Both Mufasa and Orochimaru were stunned by the sheer madness of the monster before them.
Inside the tornado, fragments of debris and wreckage spun violently, turning the air into a deadly blender.
Anyone who entered would be shredded in seconds. Mufasa knew he had to activate his magnetic field to withstand the onslaught.
"Who in the world is this lunatic?" he muttered to himself.
At that moment, Mufasa and Orochimaru finally got a clearer look at the monster.
It was divided into two distinct halves.
The upper half was a towering, muscle-bound figure, its entire body black as ink, veins bulging, and its face twisted into a terrifying grimace.
The lower half, in contrast, was a massive, serpentine form, deep purple with streaks of blue, resembling a dragon's tail or a snake's body.
The monstrous fusion was thick, sturdy, and pulsing with unnatural energy.
The most unsettling part?
The upper body seemed strangely underdeveloped, almost childlike in certain aspects.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "This… this looks like Jugo. But why is his lower half an energy construct?"
Mufasa didn't have time to think about that. He had more pressing concerns.
"I don't care what it is. I need to save them. Orochimaru, I'm counting on you. Hold it off."
Orochimaru sighed, but he knew there was no arguing with Mufasa when he was determined. "Fine."
Against an opponent of this size, he knew exactly what to summon.
With a swift sequence of hand seals, Orochimaru slammed his hands onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"
A massive cloud of smoke erupted, and when it cleared, a gargantuan purple serpent coiled in front of them—Manda.
Manda lowered his head, his slit pupils narrowing as he examined the situation. "Orochimaru… if you want my help, you know the price. One hundred sacrifices."
Mufasa's expression darkened. "Sacrifices? What the hell are you talking about?!"
Manda flicked his tongue, sensing the hostility in Mufasa's voice.
He shifted his gaze and finally noticed the raging behemoth before him.
The snake visibly flinched.
"…You want me to fight that?" Manda hissed. "Maybe I'll waive the sacrifices just this once."
Before anyone could react, Manda lunged forward, wrapping his enormous body around the rampaging beast.
The battlefield shook as the two titans clashed, the monster swinging its massive fists while Manda coiled tighter, fangs bared.
Mufasa ignored the battle behind him. He had a job to do.
He had gathered enough metal fragments, molding them into a small metallic sphere infused with his chakra.
He held it tightly as he turned to the injured bodies of Kabuto and Kimimaro.
Their wounds were fatal.
The usual healing chambers wouldn't be enough.
There was only one option left—a dangerous gamble.
Mufasa clenched his teeth. He had spent nearly 80 million ryo acquiring a forbidden ninja blueprint for an experimental tool.
If it worked, it could unlock unimaginable potential. If it failed… they would die instantly.
He channeled chakra into the sphere, his hands clapping together.
The metal ball began to shrink, blue and white lightning crackling around it.
The glow intensified until, with one final flash, the ball transformed into a small, golden-tipped arrow.
"A Stand Arrow..." Mufasa whispered. "It only has three uses."
This arrow could awaken hidden abilities in those struck by it—if they survived. If they didn't… there was no coming back.
"I need you two to survive," Mufasa muttered as he bent his fingers, launching the arrow.
It pierced Kabuto first, then Kimimaro. Their bodies convulsed as energy surged through them.
Mufasa turned away, his hands tightening into fists. "Now it's up to them."
Behind him, the battle raged on.
Orochimaru and Manda were struggling.
The monster had seemingly endless regeneration, its energy-infused lower half constantly repairing any damage.
Manda had already been struck multiple times, his thick scales sizzling from the corrosive energy.
The behemoth roared, launching a massive purple-blue energy blast straight at them.
Orochimaru's eyes flashed. "Triple Rashomon!"
With a thunderous crash, three giant demonic gates slammed into the ground, standing between them and the incoming attack. The first gate cracked, then shattered.
The second exploded moments later. By the time the energy reached the third, it had lost some power, but it still punched through, heading straight for Manda.
Manda hissed in pain as the energy slammed into his body, the corrosive force eating into his scales.
"Orochimaru! What the hell is this thing?!" Manda roared, his tail thrashing against the ground. "I can't even kill it!"
Orochimaru's snake-like eyes gleamed with a sinister light. "There's a way. But you won't like it."
Orochimaru had completed 108 S-rank missions in his lifetime.
His combat experience was unmatched, and his scientific mind only sharpened his understanding of battle.
It didn't take him long to analyze the monstrous giant before them.
"This has to be Jugo," Orochimaru muttered.
Jugo naturally absorbed the surrounding energy in areas rich in nature chakra.
The process enhanced his physical abilities drastically but also drove him into uncontrollable fits of rage.
But this… this was different.
He wasn't just absorbing natural energy. He had somehow tapped into the power of the Dragon Vein.
