Even with the innkeeper's assurances, the periodic tremors were unsettling. Most of the patrons decided to pay their bills and leave quickly.
***
Though not a sensory-type ninja, the chakra fluctuations coming from underground were so distinct that any ninja who could manipulate chakra could pinpoint their source.
The further Izuna went, the stronger the vibrations became.
*The head of an ox and the tail of an octopus.*
*Isn't that the Eight-Tails?*
It had been a year since he'd been reincarnated into the Warring States period of Naruto, and he hadn't heard a single thing about the Tailed Beasts.
If not for this chance encounter, he might have forgotten they even existed in this world.
Leaping from another tree branch, Izuna emerged from the forest into a mountainous region.
This was probably the border between the future Land of Fire and the northern Land of Hot Water.
*Rumble... Rumble... Rumble...*
The tremors underfoot grew even stronger.
He reached a slope overlooking a stream that plunged over a cliff, forming a waterfall.
And at the bottom of the waterfall, a massive, dark red beast with the head and horns of an ox and a lower body composed of eight octopus tentacles was enjoying the cascade, humming a strange tune.
It was the Eight-Tails, Gyuki!
"La la la~~ I'm the invincible Lord Gyuki~~"
As it hummed its off-key song, the Eight-Tails swayed its mountain-sized body, occasionally bumping against the canyon walls. This was the cause of the tremors that shook the area for miles around.
"Heh..."
Hearing the creature's ear-splitting tune, Izuna couldn't help but snort with laughter.
*No wonder it gets along so well with Killer Bee in the future.* Seeing this, Izuna felt he understood a little better.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, the Eight-Tails stopped humming and turned its head to look at Izuna on the cliffside above. "A human?"
After a moment, it turned back and resumed its song, clearly ignoring him. "La la la~~ I'm the invincible Lord Gyuki~~"
The Tailed Beasts were chakra beings born in the era of the Sage of Six Paths. But from the looks of the Eight-Tails, they had spent the last several hundred, perhaps even thousand, years living in seclusion, far from human civilization.
The reason they were later captured by ninja and sealed into jinchuriki probably started with his own older brother and Senju Hashirama.
Of course, it was more likely that Black Zetsu, the root of all evil whose whereabouts were still unknown, was pulling the strings.
After all, to revive Kaguya, the Tailed Beasts were essential.
"This is the first time I've ever been ignored."
Izuna vanished and reappeared in front of the Eight-Tails, emitting chakra from the soles of his feet to stand on the surface of the river.
The Eight-Tails' song stopped again. It frowned at the human, who was no bigger than a mosquito compared to it. "Hey, human. What do you want?"
Izuna smiled faintly. "At first, I just wanted to see what you were like. But now that I've seen you, I've changed my mind."
"Hmph!?"
The Eight-Tails' expression shifted.
***
"Eight-Tails, become my summoning beast," Izuna said, extending a hand. "I need your power."
He had been tormented by the side effects of his Mangekyo Sharingan and had been racking his brain for a way to alleviate the burden. But when it came to increasing his own strength, wasn't Uchiha Madara—who in the future would control the Nine-Tails to fight Senju Hashirama to the death—a living example? Although Madara ultimately lost, the grievous wounds he inflicted on Senju Hashirama directly hastened his death.
There was just one problem: Madara had used the ocular power of his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan to forcibly control the Nine-Tails.
"Who's the Eight-Tails? Listen up, brat, the name's Gyuki!" the Eight-Tails roared. The shockwave of its voice sent the waterfall splashing backward, a testament to its terrifying power.
After its bellow, the Eight-Tails lowered its head, bringing its face close to Izuna's. "And another thing," it said menacingly, "I have no interest in being your damn summoning beast! Now get lost, and I'll forget you interrupted my singing."
*Just as I thought, it won't be that simple...* Izuna shook his head, a smirk slowly forming on his lips. *It would be a real shame to just look at all this power.*
"If you knew there was a mountain of gold behind a door, would you walk away just because the door was in your way?" Izuna countered.
The Eight-Tails raised an eyebrow. Possessing an intellect on par with humans, it naturally understood Izuna's meaning.
"Get lost!"
Its raised fist fell like a massive meteor, completely blotting out the sun above Izuna.
*BOOM!*
The Eight-Tails' fist crashed down, sending up a spray of water over a hundred meters high. Shattered rock flew in all directions, and the entire valley shook so violently it felt on the verge of collapse.
*Swoosh!*
Izuna leaped onto the cliff face to his left, concentrating Chakra in the soles of his feet to cling to the rock.
"What incredible power," he muttered to himself. "On a battlefield, this would be enough to turn the tide of war." He jumped away again just as the Eight-Tails' second punch came crashing down.
*BOOM!*
Rock shrapnel flew as the cliff face crumbled. The mountain itself was being pulverized.
One should never underestimate the power of a Tailed Beast. Once a being reached the level of the Sage of Six Paths, their power would expand to an unprecedented degree. That was why, in the face of Six Paths Obito, Six Paths Madara, and later, Naruto and Sasuke who received the Sage of Six Paths' legacy and became ridiculously overpowered, the Tailed Beasts seemed somewhat weak. Uchiha Sasuke, with his Six-Tomoe Rinnegan, even managed to control all of them with a single glance.
But for anyone who had not reached that level, a Tailed Beast was a force to be reckoned with. And that was especially true for the Eight-Tails, the second most powerful of them all.
Izuna leaped back to the clifftop he had been on earlier and looked down. "Terrifying power," he said. "But that's what makes you valuable."
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