Chapter 11: Eight Tails Rampage - Part 1
AN: This chapter is 4.4k Words without AN at the end. Enjoy!
The first thing to vanish was the unshakable confidence.
Not courage. Not discipline. Not the training beaten into every shinobi of Kumogakure, but the unshakable confidence and pride that came with being a Kumogakure citizen.
It disappeared the instant the Eight Tails roared, causing a sonic attack capable of disrupting surroundings, and destroying structures like the shockwaves of an atomic bomb.
The sound tore through the valley below the administration tower and rolled across the mountains like a living storm. The stone cracked. The few trees that grew in the mountains bent flat sideways. Windows shattered across the lower districts, one after another, until the sound of breaking glass became almost like the rhythm of disaster beneath the beast's rage.
Then came the tremor.
The entire village shook.
Not like an earthquake.
Earthquakes were natural. They had patterns. They had limits.
This was something else.
This was a creature larger than buildings and mountains dragging eight massive tails through the valley, each one carving trenches deep enough to swallow multiple houses. This chakra was so heavy that civilians dropped to their knees without being touched. This was pressure strong enough to make genin freeze where they stood, hands trembling around kunai they had no business drawing.
At the center of it all, Gyuki moved.
The Eight Tails' body twisted as another roar tore from its throat, horns lowered, tails thrashing behind it in a storm of muscle and chakra. One tail slammed into a cliff face and split the stone apart, another swept across a training ground and erased the entire field in a single strike making it unrecognizable.
A watchtower collapsed.
Three shinobi vanished beneath the dust.
"Fall back!"
"Get the civilians and genin inside!"
"Move, move, move!"
The lower districts became chaotic.
Chunin carried children in their arms. Genin pushed old men and women toward the reinforced evacuation tunnels. Mothers screamed for sons who had already been dragged away by shinobi. Fathers tried to run back for families still trapped behind falling stone.
A Chunin with blood running down the side of his face grabbed one man by the collar before he could sprint into the part close to where the beast struck.
"You go out there, you die!"
"My daughter is still over there!"
"Then pray someone rescues her faster!" the Chunin said while holding the struggling man back
The man froze with tears running down his aged face.
That was the cruelty of it, because disaster did not wait for no one.
Against ordinary enemies, courage mattered. Against invading shinobi, skill mattered, but against a tailed beast, only distance mattered.
And at this moment there was not enough of it.
In another part of the village…
Another tail came down.
The impact hit the earth like a meteor.
A wave of broken stone and dirt surged toward the evacuation road. A group of genin froze, their bodies refusing to move as death rushed at them.
A Jonin appeared in front of them, weaving hand signs at lightning speed and slamming both palms to the ground.
"Earth Release: Stone Wall!"
A barrier of sturdy rock rose just in time.
The shockwave hit.
The wall shattered.
The Jonin was thrown backward, but while staggering at the debris the group of genin lived.
"Run!" he shouted, coughing blood as he forced himself up pushing part of the stone wall of himself. "Do not look back!" he shouted at them with pain in his voice
They obeyed.
This was Kumogakure.
Even the weak moved when ordered to even when terrified.
Especially when terrified.
High above the lower districts, the twelve surrounding mountains began to glow with a quiet hum of constant circulated chakra.
Bzzzz*
At first, the light was faint, thin lines of chakra flickered across carved stone; hidden beneath years of dust and weather. Then the lines brightened, connecting seal after seal, spreading across the mountain faces like veins filling with lightning.
On the third mountain, a masked BOLT captain slammed his palm against a stone marker engraved with layered fuinjutsu. Each captain shouting into their earpieces connected to a heavy backpack with an antenna.
"Team Three in position!" said captain Arashi - ("Storm")
Across the valley, another voice answered through the communication channel.
"Team Four ready!" said captain Raiun - ("Thundercloud")
"Team Five ready!" said captain Habataki - ("Wingbeat")
"Team Six ready!" said captain Kurogumo - ("Black Cloud")
"Team Seven ready!" said captain Tenrai - ("Heavenly Thunder")
"Team Eight ready!" said captain Inazuma - ("Lightning Flash")
A pause.
