"Hahaha!"
Shukaku let out a crazed laugh. Its belly inflated like a balloon, chakra swirling visibly in its mouth as it gathered power for a technique.
Kenji's expression changed drastically.
"Shit!"
If that attack hit Fūza while he was down, the Akimichi was dead. No question. The man had already burned through his chakra reserves holding Shukaku off. He couldn't dodge or defend.
Kenji didn't think. His body moved on instinct.
Chakra exploded from within him, flooding through his legs and detonating against the ground. The earth cracked beneath his feet as he launched forward. The world blurred around him as he closed the distance to Shukaku in seconds.
At the same time, he brought his right hand up and began spinning chakra in his palm. The energy compressed, and rotated. Chakra leaked between his fingers as the technique took shape.
The Rasengan.
He'd spent a long time analyzing the theory, breaking down the mechanics from memory, and practicing the execution until he could successfully form a sphere. He had already tested it on trees and rocks.
Now he'd see if it could hurt a tailed beast.
In Shukaku's mouth, the technique had finished forming. The compressed wind chakra was dense enough to be visible.
"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!"
The attack launched.
Kenji was already beneath Shukaku, using his momentum to leap upward. He twisted mid-air, brought his right hand around, and slammed the Rasengan into the underside of the beast's jaw with everything he had.
BOOM!
Chakra detonated on contact, the Rasengan's rotational force grinding into Shukaku's face and tearing through its structure. The beast's head snapped upward violently, its entire body jerking from the force.
The Drilling Air Bullet, already in motion, veered off course, and detonated somewhere in the distance. The shockwave was still brutal, wind tearing across the battlefield and sending debris flying.
"RAAAAGH!"
Half Shukaku's lower jaw had been blown apart, chunks of its body scattering as tailed beast chakra leaked from the wound. The creature staggered backward, its body wobbling as it tried to process what had just happened.
Kenji hit the ground, the recoil from his own attack sending him stumbling. He caught himself after a few steps, right arm tingling from channeling that much chakra at once. Nearly a third of his reserves gone in a single attack.
But the results were worth it.
He looked up at the scattered tailed beast chakra that was dispersing into the air. His Swift Release puppet, still perched on his shoulder, immediately opened its mouth compartment. A tightly rolled sealing scroll shot out. The puppet caught it between its fingers and unfurled it.
Chakra flowed from the puppet's fingertips into the scroll's matrix. Black ink markings lit up across the paper, and suddenly a powerful suction erupted from its center. The dispersed bits of Shukaku's chakra, which had been drifting away harmlessly, reversed direction and got pulled into the scroll.
The whole process took maybe ten seconds. By the time the puppet rolled the scroll back up and tucked it away inside its body, he had sealed enough tailed beast chakra for weeks of research.
Shukaku was still dazed, its enormous head swaying side to side as it tried to shake off the pain. But even as Kenji watched, the damage was healing.
The shattered jaw wasn't staying shattered. Red chakra welled up from within the beast's body, flowing into the wound and reconstructing the missing pieces.
As long as Shukaku had chakra to draw on, it would just keep regenerating. You could blast it apart a hundred times and it would pull itself back together a hundred times. The only way to actually stop it was to sever its connection to the physical world by knocking out or killing its host.
"Nice hit, Kenji!"
The booming voice made him turn. Fūza had gotten back to his feet, and was already activating his Multi-Size Technique again. His body expanded rapidly, growing to match Shukaku's size, chakra coating his frame as he charged forward.
His fist crashed into Shukaku's face. The beast's head whipped to the side from the impact, and its whole body tilted.
Kenji wasn't surprised that Fūza knew his name. The Ino-Shika-Chō clans had been allies for generations. Their members grew up knowing each other, training together, fighting together. Of course the Akimichi clan head would recognize a Yamanaka chunin.
Shukaku finally shook off the disorientation. Between the Rasengan and the follow-up punch, it was completely enraged now. Its body erupted with yellow sand, tons of it materializing from nowhere and surging outward like a tsunami.
Kenji bolted.
