The instant Seven-Tails finished compressing its chakra, the air snapped tight.
The Tailed Beast Bomb launched like a meteor aimed straight at my Susanoo's chest.
"Oh? Going straight for the kill? Bold."
I raised Susanoo's arm.
Black flames surged, twisting and folding into a shield of Amaterasu, solid enough to blot out half the valley.
"Let's see whose science project wins."
The crimson titan braced.
BOOM—!
The explosion slammed into Susanoo head-on.
Stone shattered.
The ground buckled.
For a moment, even my avatar staggered back under the pressure.
"Tch… stubborn thing."
Chakra roared through my arms. Susanoo pushed forward, forcing the Bomb to roll back like a misfired cannonball.
Then I swung.
The Amaterasu blade cleaved downward, splitting the bomb mid-air—
—white light swallowed everything.
Another explosion tore the valley apart. When the dust finally fell, half the mountain had disappeared.
Seven-Tails stared at the wasteland, a cruel glint forming in its compound eyes.
Heh. He must think I got vaporized.
"Seven-Tails…"
My voice boomed across the ruined cliffs.
"…die."
The crimson titan erupted from the settling smoke. One of its massive hands shot forward and clamped around the beast's neck.
Seven-Tails screeched as Susanoo ripped it off its feet and slammed it into the ground hard enough to crack the earth.
It tried to rise.
I didn't give it the chance.
Susanoo hauled the beast up by the thorax and hurled it like a sack of trash. It bounced across the stone, carving trenches with each impact.
Seven-Tails dragged itself upright, wings quivering with rage.
It glared at me with a hatred that felt scorching.
The beast had seen humans try to kill it.
But torture it?
Throw it around like a misbehaving house pet?
Never.
And that humiliation pushed it past sanity.
Chakra boiled in its throat again—denser, darker.
A second Tailed Beast Bomb, bigger than the first.
"Good," I muttered. "I wanted to test something new anyway."
The bomb fired.
I didn't raise a shield.
I opened my hand.
At the moment of impact—
—its mass shrank.
Its glow dimmed.
The sphere crumpled inward like a dying star and vanished.
Seven-Tails froze.
"…It's gone?"
Panic flashed through its eyes.
"Oh? You noticed."
I flexed my fingers. "Turns out the Hungry Ghost Path works just fine."
The beast didn't respond.
It turned.
It ran.
Seven-Tails—proud, ancient, vicious—ran like a terrified deer.
"Sorry," I said. "You don't get to leave."
Susanoo's wings ignited and split the air. In a heartbeat, I was on top of it again.
The beating was short and brutal.
By the time I forced the beast to the ground, its armor-like shell was cracked, its wings limp, its chakra flickering like a dying flame.
It could barely raise its head.
"Human… w-why… why capture me?" it rasped.
For a moment, something almost like pity stirred in me.
Tailed Beasts weren't evil.
They were just beasts built from chakra—blamed for existing.
But pity didn't change the world.
Strategy did.
"Your power is too dangerous," I said quietly. "If someone with ambition gets their hands on you, the world burns."
Seven-Tails stared at me.
"Then humans truly are greedy," it whispered. "Always reaching for power that isn't theirs."
As Rinnegan light flared across my vision, the beast's eyes shifted—
—and its will snapped.
"Maybe so," I murmured.
The fight was over.
Seven-Tails fell silent.
A spiraling vortex opened beside us, warping the air. The beast's enormous body was sucked into my personal dimension, swallowed whole.
I exhaled.
"One down."
I turned back toward the forest and walked to rejoin my squad.
A Quiet Exit
"Raikage-sama!"
Nine Anbu dropped in around me the moment I stepped into view.
"Relax. Mission accomplished."
Eyes widened behind masks.
They followed as I led them out of the mountains.
We passed the spot where Kakuzu had fallen earlier. Only a long trail of disturbed soil remained.
"Huh. Still alive after Tsukuyomi?"
I chuckled. "Annoying little cockroach."
But I didn't chase him.
He wasn't the priority.
We reached the outskirts of the town, and I dismissed the squad.
By the time the smoke settled behind us, I was already gone.
Later, curious townsfolk climbed the mountain—
—and found nothing but a valley crushed flat and cratered, like a titan's fist had fallen from the sky.