Then, from the farthest ridge, "Team Nine ready!" said captain Kuuhaku - ("Sky Void")
The commander Shiden - ("Violet Lightning) in the administration tower listened to every report without blinking.
"Begin activation."
Across twelve mountains, hands touched stone.
Chakra poured in.
The seals awakened.
The entire valley answered.
Old arrays buried into the bones of Kumogakure flared to life, not as a weapon, but as a cage foundation. The seals were not designed to defeat a tailed beast. No one sane built a village defense system believing stone and ink could overpower one of the nine calamities born from the Sage's legacy for a long time.
Their purpose was simpler.
Buy time.
Slow and minimize destruction.
Keep the village standing long enough for monsters to fight monsters.
The effect was immediate.
Cracks crawling through the valley floor slowed. Unstable cliffs hardened.
With quick hand Seals* Bird→Horse→Snake
Violent Whirlwind Jutsu
Debris that should have rained down on the evacuation tunnels connecting into the side of a mountain shifted away from the main paths as a huge torrent wind performed by the group of special Jonin,did a synchronized wind release jutsu.
Shouts from the civilians thanking the Special Jonin were heard. Those shinobi were sent to help with the evacuation procedures on the outer parts of the village.
"Thanks you" and other similar words was the collective shout from the civilians as they hurried into the shelter
The air became dense, charged, and heavy as the seals began suppressing the wild overflow of Gyuki's chakra.
But suppression was not controlled.
Gyuki felt it.
The beast's head snapped toward the mountains.
Its eyes narrowed.
Then one of its tails whipped outward.
"Brace!" Shouted Kugoromo captain of the 6th Squad with urgency in his voice
On the sixth mountain, Team Six barely had time to reinforce the array before the tail struck the cliff beneath them. The impact did not land directly on the seal platform, but it did not need to.
The mountain shook.
Two of the BOLT shinobi lost their footing and slid toward the edge.
A third grabbed one by the wrist.
The other disappeared into the dust.
"Do not break formation!" the captain shouted, even as grief flashed across his eyes. "Hold the seal!"
No one moved to chase the fallen soldier.
They could not and that was the harsh reality of large scale defense.
One broken seal could open a gap and that could collapse the whole network.
So they held on.
Even as the valley shook below them.
At the center of Kumogakure stood the administration tower.
The great blue structure rose above the mountains like a pillar planted into the sky, its base reinforced into the central peak, its upper levels watching over the village, the clans, and the valley below. It was not merely a building. It was command, Records, War rooms, Communication lines, Emergency stores, Bloodline registries,Defense plans and a Hospital where the injured get transferred to.
If the administration tower fell, the village would not die because Kumo was not a village but its people.
But it would bleed in ways that could not be bandaged quickly.
That was why BOLT's captain Shiden stood before it.
He was not the Raikage.
He did not need to be.
Where the Raikage was the spear and Shield of Kumogakure, this man was the sword.
His body was broad and still, dark armor marked by the insignia of BOLT. Heat shimmered around his right arm as thick, molten chakra crawled over his skin like living lava. His left hand flexed once tensing his chakra coils ready to protect the tower where most of the people of Kumo were being sheltered.
Beside him, his second-in-command stood with a communication scroll open across both hands, eyes moving super fast over reports as quick as they came in.
"Team Six reports one casualty. The seal is still active and going strong."
"Acceptable," the captain said with a flash of grief but with determination in his eyes
His second in command Ikazuchi did not flinch at the word she can grieve later after all the chaos.
It was not cruelty but a numbness to working alongside death through all the years as an Elite BOLT member.
But a ….
"Team Nine requests permission to increase output."
"Denied. They will burn themselves out now, the south ridge collapses in ten minutes."
Ikazuchi relayed the order instantly.
A chunk of a mountain broke loose in the distance, hurled by the shockwave of Gyuki's movement. It spun through the air toward the administration tower, large enough to crush an entire floor.
Shiden stepped forward.
