Objectively speaking, Hagoromo was still a few sizes larger than the Three-Tails' eyeball, but he didn't voice this correction. After all, he couldn't exactly expect a psychic connection with a giant turtle.
Besides, comparing size here was meaningless. Battles weren't decided by whose eyeballs were bigger; even comparing whose eyes were redder would make more sense than comparing size.
A momentary silence actually descended upon the lake.
Hagoromo was pondering where exactly he should start dismantling such a massive creature.
Meanwhile, the Three-Tails was likely wondering: Is this the guy who rudely knocked on my door while I was sleeping?
While silence reigned over there, the children on the shore began their own conversation.
"What... what is that thing?"
Seeing the Three-Tails' ferocious appearance, Haku looked visibly nervous. Could a single person really stop something that massive? What if it charged right at them? He would have absolutely no way to protect Mirai.
Kimimaro, however, looked thoughtful. "It's a Tailed Beast... probably the Three-Tails."
He couldn't be entirely sure, having only vaguely heard descriptions of the Three-Tails from his clansmen. But according to them, the Three-Tails was indeed located in this direction.
But... would anyone actively provoke a Tailed Beast?
Yes. Someone right in front of them.
A creature like the Three-Tails sitting out here couldn't be ignored by anyone. The Kaguya clan had probably even considered using it against Kirigakure. But unfortunately, while this devastating heavy weapon was sitting right out in the open, the Kaguya clan lacked the means to tame it.
Controlling a Tailed Beast was far more difficult than controlling Kimimaro.
"It is the Three-Tails. Hagoromo and I came here to take a tour of the Tailed Beast," Mirai confirmed with a tone of investigative curiosity.
Are elementary school students writing observation diaries now? "My Little Tailed Beast is Growing Up"?
Kimimaro and Haku exchanged bewildered looks. First of all, were Tailed Beasts rare animals you just "took a tour" of? Secondly, Hagoromo didn't look like he planned on just taking a tour and leaving.
"Then Lady Mirai... I mean Mirai, what is Lord Hagoromo doing right now?" Haku asked again.
Hagoromo was clearly just having a staring contest with the Tailed Beast.
But Mirai offered a profound interpretation.
"He's communicating with the Tailed Beast."
"Communicating?" Now even Kimimaro was a bit curious.
"Yes, communicating. Visual communication." Mirai nodded with absolute certainty, looking as if she could perfectly read both of their gazes.
And indeed, she truly had "read" it—or so she thought.
"First, the Three-Tails said to Hagoromo... 'What are you lookin' at?'"
"Then Hagoromo said, 'Who says I'm lookin' at you?'"
"Then the Three-Tails said, 'I dare you to look at me again.'"
"So Hagoromo said, 'Challenge accepted. I'm lookin' at you, what're you gonna do about it?'"
"Finally, the Three-Tails said, 'If a turtle doesn't show its might, do you really think I'm just a turtle?!'"
Events immediately proved that Mirai's live psychological analysis was incredibly accurate, earning her the awestruck gazes of her two companions.
Wow, I don't really understand, but it sounds amazing!
Because right as Mirai finished speaking, one of the Three-Tails' tails reared high into the air, striking down at Hagoromo with the speed and ferocity of a giant scorpion's stinger.
From an outsider's perspective, this attack from the Three-Tails possessed both extreme speed and power; it was absolutely lethal. But for Hagoromo, who was facing it head-on, that wasn't the case.
Everyone's definition of fast and slow is different. To the kids, it was blindingly fast, but to Hagoromo, the attack was still sluggish.
In the fraction of a second before the tail struck him, Hagoromo swiftly shifted slightly backward. The tail plunged into the water right before his eyes, missing him by a hairsbreadth.
Not even a drop of water splashed onto him.
He then stepped forward. The Three-Tails' tail was arched like a bridge, and Hagoromo rapidly dashed up to the highest point of that bridge.
He was just about to unleash a point-blank rapid-fire volley when the Three-Tails' other two tails pincered him from the left and right.
He definitely had to dodge. No matter what, a physical body couldn't withstand such a heavy crush; otherwise, he'd end up like a squashed bug.
Dodging sideways, Hagoromo slipped through the gap between the three tails and began a rapid, headfirst freefall. In mid-air, arcs of electricity flared across his body. As he neared the Three-Tails' body, he spun a half-turn, correcting his posture while simultaneously drawing the Iron Sand sword from his waist with his right hand.
Lightning and jutsu formulas flashed across the blade as it instantaneously extended to a length of ten meters.
This was Iron Sand Hagoromo had crafted himself; it resonated with him much better than the Third Kazekage version he used previously.
The roar of crashing water drowned out the buzzing of the Iron Sand, but its visual spectacle could not be hidden.
The Iron Sand sword sliced horizontally downward through the base of one of the Three-Tails' tails. Blinding white lightning and a mist of crimson blood erupted simultaneously!
The Iron Sand sword felt like it was cutting through solid steel. Tactilely, this Three-Tails was harder to slice than the Eight-Tails, but it was merely harder to slice, not impossible.
After a brief contact measured in seconds between the Iron Sand sword and this appendage of flesh and blood, amid the Three-Tails' earth-shattering roar of agony, an entire giant turtle tail was cleanly severed at the base and sent flying.
Visually speaking, at this exact moment, the Three-Tails ceased to exist. What remained were the Two-Tails Matatabi, and... the Two-Tails Isobu.
But severing a single tail wouldn't force a Tailed Beast into submission. On the contrary, it only made it more savage.
Completely ignoring its severed tail, Isobu's massive body churned the water, the resulting shockwave pushing Hagoromo back a distance. It then reoriented itself, locking its gaze back onto this tiny insect.
Its massive maw opened, immense energy gathered, and a pitch-black sphere materialized.
A disagreement immediately escalates to an ultimate move?
A Tailed Beast Bomb was indeed an ultimate move, but if you couldn't fire it, it was completely meaningless.
Any ultimate move like this inevitably requires charging time. Thus, when trading ultimate moves, it often comes down to whose activation time is shorter.
A miss is as good as a mile; the shorter cast wins, the longer cast loses.
Therefore, Hagoromo even had enough time to glance back at Mirai—who was jumping up and down anxiously on the shore, warning him that the enemy was about to fire its ultimate move—and perhaps even flash her a reassuring smile.
Next, the super-electromagnetic Railgun struck first despite launching second. The brilliant orange beam pierced straight through the gathering Tailed Beast Bomb, then tore into Isobu's body through its relatively weakly defended front neck, immediately followed by the eruption of detonating flesh.
This single strike accomplished both interrupting the enemy's skill and delivering a devastating attack.
After this hit, Hagoromo gave the Tailed Beast no further chance to counterattack. Unloading a full magazine over two minutes was more than enough to deal with the Three-Tails before him.
A continuous string of deafening explosions, plumes of blood mist... In just this short span of time, the Three-Tails went from furious roars to piteous wails, and from wails to utter silence.
This was absolutely an R-rated scene. Even Haku couldn't bear to watch. Is it really necessary to bully a Tailed Beast like this?
However, Hagoromo didn't actually blow Isobu's head off. Ultimately, his goal was simply to render the Three-Tails incapable of resisting, turning it into a giant salted fish, rather than outright killing it with a Railgun.
Killing a Tailed Beast in that manner held no meaning for him. He needed to test another method.