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The explosion of the C3 was destined to be anything but calm. An intensely blinding radiance erupted, and in the very moment it bloomed, it seemed to overpower even the light of the sun in the sky.
Accompanying that intense brilliance came an earth-shattering tremor and a thunderous, heaven-shaking roar!
BOOM——!!!
It was like the furious howl of a colossal beast, the enraged wrath of a heavenly god.
The entire forest trembled faintly beneath this explosion, bowing in utter submission.
Trees were annihilated in vast, sweeping swaths. Within the radius of this blast, only the most solid, unyielding earth could survive.
A long while later, the explosion subsided, leaving behind a land riddled with countless scars and devastation.
A giant white bird carried Deidara down to the ground. Deidara leaped onto the earth and began searching for traces of the Five-Tails.
It was also at this moment that Sasori appeared. Sasori spoke coldly. "Deidara, you went far too far! What if the Jinchuriki had died?!"
Deidara let out an "Ah," as if he had only just realized this now. Scratching his head with a face full of embarrassment, he spoke. "Oh, oh... right. Sorry, sorry, Sasori. I just got a little carried away and couldn't resist tossing out a C3."
Sasori sighed. He couldn't be bothered to scold Deidara further and merely warned him.
"Be more careful next time."
Deidara hurriedly responded.
"Right, right."
Not long after, Deidara and Sasori found Han, who had fallen unconscious and was charred completely black all over.
Sasori sensed for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good. It seems he's still alive. He probably won't survive much longer, but it should be enough time for us to report back."
Deidara laughed happily.
"Ha! See? The Five-Tails uncle's vitality really is quite tenacious, after all."
Sasori wrapped Hiruko's tail around Han's body, then stood with Deidara atop the clay bird.
"Let's go. Time to head back and report."
The clay bird soared into the air, carrying Deidara and Sasori—along with the unconscious Han—gradually fading into the distance.
The Five-Tails... successfully captured!
******
Two days later.
Kagaya received news transmitted by Itachi: the Five-Tails had been captured.
The Akatsuki's stated reason to its members for capturing the Tailed Beasts was to use the Tailed Beasts' immense power to intimidate the shinobi world, ultimately achieving true peace.
But Itachi always felt that something was amiss. Therefore, whenever an opportunity arose during the Akatsuki's Tailed Beast captures, he would secretly send some information to Kagaya.
Kagaya hadn't refused this either. He was also quite concerned with the Akatsuki's progress in capturing the Tailed Beasts.
This time, the news Itachi had transmitted truly left Kagaya stunned for a good long while.
Following the Seven-Tails... the Five-Tails had been captured as well?
And moreover... why the Five-Tails?
Kagaya felt a headache coming on. In his memory, the first Tailed Beast the Akatsuki should have captured was the One-Tail. How was it that they had now captured two others ahead of schedule? And most importantly, one of them was the Five-Tails.
This was actually a detail Kagaya had forgotten. In the original story, the Akatsuki had indeed captured the Seven-Tails and the Five-Tails before capturing the One-Tail.
But that wasn't what was important. What was important was—what should Kagaya do now?
If it were any other Tailed Beast, Kagaya generally wouldn't bother, especially once they'd already been captured. But in the case of the Five-Tails...
"Kokuō, huh..."
Kagaya fell silent for a moment, then rose to his feet.
He still couldn't bring himself to just stand by and do nothing.
"Karin, Haku... and that Ajisai, was it? Time to set out."
At the same time, within the Hidden Sound Village, inside Orochimaru's base.
Sasuke, whose appearance now barely differed from his two-years-later look in the original story, looked at Orochimaru and inquired.
"Orochimaru... you said earlier that Kagaya has reappeared?"
Orochimaru tinkered with some unknown green liquid in his hands and spoke.
"That's correct. According to the intelligence I've received, it seems Kagaya-kun has indeed appeared once more. After vanishing for an entire year, only to suddenly show up again... to be honest, I'm quite curious about where Kagaya-kun went during that year. Yet none of you seem particularly interested in that question."
Sasuke spoke coldly. "I don't care where he went for that year. All I need to know is that he's appeared now. That's enough."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly. A dangerous, menacing atmosphere spread through the room.
"Sasuke-kun... don't do anything rash. This body of mine is already gradually beginning to fail. Very soon, I will need to use your body. If you wish for revenge, you should let me take your body first, and then I can help you achieve your revenge afterward."
Orochimaru absolutely did not want any further accidents in his attempt to seize Sasuke's body this time. If Sasuke let his passion overwhelm him right now and ran off to find Kagaya, only to be killed by him, then Orochimaru would truly weep bitter tears. An Uchiha body was already within arm's reach. Orochimaru absolutely would not permit any mishap at this critical juncture!