Dog - Boar - Tiger - Ox - Rat - Bird - Dragon
'Lava Release - Dai Funka (Great Eruption)'
A wave of molten lava chakra erupted from his arm and struck the incoming boulder midair. The surface softened instantly, glowing red, then orange, then white. Before it could continue its path, he raised his other hand.
Rabbit → Rabbit → Ox → Dog → Snake.
'Lava released - "Rubber Wall.'
The air in front of him distorted.
A flexible, chakra infused barrier expanded outward.
The half melted boulder slammed into it.
Instead of exploding through, it sank in. The barrier stretched backward, absorbing force, bending almost to the tower's outer wall before snapping forward.
The boulder shot sideways and crashed harmlessly into an empty ridge.
The captain lowered his hand.
"Continue."
Ikazuchi, his second in command nodded.
"Elite Jonin unit 2 are ready for Lightning Cage formation."
"Wait until the Raikage engages." Shidai said with Conviction in his voice
"Sir hasn't arrived yet?" Ikazuchi said with confusion
The captain's gaze did not leave the valley.
"He will." he said fully believing in his Kage
Below, the beast moved again.
Gyuki surged toward one of the South East evacuation routes, perhaps drawn by movement, perhaps by chakra, perhaps by nothing more than fury. Its tails lashed behind it, sweeping away stone, trees, and shinobi alike.
A group of civilians screamed as the road ahead of them collapsed.
A Chunin tried to guide them back, but the pressure of Gyuki's chakra hit him like a physical blow. His knees buckled, the civilians stumbled behind him.
Slowly
One tail rose above them.
The shadow swallowed the road.
Then lightning struck.
Not from the sky.
From the ground.
A figure appeared beneath the falling tail one arm raised, lightning exploding around his body in a dense cloak of violent lightning chakra.
The tail came down.
The man did not move.
The impact shook the entire valley.
Dust burst outward in a ring.
For one heartbeat, everyone thought he had been crushed under the massive tail.
Then the dust split.
The tail lifted.
Slowly.
Not because Gyuki chose to lift it.
Because someone underneath was pushing it back.
The Third Raikage stood beneath the weight of a tailed beast's limb, feet buried deep into shattered stone, shoulders flexed and lightning crawling over every inch of his body.
His expression was calm.
Not relaxed.
Calm.
There was a difference.
"Get them out," he said.
The chunin stared for half a second too long.
The Raikage's eyes shifted toward him.
"Now!" said the raikage with a calm shout towards the chunin
The chunin moved and picked up 2 kids and elderly civilian and he sprinted.
The rest of the civilians moved faster as if possessed.
Gyuki roared and twisted, trying to force the tail down again.
The Raikage's cloak flared into version 2.
With a violent burst of strength, he shoved the tail aside, heaving it with unreliable strength.
It crashed into the earth beside him, carving open a trench.
Then the Raikage moved.
He crossed the distance between himself and Gyuki's main body in a blur, each step cracking the ground beneath him. The beast's eye almost followed him, but not fast enough.
His fist slammed into Gyuki's jaw.
Gyuki's eyes swirling from the harsh impact.
The sound was not a punch.
It was like thunder…
Gyuki's head snapped upwards.
The entire valley went silent for half a breath.
Then the beast staggered.
Only one step.
But it staggered.
Across the mountains, shinobi stared.
Some in awe.
Some in terror.
Some had already shitted or pissed their pants in pure horror when everything started.
Because if that was what it took just to make the Eight Tails move one step, then they finally understood the scale of what stood before them.
The Raikage landed heavily, rolled his shoulder once, and looked up at the beast.
"Focus on me 8 tails."
Gyuki answered with a roar that blasted the ground apart.
The Raikage vanished before the force of the shockwave hit him.
He appeared at the beast's flank, struck once, then vanished again as a tail swept through the space he had occupied. He reappeared near the foreleg, lightning cloak intensifying as he drove his elbow into the joint.
The strike was precise.
Not meant to wound.
Meant to redirect the force of the 8 tails.
Gyuki's weight shifted.
That was all the opening unit 2 needed and Shiden and Ikazuchi saw it.
