"What are you doing?!"
Naruto roared. He couldn't understand why this man would kill such a good father — a father who had devoted himself to saving his son.
Even if Mui once made the mistake of sealing his son inside the Box of Ultimate Bliss, he had spent the past ten years trying every way to get his son out. He was a good father — and yet Mu ku killed him!
Naruto was about to step forward and argue, when Kiyosuke came to his side and stopped him.
"Don't go over there. That thing is no longer human."
That chakra... it wasn't the kind a human should have. And the feeling that thing gave off...
No mistake — the thing before them was a monster wearing human skin.
The girl beside Naruto took off her headscarf, revealing long white hair, and lifted the scarf as she shouted,
"Muku, wake up! Think! Remember what your dream used to be — remember! Muku!!"
She screamed, hoping to call her childhood friend back to himself. But Muku's eyes changed in an instant. Not only that — his whole body began to swell, black feathers sprouted across his skin.
In a blink, a monster appeared in Hōzuki City.
It towered forty or fifty meters high, covered in black fur, with long limbs and no head. Instead, a huge mouth gaped in its chest, flanked by two long, white tusks curving out on either side.
Its waist was narrow — almost skin and bone — resembling a long, thick spinal column. A long tail trailed behind it.
"Ahhhh!!!"
The monster roared. With a single sweep of its massive hand it killed the three remaining elders of the Grass Village, then tossed them into the Box of Ultimate Bliss and swallowed them.
Then it turned its attention to the prisoners, stretching out a hand to grab them.
"Ahhh! Don't come near me!"
"Don't come any closer!"
"Run! Run!"
The prisoners panicked and fled in all directions, not knowing where to go. Then they remembered: Mui was already dead. Run!
"Fire Fist!"
A gigantic flaming fist surged toward the monster. The creature's black wings unfurled behind it and it beat them hard, darting nimbly aside.
"With a body that big, it's moving that quickly? It shouldn't be!" Kiyosuke frowned. Its speed was faster than the Nine-Tails had ever been — that movement was abnormal.
"Sage Art — Great Rasengan!"
Naruto, in Sage Mode, wearing the red sage robe, launched a Great Rasengan alongside his shadow clones at the monster. But the attack was evaded and smashed harmlessly into the empty sky.
Seeing that, Kiyosuke decided to change targets. He rushed to the Box of Ultimate Bliss and punched the lid.
Even his strength couldn't budge the Box of Ultimate Bliss. Not a scratch was left.
"This thing is damn solid!" Kiyosuke swore. In the sky the monster descended. He backed away to keep distance, and the monster said, "It's useless. I tried many ways from inside, but none can break that box."
Naruto asked, "Why did you kill Mui-san? He's your father!"
Naruto didn't hate Mui for framing him, nor for treating him like a tool — that man had only tried to save his son. Naruto couldn't bring himself to hate someone like that.
"Am I supposed to thank him for putting his son in there?" the monster said.
"He tried to save you. Maybe he made mistakes at first, but he kept trying to save you!" Naruto wiped the corner of his mouth and, with his shadow clone, charged the monster again.
"Hmph!" the monster didn't answer Naruto. It said instead, "That's pointless. You can't hit me!" It hovered in the air so Naruto's attack struck the Box of Ultimate Bliss instead.
"Then we'll use a monster against a monster! Summoning jutsu!"
Biting his finger, Naruto summoned Gamabunta.
"You little punk, who are you calling a monster?!" Gamabunta grumbled, uneasy at the place. "Why is this place so small?"
He looked down, saw the Box of Ultimate Bliss, and leapt out in alarm. He asked warily,
"Naruto, why is there a Box of Ultimate Bliss here?"
"Boss, you know what that is?"
"How could I not? That's the ultimate weapon from the Sage of Six Paths' era."
He glanced up at the monster in the sky.
Gamabunta said slowly, "The Box of Ultimate Bliss — it breeds, moves, and waits! That thing locks people in the Box of Ultimate Bliss and turns them into puppets, into its companions. What's worse, it can read the human heart. It's extremely hard to deal with."
The creature landed. Kiyosuke jumped up. "Yo, long time no see, Gamabunta!"
"It's you, kid? You're here too?" Gamabunta had met Kiyosuke before and recognized him.
"This is hard to fight. What's your plan?"
"You just said it can read people's hearts?"
"That's right." Gamabunta nodded. "Satori reads the heart. Any intent to attack it will be discovered."
"I see. That is troublesome."
If you even think about attacking, that thought will be detected. Once the thought is read, it knows your attack route and actions and can dodge accordingly.
"Hey, kid, get up. Ready to go!"
"All right!" Kiyosuke nodded and jumped onto Gamabunta's back.
Gamabunta closed his eyes and leapt toward Satori.
"Go!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs. Kiyosuke tried his best not to think of anything.
He drew the blade at his waist and slashed, but Satori dodged with ease. Gamabunta leapt onto the ramparts and, without another word, left Hōzuki City.
"Clear the way!" Gamabunta bellowed.
Kiyosuke said, "Of course — you intended to retreat first!"
"Boss, why are you running?" Naruto asked, puzzled. Weren't they supposed to fight to the death?
Gamabunta replied, "That's how I planned from the start. Even with you there, that kid by your side can't beat Satori. Attacks can't land. No matter how strong you are, if your intent is obvious, it won't work. Your momentum is high, so I'm using your thoughts to mask my true intent. Can anyone control him?"
"No." Kiyosuke said, "The only one who might have been able to is his father — but he's already been taken out."
"Damn, Satori's gone berserk. What happens next nobody knows. Several nations have been destroyed because of that." Gamabunta bounded quickly while Hōzuki City grew smaller behind them.
"After being assimilated by Satori, those people can never come back. Either it's returned to the Box of Ultimate Bliss, or it must be killed." Gamabunta stopped and turned to see Satori flying toward them.
"Damn, isn't that the box that grants wishes?" Naruto said.
Smack — Kiyosuke knocked Naruto on the head. "How could that possibly exist? What are you thinking?!"
(T/N: From the wiki: When Ryūzetsu, Muku's childhood friend, made herself known after Mui was struck down, Muku became conflicted and transformed into Satori.)
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