Eight Trigrams Susanoo

Damn it, does this mean I have to inject and fuse the Hashirama Cells right now?

Qiuyang had just thought of this possibility before shaking his head to dismiss it.

Even if he could successfully fuse them, the symptoms caused by the cellular conflict—the fever, the spasms—would be enough to knock him unconscious on the spot.

Wouldn't that just be lying down and letting the Nine-Tails slaughter him?

No, absolutely not. He didn't have a single shred of a masochistic streak.

Over there, seeing that its previous strike hadn't killed him, the Nine-Tails let out a furious roar. Its cold eyes locked onto Qiuyang once more, and hot steam billowed continuously from its mouth.

It was just like a diesel engine running at high power, waiting only for...

Whoosh—

No sooner said than done; the red figure on the water surface vanished from its spot, and only then did the water beneath its feet react and explode outward.

The hunting moment of the Nine-Tails-cloaked Naruto had begun.

"So fast."

Even with his Mangekyo Sharingan active, Qiuyang barely managed to track Naruto's movements.

He formed hand seals to cast Water Style: Water Wall while simultaneously drawing the short sword at his waist to guard himself.

Splash—

As expected, the Water Wall couldn't stop the charging Nine-Tails-cloaked Naruto at all. It tore through the barrier and appeared before Qiuyang in an instant.

Using the momentum of its speed, it raised a hand and swiped a claw.

Snap...

The sound of metal shattering rang out, accompanied by the sound of Qiuyang spitting up blood with a "Wah."

The precious sword that had accompanied Qiuyang for several months was smashed directly into scrap.

Qiuyang, sent flying into mid-air, had no time to lament before he saw multicolored chakra gathering in front of Naruto's mouth below.

Since I'm in the air and can't change my position, is it trying to kill me with that energy cannon again?

Damn it!

Qiuyang had no time to think. He pulled out six kunai marked with the Yin-Yang Bagua Flying Thunder God seal and, without caring about where they landed, tossed them in every direction.

He then formed a sword-finger seal and teleported to the kunai located to Naruto's front-left.

Qiuyang didn't notice that the moment the Nine-Tails-cloaked Naruto saw him change positions with the Flying Thunder God, it had also shifted the aim of its energy cannon.

The actual trajectory of the Tailed Beast Bomb was aimed exactly at his landing point.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

By the time Qiuyang reacted, the Tailed Beast Bomb, flashing with a deadly light, was less than half a meter from his face.

Moreover, his cooldown for the Flying Thunder God hadn't finished; he couldn't possibly complete a second teleportation.

At this life-or-death moment, the pattern of his Mangekyo Sharingan spun frantically, forming afterimages...

BOOM—

The immense power of the explosion caused the water within a ten-meter radius of where Qiuyang stood to evaporate instantly, creating a terrifying scene of a reverse waterspout.

Ten seconds later, the water blasted into the sky by the explosion began to fall in a drizzle. The Nine-Tails-cloaked Naruto watched the center of the explosion with unblinking black eyes.

It didn't believe that person could still be alive after that hit, but it slowly moved its feet forward to confirm.

Just as it reached the edge of the vortex, a pitch-black fist suddenly shot out from within, smashing it directly into the water.

"Nine-Tails, should I thank you, or should I give you a beating?"

Cough, cough... Another mouthful of blood couldn't be held back.

The water level in the depression had already been replenished. Qiuyang was now surrounded by a three-meter-tall black-and-white skeleton—it was the Susanoo that manifested after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan.

He hadn't expected this technique to activate only when his life was in danger, just like the awakening of the Mangekyo Sharingan itself.

"Bastard."

Recalling the despair and terror of that split second during the explosion, Qiuyang felt manic. He controlled the Susanoo's massive hand to scoop up the Nine-Tails-cloaked Naruto from the water and squeeze it.

"Huff... huff... you did a real number on me, Nine-Tails. I almost thought I was going to meet that old geezer, the Sage of Six Paths."

He hardened his heart and controlled the Susanoo to tighten its grip on the struggling Nine-Tails, feeling a sense of satisfaction only when he heard its pained, howling whimpers.

