Long ago, there was a fox demon that wrought havoc. It had nine tails; when those tails swayed, mountains collapsed and seas rose in tsunamis, and the people suffered greatly for it… As they say, an eye for an eye. Now that it had been slapped in the face by a white-haired guy, the scene was honestly rather thrilling.
Although the Nine-Tails was an aggregate of chakra, it still possessed the properties of life. Being stabbed in the face by large bladed flying weapons naturally caused it extreme pain.
Fortunately, it still had one paw covering its face. Although slapping itself made it look rather stupid, by sheer dumb luck that paw served as a decent shield. Most of the giant shuriken pierced the Nine-Tails' paw, while only a few made intimate contact with its face.
The battle had only just begun, but judging from this opening exchange—and from Hagoromo's usual fighting style—it was clear that when dealing with tailed beasts, Hagoromo was far more in his element than the Fourth Hokage had been.
Of course, that had always been the case. First of all, Hagoromo was the kind of guy who pursued maximum firepower, which gave him a "natural" advantage against huge single targets. Minato, who specialized in using the Flying Thunder God Technique to instantly kill people, did not possess that same advantage. Secondly, if one were to ask how the Nine-Tails Hagoromo was facing differed from the Nine-Tails the Fourth Hokage had faced back then, the answer was simple: the Fourth Hokage had faced the complete Nine-Tails, while Hagoromo was only facing half of it.
In terms of size, it was the difference between a whole pig and half a side of pork.
Hagoromo had multiple ways to deal with a tailed beast. If one method failed, he could switch to another. But if Namikaze Minato wanted to solve a giant target like this, he basically had to rely on sealing techniques.
Of course, the most fundamental point was that purpose determined method. The starting point was the premise of every action, and all established frameworks extended from there. What one wanted to achieve was the decisive and essential difference.
The Fourth Hokage's goal had been to seal the Nine-Tails again and make it into a power Naruto could control, so his method was complicated and came at great sacrifice.
What about Hagoromo?
He just wanted to kill the Nine-Tails, so he could simply go straight in and beat it down.
An even more piercing roar began echoing back and forth through the space… It hurt, so of course it had to scream.
For Naruto, the weakest person present, that roar was practically a heavy blow. It was not merely a matter of volume. More importantly, it carried extreme malice and intense spiritual pressure. For a moment, Naruto even felt a strangely pleasant sensation, as though his consciousness were leaving his body… Fine, it was not pleasant. Most people called that feeling "ascending to heaven."
Fortunately, the young lady behind him placed a hand on his shoulder. Whatever the principle behind it was, Naruto immediately felt much better, and his consciousness returned.
Sure enough, in a battle of this level, Naruto's current strength was not enough to interfere. Even watching from the sidelines was enough to get him caught in the aftershock.
After grabbing the fox by the ear and forcing the Nine-Tails down, Hagoromo's main body had no choice but to temporarily break away from close contact with it, because in that instant, the Nine-Tails' chakra level had clearly risen.
For ordinary shinobi, that chakra possessed an extremely corrosive nature. The more concentrated its chakra became, the stronger the corrosion. It was not that Hagoromo could not endure it, but there was no need to take it head-on.
And why was the Nine-Tails so urgently raising its chakra?
There was no doubt that in its furious, startled state, it had instinctively decided to fire off a "ball."
That was rather irrational. Using a big move in such an enclosed space was the kind of act that harmed oneself almost as much as the enemy. It was hard to say whether the Nine-Tails itself would avoid being caught in the blast of its own Tailed Beast Ball.
"So… that kind of thing was sealed inside my body?" Naruto, who was watching this clash of monsters, muttered to himself.
Orochimaru, standing nearby, immediately caught the key point in Naruto's words.
According to Uncle Snake's intelligence, Naruto's identity as a jinchūriki was supposed to be relatively confidential. Most people in Konoha did not know that this brat was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, and that "most people" should very obviously have included Naruto himself.
But from what Naruto had just said, things seemed somewhat different from what Orochimaru knew.
"We're getting out of here."
Now was not the time to dig for answers, so Orochimaru temporarily suppressed his doubts and said this to Naruto.
He clearly could not truly count on "protection" from Naruto. Besides, no matter how "immortal" Orochimaru was, he had no intention of taking a Tailed Beast Ball head-on.
