第21章 那蕴含着恐怖能量的黑球

Kakuzu saw the situation and said nothing more. His employer had already fled, and his job was done, so there was naturally no need to stay. He was here to make money, not to throw his life away.

Consequently, Kakuzu turned and followed Hozuki Reigetsu, walking away without a second glance.

Hibari stared at the backs of the two men, his eyes practically spitting fire, while crackling electricity flashed across the hand gripping his blade.

Sarutobi Sasuke watched them swagger away, feeling deeply annoyed, but a ninja had to prioritize the mission above all else.

Their mission was never to hunt down the Kirigakure ninja, but to keep a tight watch on the Seven-Tails Chomei until the Hokage, Senju Hashirama, arrived.

Thinking of this, Sarutobi Sasuke shouted in a low, stern voice, "Let them go! Everyone, prepare yourselves. Stall the Seven-Tails; we absolutely cannot let it break out of Insect King Valley!"

Before the words had even faded, he was the first to turn and dash toward the direction of the Seven-Tails Chomei.

Hibari frowned and spoke up, "Hiruzen, what if those two bastards decide to double back?"

"Hozuki Reigetsu's identity has been exposed; he won't dare to act recklessly," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a tone of certainty. "As long as one of us three makes it back alive, Kirigakure won't be able to escape the charge of violating the peace!"

Before, when Hozuki Reigetsu hadn't shown his face, he could cause as much trouble as he liked. But if he dared to act out now, it would be an overt tearing up of the agreement. If Konoha and Kirigakure truly went to war, he would be the one left to face the consequences.

However, he certainly dared to provoke the Seven-Tails—after all, he hadn't forced the Konoha ninja to stop it, had he?

At worst, it would be considered a minor friction where they "accidentally interfered with Konoha's operations while executing a classified mission." The two villages would bicker a bit, and it would blow over.

Of course, if the Konoha ninja really ended up in a mutual-destruction scenario with the Seven-Tails... he would be secretly delighted. It would perfectly achieve his goal of "using a beast to kill his enemies."

After hearing this, Hibari suppressed his anger and gritted his teeth. "Fine, just you wait! If I ever get the chance, I'm going to kill that bastard!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled upon hearing this. "What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing."

After laughing, he turned serious again. "For now, let's think about how to stall this rampaging Seven-Tails... I really hope Lord Hokage arrives soon."

Hibari looked at the giant insect rampaging in the distance, weighed his remaining chakra, and then pulled a handful of military rations from his ninja pouch, stuffing them all into his mouth at once.

As he chewed, he mumbled, "Hiruzen, I'm going to recover some chakra first.

Cover for me in a moment and buy me some time—I have a technique that might be able to restrain the Seven-Tails and create a great opportunity for Old Man Sarutobi!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen grinned after hearing this. "Alright, the stage is yours. Just don't mess up the performance!"

"Hahaha, just you watch!" Hibari said, patting his chest.

On the other side, after walking a certain distance, Hozuki Reigetsu suddenly tilted his head toward Kakuzu. "I have another deal here. I wonder if you're interested..."

Kakuzu snorted and glanced at him sideways. "If the price is right, everything is negotiable."

The Seven-Tails Chomei looked like a cross between a beetle and a giant dragonfly, capable of both flight and burrowing. When Sarutobi Sasuke arrived, he saw it stomp down with one of its insect legs,

crushing Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear clone into a pulp—well, Kakuzu was down another heart.

Sarutobi Sasuke's eyelids twitched at the sight. His strength was not lacking, but dealing with a Tailed Beast was exhausting work. Yet, he could not retreat now. A Konoha ninja had to stand their ground at all times.

Furthermore, since the mission had turned into this mess, he had to take the lion's share of the responsibility. If it truly failed, he would have to shoulder the entire blame!

"What a pain..." Sarutobi Sasuke muttered, his hands moving rapidly through hand seals.

"Fire Style: Four-Corner Fire Wall!"

As chakra surged, four walls of fire erupted, completely surrounding the Seven-Tails Chomei.

