At the sound of Aizen's voice, Shukaku's expression grew even more savage. It stared fixedly at Aizen, drool hanging from its cavernous maw as if it couldn't wait to tear him apart and devour him.
"I could never forget your scent, you bastard. Today, you'll repay me with your life for the humiliation you inflicted on me back then!"
Shukaku glared furiously at Aizen and roared in a low voice.
It didn't wait for Aizen to reply before attacking. Fury had already consumed it completely, and it could no longer wait.
"Whoosh—"
Shukaku suddenly brought its palm down, the rushing wind shrill and fierce!
Facing this sudden attack, everyone from Las Noches present tensed and sprang into action, while Aizen maintained a faint smile, entirely unruffled.
"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"
"Wood Release: Adamantine Wood Ingot!"
"Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!!"
"Boom—"
With a tremendous crash, Shukaku's arm, wrapped in swirling clouds of sand, stopped abruptly in midair, as though something had blocked it.
From far away, the Konoha Ninjas hiding in a corner saw what had happened and stared in astonishment, murmuring,
"This is..."
A massive tree trunk as thick as Shukaku's arm had burst out of the earth in midair. It had suddenly grown enormous and stood directly in the arm's path.
Beside the giant tree, countless puppets hovered silently in the air, a dark mass that made for a startling sight.
Beneath Shukaku's arm, Aizen stood quietly, a calm smile on his face.
"Crack—crack—"
As Nawaki's expression grew slightly more solemn, he clenched his joined hands tightly!
The giant tree, which had been locked in a stalemate with Shukaku, suddenly surged upward and continued growing. Shukaku's expression darkened; it was having trouble suppressing the tree's growth.
Just then, a magnetic voice slowly rang out across