Chapter 246: Yang-Release Body Technique — Ward
Nearly a hundred meters tall, the Six-Tails roared skyward, a gust of pressure blasting out of its misshapen mouth strong enough to ripple the edges of the Hokage's robes. Sakura stood atop a fallen stone pillar amid the ruins, arms crossed, watching this...
Er.
This mutant slug, basically.
Even though the Six-Tails' name meant "Rhino-Dog," whatever this thing looked like, it resembled neither a rhino nor a dog.
Sakura found herself questioning the Sage of the Six Paths' naming skills.
"Hokage. What's your plan?"
Ōnoki drifted over beside her, gazing at the same monstrosity.
Afraid? Worried?
Not likely.
Half the shinobi world's top talent was standing right here. If they couldn't handle a single Six-Tails between them, they might as well retire and take up farming.
"My plan?"
"Knock him back into shape, obviously."
Sakura didn't think much of the question.
Killer Bee, beside them, showed no reaction at all.
"After all, he's still a tailed beast, so maybe..."
Gaara started to say something, then swallowed the rest of it.
"So maybe what?"
Sakura's gaze landed on him.
"No. Never mind."
Gaara shook his head, clearly recalling firsthand experience with this pink-haired girl's brutality.
By then, the massive Six-Tails had already begun moving.
Straight toward Sakura, with unmistakable intent.
Clearly, Utakata's own consciousness was still bleeding through and influencing the beast. Given enough time, it was only a matter of when — not if — he'd achieve perfect jinchūriki status.
Killer Bee glanced over at that, unable to resist a second look.
As a perfect jinchūriki himself, he knew the process intimately.
If Utakata had access to the Truth-Seeking Waterfall and Killer Bee's own guidance, he could probably reach that level within three years.
But the Truth-Seeking Waterfall wasn't in Kumogakure, and Killer Bee had zero interest in helping Utakata get there.
Unless Utakata handed over three tons of gold, the way Gaara once had.
By now, the Six-Tails had puffed up its grotesque mouth and spat a stream of white slime straight at the Hokage, Kazekage, Raikage, and Tsuchikage all at once.
There had once been a First Hokage who single-handedly captured all nine tailed beasts.
Now there was a Six-Tails taking on four Kage single-handedly!
Setting raw power aside — for sheer nerve alone, this Six-Tails was falling only slightly short of Hashirama Senju himself.
No, actually...
Even Hashirama Senju had never taken on four Kage single-handedly.
The Six-Tails just did.
Which technically made it more impressive than the First Hokage.
Sakura gave a small, appreciative clap.
"Earth Release — Rigid Pillar Technique!"
"Magnetic Release — Giant of Sand!"
Ōnoki and Gaara cast their techniques nearly simultaneously — a colossal stone giant and a colossal sand giant materialized before everyone, blocking the incoming spray entirely.
The white slime struck the sand giant and let out a sharp, grating hiss, corroding straight through the sand instantly.
But even so —
It didn't punch through. Not only did the stone giant come out completely unscathed, but even the sand giant held.
"That's about all he's got."
Watching from among the gathered attendants of the four Kage, Darui spoke quietly.
"Forcing four Kage to team up against him at once — that's an accomplishment in its own right for a Six-Tails."
Temari's expression stayed calm.
"If he weren't the Mizukage, would we even need this much firepower thrown at him?"
Kankurō answered his sister.
Black Zetsu watched all of this, quietly displeased.
Wasn't the pink one supposed to fight this alone?
If the other four gang up on him together, how am I supposed to gather any real intelligence on her actual power?
"Let's just get this over with — no need to drag it out and spook everyone."
Ōnoki cast a glance at the thousand-plus shinobi gathered in the distance.
With a Six-Tails rampaging out of the administrative building, even Konoha shinobi stationed far from the site had come rushing over.
"Long overdue."
"I'll go first."
Gaara pressed his palms together, and Magnetic Release sand activated at once.
"Sand Waterfall Funeral!"
Fully leveraging his jinchūriki-tier chakra reserves, Gaara raised a hand and unleashed a devastatingly wide-area technique!
Countless grains of sand spread outward from beneath the Six-Tails' feet, and under Gaara's chakra manipulation, the very earth around it began transforming into more sand, showing every sign of intending to bury the beast whole!
"GRAAAH!"
The Six-Tails had no legs — like the Eight-Tails, it moved using tentacle-like tails — so its mobility was never especially fast to begin with.
But slow didn't mean helpless. The Six-Tails spread all six of its massive tentacles wide and flattened its enormous body directly against the ground, maximizing its surface contact area.
Its rate of sinking into the sand slowed dramatically as a result.
