Chapter 59: The Tailed Beast's Fury
The chaotic brawl between the two titans continued, shaking the very earth. Erha, with Ren standing firmly on his head, traded massive, earth-shattering blows with the rampaging Shukaku. Sand and fur flew with each impact.
*Good,* Ren thought, his Sharingan tracking every movement. *Erha is keeping it occupied. This is my chance.* He focused inward. *System, Shukaku is restrained. How do I extract its chakra?*
***Answering Host: The Host must first exchange for a Tailed Beast Chakra Collector. Once acquired, the collector must be inserted into the Tailed Beast's body to initiate the extraction process.***
*Simple enough. What is this collector?*
***It is a tool specifically designed to siphon and contain Tailed Beast chakra. Upon insertion, it will automatically extract and store the chakra.***
***Item: Tailed Beast Chakra Collector. Type: Tool. Rank: C-Class. Exchange Cost: 1,000 Points. Confirm Exchange?***
***Ding! Exchange successful. 1,000 points deducted. Remaining Points: 27,000.***
A weight suddenly appeared in Ren's hand. He looked down. It was a simple, unglazed clay teapot with a narrow spout.
*You have got to be kidding me,* Ren mentally groaned. *A teapot? This is the 'collector'?*
***This is not a teapot. It is a Tailed Beast Chakra Collector,*** the system retorted, its tone defensive.
*It looks exactly like a teapot! And it cost a thousand points!*
***Even if it resembles a teapot, it is a teapot that can collect Tailed Beast chakra. Please do not judge it by its appearance.***
*Fine, whatever. It's so small, though. Will it even collect enough chakra? Don't tell me I wasted those points.*
***Please rest assured, Host. To create a cloned Tailed Beast, only a small sample of chakra is required. The quantity is more than sufficient.***
*Alright. So I just... press the spout against it?*
***Correct. Physical contact will activate the extraction.***
*Then let's get started.* "Erha!" Ren yelled over the din of battle. "I need you to pin it down! Hold it still!"
"Hey, pup! You're really giving orders now, aren't you?!" Erha grumbled, but obeyed. He discarded his massive machete, and with a surge of raw strength, he lunged forward. One massive paw clamped around Shukaku's neck, forcing its head up, while the other grabbed one of its arms, straining to keep the thrashing beast under control.
"AHAHA! GO TO HELL!" Shukaku shrieked, trying to angle its head to fire an Air Bullet point-blank into Erha's face. But Erha's grip on its neck was too strong, forcing its maw skyward. The blast shot harmlessly into the air.
"Hey, kid! Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!" Erha roared, his muscles bulging from the immense effort. "This guy's strong! I can't hold him forever!"
"Almost ready!" Ren called back. While Erha had been moving, Ren had formed a single hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A perfect replica poofed into existence beside him. The two Rens—the original and the clone—placed their hands together, a brilliant, swirling sphere of blue chakra forming between them, growing larger and larger until it became a massive, roaring Orb of Destruction.
"Time for a taste of this, you overgrown raccoon!" the original Ren yelled. Together, they leaped from Erha's head, driving the Great Ball Rasengan directly into Shukaku's face.
"GYAAAAAAHHH!!" The beast's scream was cut short as the devastating jutsu connected. Its sandy face imploded, dissolving into a cascade of loose granules that poured to the ground like water. The damage was severe; it would take precious moments to reform.
"BASTARDS! BASTARDS! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" The headless body thrashed with even greater fury, its voice emanating from its torso.
"Kid, hurry up!" Erha strained, his claws digging deeper into the sand-beast. "It's already reforming!"
"Just a few more seconds!" Ren was already on the move. He sprinted up Shukaku's reforming back and onto its head, the clay "teapot" in his hand. Without hesitation, he shoved the spout into the churning sand of Shukaku's skull.
Almost instantly, the vessel began to glow with a faint, amber light. Ren could feel a palpable pull, a draining sensation as Shukaku's raw, malignant chakra was siphoned into the small container. In mere moments, it was full, thrumming with contained power.
"Got it!" Ren exclaimed. His eyes darted to Gaara's unconscious form nearby. *If I wake Gaara, his consciousness should reassert control and force Shukaku back into the seal!* He prepared to jump down.
