Kazan stood in the sky, making no effort to conceal his presence. His imposing aura spread outward, setting the Sand Shinobi guarding the One-Tail Jinchuriki on edge.
Why was the Ghost of Konoha here?
And what had he come for?
They could not help wondering, but none of them had an answer.
They wanted to flee, yet feared the Kazekage would blame them.
On Kazan's shoulder, the Nine-Tails kept taunting the One-Tail, his nine tails an insult all their own.
"You damned fox!" Shukaku roared, nearly breaking free of his seal.
But Bunpuku kept his head. The old man had little time left to live, and he had no wish to anger the Ghost of Konoha. He was not someone the Sand Shinobi could afford to provoke.
"Ghost of Konoha, sir..."
"Let the One-Tail out. Like Kurama said, we were passing through and decided to give him a beating. That's all."
"..."
Bunpuku fell silent. The Ghost of Konoha truly did whatever pleased him.
He would beat Shukaku just because he happened to pass by. The sheer audacity of it.
Kurama?
Shukaku heard Kazan call the Nine-Tails by name and exclaimed, "You told him your name?!"
The Nine-Tails answered with a cold snort.
Shukaku suddenly burst out laughing. That damned fox looked down on him every day because he had more tails, yet in the end, he had still submitted to a human.
Shukaku had a peculiar laugh, shrill and mocking by nature. After listening for a moment, the Nine-Tails lost his patience.
"Enough talk. Get out here, tanuki. Today I'll show you that a Tailed Beast's strength is measured by the number of tails he has."
The nerve!
Shukaku hated hearing that more than anything. If the Nine-Tails was right, wouldn't his single tail make him the weakest?
"The