And then, from that massive head pressed flat against the ground, a bone-chilling surge of chakra began building in its mouth.
That was...
A Tailed Beast Ball!
As a perfect jinchūriki himself, Killer Bee knew exactly what that meant. But rather than intervening, he simply turned to Sakura and said:
"Hokage. This is your mess — aren't you going to clean it up?"
Sakura glanced at Killer Bee, no longer rapping, and replied evenly:
"Heh. Interesting. Want to see just how strong I really am?"
Killer Bee didn't hesitate.
"Obviously."
"You had that kind of power three years ago already. Show me what you've got now."
At his words, not just Gaara but even Ōnoki abandoned his half-formed idea of using Dust Release to intercept the Tailed Beast Ball, turning instead to watch this young Hokage.
"Fine."
The Hokage's answer was calm.
By now, the Six-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball had fully charged, ready to fire—
Under everyone's gaze, Sakura moved.
Instantly.
And in that same instant, ferocious, overwhelming chakra erupted outward from her entire body!
Blue and pink flames of chakra, made manifest, roared to life around her, blazing across her whole form!
The eruption of chakra was so violent that even the black cord binding her long pink hair simply snapped and shattered!
"Chakra alone, affecting her clothing like that..."
Ōnoki's expression instantly turned grave, while Killer Bee fixed his gaze, unblinking, on that pink shape rocketing forward.
That's the murderer. The one who killed my brother.
He wanted to see exactly how far this killer's strength truly went.
If there's a chance...
Killer Bee's murderous intent, of course, hadn't escaped Sakura's instincts.
But did it matter?
Killer Bee was already in his forties.
Whatever strength he had now was about as far as he'd ever go, in this lifetime.
And besides, right now was hardly the moment to deal with him anyway.
Still — the Fifth Raikage wanted to see her power for himself, and Sakura wasn't the type to be stingy about that kind of thing.
If someone had a request, she was always happy to oblige.
By then, that colossal Tailed Beast Ball had already fired from the Six-Tails' mouth!
And Sakura — without so much as a flinch or a dodge — charged straight at it!
"WHAT?!"
"Facing a Tailed Beast Ball head-on like that — this is madness!"
"Prepare to rescue the Hokage!"
Ōnoki froze for a split second, dumbstruck, before snapping urgently into motion.
Killer Bee's expression turned grim as he watched Sakura charge directly at the incoming sphere.
His own strongest attack was that exact same Tailed Beast Ball. If it had absolutely no effect on this pink-haired girl whatsoever...
Facing that oncoming sphere head-on, Sakura's expression stayed perfectly calm and cold. She planted a foot on the sea of sand beneath her as easily as if it were solid ground, then launched herself upward, her chakra erupting outward once more!
And by then, the Tailed Beast Ball had already closed the distance, reaching her—
Every eye in the vicinity locked onto the scene, terrified of blinking and missing it!
Sakura lifted her leg — and every single onlooker froze in stunned disbelief, one absurd thought crystallizing in every mind at once:
Surely not...
Golden flame ignited around her foot, and in full view of everyone present, she kicked the Tailed Beast Ball squarely.
The sphere, hurtling toward her at full speed, was sent flying straight back the way it came in a single strike!
"That's impossible!"
Killer Bee shouted in disbelieving horror.
He, of all people, knew exactly what a Tailed Beast Ball was.
There was no way — no possible way — to punt it back like a soccer ball!
The instant Sakura's body made contact with it, it should have detonated instantly!
Something this absurd simply could not happen!
If a Tailed Beast Ball could just be kicked back like a football, then the entire concept of a tailed beast was a joke!
Ōnoki, meanwhile, wore an expression of grave concentration. A long life bred sharp instincts.
"Chakra control."
"The instant before the Hokage's foot even made contact with the Tailed Beast Ball, her chakra had already wrapped around it entirely."
"She instantly understood its composition and stabilized it."
"Calling it 'kicking the Tailed Beast Ball' isn't quite right — it would be more accurate to say the Hokage kicked her own chakra."
"Chakra control on a level beyond anything I've ever seen."
"This old man has no shame left to spare."
In that moment, Ōnoki truly understood, for the first time, what "genius" and "prodigy" actually meant.
Helplessness. Sheer, undiluted helplessness.
She's sixteen. Not even seventeen yet. Legally still a minor!
Everyone else here paled by comparison to her.
Only Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha could ever have stood as her equals.
And judging by this display of chakra control alone, Ōnoki genuinely believed this Hokage could master the Light and Heavy Rock techniques she'd only just acquired within a single week.
"Kicked... her own chakra?"