The sheer force of it had transformed him into this mountain-sized monstrosity.
His sanity had been completely devoured by rage, and his lower half had fused with the underground cavern, linking him directly to the Dragon Vein's energy source.
Worse, the energy itself had been corrupted.
Manda flicked his tail impatiently. "So, what's the plan? We can't just kill him yet."
Orochimaru's expression was cold.
"It's simple. Destroy the Dragon Vein. Without it, he loses his ability to regenerate. Then, taking him down will be easy."
His ruthlessness didn't bother Manda in the slightest. "Then do it. I'll keep him occupied."
Just as Orochimaru was about to move, a voice cut through the chaos.
"You want to blow up my Dragon Vein?!" Mufasa's sharp tone rang out.
Orochimaru and Manda turned to see Mufasa hovering above, standing atop Manda's head. He carried Kabuto and Kimimaro, both of whom were now conscious and alert.
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed in surprise. "You saved them?"
"I didn't heal them," Mufasa corrected. "I just pushed their potential to the limit."
The Stand-In Arrow had triggered a reaction within them, stimulating their will to survive and unleashing latent abilities. It had been a gamble, but one that had paid off.
Orochimaru grinned. "That's fascinating. And convenient. Now I don't have to waste time cloning them."
Mufasa ignored the comment and turned to Kabuto and Kimimaro. "Tell me everything that happened."
Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "We were setting up an energy station while redirecting the Dragon Vein's power into containment pipelines. We were even building another station near the old ruins of Roran to help regulate it."
Kimimaro, though still weak, nodded in agreement. "But then… something changed."
Kabuto continued. "As soon as we tapped into the surface layer, a surge of corrupted purple-cyan energy erupted from deep below. The explosion was massive, and its shockwave caught Jugo, even though he was nearly a hundred meters away."
"And then he lost control," Mufasa muttered, piecing it together.
Kabuto nodded grimly. "Once he started absorbing that energy, it was over. He mutated almost instantly, and nothing we did could stop him."
Mufasa glanced back at the roaring giant. "This is a serious problem."
Orochimaru crossed his arms. "If the Dragon Vein's energy is endless, Jugo is unkillable. That's why I suggest destroying the source."
Mufasa's frown deepened. The Dragon Vein was an invaluable energy source. It powered the Godzilla Fortress—one of the most advanced strongholds ever built. If it were lost, replacing that level of energy would be nearly impossible.
"Is there no other way?" he asked.
Before Orochimaru could answer, Jugo let out an earth-shaking roar and charged forward. Mufasa's instincts flared.
"Enough!" he commanded, clapping his hands together.
"Electromagnetic Style: Four-Pillar Grid!"
Four towering pillars of crackling blue energy erupted from the ground, forming a barrier around Jugo. The monster slammed his fist against the electrified walls, and blue sparks surged across his skin.
Sizzle!
Smoke curled from his blackened fist. But Jugo didn't flinch. More and more Dragon Vein energy poured into him, repairing the damage instantly.
Worse, the more energy he absorbed, the stronger he became.
Mufasa gritted his teeth. Even a sealing jutsu capable of restraining the Nine-Tails was struggling to contain him.
Orochimaru watched the scene unfold and shook his head. "The entire Dragon Vein is corrupted. That energy is unusable."
Mufasa turned his gaze to the cave entrance, where the tainted energy continued to spew from below. The once-pristine glow of the Dragon Vein had been completely overtaken by that eerie, toxic hue.
Orochimaru's voice was cold. "There's no saving it. Destroy the source."
Mufasa hesitated. "And what happens if the explosion reaches the village? What if it spreads across the desert? Can you calculate the scale of destruction?"
Orochimaru smirked. "Who knows?"
Mufasa clenched his fists. This wasn't something he could afford to gamble on. The risk was too high.
Boom!
Jugo slammed into the barrier again, the force of his attack shaking the ground.
His power was growing at an alarming rate. If this continued, he might even surpass a Tailed Beast.
Mufasa's patience snapped. If sealing wasn't enough, he'd try something else.
His eyes scanned the battlefield, landing on the scattered remains of broken machines.
He raised his palm. "Scatter: Steel Storm of Tempest!"
The shattered metal fragments trembled, then reformed into thousands of razor-sharp steel threads, each as thin as a cherry blossom petal.
The wires spun at high speed, forming four massive pillars that closed in on Jugo.
"Let's see how you handle this."
The steel threads tore into Jugo's body, slicing through his flesh like a thousand tiny blades.
He roared in agony, his massive frame shrinking as chunks of muscle and corrupted energy were severed from him.
But Jugo refused to fall. More Dragon Vein energy erupted from the ground, pouring into his wounds.
Mufasa's expression darkened.
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Word count: 1666
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