The BOLT captain's second in command Ikazuchi shouted into the communication scroll.
"Lightning Cage team, move!"
Twelve elite Jonin scattered across the valley's perimeter.
These were not ordinary Jonin.
Ordinary Jonin can not stand this close to a tailed beast and survive to tell the tail the insane pressure from the tailed beast was enough to kill an ordinary person with the density of its chakra. Ordinary Jonin did not sprint across broken terrain while shockwaves tried to rip the breath from their lungs.
They moved in groups of three, each group taking a quadrant of the valley forming a square formation and planting a lightning conductor that extended upwards with a seal;it was heavily planted on the ground as a setup for the jutsu.
Hands flashed through signs at lightning speed.
They shouted at the top of their lungs with desperation in their voices hoping this technique can help them contain the beast to stop their village from falling into ruins.
Lightning violently gathered as they finished their hand seals.
Hand Seals: Ox → Horse → Dragon
The Elite Jonin slammed their palms to the ground in perfect sequence powering the rod and having them connect.
"Lightning Release: Thunder Bind" they collectively shouted the jutsu in perfect sync
This technique originally a B rank lets the user create a three-sided indestructible barrier from the inside that electrocutes opponents inside but it is modified to only one face to form a square to provide more strength to bind the 8 tails.
Blue arcs erupted from all the conductors that were planted on the solid stone points of the square. As massive lightning lines shot upwards, connecting across the valley in a massive honeycomb. The structure rose around Gyuki like a net made of stormlight, each line vibrating with an electrocuting sound coming from them with controlled chakra.
Buzzz*
….
For a moment, the beast was framed inside lightning.
The Raikage moved out of the cage's radius just as it formed, landing on a ridge of broken stone.
"Output stable!" one Jonin shouted.
"Seal network is holding!" shouted one of the Elite Jonin with a disciplined military tone
"Cage formation complete!" in the same tone shouted another Elite Jonin
Gyuki lowered its head, horns pointed.
Its chakra spiked.
The cage screamed at the massive chakra output.
The beast slammed its body head first against the lightning barrier getting electrocuted in the process.
Huff…
Huffed the beast in annoyance and fury.
Every Jonin in the formation felt it.
One dropped to a knee at the amount of chakra output he felt.
Another bit through his lip to stay conscious.
The cage bent inward, then snapped back.
Gyuki struck again.
The second impact was worse.
Lightning lines flickered about to be overpowered.
The seals pulsed violently, trying to reinforce the structure.
"Do not try to overpower it!" the BOLT captain Shiden encouraged through the communication line. "Stay strong Kumogakure is Relying on you guys!"
All the Elite Jonin adjusted.
Barely….
The Raikage watched the beast test the barrier.
Then he inhaled.
"Lightning rope team!" He shouted in a commanding tone
Three shinobi appeared behind him.
"Sir!"
They were younger than most of the elite jonin, but they where the fastest pair of Jonins with this specific combination attack in the village. They had lean builds and sharp eyes full of conviction for their village. Lightning chakra already dancing between their fingers.
One swallowed hard but did not look away from the beast.
The Raikage did not offer comfort.
Comfort was wasted time in this situation.
"Bind the limbs as fast as you guys can!." stated the raikage with a calm tone
Both shinobi nodded.
"Yes sir!" the pair shouted acting to follow the orders of their Kage
The Raikage looked toward Gyuki.
"If not... I'll stop it myself." he said with a frown marring his face
The two vanished.
They entered the cage through a narrow gap opened by one of the team of Elite Jonin. The openings closed behind them instantly.
Gyuki sensed them.
A tail swept low.
The first shinobi jumped over it, body twisting midair as lightning extended from his hand in a long, strong, and flexible line reaching the other Jonin shinobi.
The second slid beneath a foreleg, planting both feet against the ground before catching the lightning rope and launching himself upwards, wrapping the rope around the limb that was used to attack them. The rope then was tangled with the other tails. It snapped outward and wrapped around 6 of Gyuki's tails and one of its arms.
