Ninja Tiger King

The Tiger King had realized that the little ones in its group had only been paralyzed and knocked unconscious, so it had stayed behind without worrying.

That was why Kimura Takuya hadn't sensed it before. But after Kimura Takuya's barrage of long-range Rasengan attacks,

it immediately sensed instinctively that the explosions would seriously injure its subordinates!

"Roaaar!"

It cried out in alarm and charged over, only to find its subordinates all lying on the ground, their skin torn and flesh exposed.

Although Kimura Takuya had avoided hitting the Giant Tiger itself, the explosive force of the Big Ball Rasengan had still injured all the Ninja Tigers.

Their recovery abilities meant the injuries weren't too serious, but concern had clouded the Tiger King's judgment, and it was clearly enraged.

"Awesome!"

"Stop saying 'awesome' and move! Something even nastier is coming!"

Kimura Takuya shoved Shizune aside. His earlier ultimate move had startled her, and she was still in shock!

The Tiger King was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of them. It lunged, knocking over the tree beneath them.

Fortunately, Kimura Takuya dodged in time. But the Tiger King was the Tiger King, and it had actually picked up a few ninja-style Taijutsu tricks.

As it lunged at the tree, it saw the two of them dodge ahead of time. Unable to stop itself, it crashed into the tree, then used the impact to bounce back and pursue them.

A rapid series of attacks followed!

Kimura Takuya and Shizune could only split up and dodge.

The Tiger King was clever, too. When it saw them separate,

it chose to pursue just one of them. Ignoring Kimura Takuya, who was right beside it, it went after Shizune instead.

It seemed to have decided to eliminate the weaker one first, then deal with Kimura Takuya.

With the Tiger King on her heels, Shizune used every trick and last resort she had. She tried everything from Mouth Needle to Poison Senbon, even throwing her last Poison Kunai, but she couldn't even pierce the Tiger King's defenses!

Kimura Takuya caught his breath. To wipe out the Ninja Tigers quickly, he had just used a dual-handed, long-range Big Ball Rasengan rapid-fire version.

He had fired more than a dozen Big Ball Rasengan, controlling each one to detonate at a set distance.

Each Rasengan had power beyond A-rank. They hadn't reached S-rank, but firing off more than a dozen super-A-rank techniques in a row was still astonishing.

The amount of chakra he'd used had definitely exceeded one card's worth.

Now he was completely drained.

He was empty. There was nothing left. He'd used it all up in one go!

So when Kimura Takuya saw Shizune in danger as the Tiger King chased her, all he could do was throw a few Kunai from behind. None of them had any effect.

"There's no choice. I can only open the Gate. Opening it with no chakra left will put an enormous strain on my body.

"I'll probably be weak for a long time afterward."

There was no other option at this stage. Even Might Guy and Lee went through a period of weakness after opening the Gates with full chakra.

With no chakra left, opening the Gates now meant pushing his body and mind to their absolute limits.

His Immortality might help ease the strain, but Kimura Takuya estimated he'd still be weak for at least an hour.

"Gate of Pain, open!"

A surge of chakra erupted from Kimura Takuya. He felt every cell in his body contract, while a tearing sensation seized his mind.

That was what it felt like to forcefully squeeze out chakra. If an ordinary person had experienced that, they would have collapsed on the spot.

But Kimura Takuya had cut off his pain nerves ahead of time, ignoring the pain in his body. His powerful soul also helped him endure the mental damage.

Whoosh!

With the Gate of Pain open, Kimura Takuya charged straight at the Tiger King.

The Tiger King was happily chasing Shizune when it suddenly sensed a surge of chakra behind it, heading straight for its backside.

Its rear clenched instinctively.

It wasn't Kimura Takuya's fault for being lewd. The Tiger King was simply standing in an irresistible position!

If he didn't use Konoha Style Taijutsu Secret Technique: Thousand Years of Death on it,

he'd be letting fate's positioning go to waste!

"Thousand Years of Death!"

The Tiger King stood over five meters tall on all fours. When it reared up, it was more than ten meters tall—almost as high as a five-story building!