Even hearing Ōnoki's explanation, Killer Bee still found it nearly impossible to accept.
Enveloping a Tailed Beast Ball while simultaneously withstanding the sheer force of her own kick required chakra control so precise that the slightest error would end in absolute catastrophe.
And this pink-haired girl had just done it, casually.
Which meant not only did she have absolute confidence in her own ability, but her chakra reserves rivaled — perhaps even exceeded — a jinchūriki's, tailed beast included.
"The Hokage isn't kicking the Tailed Beast Ball with her own physical strength — more precisely, she's using her own chakra to kick her own chakra."
"Unmatched calculation. Chakra control technique that no one alive can rival."
Ōnoki sighed, his gaze fixed on the distant figure who'd just punted a Tailed Beast Ball across the battlefield — the visible flame of chakra wreathing her body wasn't just for show.
It was a method — protection, defense against jutsu, sensory perception, chakra deployment, all rolled into one.
She'd used that same erupting chakra flame to instantly envelop the Tailed Beast Ball, then kicked her own chakra.
It sounded like absolute nonsense. But that was exactly what had happened.
Ōnoki's guess was correct.
Sakura had developed this entirely new technique by continuously refining her ever-growing chakra reserves, combined with her own formidable life-force energy.
She'd named it —
Yang-Release Body Technique: Ward.
The instant her chakra erupted, "Ward" could be activated at will, anywhere, anytime.
Using her own chakra control technique, it formed a blazing barrier of protective chakra around her body.
That barrier didn't just protect her — it could also envelop an enemy's own technique, then hurl it back using Ward's own defensive force.
Which was exactly why anyone seeing it for the first time might mistake it for her simply deflecting an attack with raw physical strength alone.
The drawback was the chakra cost — though that was a cost Sakura could easily afford.
And against techniques with especially high penetrating power, Ward's effectiveness dropped off correspondingly.
But that wasn't a problem either.
There was always Sage Technique — Yang-Release Body Technique: Ward, waiting in reserve.
By now, that Tailed Beast Ball, kicked back by Sakura, was closing in on the Six-Tails itself.
Seeing its own Tailed Beast Ball come flying back at it, the Six-Tails' mind went just as blank as Killer Bee's had.
But by the time it registered what was happening, it was already too late — the pink-haired girl had outpaced the sphere entirely and closed the distance, appearing right in front of it!
What is she doing?
Trying to die alongside me?
The Six-Tails instinctively assumed as much — because right now, this pink-haired girl was standing squarely within the blast radius, just like it was. The moment that Tailed Beast Ball detonated...
Then the pink-haired girl closed in, and before the Six-Tails could react, she drove a fist straight into its jaw!
!!!
The punch left the Six-Tails' mind utterly blank!
Overwhelming, absolute brute force erupted from that single fist!
Even a creature of its colossal scale could feel itself buckling under the impact!
And before the Six-Tails could even recover from that instant of blackout, the pink-haired girl had already grabbed its jaw with one hand.
Under the beast's horrified gaze, she wrenched its mouth wide open by main force!
Could it be...
The Six-Tails wanted to flee — but to its own utter horror, it discovered that this tiny figure somehow outmatched it in raw strength.
Its own mouth was being physically torn open by this girl's sheer power!
Then the returning Tailed Beast Ball was forced, bodily, straight into its gaping mouth!
Wrapped in the protective barrier of Ward, that sphere was crammed all the way down into the Six-Tails' stomach without detonating!
But that had only worked because of what had already been spent — as time passed, the chakra sealing the sphere was rapidly running out!
Watching the Tailed Beast Ball lodged firmly back inside the Six-Tails' own belly, the beast thrashed in a panic, desperate to spit the thing back out — but no matter how violently it struggled, it stood no chance whatsoever against Sakura's overwhelming strength.
Seeing this, Sakura simply used both hands and forced the Six-Tails' jaws shut, clamping them together — exactly as she'd once done to the Two-Tails.
Feeling that scorching, about-to-detonate sphere trapped inside it, the Six-Tails thrashed with mounting desperation, trying to shake off the pink-haired girl now sealing its mouth shut — but every attempt only confirmed what had already been proven: there was simply no matching her raw strength.
Was this the same monster Yugito Nii and Isobu had once faced?
The Six-Tails seemed to already glimpse its own fate, letting out a mournful wail.
Even the great Rhino-Dog found itself on the verge of tears — not even three hundred rounds against Hashirama Senju himself, back in the day, had left it feeling this utterly helpless.
In that moment, all the Rhino-Dog could think was one thing.
Somebody get Hashirama Senju down here.
(End of chapter)
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