But he was too late. Shukaku, sensing the theft and the imminent threat to its freedom, reacted instinctively. The sand around Ren's feet suddenly liquefied, acting like quick-sand and sucking him down to his knees.
*Crap!* Ren tried to pull free, but the chakra-infused sand held him fast. He prepared to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to escape.
At that moment, Shukaku gave a titanic heave. With Ren distracted, its strength overwhelmed Erha's tired grip. The giant summon was thrown clear, crashing through several trees.
Before Erha could even hit the ground, Shukaku—its head now half-reformed—fired another point-blank Air Bullet. The compressed sphere of wind chakra slammed into Erha mid-air, blasting him further away with a pained yelp.
"KILL YOU! KILL YOU!" Shukaku's head finished reforming, its single eye blazing with insane rage. It turned its attention to Ren, still trapped on its head.
Ren finally managed to activate his escape. In a flash of space-time ninjutsu, he vanished from Shukaku's head and reappeared beside the groaning Erha, who was struggling to get up.
"Erha! Are you okay?" Ren asked, genuine concern in his voice.
"Tch! I'm not dead yet!" Erha grunted, pushing himself up and shaking off dirt and splinters. "Damn it! That hurt! Two direct hits from that chakra ball... I can't take many more of those. That thing packs a punch!" Updates are released by novel(ꜰ)ire.net
"KILL! KILL! KILL!" Shukaku's roar was reaching a fever pitch. It braced itself on one arm, leaning forward. The air around its mouth began to warp and distort. A dark, purplish-black sphere of unimaginably dense chakra began to form, swirling with catastrophic energy. The very air hummed with its power.
*Oh, no...* Ren's blood ran cold. *That's not an Air Bullet. That's a...*
"Tailed Beast Bomb!" he breathed out, horror dawning on his face.
"Okay, now we're in real trouble!" Ren yelled. "Erha, fall back! Return to the summoning realm!"
"No way!" Erha barked, baring his fangs in a defiant snarl. "I'm not running with my tail between my legs! That guy got me twice! I'm gonna tear him apart! You just find somewhere to hide, pup, I can't worry about you while I'm fighting!"
"You stubborn mutt! Use your head! That's a Tailed Beast Bomb! The concentration of chakra is on a completely different level! It'll vaporize you!"
Ren cursed under his breath. He couldn't just leave Erha. His mastery of the Flying Thunder God was still limited; he could teleport himself, but he couldn't take another living being with him yet.
"There's no other choice!" Ren bit both his thumbs, his hands flying through a long, complex series of seals before he slammed his palms onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu: Triple Rashomon!"
The earth trembled and split. With a deafening roar, three immense, demonic-looking iron gates erupted from the ground, forming a layered barrier between them and the enraged Tailed Beast. The faces carved into the gates seemed to snarl in challenge.
Just as the third gate settled into place, Shukaku's Tailed Beast Bomb was complete. It tilted its head back and then thrust it forward, firing the sphere of pure destruction.
It struck the first Rashomon gate.
The first gate didn't just break; it was utterly obliterated, vaporized into dust.
The second gate suffered the same fate, offering barely more resistance than the first.
The Tailed Beast Bomb, its energy only slightly diminished, slammed into the final gate.
The third Rashomon shrieked as massive cracks spider-webbed across its surface before it too exploded into a million fragments.
But it had done its job. The Tailed Beast Bomb was significantly weakened, though still powerful enough to be lethal.
"Hmph! Don't you underestimate me, you sand-brained fleabag!" Erha roared. He slammed his paws together. "Earth Style: Multiple Earth-Style Walls!"
The ground in front of them surged upwards, not once, but four times, creating a series of thick, solid earth barriers. The weakened Tailed Beast Bomb plowed through the first two walls, shattered the third, and finally dissipated against the fourth, showering them with dirt and debris but leaving them unharmed.
Ren stared, his jaw slightly agape. "I'll be damned... Erha, you know ninjutsu?!"
Erha panted, giving Ren a sideways glance. "What? You think you're the only one who can do fancy tricks, pup? I've been around a lot longer than you have!" He turned back to glare at the recovering Shukaku, cracking his neck. "Now, where were we? Oh yeah... time to get serious."
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