Not even the slightest possibility!
Sasuke didn't answer Orochimaru immediately. He could hear from Orochimaru's tone that this was not a suggestion but a warning! A warning that he must not act recklessly!
The oppressive aura of one of the Legendary Sannin bore down on him. Sasuke had to admit—this presence was indeed terrifying, worthy of one of the Sannin.
"I understand. I won't act recklessly."
After saying this, Sasuke turned around and departed.
Orochimaru was indeed terrifying. But what a pity... he, Uchiha Sasuke, was no longer the Sasuke who had just defected. The current him did not fear Orochimaru in the slightest!
The three-tomoe Sharingan blazed alight. His back facing Orochimaru, Sasuke smiled, and his figure gradually faded away.
Watching Sasuke's departing silhouette, Orochimaru's research work came to a halt. In this moment, bizarrely, even though he had been the one warning Sasuke, it was instead a slight sense of danger that welled up within his own heart.
Was it an illusion?
Orochimaru stared at Sasuke's receding back and inwardly tried to rationalize this feeling of danger. Orochimaru refused to believe that in less than two years' time, that brat who had defected could pose any threat to him.
When the time came, Uchiha Sasuke would surely still be helpless against him and would be devoured by him.
Orochimaru consoled himself with such thoughts.
Yet, at the very last moment before Sasuke vanished, Orochimaru seemed to have a momentary illusion—for he saw within Sasuke's departing silhouette... another person!
Kagaya!
!!!
His sense of vigilance skyrocketed! Orochimaru subconsciously tightened his grip on the medicine vial in his hand, staring fixedly at the direction where Sasuke had disappeared.
This brat... this brat... he couldn't possibly be the next Kagaya, could he?!
In that instant, Orochimaru felt a twinge of genuine fear.
The Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals. This was a ritual that used the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path as a medium to seal Tailed Beasts.
It required several Kage-level shinobi to jointly perform the technique over multiple consecutive days to complete.
The specific effect of this technique was to forcibly extract a Tailed Beast from its Jinchuriki's body and seal it within the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
No matter how secure a Jinchuriki's Tailed Beast seal was, it was utterly useless before this technique.
However, the sealing process, no matter what, had to begin with the One-Tail. So even though the Five-Tails had been captured now, it could not yet be sealed. It needed to be kept imprisoned until after the Four-Tails was sealed; only then could the Five-Tails be sealed.
******
The Hidden Rain Village.
Pain took the charred, blackened Han from the hands of Sasori and Deidara and spoke.
"He's not dead, is he?"
Sasori replied. "Although this brat Deidara went a little overboard, he ultimately didn't kill him. He still has a breath left."
Pain nodded.
"Mm. That's good, then. If there's nothing else, you two can continue with your other missions."
Sasori nodded and departed from this place with Deidara.
Pain, meanwhile, carrying the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, turned around and entered the Hidden Rain Village.
A short while later, inside a dimly lit room.
Thud!
The charred, blackened Han was tossed directly onto the floor. Obito, seated on a sofa, glanced at Han.
"So this is the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, huh? He looks severely wounded. Is he about to die?"
Pain inquired. "What do we do?"
Obito was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"It looks like he's about to die. In that case... let's just extract the Tailed Beast from within him and seal it away for now."
Pain cautioned. "Extract it and seal it away? We can't use the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path right now. Be careful the Tailed Beast doesn't go on a rampage!"
Obito raised his head and looked at Pain. Behind the mask, a flash of crimson light flickered.
"With these eyes here... a mere beast doesn't have the right to defy us."
Pain was noncommittal. "As long as you're confident. So how do you plan to seal the Five-Tails?"
Obito replied. "I'll consider that question. As he is now, he should still be able to survive for another day or two. I'll think it over for a day and give you an answer tomorrow."
"That works too."
"Mm."
The conversation ended there. A swirling vortex materialized, spiraling Obito away until he vanished from this spot.
Pain looked expressionlessly at Han on the floor, then crouched down. Black chakra receivers emerged from his hand and were stabbed into both of Han's hands and feet, pinning his entire body to the ground.
These black receivers, created through Yin-Yang Release, were already products on the level of the Six Paths. Once struck by them, one's chakra could not circulate. If enough receivers were embedded, the target wouldn't even be able to perform ordinary movements.
Pain had used these to pin Han down precisely to prevent him from waking up and escaping while Pain was absent.
With the black receivers restricting him, neither Han nor the Five-Tails within him could possibly escape.
Rising to his feet and finishing securing the black receivers, Pain departed from this place, leaving Han lying on the floor.