It was an insect's nature to fear fire. Even if the Seven-Tails wasn't bothered by the heat, its instincts drove it to flap its wings and charge upward, trying to drill out over the top of the fire wall.

But how could Sarutobi Sasuke leave such an opening? The moment the fire wall rose, his hand seals shifted.

Just as the Seven-Tails poked its head out above the fire wall, he finished his final seal.

"Earth Style: Falling Clay!"

The air seemed to tear open, and thick, sticky clumps of clay rained down, plastering the Seven-Tails right in the face and forcing it back into the fire wall. This clay was soaked in oil; the moment it touched the flames, it ignited with a roar.

In the blink of an eye, the flames soared high. The Seven-Tails, coated in burning clay, was engulfed in fire, letting out a piercing, ear-splitting shriek that made one's head ache.

It looked like Sarutobi Sasuke had subdued the Seven-Tails in two moves, but his face showed no relief; instead, it grew even tighter. He wasn't like that hotheaded kid Hibari. He had dealt with Tailed Beasts before alongside Tobirama and the Hokage, and he knew clearly—how could it be that easy to settle?

Sure enough, before he could even catch his breath, a terrifying surge of chakra erupted from within the fire wall.

Immediately after, a massive purple-black sphere burst through the flames. Everything in its path—the valley and the dense forest—was ground into dust, finally slamming into the rock wall of Insect King Valley with an earth-shattering explosion.

"Tailed Beast Bomb... still as frightening as ever," Sarutobi Sasuke muttered.

At that moment, the charred Seven-Tails suddenly writhed violently. Before long, it shed a layer of its insect shell and shook its body as if nothing had happened. Its hideous compound eyes locked onto Sarutobi Sasuke.

"Oh dear, this is going to be troublesome..." Sarutobi Sasuke muttered, though his hands began forming seals once more.

After locking onto him, the Seven-Tails' aura turned vicious. With a flap of its giant wings, it charged, clearly intending to crush him with its sheer size.

Facing this overwhelming momentum, Sarutobi Sasuke didn't even dodge. Instead, the hand seals he was forming grew increasingly complex.

Just as the Seven-Tails Chomei was about to pounce on Sarutobi Sasuke and grind him into pulp, the corner of Sasuke's mouth curled up. Immediately after, another voice rang out.

"Earth Style: Earth Mountain Technique!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen had appeared atop a tall tree, his hand seals just finishing.

Before the words had even finished, two thunderous booms shook the ground. Two mountain-sized boulders erupted from the earth, one on the left and one on the right, and like a sandwich, they slammed together with a "clack," pinning the charging Seven-Tails firmly in the middle!

This Earth Mountain Technique was no ordinary earth jutsu; it was the highest-level technique for "immobilization" in the Earth Style. Once formed, it could pin down even a Tailed Beast. However, the cost was high—it required a continuous output of chakra to maintain.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was in his prime and possessed vast reserves of chakra—otherwise, he wouldn't be able to handle ninjutsu of five different natures—so by him casting it, he managed to temporarily trap the Seven-Tails Chomei at this critical juncture.

With his son controlling the field, the father wasn't idle. Sarutobi Sasuke finally finished that incredibly complex set of hand seals.

"Secret Technique: Yellow Springs Oil Swamp!"

He let out a low shout, and chakra surged accordingly. The ground beneath the Seven-Tails' feet instantly turned into a thick, sticky swamp. That wasn't all; the swamp was bubbling with slippery oil,

simultaneously sucking the Seven-Tails downward and seeping into the gaps of its carapace. The corrosive effect was so strong that it even melted away much of the mountain rock pinning it.

Seeing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately released his technique. In just that short time, his face had turned pale, and his body swayed.

Even though it was just one ninjutsu, it had nearly drained him; after all, hard-locking a Tailed Beast was no child's play.

However, his foundation remained, and his chakra wasn't completely bottomed out. As soon as the technique was released, he immediately shifted his hands into the "Tiger" seal and spat a pillar of fire toward the oil swamp!