His reflexes and enhanced speed let him dodge the sand easily enough. He weaved between the reaching strands, staying just ahead of their grasping attempts. But Fūza wasn't so lucky. The Akimichi's enlarged form made him a massive target, and his depleted chakra reserves meant his movements were sluggish. Within seconds, the sand caught his legs and wrapped tight, binding him in place.
"Hold it down while you can! I'm going to wake up the jinchūriki!"
Kenji had spotted the figure on top of Shukaku's head during his earlier attack, a monk-like man whose body was partially merged with the beast's skull. That had to be Bunpuku, the One-Tail's jinchūriki. If he could knock the jinchūriki unconscious, Shukaku would lose its anchor to the physical world and dissipate. It was the same method Naruto had used against Gaara in the original timeline.
He'd briefly considered using the Mind Body Switch Technique to just take control of the jinchūriki directly, but dismissed it immediately. A jinchūriki's body contained a tailed beast's consciousness. His spiritual energy, as strong as it was, couldn't match the raw power of something like Shukaku. He'd get crushed the moment he tried to invade.
No, the simple approach was better. Just kick the guy hard enough to knock him out.
"Got it! I'm ready!"
Fūza released the last dregs of his chakra. Ignoring the pain of the sand constricting around his body, he lunged forward with all his remaining strength and wrapped his arms around Shukaku's torso.
"Now!"
Kenji didn't waste the opening. He sprinted up Fūza's body, using the Akimichi's massive form as a ramp. In less than a second, he'd reached Fūza's shoulder.
Then he jumped.
The world slowed as he launched himself into the air. He twisted mid-flight, building momentum, and brought his leg around in a spinning kick.
CRACK!
His heel connected with Bunpuku's torso with enough force to tear the monk's lower body free from Shukaku's head. The jinchūriki's unconscious form went flying, tumbling through the air before crashing down onto the beast's skull.
Shukaku's eyes contracted to pinpoints as it felt its host being ripped away.
Without the jinchūriki's chakra to sustain its form, its body began to collapse. The sand that made up its structure lost cohesion. Within seconds, the towering creature had dissolved completely, reduced to tons of ordinary sand that rained down across the battlefield.
Kenji was already moving. He kicked off Shukaku's dissolving head, reached out and grabbed Bunpuku's unconscious body, then landed cleanly on the ground below. He wasn't about to let the jinchūriki get buried alive or suffer serious injuries from the drop. A wounded or dead jinchūriki would just cause more problems.
Behind him, Fūza's Multi-Size Technique finally gave out. His body shrank back to normal size as his chakra reserves hit zero. He staggered slightly, catching himself on the mound of sand that had been Shukaku moments before, and stood there gasping for air.
"Fūza-sama, why were you fighting Shukaku alone?" Kenji asked as he set the unconscious jinchūriki down carefully. "Where are the others?"
According to tradition, the Ino-Shika-Chō formation operated as a unit. The three clans fought together, covered each other's weaknesses, and maximized each other's strengths. It was rare for any of them to engage in solo combat, especially against something as dangerous as a tailed beast.
"They're still... back at headquarters... handling logistics," Fūza managed between heavy breaths. He wiped sweat from his brow. "I couldn't get here in time when Shukaku appeared. Seriously, Kenji... thank you. Without you, I'd be dead right now."
Kenji glanced down at the unconscious monk lying on the ground. The problem now was what to do with him.
"What about him? Should we...?"
He trailed off, unsure how to finish that sentence. The Yamanaka clan's mind-sealing techniques wouldn't work on a jinchūriki. They were designed to seal human consciousness, not the massive chakra construct that was Shukaku. So, trying to use standard Yamanaka seals on a jinchūriki could backfire, potentially causing the beast to go berserk again.
"Don't panic," Fūza said, finally catching his breath enough to speak normally. "That much tailed beast chakra erupting and then disappearing? The village sensed it. They know we won. The sealing squad is probably already on their way."
He straightened up.
"They've got specialized techniques for restraining jinchūriki. All we need to do is hold this position and make sure Suna doesn't get their jinchūriki back before our people arrive."
Kenji nodded. That made sense.
He expanded his chakra sensing to cover the surrounding area, staying alert for any enemy ninjas who might try to reclaim Bunpuku.