Enma charged straight toward Shukaku, shattering the beast's Wind Release: Air Bullet with a single punch and drawing the One-Tail's attention.
"Oh? A monkey? There's actually a monkey here. Perfect for roasting and eating," Shukaku said, as if remembering something amusing. He burst into wild laughter, slapping the ground.
"Does this tanuki have a problem with its brain?" Enma snorted coldly.
"Sand Binding Coffin!"
Shukaku, still laughing, pressed both hands to the ground, gradually merging into the earth. Two massive arms made of sand burst out from the ground beside Enma, grabbing toward him.
Just as the sand hands were about to ensnare him, Enma vanished with a 'swoosh'.
He charged toward Shukaku at an incredible speed. The beast waved its hand, summoning more sand arms to capture him, but Enma broke free in an instant, darting through the shifting landscape of sand.
In the blink of an eye, Enma appeared behind Shukaku. Before the One-Tail could react, Enma seized its tail and began to swing the massive creature around.
Shukaku roared wildly, summoning a sandstorm that pressed down on Enma.
Enma immediately gathered his strength and leaped high into the air. With his right arm raised, he broke through the storm's encirclement and landed a devastating punch atop Shukaku's head.
"Stupid monkey! I'm going to eat you!" Shukaku howled in pain before roaring furiously. Suddenly, its head turned to quicksand, melting away like snow under the sun. Enma's feet sank instantly.
Before he could escape, one of Shukaku's massive hands emerged behind him, grabbing Enma and slamming him into the ground.
Boom!
A massive crater formed on impact, sending shockwaves across the battlefield. Sand lifted into the air, forming swirling tempests.
"Stupid monkey!" Shukaku howled, repeatedly slamming Enma's head into the earth.
After several violent impacts, Shukaku realized that the monkey in its grip was entirely unharmed. Annoyed, it flung Enma aside.
"Wind Release: Air Bullet!" Shukaku wasn't about to let an opportunity slip away. The beast unleashed a barrage of wind-infused chakra spheres that detonated in rapid succession, engulfing Enma in a vortex of destruction.
Uchiha Tatsumi, seeing Enma being beaten so viciously, could no longer afford to wait and recover his chakra. He leaped multiple times, landing atop a tall earthen wall.
The sound of wind and rain filled the air, growing louder than the clashing battle below.
Looking down, the battlefield was a chaotic mess of corpses, bloodstains, and shattered greenery. In the distance, Shukaku let out another deranged cry. Tatsumi narrowed his eyes as if lost in thought, a strange sense of nostalgia washing over him.
Distant thunder rumbled.
— Faint Thunder.
The phrase appeared in Tatsumi's mind, then vanished.
A vast amount of chakra surged into his palm, transformed to its very limits. In mere moments, the crackling of a thousand birds filled the air.
At any other time, Sarutobi Shinnosuke would have praised such mastery. But now... Could mere ninjutsu overcome the towering might of the One-Tail? It was too naive.
What else are you hiding?
Shinnosuke gazed up at Tatsumi, a single thought forming in his mind.
As thunder crackled in the sky, Tatsumi raised his right hand, fingers curling into an intricate pattern. The lightning above flickered in response, moving with a strange rhythm.
Before, Tatsumi had been unable to use the Lightning Release: Kirin. The technique required the caster to read and control the flow of natural lightning precisely, lest they strike themselves instead. His Two-Tomoe Sharingan had been insufficient.
But in that cave, his left eye had evolved into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. That limitation was no longer an issue.
As for the other difficulty—shaping lightning into a specific form—Tatsumi had already mastered that in his fourth year at the Academy.
This Lightning Release was practically designed for the Land of Rain's stormy skies.
"Come forth, lightning!"
Tatsumi's voice rang out, resonating with the storm. A roar, deep and primal, echoed from the heavens. Above him, a Kirin composed entirely of lightning emerged from the swirling storm clouds.
"What is that?!" Shinnosuke's mouth fell open, his gaze fixed on the massive beast overhead.
"Hey, look at the sky!" someone shouted.
The battlefield, once filled with the sounds of clashing steel and jutsu, fell silent. Warriors from both sides turned their eyes skyward, weapons slipping from their hands in awe.
"Lightning... how could this be?!"
"You're joking, right? This is... ninjutsu?!"
Tatsumi felt the immense power of the storm surrounding him. He stood like a deity in the midst of a lightning tribulation.
"Not yet. The lightning isn't at its most suitable state. The shape transformation still needs adjustment."
As this was his first time using Kirin, Tatsumi struggled to stabilize its form. The beast flickered within the clouds, appearing and disappearing like a fish swimming through water.
Shukaku, sensing the overwhelming threat, panicked. If that attack hit, its body would be annihilated.
Thinking quickly, Shukaku dove into the sea of sand.
But Enma wasn't about to let him escape. Instantly transforming into a massive iron staff, he plunged into the sand, stirring violently like a toothpick in a giant vat.
"Get out!"
The iron staff thickened and pushed upward, forcing Shukaku back to the surface.
At that moment, the Kirin in the sky no longer flickered. Its lightning-formed eyes locked onto the battlefield with ominous intent.
Tatsumi lowered his gaze from the heavens, turning back to the battlefield below. Enma still clutched Shukaku's tail, swinging the beast into the air.
"Not good! Stop him!" Chiyo's expression twisted with dread. She knew exactly what Tatsumi was about to do.
The Sand Ninjas rushed toward him in desperation.
But it was too late.
Bathed in the storm's fury, Tatsumi looked divine. He swung his raised hand downward with finality.
"Perish with the thunder!"
The Kirin roared as it descended.
No one had ever witnessed this technique before. This was the first time the world, and even Tatsumi himself, saw its true power.
The battlefield flashed blue as the Kirin struck the desert sands.
BOOM!
The explosion was deafening. Shukaku's roar abruptly ceased, swallowed by the storm's wrath.
Silence fell.
Every warrior, from both sides of the war, stood frozen in shock. Their wide eyes stared at the epicenter of destruction.
The earth had cracked. Everything within a thirty-meter radius had been utterly evaporated.
Nothing remained.
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