As soon as the flames licked the oil swamp, it erupted into a sea of fire. The Seven-Tails, wrapped within it, let out an ear-piercing insect cry that echoed throughout the valley.

Hibari, who was watching the show while recovering his chakra on the side, couldn't help but click his tongue.

"I'd heard Old Man Sarutobi was strong, and Brother Hiruzen is a beast too, but I didn't expect them to be this ruthless when they got serious—they're actually pinning down a Tailed Beast for this long..." he whispered to himself. "Man, I've still got a long way to go."

But then again, even if a wild Tailed Beast was fierce, it mainly acted on instinct. Didn't that kid Deidara take down the Three-Tails with a single bomb later on?

Although this Seven-Tails had four more tails and might be trickier, with the Sarutobi father and son working together to suppress it, it should... be fine, right?

However, thinking was one thing, and reality was another. The Seven-Tails was four tails stronger than the Three-Tails, and that strength was a fact.

Most importantly, this father-son duo didn't possess the kind of sealing jutsu capable of forcibly sealing a Tailed Beast, so the crisis at hand hadn't been resolved at all!

Just as Hibari was wondering if the Seven-Tails was about to be roasted alive, a violent struggle erupted from within the sea of fire.

The next moment, the Seven-Tails Chomei, still covered in unextinguished flames, broke free from the oily, sticky swamp and soared back into the air.

It shook its head, and purple-black chakra began to gather frantically in front of it once more, condensing into a Tailed Beast Bomb of considerable size in the blink of an eye.

This time, the pitch-black sphere was clearly aimed at Sarutobi Sasuke below.

Sarutobi Sasuke's heart skipped a beat; he dared not take this head-on.

The moment the Tailed Beast Bomb began to condense, he used the Body Flicker Technique to shift his position. But the Seven-Tails' eyes seemed locked onto him; it twisted its neck, and the aim of the Tailed Beast Bomb shifted along with him.

Immediately after, the black sphere, containing terrifying energy, was fired by the Seven-Tails, blasting straight toward Sarutobi Sasuke!

Hibari, watching from afar, felt his heart rise into his throat.

Fortunately, Sarutobi Sasuke was experienced. Just a split second before the Tailed Beast Bomb was about to hit his face, he pressed his hands together, and his entire body "slipped" into the ground.

Almost simultaneously, the Tailed Beast Bomb whistled past his original position like a giant plow, overturning the entire patch of ground and sending earth and stone flying.

Hibari's eyelids twitched as he watched, silently praying: Old man, you have to stay steady; don't capsize at this critical moment...

Just as Hibari was praying, Sarutobi Sasuke's head "popped" out of the dirt right next to Sarutobi Hiruzen's feet.

His tone was heavy. "This thing is going crazy without end; I'm afraid Insect King Valley won't survive this... Hiruzen, find a way to trap it for a while longer. I'm going to prepare a major sealing technique and see if I can put it to sleep."

Sarutobi Hiruzen reacted quickly, immediately responding, "Father, are you going to use the 'Nightmare Sealing Style'?"

Sarutobi Sasuke didn't answer, simply nodding before retracting his head back into the ground.

The Nightmare Sealing Style was a secret technique passed down through the Sarutobi clan, specifically designed for dealing with large targets. It could drag the target into a nightmare and force them to sleep; it was quite useful for capturing summoning beasts or signing contracts.

But right now, Sarutobi Hiruzen's chakra was bottomed out. He couldn't even think about the Earth Mountain Technique, and he had no moves left to suppress the Seven-Tails Chomei.

He pondered for two seconds, thought of that kid Hibari, stepped on the ground, and vanished with a Body Flicker.

On the other side, Hibari was feeling his internal chakra surging back. Although this human-form ability was a pitfall that prevented him from practicing water-attribute chakra,

and Wood Release was out of the question, his chakra recovery speed was ridiculously fast. Combined with the military rations he had just swallowed, his state was almost fully restored.

"At least this cheat code wasn't a total waste..." Hibari muttered to himself, clicking his tongue.