Swallowing that kind of pill would really be game over.
This time, Naruto did not say something like, "Don't worry, leave everything to me." Having grown up under Hagoromo's teachings—or rather, abuse—he still had some judgment. Naturally, he could sense how powerful the attack the Nine-Tails was now preparing would be.
No matter what, he could not block this attack.
Even an ordinary shinobi with no experience, or even a civilian, would instinctively feel helpless if placed in front of a Tailed Beast Ball.
Fortunately, while Naruto could not resist it, Uncle Snake could.
Orochimaru tucked Naruto under one arm, then strode quickly into the underground passage leading out of the room.
Naruto was still too young. He did not cherish this rare chance to watch the ball from such close range. He kept his head turned, his eyes fixed on the tailed beast behind them.
Just after the two passed a turn in the passage, a violent explosion rang out. Immediately afterward, starting from behind them, the narrow space they were in began to light up.
Blinding flames spread rapidly like lava surging through the cramped tunnel. The explosion caused by the Tailed Beast Ball had probably destroyed every facility in this underground base.
Orochimaru felt quite distressed. What he had been looking forward to was Hagoromo's performance, not the Nine-Tails' performance.
The explosions and collapses continued for a long time. Fortunately, Uncle Snake was familiar enough with his own old nest. After he brought Naruto out of the underground stronghold and reached a relatively high point outside, the dust gradually dispersed. Looking out, the scene was one of utter devastation.
The entire roof above his base had been lifted clean off, turning it into a jagged, rubble-filled crater.
"Where's Hagoromo? What happened to him?"
The moment Orochimaru put Naruto down, Naruto immediately asked—or rather, muttered to himself. Even now, he still had not connected this young lady with Orochimaru's true identity, although she really had run very fast.
From Naruto's vantage point, all he could see were nine huge tails swaying in the distance. Hagoromo seemed to have vanished.
"Don't worry. He's fine." Orochimaru seemed to be in a good mood. It was rare for him to take the initiative to explain such things.
If Hagoromo had really been killed just like that, Orochimaru might have felt a little regretful. But for the entire shinobi world, that would have been a cause for universal celebration.
Unfortunately, at this moment, Hagoromo was standing directly in front of the Nine-Tails. Although he looked somewhat dusty and disheveled because of the collapse, the Tailed Beast Ball had not caused him any real injury.
However, because he had needed to increase his defensive power just now, Hagoromo had already entered Sage Mode… More importantly, he would need to use some large-scale, high-level ninjutsu next, so he had to release his Strength of a Hundred Seal and draw upon the reserve senjutsu chakra stored within his body.
"Wouldn't it have been nice if you had just stood still and let me cut you once? Not much. Just one slash would've been enough. What a shame…"
As Hagoromo spoke, he shook his head and slid the chakra blade he had retrieved back into his waist.
These soft words could not be heard by Naruto and the others in the distance. Even the Nine-Tails confronting him failed to catch them clearly.
But… stand still and let you cut it once? As if. Wouldn't that be the same as being finished? Just how stupid would someone have to be to accept that suggestion?
Because of the collapse, the Nine-Tails had also been smashed into a daze. With its massive size, it could not dodge falling rubble as easily as Hagoromo could, so it was still catching its breath.
Meanwhile, Hagoromo had already begun forming hand seals.
Following the smooth, rhythmic movements of his hands, the broad ground beneath his feet slowly and three-dimensionally began to rise.
The technique he used was Earth Release: Earth-Style Rampart. Compared with Earth-Style Wall, this technique was undoubtedly much thicker and had stronger defensive power.
In the past, when Hagoromo used such techniques, his need for a foothold was greater than his need for defense. This time, however, was different. Although it was not for defense, it was also not being wasted merely as a footstool.
After one rock wall rose up, with the Nine-Tails as the center and that wall as the first arc, a circle of Earth-Style Ramparts began rising around it. As they closed together, a ring-shaped city wall was forcibly created… In Hagoromo's hands, Earth-Style Rampart had produced the effect of Earth Release: Earth Prison.
The Nine-Tails was surrounded just like that.
Of course, if it were allowed to move freely, this rock wall would be meaningless. It could destroy the whole thing in minutes.
But with Hagoromo present, the situation was completely different. Once his techniques began, they simply did not stop.
