Wind Release: Nine-Tails Bomb

"Improve my strength. I don't think it'll be long before they start making their move."

Naruto looked seriously at the Nine-Tails. "Honestly, I don't know the other Tailed Beasts. To me, they're nothing more than strangers. I only want to protect you. That's all."

"Just like we agreed when we first began..."

Naruto held out his hand toward the Nine-Tails, his azure eyes sincere and free of any falsehood.

"Naruto, I never expected you to say something so sentimental."

The Nine-Tails grinned. Its ferocious smile somehow looked rather goofy as it extended a claw and touched Naruto's small hand.

"Still, Naruto, if possible, I hope you can help the other Tailed Beasts."

"If it's your request, Nine-Tails, I'll try. But I can't promise anything. I'm too weak right now. Going up against any one of them would mean death."

"I'm only asking you to help them a little. If there's danger, then your life is naturally the most important! You're my Jinchuriki, so don't go dying for other Tailed Beasts so easily!"

The Nine-Tails flicked Naruto's forehead with a finger. As expected, Naruto bounced around the cage like a rubber ball before landing on the ground with his eyes spinning.

"Nine-Tails! That was way too much!"

Naruto viciously stomped on the Nine-Tails' tail.

"Hmm?"

Naruto suddenly stopped playing around with the Nine-Tails. He felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Naruto, that Chakra..." The Nine-Tails sensed that cold, sinister Chakra.

"Nine-Tails, something seems to have happened outside!"

Naruto left his inner world. A cold, dark, ominous aura kept coming from that direction, and he immediately ran toward it.

When Mikoto Uchiha saw Naruto running that way, she followed him.

By the river, a water-filled bamboo tube lay on the ground. Yakushi Nonō was being held up by the throat by a hand covered in black Curse Marks.

"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?! Tell me!" His face was twisted with savagery, and his hospital gown was covered in blood.

Red veins filled his Byakugan. The one who had come seeking revenge on Naruto was none other than

Haruki Hyuga.

Haruki Hyuga threw Yakushi Nonō into the air and struck her with his palm.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

"Bang—!"

Yakushi Nonō slammed heavily into a tree trunk, her body denting into it. The Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, empowered by Haruki Hyuga's Curse Mark-enhanced Chakra, had severely wounded her in a single blow.

"Cough—!"

Blood surged into Yakushi Nonō's throat, and she spat out a mouthful. With great difficulty, she raised a hand. The Explosive Tags beneath Haruki Hyuga's feet ignited, and by the time he noticed them, they exploded with a boom.

"Kehehehe~!"

An eerie laugh came from the smoke produced by the explosion. A long, slender tail gleaming with crystalline light shot out from the smoke with incredible speed. Yakushi Nonō only saw a streak of light flash past before the tail pierced through her chest.

As the smoke dispersed, Haruki Hyuga had transformed into a monster. He had clearly entered Curse Mark State Two, but without the Awakening Heart Medicine, his Curse Mark State Two was unstable. It even made his already chaotic mind grow even more frenzied.

Haruki Hyuga's body was covered in dense scales. Tiny holes, almost impossible to see with the naked eye, covered those scales. With every breath, Chakra poured from them, forming an aura that burned around his body like a Super Saiyan's after transforming in Dragon Ball. The scales atop his head exposed his left eye, whose sclera was black.

"Kehehehe~! So this is my power!"

The tail pulled free from Yakushi Nonō's chest, tearing away a large chunk of flesh.

Yakushi Nonō fell to the ground in agony. Before losing consciousness, she caught sight of Naruto's golden hair.

"Mikoto, go check on Nonō. Leave him to me." Naruto saw those distinctive Byakugan and immediately knew who the monster before him was.

"Be careful."

Mikoto Uchiha gave him a reminder before running toward Yakushi Nonō, who lay in a pool of blood.

Wind Release: Nine-Tails Ball (1/2)

"Naruto Uzumaki!!!"

The moment Haruki Hyuga saw Naruto, his last shred of reason evaporated beneath the fury and hatred flooding his heart. His tail became an arc of light and stabbed toward Mikoto Uchiha, who was running past him.

That Curse Mark on him... So Orochimaru, that goldfish bastard, bit him after all. Why the hell would he bite him when he had nothing better to do?

Naruto, wrapped in a Tailed Beast Cloak, moved even faster. He grabbed Haruki Hyuga's tail, only to feel his hand go empty as a burst of sharp pain shot through it. Haruki Hyuga's tail had cut a wound across his hand.

Under the effects of the Tailed Beast Cloak, the wound healed rapidly.

Curse Mark State Two... shouldn't he need to take some kind of awakening medicine? Naruto looked at the wound closing in his palm and raised a hand toward Haruki Hyuga.

"Wind Release: Finger Gun!"

The compressed Wind Release Chakra bullet struck Haruki Hyuga but was blocked by his scales. The Finger Gun only forced him back two steps, while the blade-like storm created by its dispersal sliced across his body with a series of clanging sounds.

Mikoto Uchiha reached Yakushi Nonō's side and gave her emergency treatment, stopping the loss of blood.

Even the Finger Gun can't pierce his scales!

You persistent bastard! I should never have let you live back then!

Naruto crossed his hands, and bullets compressed from Wind Release Chakra fired continuously from all ten fingers.

"Wind Release: Finger Bullet Barrage!"

A tornado made of countless tiny wind blades swallowed Haruki Hyuga, slicing him hundreds of millions of times within mere seconds!

Able to sense danger, Haruki Hyuga still used Rotation even after losing consciousness!

As Haruki Hyuga spun at high speed, the Chakra Points on his body sprayed out Curse Mark-enhanced Chakra, forming a purple-black sphere that shattered the tornado.

Haruki Hyuga roared as powerful Chakra surged from his body. That cold, gloomy Chakra enveloped him, making him spin like a top as needle-like Chakra shot continuously from the tiny holes in his scales.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"

Using a ninjutsu incompatible with her Chakra nature would greatly reduce its power, but faced with the overwhelming rain of Chakra needles, Mikoto Uchiha had no choice.