It was only a little smaller than the Toads of Mount Myōboku.

So for this Thousand Years of Death, Kimura Takuya used a branch he'd just chopped off a nearby fallen tree.

It was called a branch, but it was thicker than Kimura Takuya himself.

The whole thing was as long as an ordinary tree with a trunk as thick as a small bucket!

It looked to be a little over ten meters long, too.

Squelch!

Most of the branch slid inside.

"Roar! Roar!"

The Tiger King howled as the blow struck. Its backside contracted, and it sprang away, tail tucked between its legs as it ran.

"Ha! You're lucky you ran fast! But I've left Soul Energy on you. I'll come back and deal with you when I have time!"

Kimura Takuya stood with his hands on his hips for a moment, showing off. Then he found a suitable spot and sat down, deactivating the Eight Inner Gates Formation.

He leaned against a big tree and lay down.

"Tuoye, great job! You really gave it a good poke!"

"I'm done. I've been completely drained. I'm going to pass out for a bit."

"Tuoye, Tuoye, what's wrong?"

Kimura Takuya passed out without giving Shizune any time to react.

He simply collapsed.

Fortunately, he had already found a good spot, avoiding any unnecessary injuries from the fall.

Shizune looked at Kimura Takuya, whose chakra was depleted, and shook her head helplessly.

She came over and used Medical Ninjutsu to ease the strain on his body.

After a long while, Kimura Takuya slowly woke up.

"I woke up a little sooner than I expected. Was it Shizune who helped ease the strain?"

He got up and looked around, but couldn't find Shizune.

The sun was already setting. Night fell faster in the Giant Tree Forest, which looked like a primeval jungle, than it did elsewhere.

"Shizune!"

"Shizune!"

"Tuoye, are you awake? Wait there. I'll be right out. Stay where you are, and don't go looking around!"

A short distance away, the sound of trickling water came from the woods behind him, especially clear in the darkness.

Kimura Takuya immediately understood what was going on and obediently waited where he was.

Before long, Shizune emerged from the woods behind him, looking composed as she asked with concern,

"Tuoye, are you all right now? How are you feeling?"

"Ah, I can walk, at least. My chakra hasn't recovered yet. Opening the Eight Inner Gates Formation earlier forced my body past its limits. I've recovered a little, but I probably won't be able to use chakra for the rest of the day."

Kimura Takuya's head throbbed. He had just turned off the pain block; keeping his pain nerves cut off for too long was bad for his body.

He clutched his head and grimaced as he answered Shizune's worried question.

Seeing him like that, Shizune couldn't help scolding him. She wasn't sure whether she was putting on her senior's authority or whether it was something else.

She felt that her image in front of this kid had completely fallen apart. She was usually so even-tempered, so why had he made her lose her temper so many times just today?

"Honestly, you were way too reckless. Forcing your body to burn through its chakra like that can cause serious harm!

"This isn't just about not being able to use chakra today. You're a Medical Ninjutsu user yourself. Don't you know that this kind of damage to your body is permanent?"

"What else could I do? I couldn't just watch you get eaten by a tiger, could I, Shizune?"

"Uh, th-that still doesn't mean you should act so recklessly. I could've gotten away."

"How was I supposed to know that? What if you couldn't escape? I'd have lost someone close to me again."

Shizune fell silent.

Right. This child had no other family left.

So had I, as his senior, become the person closest to him?

Shizune's eyes reddened with emotion. She went over to Kimura Takuya, had him lie with his head on her lap, and began using Medical Ninjutsu to ease his headache.

There was no refusing her.

Kimura Takuya stared at her, baffled. Out of nowhere, she'd pulled him into a lap pillow?

He'd only been too lazy to argue with Shizune, so he'd made up an excuse.

Had she really taken him seriously?

Well, if she had, that was fine. It didn't hurt.

Enjoying Shizune's lap pillow, Kimura Takuya had nothing to do and couldn't very well move around, so he focused on observing the Tiger King.

"Hm? Where is it? Why does it look like it's inside some kind of base?"