In truth, Han's treatment was considered rather good. He was already on the verge of death. To prevent the Tailed Beast from breaking free and rampaging after his death, Pain and Obito's minds were preoccupied with how to seal the Tailed Beast. They hadn't even thought about imprisoning Han.
Pain had merely used the black receivers to pin Han down in a simple, straightforward manner.
Compared to Fu, Han was truly far better off.
Fu, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, had also been pierced through all four limbs by black receivers. However, each of Fu's limbs had two black receivers, whereas Han only had one per limb. Fu's black receivers also had chains attached to them. If Fu made any significant movements, she would yank on the black receivers, bringing about intense, excruciating pain. But Han had no such thing.
Fu was imprisoned in a cage. Han was not.
At this moment, Fu could be said to be experiencing a taste of what the Tailed Beasts felt.
Within the sealing space of Han's inner world.
"How utterly disgraceful, Han. To be killed by a brat who's practically your junior."
The Five-Tails looked at the Han before it and spoke with mockery.
Although Han was unconscious, his consciousness could still appear here and converse with the Five-Tails.
Han raised his hand and clenched it.
"So... I'm already dead, am I?"
The Five-Tails gave a cold snort.
"If you were dead, I wouldn't still be here. But... it's coming soon. You probably won't last more than a few days."
Han couldn't help but freeze. Facing death, a certain indescribable melancholy still lingered in his heart.
"You seem quite happy? Well... that makes sense. After all, I've imprisoned you for so long."
The Five-Tails opened its mouth, wanting to continue mocking him, but the thought that the other was about to die softened its heart despite itself.
"I wouldn't call it happiness. The ones who captured you... they might not have been after you. They were likely after me. Who knows? I might not even get to wait for you to die before I'm sealed into someone else's body again. Then, day after day... that endless imprisonment with no end in sight. Heh... forget it. It's been nearly a hundred years now. I've more or less gotten used to it."
Han smiled faintly.
"I know. You Tailed Beasts... truly have every reason to hate humanity."
When a person is near death, their words become kinder. Han thought for a moment and added,
"Perhaps, after I die, one day in the future, you too may obtain freedom. You too may coexist peacefully with humans."
The Five-Tails was momentarily stunned, but then shook its head.
"Impossible. Even if it were possible, it wouldn't be now. That would surely be a very, very distant future."
"Then... let's take a step back. I hope that one day, you might meet someone who can become your friend. I've heard that when a Tailed Beast and its Jinchuriki come to trust one another, they become a Perfect Jinchuriki. I hope that in the future... you can also meet your Perfect Jinchuriki."
"Heh. You speak nicely enough. But in the end, these are just some ingratiating words spoken before death. Spare me. At the end of the day, throughout your entire life, you never trusted me for even a moment. This massive boulder... has been pressing down on me every second, without pause."
A trace of desolation flickered across Han's face as he lowered his head.
"True enough. But, Five-Tails... let me speak honestly. It's not that I didn't want to trust you. It's that I didn't dare. There have been far, far too many instances of Tailed Beasts going on rampages. Each rampage... who knows how many lives are lost? Tell me, under such circumstances... how could I gamble the lives of everyone in the Hidden Stone Village on trusting you, a Tailed Beast? Besides... even if I trusted you... you wouldn't trust me either."
After hearing this, the Five-Tails fell silent for a long, long while. Then it spoke.
"You're right. Even if you trusted me, I wouldn't dare trust you either. I have been deceived by humans far, far too many times. And you humans have been ravaged by Tailed Beasts far too many times as well. Between us... the price of trust is simply far too great. Two short words... yet they are something neither you nor I could ever achieve in a lifetime."
As the words fell, neither of them spoke any further. This place fell back into silence.
A Perfect Jinchuriki... it was simply adding the word "Perfect" in front of "Jinchuriki." But how immense was the difficulty of adding those two words?
To put it in perspective: Suppose Person A has a button before them. If they press it, there is a fifty percent chance that half of their dearest family members will die. The other fifty percent chance is gaining a single friend. Under those circumstances, do you think Person A would still press that button?
Family versus a friend. Clearly, family is far more important.
For the vast majority of Jinchuriki, they would rather spend their entire lives in mutual hostility with their Tailed Beast than risk the devastating consequences of their village suffering massive casualties, all for the sake of trusting the Tailed Beast.
Only one or two special exceptions could naturally become friends with their Tailed Beast and thus become Perfect Jinchuriki.
"I'm going to die, aren't I?"
"Mm."
"Then... farewell forever."
"Mm. Farewell forever, Han."
The next day, Obito found Pain.
"Prepare to extract the Five-Tails. It wouldn't be good if we delay too long and the Jinchuriki dies first."
Pain nodded.
"Mm."