Chapter 59:
"The chakra of the Divine Tree was split into nine parts, transforming into nine monsters? If I remember correctly, you refer to them as Tailed Beasts. And the people who gain immense chakra by merging with them are called Jinchūriki, right?"
"Letting monsters dwell within one's body to gain great power… your methods really are interesting."
Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki sat atop the shoulders of Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki, who was floating in the sky. Ōtsutsuki Urashiki stood behind them. Below the three, Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, was resting.
"So this is what you call a Jinchūriki? His chakra is indeed formidable," Kinshiki said as he looked at Killer Bee.
Once looking a bit short and unimpressive, Killer Bee had now grown taller and more imposing.
"That's right, I'm a Jinchūriki! One man with the power of a hundred! I'm Killer Bee, host of the Eight-Tails! My power is off the charts—oh yeah!"
The three Ōtsutsuki silently watched Killer Bee show off.
"Hey, Bee, these three look like they're not going to be easy to deal with," said the bull-headed octopus inside Killer Bee's body.
"They're ignoring me? Don't you guys have anything to say about my performance just now?" Killer Bee asked the trio before him.
"So noisy. Let's start by collecting your dan," Momoshiki said in a language Killer Bee didn't understand.
The Ōtsutsuki clan could absorb chakra and refine it into chakra fruits. The dan was a condensed form of energy extracted from these fruits. It could be used in elixirs to increase power and longevity.
As such, the Ōtsutsuki never trained—they just took drugs.
"Need my help, Senior Momoshiki?" asked Urashiki, who had a red fishing rod slung over his shoulder.
"Just watch quietly," Momoshiki replied, raising his right hand and firing a black rod.
Still fuming from the beating he'd taken from Uchiha Itachi and Namikaze Minato, Momoshiki was eager to vent his frustration.
The black rod shot toward Killer Bee, who quickly released the Eight-Tails and merged with it.
"So this is a Tailed Beast? It really does look like a hideous beast," Momoshiki remarked as his Rinnegan in his right palm fired more black rods.
Within seconds of appearing, the Eight-Tails was overwhelmed. Its tentacles were pinned to a massive rock by the black rods.
"I ain't ugly, dammit! Take this—Tailed Beast Bomb!" The Eight-Tails had been called terrifying and monstrous before, but being called ugly was a first—and totally unacceptable.
"Typical beast—your vitality really is tough to kill." Sitting calmly on Kinshiki's shoulder, Momoshiki stretched out his right hand and absorbed the Tailed Beast Bomb, then extended his left. A Tailed Beast Bomb even larger than the original formed in his palm.
"This is cheating! He absorbed the Tailed Beast Bomb and made it even stronger?! That's totally cheating! There's no way I can handle a bomb that big!" the Eight-Tails panicked as it stared at the enormous orb.
"Consider it payback—with interest," Momoshiki said flatly, and the massive Tailed Beast Bomb launched toward the Eight-Tails.
"Aw, crap!"
That was the last thing the Eight-Tails managed to say before losing consciousness from its own enhanced Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Ugh, even uglier up close," Momoshiki floated down from Kinshiki's shoulder, hovered in front of the unconscious Eight-Tails, and extended his right hand.
A powerful suction emanated from the Rinnegan in Momoshiki's palm.
"Impressive as always, Senior Momoshiki. You made it look so effortless," Urashiki said, walking up beside him.
"If Kaguya had succeeded in cultivating the Divine Tree on this planet, we wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble. That traitor fell in love with the humans of this world and even bore two children with one of them—ugh, what a disgrace to our clan." Though he enjoyed Urashiki's flattery, Momoshiki still acted aloof.
Disgraces to their clans: Uchiha Shunhi, and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
"She's the reason our chakra supply from this planet was cut off," Kinshiki said in his usual dull, slow voice.
To Kinshiki, Momoshiki was the heavens, the earth, and everything in between. He was happy to be Momoshiki's loyal lapdog for life.
"Exactly. And out of fear of us, that traitor Kaguya even created living weapons. Who'd have thought she'd be stopped by her own children, and eventually sealed away? Well, at least that saved us the trouble of punishing her ourselves. In that sense, those lowly creatures actually did something right."
As Momoshiki finished speaking, the Eight-Tails' chakra was completely drained. Holding the dan in his hand, he muttered, "Only three pills? That's it?"
"Oh well, there are nine Tailed Beasts in total. And over in the direction of the Hidden Leaf Village, there's an even stronger chakra signature—comparable to the total chakra of the other eight combined," Urashiki said, his eyes gleaming with greed as he looked toward the village, then turned back to Momoshiki. "So what now? Do we go after the other Tailed Beasts first, or head straight to the Leaf?"
"Of course we go straight to the Leaf. With these three pills, I'm more than enough to deal with those inferior beings."
Momoshiki tossed back the pills refined from the Eight-Tails' chakra and swallowed them.
Urashiki still wore a smile on his face, but inside, he was cursing Momoshiki for hogging all the spoils.
...
"Naruto!" Kurama suddenly spoke up from within Naruto.
"What's wrong, Kurama? This is the first time you've come to me on your own."
Naruto, who had been working in the Hokage's office, suddenly looked up.
"My link with the Eight-Tails just got cut off. That idiot definitely ran into trouble."
Naruto's expression turned serious. In his experience, anything involving the Tailed Beasts was bound to be a hassle. "Only the Eight-Tails?"
"Yeah, the others are still fine. But I've got a bad feeling about this. Anyway, I've told you what I know. It's up to you now."
With that, Kurama closed his eyes again inside Naruto.
"Thanks, Kurama."
Naruto was deeply worried about Killer Bee, but as the village's Hokage, he couldn't just leave and head to another village on a whim.
"There are only a few entities capable of something like this—either S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Ōtsutsuki," Naruto muttered, putting down his pen. "The Chūnin Exams are the day after tomorrow… I'll ask Darui about Bee's situation then."
Unable to concentrate anymore, Naruto gave up on continuing his paperwork for the day.
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