What truly shocked Kokuō, however, was the one standing behind that brat.
"Chōmei, you bastard."
"Kid, you're actually a Jinchūriki?!"
"How is that even possible!"
Kokuō's fury was mixed with disbelief. Her opponent… was also a Jinchūriki? The host of the Seven-Tails, Chōmei?!
How could that be? Wasn't Chōmei supposed to be in Takigakure?
And this brat—wasn't he from Konoha? What the hell was going on here?!
It wasn't just Kokuō who was shocked; even Han, her Jinchūriki, stood frozen in disbelief.
"Damn it! Those bastards from Konoha—have they already taken Takigakure's tailed beast for themselves?!"
"Five-Tails! We can't fight anymore! We need to get this news back to the village!"
Han still had a clear mind. If he could deliver this message to the village, and the higher-ups spread it throughout the ninja world, Konoha would become the common enemy of all.
After all, Konoha possessing two tailed beasts would completely destroy the balance of power.
But Kokuō had already lost her temper. So what if it was Chōmei? She'd fought the Seven-Tails before—and in terms of pure combat ability, Chōmei was no match for her!
"Shut up!"
In their shared inner world, Kokuō's furious roar stunned Han into silence. Even though he was a Jinchūriki, he couldn't control the will of the Five-Tails.
"Hmph! Chōmei, even if you help him—what can you possibly do?!"
"I'm killing him today! If you dare to stand in my way, I'll crush you too!"
Steam surged wildly around Kokuō, her Boil Release reaching its limit. That meant her strength had peaked as well—right now, even if a mountain stood in her way, she could smash straight through it.
But she was also surprised. Chōmei's body wasn't flesh and blood—it was formed entirely from tailed beast chakra. That meant he hadn't manifested his full form.
And since Chōmei had appeared, why was his Jinchūriki brat still standing there on the sea's surface?
"Heheheheh, Kokuō, shocked? Surprised?"
"I can't beat you one-on-one—but right now, it's not one-on-one anymore. It's a group fight, and you're the one outnumbered!"
"I've been waiting a long time to pay you back for what happened back then!"
"Chizan, ready to start?"
Chōmei flexed his wings. Though his body was made of chakra, he was still himself—and this form even rendered him immune to physical attacks, giving him an extra edge in battle.
"Start? Hell yeah, we're starting!"
"Chōmei, since you've already revealed yourself, we can't let her go. You understand, right?"
Gekko Chizan rarely went all out, but this time, he had. His identity was already exposed. If it were just the Five-Tails, that would be fine—the tailed beasts were never truly loyal to Iwagakure anyway.
But Han, the Jinchūriki, had to die.
Even if the tailed beast was killed, it wouldn't truly die—it was a mass of chakra, and would naturally reform over time. The exact time depended on how quickly the chakra reassembled; some revived in a few years, others took decades or even longer.
In the original story, didn't the Three-Tails die several times? Yet it still came back just fine.
So Chizan intended to end it right here on the open sea—to kill both Kokuō and her Jinchūriki, Han—and remove this threat once and for all.
"Fine by me! Let's fight!"
"With you here, I'm confident! I'm not afraid of her, hahaha!"
Without hesitation, Chōmei flapped his wings, his chakra-forged body bursting forth at a speed he'd never reached before. Waves rolled violently beneath him as he charged straight at Kokuō.
"Take this!"
"Hahahaha!"
Chōmei went full power, his massive horn slamming toward Kokuō's enormous head.
"You think you can fight me?!"
"Chōmei! Did you forget how I wiped the floor with you back then?"
"I'll make you remember today, you filthy bug!"
Kokuō roared furiously, pouring all her strength into a headlong charge at him.
Horns? Please—she had two of them! Twice as impressive as that overgrown insect's!
But the very next second, she froze. She tried to move her limbs—and realized she couldn't.
"Heheheh, this is a tailed beast?"
"This is a battlefield—you're not just fighting Chizan, you know!"
Four massive snakes had coiled around Kokuō's legs, pinning her tightly in place.
Her mind short-circuited. The hell—he brought backup?!
Chōmei laughed heartily, and with that thunderous laugh, his massive horn smashed into Kokuō's face.
Boom!
The clash of two tailed beasts produced a deafening shockwave. Kokuō's head spun from the impact.
Chōmei, though thrown back by the recoil, suffered no damage at all—his chakra body didn't even feel pain.
"Attack!"
"Crystal Release!"
Gekko Chizan's entire body became encased in transparent crystal as he slowly rose into the air.
A terrifying surge of chakra gathered in one place, forming a blinding white beam of light—this was the strongest Crystal Release technique, the very same one that, in the original tale, blinded the Three-Tails.
It was Chizan's ultimate attack.
Seeing that flash of light in the sky, Kokuō was shocked again. From that radiance, she could feel danger.
A tailed beast—feeling threatened?!
What kind of ninjutsu could possibly make her feel fear?
"Go! Hold her down!"
"Give Chizan time to charge up!"
Chōmei led the charge. After all, he and Chizan were brothers—their chakra was linked. He could sense Chizan's energy building.
The gigantic bug rammed straight into Kokuō again.
The four snakes tightened their grip, keeping her firmly restrained.
"Let me go, damn it!"
"Fight me one-on-one if you dare!"
Kokuō was beside herself with frustration. Even with her monstrous strength, she couldn't do anything against a group assault!
Her four limbs were bound—what the hell kind of fight was this supposed to be?!
"Heheheh, are you stupid or what?"
"Chizan said it himself—winning's what matters! Doesn't have to look good, just has to work!"
"Kokuō, maybe try using your brain for once!"
As Chōmei mocked her, he used his tail and wings to web Kokuō up even tighter, even covering her mouth to shut her up.
The four snakes—Jinlin's creations—snickered at his words, clearly approving of his logic.
[Ding! Detected that the host has successfully led one insect and four snakes astray, completely influenced by you. This counts as excellent teaching performance!]
[We hope the host keeps up the good work—train more partners who've abandoned their humanity!]
Listening to the system notification, Gekko Chizan couldn't shake the feeling that something about it sounded off.
Wait… the system gave the message, but—where's the reward?
[Ding! Don't worry, host—the reward's coming your way right now!]
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo