"Sure, let's give it a shot. Let's take this outside and have a fight!"
The Nine-Tails agreed to Guren's suggestion without the slightest hesitation.
The Nine-Tails immediately began shrinking his body down until he was about three meters tall.
"Not bad. You can even change your size?"
Guren's eyes lit up. That was one trick she couldn't pull off.
The Nine-Tails snorted coldly in displeasure.
Without another word, he ignored Guren's look and dashed out of his castle.
At the same time, he resumed his massive original form.
Thundering across the top of the Skull Head, every step sent out a deafening boom and tremors that rippled like mini-earthquakes.
He ran all the way to the edge—then leapt.
Launching himself into the air, he carved a graceful arc through the sky, nine tails trailing in the wind behind him.
[BOOOOOM——————!]
When the Nine-Tails landed, the ground split open, dust and smoke billowed out, and the entire island seemed to quake violently.
But he didn't stop there. He kept sprinting toward the edge of the island.
[BOOM!]
At last, he leapt clear off the island, his massive body plunging into the sea, sending waves crashing like waterfalls all around him. But rather than sinking like one would expect, he stood firm atop the surging waves.
"Ooh~ Look at you, little brother. That's a neat trick! I'm impressed!"
Appearing suddenly at the edge of the beach, Guren giggled into her hand.
"Heh… What's the matter? Can't do it, Nine-Tailed Fox of the Teigu World?"
The Nine-Tails sneered coldly as he looked at Guren, his nine crimson tails swaying proudly behind him.
"Hehehehe… How adorable, little brother. But your big sister doesn't need to walk on water~~"
Guren gave a slight smile. Then, under Kurama's puzzled gaze, she lifted her foot in its crystal high heel and gently stepped on the golden sand.
In an instant, a white mist-like chill spread outward in all directions.
[Fwoooosh——]
In the blink of an eye, the beach in front of her—and every wave within sight—was coated in frosty white, frozen solid and sealed in ice. Wisps of cold vapor floated upward, twisting and dancing in the air.
At the same time, biting winds began to blow, stirring the Nine-Tails' smooth, orange-red fur.
"So… you know Ice Release, huh?"
The Nine-Tails looked down at his now-frozen limbs.
But with a light push of force, he easily shattered the frost and pulled his paws free from the ice.
"Come, then—lose yourself in the overwhelming beauty of your elder sister! I am the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox of the Snowy Peaks!"
With that, Guren opened her arms wide, unleashing a brilliant azure radiance. Her graceful figure and stunning features vanished into the light.
Within that dazzling blue glow, traces of white light began to surge—visibly expanding, pulsing with power.
It started to snow!
The Nine-Tails noticed that the once bright and sunny sky was rapidly darkening as thick clouds gathered overhead.
And from the heavens, heavy snowflakes began to fall, carried on the icy wind.
The Nine-Tails was suddenly alarmed.
Even more concerning, the energy building within that glowing mass was growing stronger and stronger—so much that it made his heart race.
[BOOM!]
The light exploded—blinding, but only for an instant.
Then, from the surging fog of ice and snow, emerged a staggering figure:
A pure white Nine-Tailed Fox, nearly 70 meters tall, with icy blue eyes and a body radiating winter's chill.
Kurama was stunned.
That flawless white fur tinged with shimmering blue light.
Those twitching, upright ears so unbearably cute.
The nine soft, long, and agile tails, brimming with elegance and power.
And those alluring blue eyes—gentle, captivating, yet filled with regal pride—drawing in his gaze like a gravitational pull.
Perfect.
Kurama found the word rising in his mind.
Every beautiful word ever conceived in the world—somehow, they all seemed to fit her just right.
How could a Nine-Tailed Fox be this beautiful?
Tailed Beasts didn't have genders, nor did they possess any need to reproduce.
Naturally, they didn't experience what humans called beastly desire.
But that didn't mean they lacked a sense of aesthetics.
And Guren's current beauty—just so happened to strike Kurama right in that weak spot.
"Oooh? Getting all wide-eyed already?"
Noticing the look in Kurama's eyes, Guren smiled sweetly, clearly pleased with his reaction.
"Ahem! It's… it's alright. I mean, I've seen better. Hmph! Are you gonna fight or not?!"
Kurama looked away, his tone stiff as he forced himself to act tough.
"Very well~ Then let big sister show you what she can really do, little brother~"
The moment she spoke, the nine white tails behind Guren lit up with a brilliant blue glow.
In the next instant—
Blazing streaks of blue light burst out like bolts of lightning, slamming into Kurama's chest in rapid succession.
[BOOOOOOM!!!!]
Kurama's massive body was flung backward with no resistance.
He crashed hard into a distant sheet of ice, shattering it completely before plunging into the raging sea.
The ice where he had just been standing—
Also crumbled on the spot, seawater gushing violently upward.
But moments later, the sea froze over once more under the same terrifying cold.
"RAAAGHHH! YOU'VE MADE ME ANGRY NOW!!"
On the other side, Kurama burst from the depths in an eruption of waves and foam, soaked from head to toe and roaring with fury.
As he launched into the air, the ocean beneath him shattered into an even wider radius of broken ice.
Inside his wide-open jaws, a massive orb of purple-black energy began to condense.
"EAT MY TAILED BEAST BALL!!!"
Kurama unleashed the orb—
As it flew, concentric shockwaves exploded outward from it, rings of pressure ripping through the air.
"Ah, just like I thought. Such an impulsive little brother… If your big sister dodges this, your whole house is gonna be gone~"
Guren shook her head helplessly.
Then she whipped her nine glowing tails forward—meeting the Tailed Beast Ball head-on.
"Guess I'll just have to protect little brother's home, won't I~"
With those words, her nine tails surged with force—
And with one swift motion, she hurled the nearly-exploding Tailed Beast Ball right back toward Kurama's face.
"No need to thank me. That's what big sisters are for~"
[BOOOOOOM!!!!]
A blazing fireball rose into the sky over the sea near Onigashima—its size rivaling that of a small nuclear explosion.
Do Tailed Beasts truly understand the power of the Tailed Beast Ball?
Kurama would say—he had just experienced it firsthand.
Yeah… it really was powerful. And it really, really hurt!
He also felt a lingering sense of dread. Just now, he'd definitely lost his cool.
He'd nearly blown up his own home—thankfully, Guren had thought of that before he did.
That left Kurama feeling all sorts of complicated. And weird.
Still, he grit his teeth and chose to keep fighting.
Otherwise… he really would end up as the little brother.
And compared to that, having Guren call him
Revving himself up again, Kurama stomped through one thick layer of ice after another, each step cracking and shattering the frozen surface beneath him as he charged at Guren, who had already stepped out onto the icy sea.
She'd done so to avoid dragging Nine-Tails Island into the fight again.
After all, she did want to live here in the future.
Kurama leapt into the sky once more.
And in the blink of an eye—
A colossal sea of fire surged from his fanged jaws, so massive it seemed to swallow the heavens.
The sudden spike in temperature made the very air ripple and distort.
The ice sheet below melted rapidly into seawater…
Then evaporated into vast plumes of thick, white steam.
"Well, well, so little brother knows how to breathe fire too?"
Guren giggled, clearly delighted. She was starting to realize—this guy actually knew a lot of tricks.
The elemental energy unique to her as a Super-Class Danger Beast was instantly activated.
The ice element in the air roared to life, responding violently to her will.
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!]
Massive ice pillars, each 20 to 30 meters in diameter, erupted from the sea beneath the white Nine-Tails Fox.
They shot up like spears of some primordial giant god, laced with enough icy cold to freeze everything they touched, and surged straight into the sky of flames overhead.
Extreme heat and extreme cold collided across a wide area.
The energy generated churned with terrifying violence—
And with no time to release all that excess heat, it all culminated in an earth-shattering aerial detonation.
The explosion swallowed both Kurama and Guren in the sky.
It also obliterated the thick, dark clouds above in an instant.
Winds howled, waves roared, and layer after layer of ice shattered and flew apart.
And yet, for the two Nine-Tails Foxes locked in battle, it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience—just a few flicks of their tails were enough to shred the incoming shockwaves.
Kurama plummeted from the sky, ten razor-sharp claws slashing through the air as he reached for Guren's body.
This time, he was aiming for close combat.
"Hmph. Naughty little brother~ I haven't given you permission to touch me yet~~"
Guren gave a seductive smile.
Behind her, her nine white tails once again turned into streaks of lightning-blue light, each one whipping toward Kurama's body with blazing speed.
Kurama still couldn't resist.
He let out a shrill cry as he was sent flying backward.
Pain!
Too much pain!
In the blink of an eye, with a thunderous crash—
Kurama was smashed down into the sea again, sending towering plumes of water into the sky.
Miserable. Truly miserable. Submerged in the ocean's depths, Kurama was momentarily dazed.
He couldn't win. What was he supposed to do?
How humiliating, as a fox!
Was he really supposed to go back up there? Just to get beaten all over again?
"Hmm?!"
Just as Kurama was drowning in doubt, feeling utterly helpless—
Something suddenly pressed against his back, halting his descent.
Then, a massive force began pushing him upward, toward the surface.
Before he could even struggle—
He had already broken through the crashing waves.
And then, by his ear, came a voice that sounded exasperated… and maybe just a little amused.
"Oh, Kurama, Kurama… why is it that in every world, you end up getting your ass kicked?"
Kurama blinked.
Then finally realized—
What had pushed him upward was a massive hand.
A hand so large, it dwarfed even his own body.
He was nearly 70 meters tall, yet the hand alone held him like a toy, covering almost half his body.
But the skin on that hand—
That greenish-brown hue—it was all too familiar!
Kurama turned toward the voice.
Sure enough, standing at the crown of a giant tree—
Was that bastard in red armor, looking down at him with that infuriating expression in his eyes.
"HASHIRAMA!!!"
Kurama's eyes instantly turned blood-red.
The rage that had mostly subsided within him reignited at once by that flash of crimson armor.
And yet… his body didn't dare move.
Because no one knew better than he just how terrifying Senju Hashirama was.
Well… maybe there was one person who understood even better?
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