"Lightning Rope Binding Jutsu!"
The ropes tightened.
Unlike a cutting jutsu, these did not slice.
They clung and electrocuted the target and numbed the nerves in that area and interfered with the chakra.
Lightning crawled along Gyuki's limbs, not to tear flesh, but to lock the muscle, disrupt its movement, and create resistance. It was a technique built from the principle similar to the principle as the Chidori which has not been created yet the speed and lightning similar to it, but altered for capture instead of assassination.
For one heartbeat, Gyuki's movement caught in the lightning binding jutsu.
Just one.
The Raikage entered from another opening by the Barrier team.
The ground exploded behind him as he launched forward.
His cloak flared brighter, sharper, denser. Lightning wrapped around his right arm as two fingers extended.
'Two fingered Nukite.'
The valley seemed to narrow around that strike.
Every shinobi watching understood instinctively that this was the moment they had bought with blood, seals, and terror.
The rope team screamed as they held the beast in place as they flared their chakra.
Gyuki twisted.
The ropes strained.
The Raikage closed in.
Gyuki twisted harder.
One rope snapped.
The first shinobi was thrown backward, spinning through the air before crashing into the valley wall.
The second held with all his might as he channelled chakra into the sole of his feet to keep steady at the edge of the barrier.
The Raikage's strike reached the beast.
But Gyuki shifted just enough.
The Nukite did not land where intended.
Instead of piercing deep into a vital point, it carved across the beast's shoulder with explosive force, driving the massive body sideways and sending a shockwave through the cage.
The Lightning Cage cracked.
Not fully.
But enough.
A section of the barrier shattered.
Gyuki roared, more enraged than injured but bleeding from its shoulder.
One tail whipped across the battlefield and struck the second rope shinobi before he could escape. His body vanished into the dust created from the swipe.
After one side of the barrier shattered from being overpowered barely avoided being crushed, rolling beneath the beast's leg as the Raikage appeared between him and another tail.
The Raikage caught the tail's force with both arms in front of him.
His wooden shinobi sandals carved two deep trenches into the ground as he was pushed back.
Then he dug in his feet.
Lightning surged.
He redirected the tail downward and slammed it into the earth.
"Out!" he ordered the Shinobi with urgency
The Elite Jonin obeyed, grabbing the wounded guy that was tossed into the dust by the tail swipe and retreating through the shattered opening in the cage.
After he left the barrier was reactivated on that side with backup Jonin shinobi coming in to provide Chakra into the seals.
The third did not look back at the retreat.
Gyuki lunged.
The Raikage met it head on.
The impact between them shook the valley harder than any tail strike before it. Lightning exploded outward. The cage flickered with the massive chakra output. The seals burned brighter. Civilians hiding in the tunnels covered their ears as the roar of chakra reached even deep into the mountain.
Inside one shelter, a little boy clung to his mother's sleeve.
"Is Lord Raikage gonna win?" He asked his mom with fear in his eyes
His mother did not answer.
She could not lie.
"I believe lord raikage will triumph he has never disappointed us before." The mother said with her doubts only known to her as gives a reassuring smile to her son
Outside, shinobi began to shout.
A chant.
At first, it was scattered.
"Raikage-sama!"
Then louder.
"Raikage-sama!"
More voices joined from the evacuation shelters, from the mountain platforms, from the injured being carried away.
"Raikage-sama!"
The sound spread through Kumogakure like a wild fire catching dry grass.
The chanting was loud encuraging the 3rd Raikage to be the Spear and the Shield that Kumo desperately needs
It was not blind faith.
It was desperation given shape and hope.
They needed him to win.
They needed him to stand.
They needed the monster wearing lightning to be stronger than the monster with eight tails.
The Raikage heard them.
His expression did not change.
But his cloak intensified.
Gyuki swung.
The Raikage slipped under the strike and drove his fist into the beast's ribs. Once. Twice. Three times. Each blow landed with enough force to shake loose stone from the mountainside; his punches sounded like gun shots from a .50 cal sniper rifle.
Gyuki getting hurt from the blows answered by hopping and slamming its head forward towards him.