Hum—Boom...

The Nine-Tails-cloaked Naruto fired another mouth blast, but it had no effect; Qiuyang remained unmoved inside the Susanoo.

The Susanoo's fist continued to tighten, hurting it so much that it erupted with chakra, finally breaking free from the shackles of the Susanoo's grip and returning to the water's surface.

The Nine-Tails-cloaked Naruto glared with hatred at the skeleton that had made it feel pain, tilted its head back, and began to gather energy.

Having been treated this way, it was truly enraged.

This time was different from the previous energy cannons, as its four rear tails were now coordinating to gather energy in front, with the tips of the tails pointing at the space just ahead of its mouth.

An extremely irregular black sphere formed instantly and began to expand.

The density of this thing was so high that the surface of the water around it was visibly depressed.

Tailed Beast Bomb!!

Uchiha Qiu Yang's eyes sharpened; he understood that Nine-Tails was condensing something on the level of a Tailed Beast Bomb.

The skeletal form of Susanoo definitely could not withstand a Tailed Beast Bomb. He spat out a mouthful of blood and coldly spat out a sentence:

"Nine-Tails, you remember this day for me."

Having said that, he overdrawn his body to generate ocular power, and the Susanoo, which had previously only been a skeleton, rapidly grew meridians and muscles to cover its bones.

Following this, in the palm of the left hand of this majestic black-and-white Susanoo, a three-dimensional, swirling Yin-Yang Bagua-shaped Purification Bottle appeared.

As he reached out his right hand and grabbed at the air, a blurred, lightning-shaped spear materialized in his grip.

Corresponding to this, Uchiha Qiu Yang felt as if his eyes were about to split apart, and his entire body's bones felt as if they were soaking in sulfuric acid; the pain was so intense he nearly fainted on the spot.

He silently added this debt to Nine-Tails' account, then used the Flying Thunder God technique to instantly flash in front of Nine-Tails.

He thrust the spear, piercing through the Tailed Beast Bomb while it was still gathering.

The unformed Tailed Beast Bomb exploded directly between the two of them, sending the Tailed Beast-transformed Naruto flying, but this state of Susanoo withstood the damage head-on, and...

Just as the Tailed Beast-transformed Naruto managed to steady his body and wanted to turn back to clash head-on with his chakra arms, a spear suddenly emerged from the void and stabbed directly into the four tails behind him.

"Urgh... Roar..."

This spear seemed to have a sticky quality; as it was withdrawn, it actually dragged out the high-density Tailed Beast chakra covering Naruto's entire body along with it.

Soon, the Tailed Beast-transformed Naruto reverted to his original appearance and fell into the water after losing the support of the chakra.

Nine-Tails, who had been controlling his body from within, was now shocked beyond measure, feeling extremely wary of Uchiha Qiu Yang's method of stripping away chakra energy.

Just as it wanted to continue radiating energy to supplement Naruto and continue the Tailed Beast transformation, it suddenly discovered a figure standing within its consciousness space.

"Damn it, Uchiha brat, how did you get in here?"

"Nine-Tails, would it kill you to just stay put?"

In the darkness, Nine-Tails saw a pair of Bagua Mangekyo Sharingan emitting an eerie light, and the next second, its own eyes transformed into the appearance of those very same eyes.

Nine-Tails helplessly closed its eyes and retreated into the darkness to sleep, uttering a final parting threat at the very last moment:

"Damn genjutsu... you remember this, Uchiha Qiu Yang, once I get out..."

Outside, Uchiha Qiu Yang, who had pried open Naruto's eyelids to cast the genjutsu, finally breathed a sigh of relief and tossed Naruto aside carelessly.

He then controlled Susanoo to guide the high-density Tailed Beast chakra wrapped around the spear into the Uzumaki space seal in Susanoo's left hand.

In this way, this mass of chakra would no longer be able to reattach itself to Naruto's body.

After finishing all this, Uchiha Qiu Yang dispelled Susanoo and, abandoning all dignity, rolled around in the water in agony, while continuously "affectionately" greeting Nine-Tails.