind Kazu—reacted fast and jumped back, terrified.
But even his "fast" wasn't fast enough.
The rising Buddha's edge grazed him midair.
He vomited blood and flew backward like a rag doll.
Sakumo and Minato barely escaped with Body Flicker.
The samurai captain who'd been hit earlier had just struggled back up—
and froze, sitting down again.
He stared up at the Buddha, face drained of color.
"…What… what is that?!"
On the wall, samurai hands went limp.
Bows slipped and clattered to the ground.
Wind City's highest point was only around twenty meters.
The Buddha was many times that, rising into the clouds.
Deep inside the city, the Wind Daimyo was drinking in his mansion, flanked by two imposing guards.
Then the rumbling hit.
He turned—
and the cup fell from his hand.
Clink.
"…What is that?"
The two guards looked, and their blood ran cold.
Outside the gate stood a Thousand-Armed Buddha—so massive that the city wall looked like a toy fence in front of it.
If that Buddha's hand came down even once…
the gate would cease to exist.