The Raikage crossed his arms and took the blow.
He was thrown backward through three stone ridges before catching himself on the fourth.
For the first time since he arrived in the cage, he paused.
Not long.
But long enough for those watching to feel fear crawl back into their throats.
Dust rolled around him.
His cloak flickered.
Then stabilized.
He stepped out of the broken stone.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
He wiped it away with the back of his hand.
"Again." he said with a ferocious smirk towards Gyuki
Gyuki roared.
The cage tightened.
The seal teams and the reinforcements poured in even more chakra.
The BOLT captain at the administration tower raised both hands as another wave of debris tore toward the structure.
"Rubber Wall."
The barrier expanded.
Debris struck and bounced away.
A second wave came, molten stone and splintered wood thrown by the beast's rampage.
"Lava Release."
He melted the largest pieces midair and redirected the rest.
Ikazuchi helped him out using lightning strikes and glanced toward him.
"The outer districts will not hold out." she said with a annoyance at the 8 tails
"Then the outer districts were evacuated first." Shiden said in a calm manner
"Root?"
The captain's eyes narrowed.
"What?" Shiden asked for her to repeat as he was busy with the debris.
Ikazuchi hesitated.
"Perimeter scouts reported unknown movement near the clan residential route. Shinobi with a porcelain white mask with no visible insignia."
Shiden was silent for one second.
That second was enough to chill the air around them.
"Send two squads."
"We are stretched thin."
"Send them anyway."
The order went out.
But far beyond the main battle, masked figures were already moving through the chaos.
They did not wear Konoha symbols.
They did not need to.
Their silence was their uniform.
One crouched on a branch overlooking a protected route leading away from the inner residential Area on the peaks of the mountains.
"target location uncertain." One said as he landed next to their team leader after gathering some information around the area using mind techniques of the Yamanaka clan
Another appeared beside him and said.
"The targets, Misaki and her son Antares based on information, should be living in the Kaminari residence; perhaps we should check that out." asked one of the Root to their team leader
"Orders allow elimination of both if opportunity appears we shall go and get some more information on where they are located."
A pause.
"Lord Danzo and Hokage-sama want results, let's be quick before we are noticed by the scouts since the security is low at the moment in Kumo's." the team leader said in a emotionless tone
The group of 4 used Shunshin Jutsus. The masked shinobi vanished deeper into the trees.
Behind them, the valley continued to flash with lightning.
But they were no longer watching the Eight Tails.
They were hunting something smaller.
Something easier to kill.
Or so they believed.
Farther away, where even Root had not noticed, something pale creature emerged from the side of a tree.
Only half of its body was shown; the creature has pale white skin with green hair and yellow eyes.
It did not step out fully.
It simply watched.
Its face carried no fear, no urgency, no loyalty to either side. Only interest. Deep interest.
The kind of curiosity one might see from a kid learning new things.
Below, Gyuki roared again.
The Raikage charged again.
Kumogakure screamed his name again.
The pale being tilted its head, studying the chaos with careful attention.
Then after it felt satisfied with what it found out, it slowly, and silently sank back into the tree.
"This… will be worth reporting" those where the almost whispered parting words of the pale creature
No one saw it leave.
No one felt it watching.
And in the valley below, the Lightning Cage began to fracture.
The seal teams shouted warnings.
The elite Jonin poured everything they had into the barrier.
The Raikage stood between the beast and the village, lightning blazing around him like a storm given human form.
Gyuki lowered its head to attack the Raikage again.
The beast was not beaten.
Not even close
But with one truth burning through every shinobi, and civilian in Kumogakure no sato.
They had not won or controlled the Eight Tails, not even close.
They had only angered it more and it was ready for more action.
AN :This was a really long chapter to make. Been working on it for 2 days when it usually takes me 4 hours or so to make 1 chapter, I had to scrap some ideas but im just gonna make a part 2 and add it there. I hope you guys enjoyed. Even tho ive been working on this chapter for a little over 7 hours at this moment lmao been up since 10 or 11 yesterday to make the chapter.