Empty Air Bullet

The sky was just beginning to brighten.

The Sand Village ninja, unable to contain their impatience, launched an attack.

"Damn those big headscarves! I curse them to eat sand until they die!" Nawaki cursed the restless Sand Ninja. They started fighting first thing in the morning, couldn't they just stop for a second? It's so infuriating!

Although that's what he thought, Nawaki also knew that his idea was unreasonable. War is not a gathering; there is no tenderness, only the burning of iron and blood. Only by using any means necessary can it be called war.

He was simply venting his pent-up anger. Otome's words kept him up for half the night, and he only managed to doze off for two minutes before the Sand Ninja started attacking again. To put it bluntly, he was just being grumpy when he woke up.

"Nawaki, hurry up, we're about to fight!" The middle-aged ninja, already prepared, urged Nawaki to set off.

"They're here! They're here!"

Nawaki hurriedly tied his leg bindings and rushed out of the cave with the middle-aged ninja.

Teams quickly assembled and then moved into action following orders, attacking, providing support, defending, and patrolling. The entire Black Tail Mountain was like a giant machine, and the ninjas were the gears within it, operating with extremely high efficiency. Even if one link broke down, a replacement part would take its place.

Nawaki and Otome stood together. Because Katsuki was missing, a middle-aged ninja who had lost his teammates was temporarily assigned to the group. He was the uncle who had come with Nawaki.

"Shall we attack and confront the Stone Ninja?"

Nawaki listened to the leader's loud shouts from the high platform and quickly understood their mission.

As for the morale-boosting speeches that followed, he wasn't very interested. He took a deep breath and calmly awaited the upcoming battle. Those burly Stone Ninja were nothing like their rugged appearance; they were as slippery as oiled glass eggs, impossible to catch. He had spent a lot of effort killing six yesterday, and he was determined to kill more today.

"We have to fight this hard!"

Otome stood beside Nawaki and said softly.

"With the One-Tail appearing, the Sand Ninja clearly have no intention of holding back. Today is very likely to be the final battle!"

"That's right. With monsters like the Tailed Beast appearing, it's either them who die, or we kick the bucket." The middle-aged ninja cursed, but there was no fear in his eyes, only cold killing intent. Life and death were predetermined. As long as he killed as many Stone Ninja as possible to avenge his fallen comrades, that would be enough.

They didn't ask for more; most of the nearly one thousand ninjas present had expressions of resignation to their fate.

Nobody's a fool.

Everyone present had survived countless bloody battles and possessed a keen sense of the battlefield. Some exceptional individuals had even glimpsed the color of death. The appearance of the One-Tail Beast already indicated the situation; what lay ahead was a seemingly endless battle to the death.

Following the commander's orders, ninja squads poured down Black Tail Mountain like a flowing river.

"What a severe test!" Makita Kiyotaka stood in front of the granary near the mountaintop.

"It's a pity we have to stay here," Duan sighed.

Guarding the grain and supplies was the most important task, so Makita and Dan led a large number of experts to guard the area to prevent unscrupulous people from taking advantage of the situation.

"Makita, the Jinchuriki have been dispatched!"

A dark figure suddenly emerged from the ground and crouched down in front of Makita.

"... Let it be, don't worry about it." Makita said slowly, squinting as he looked down at the scenery. He could see the giant tanuki monster, Shukaku, which was as big as a small hill. At this moment, it stopped in its tracks. He didn't see Katsuyu, snakes, or Giant Toad, only a small red dot moving quickly.

"Oh... you've arrived, Kato-kun. Please entertain our guest." Makita's lips curled into a sneer.

"Spirit Transformation Technique!"

Dan Katō had been sitting upright on the Taiseki, suddenly lowered his head, and a ray of light, invisible to the living, shot into the ground...

Crimson flowers bloom silently in the earth, yet no one appreciates their dazzling and alluring moment.

On the plains in front of Black Tail Mountain, the cold wind howled and the dark clouds in the sky rolled like Dotō, yet not a single drop of rain fell. The moment a raindrop condensed from the dark clouds and fell, the howling wind would sweep it away and carry it far away from Shukaku.

Shukaku hates water.

The humid climate of the Land of Rain makes Shukaku extremely uncomfortable; the dry, scorching desert is its true domain. That's why it can control gales to disperse the rain. If it weren't for the unwavering will of its Jinchuriki, changing the weather wouldn't be difficult. Controlling gales is one of its abilities, making it easy to influence celestial phenomena.

However, the only drawback was that although the Jinchuriki. Instead, it used this as a price to make the Jinchuriki help these yellowish-brown insects eliminate another group of green-skinned humans.

Well! As long as it can kill, it doesn't care who the dead are. Anyway, there aren't many good people among these insect-like humans. Sealing it in such a dark and narrow place, transferring it into different human bodies time and time again, it vainly tries to seize its power. It... hates humans.

"Hehehe!!!"

The enormous, bottomless maw opened, emitting a strange, shrill cry. Shukaku glared angrily at the red light hurtling towards it at high speed; it smelled something that made it very uncomfortable.

That was a smell it utterly loathed, just as it loathed rainwater, and it loathed that damned stinking fox; that stench could be smelled from a great distance!

"Wind Release: Empty Air Bullet"

A massive high-pressure air mass was ejected like a missile, crashing heavily onto the ground and creating a huge crater.

The Tailed Beast's attack shook the mountains and the earth.

Those ninjas who missed witnessing the epic battle between the Sannin and the One-Tail Beast a few days ago now deeply understand what true strength means—it's a monster in human form!

An existence comparable to a true monster!

The ninja squad descending the mountain split up quickly like a stream encountering a boulder, avoiding the plains where Shukaku was entrenched. At this point, anyone below the rank of Jonin would be courting death; they weren't even qualified to be cannon fodder. In the face of monsters like the Tailed Beast, every move they made was like a catastrophe, something ordinary people simply couldn't withstand, even if it was just an unintentional aftershock.

"What a huge uproar! Ugh!"

Otoha spat, the gust of wind that had just hit him carrying mud and sand that had covered his face.

"Minato, what do we do now? It feels like we can't intervene at all." Otoha looked at Minato with worry. The enormous size of the Tailed Beast meant that they couldn't be harmed by ordinary means. At the very least, only B-rank Ninjutsu or higher could damage Tailed Beast.

However, high-ranking Ninjutsu cannot be used casually. The limited amount of Chakra humans possess is the most stringent limitation. Five or six high-ranking Ninjutsu can drain most of a ninja's Chakra. Even with extraordinary abilities, without enough Chakra as fuel, one is nothing but a waste.