He did not even give the Nine-Tails a chance to mock this shabby little cage. Hagoromo's next ninjutsu had already arrived.
Within the area enclosed by the Earth-Style Rampart, the originally solid ground instantly turned into soft dough. Immediately after, it became a swamp filled with mud and water.
Or rather, Hagoromo had created a bottomless mire. The Nine-Tails felt the ground beneath its feet vanish, and half its body immediately sank into it.
Getting the Nine-Tails to obediently stand still was impossible. After all, it was neither his pet nor some young girl he had pinned against a wall. So he had to use a stronger method.
Thus, he used this technique:
Sage Art: Earth Release: Great Earth Flow River.
Though in this case, calling it Great Earth Flow Lake might have been more appropriate.
Was that enough?
Probably not. At least, Hagoromo did not think it was enough to completely seal the Nine-Tails' movements.
So while the Nine-Tails struggled in the mud, a circular opening to another dimension unfolded above its forehead.
By now, it was dawn. The opening was hidden against the dark gray sky, and unless one was directly underneath it, it would be difficult to notice.
Then, orange, sticky clay came falling from the sky. It looked like chewing gum that had been chewed for thirty years. Immediately afterward, this huge lump of gum stuck all over the Nine-Tails' body… If it wanted to break free, it would probably have to shed a layer of fur.
Sage Art: Earth Release: Heavenly Falling Clay, combined with the earlier Great Earth Flow River, left the Nine-Tails as though its limbs had been bound before it was thrown into a lake.
All that remained was to fix it in this field of concrete, so Hagoromo had already begun doing just that.
Scorching waves of flame descended from the sky as Hagoromo used Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet to solidify the clay and swamp again.
At this point, the Nine-Tails had become a neatly wrapped beggar's chicken. It seemed like just a little more fire would be enough to roast it.
But the Nine-Tails was apparently not so easy to deal with. The concrete was not as sturdy as Hagoromo had imagined. Almost the moment he solidified it, faint cracking sounds clearly reached his ears.
A monster was a monster. The Nine-Tails was worthy of being the Nine-Tails. It was already trying to break free.
Hagoromo frowned.
Fine, you're tough. Then I'll add one more technique, all right?
If Fire Release and Earth Release were not enough, then Hagoromo would use the Sage Art Lightning Release he was best at.
However, although it was called Lightning Release, this was actually a technique combined with Earth Release. Before Hagoromo's Lightning Release began, the ring of Earth-Style Ramparts rose again at the same time, reaching almost twice the Nine-Tails' height.
The technique Hagoromo was about to use confined Lightning Release within the range of Earth Release, making it repeatedly bend, circulate, and erode the target. Depending on the scale of the technique and the number of repetitions, when used normally, it could be called the Four-Pillar Binding Technique or the Sixteen-Pillar Binding Technique.
But in Hagoromo's hands, this technique clearly had to be further developed. Just look at this ring of Earth Release walls…
Thus, this technique had become:
Sage Art: Lightning Release: One Hundred Twenty-Eight-Pillar Binding Technique.
Almost simultaneously, intense, dazzling lightning burst from every section of the Earth-Style Rampart and struck the Nine-Tails, which had yet to break free from its solidified restraints, directly in the center.
Then came the circulation of Lightning Release.
Each beam of lightning gathered into a net, and those nets layered together in crisscrossing patterns, like tangible flowing matter… It had already turned into thick lightning porridge, another glowing dish fresh from the pot.
The piercing noise completely drowned out the Nine-Tails' roars. With such an obscene source of noise, no matter how remote Orochimaru's base was, as long as the samurai of the Land of Iron had functioning ears and eyes, they ought to have noticed something unusual here by now. After all, someone was creating such professional, three-dimensional sound, light, and shadow effects right on their doorstep.
"That Lightning Release…"
At this moment, Naruto could not even speak properly. Being Hagoromo's audience was definitely not a good job. He stimulated all five senses in every possible way while suppressing the mind at the same time.
Orochimaru's experience was not quite as terrible, but for a moment, even he could not think of an appropriate adjective.
If the enlarged scale of Hagoromo's Earth Release and Fire Release counted as a normal enhancement derived from senjutsu, then what was going on with this Lightning Release?
It was far too unfair.
Even Orochimaru felt a little tempted to learn this…
Unfortunately, Hagoromo was not his personal coach.
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