Chapter 150: Sand's Fault, the Daimyo Bears Responsibility
Under Yasushi's protection, the new Tailed Beast Ball quickly finished condensing.
Shukaku lowered his head, spraying the Tailed Beast Ball toward that group of shinobi who'd been chasing him relentlessly.
"Quickly scatter!" The Sand shinobi hastily used Body Flicker to leave, running as fast as possible.
But the Tailed Beast Ball's own speed was extremely fast, and the distance between them was close. In almost an instant, that purple-black Tailed Beast Ball exploded amid the Sand shinobi formation.
BOOM!
The massive explosion blasted out an enormous crater in the desert. Tons of sand seemed to lose gravity's restraint, flowing upward toward the sky like a reversed yellow sand waterfall shooting skyward, tearing the clouds at heaven's edge to shreds.
Blinding white light instantly engulfed those fleeing shinobi, swallowing all these people entirely. Terrifying high temperatures could instantly ignite puppets and desiccate human bodies.
Many Sand shinobi were immediately transformed into mummies, then torn to fragments by the violent shockwave, blown everywhere through the sky.
Only a few jonin who'd fled quickly enough barely survived. After charging far away, they dared stop, looking toward the explosion's center with lingering fear.
There, besides a massive crater, nothing remained anymore. No stones or vegetation, no puppets, corpses or blood traces. Everything had been obliterated!
The yellow sand that flew skyward descended again, heavily striking inside the crater like filling graves for the dead.
When Sand Village's reinforcement forces arrived later, Shukaku had long since departed with Yasushi with swagger—not even a trace remained.
"You bastard! Quickly get off my head! Don't go too far!"
Shukaku ran while roaring.
"Oh, this is burning bridges after crossing the river?"
Yasushi sat cross-legged atop Shukaku's head, extending his hand to lightly pat the large tanuki beneath him, warning: "Don't think just because you left Sand Village, you're free."
"If I wanted, directly killing you or sealing you isn't difficult."
"Hey, I could completely seal you inside a rock, then throw you into the ocean, letting you never emerge for your entire life."
"Tch..." Shukaku angrily sprayed sand, extending his hand to viciously slap at Yasushi.
But Yasushi's form became illusory. Its massive palm struck heavily upon its own head.
This strike was quite heavy, making its own head dizzy as sand cascaded down.
"Hehehehe" Yasushi opened his mouth and laughed mockingly. "Are you into self-abuse? Never imagined the famous One-Tail Shukaku had such hobbies."
"ROAR..." Shukaku shook his head and roared furiously, but no matter how he shook, he couldn't shake Yasushi off his head.
After trying for ages, Shukaku simply flopped onto the ground. Two massive claws wildly dug, rapidly excavating a large pit in the ground. His enormous body prepared to burrow into the sand.
"Tch, really, not obedient at all! Looks like a good beating is still necessary."
Yasushi curled his lip, leaping from Shukaku's body to stand before him. The Mangekyo in his eyes gradually manifested as he casually glared at Shukaku.
Shukaku immediately became obedient. His eyes revealed Sharingan traces as he obediently crawled back out from underground.
Yasushi snapped his fingers. Shukaku shivered and woke again.
Though time was brief, Shukaku completely understood the process of being controlled just now. He immediately erupted in fury.
"Damn bastard!"
"How dare you?!"
He opened his mouth toward Yasushi—a Tailed Beast Ball began condensing in his mouth again.
"Shut up, little kitty!"
Yasushi leaped upward, delivering a heavy punch to Shukaku's jaw.
After obtaining Hashirama cells, Yasushi's physical qualities also greatly strengthened. Though not a taijutsu shinobi, when truly erupting, his fists weren't much weaker than taijutsu specialists.
CRACK! Sand and stones scattered. Shukaku's massive mouth was punched tightly shut. Naturally the Tailed Beast Ball also came to nothing.
"Mmph..." Shukaku grunted stuffily, fierce light shooting from his eyes as he stared fixedly at Yasushi without releasing, showing not the slightest sign of compromise.
Yasushi wanted to subdue Shukaku, so he didn't use the Sharingan to control him. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves and delivered a violent beating to Shukaku.
"Little kitty, this isn't how you treat a friend. I must properly teach you—as an animal, you must be obedient. Otherwise, you'll get beaten."
"ROAR..." Shukaku angrily struck left and right but was completely unable to resist Yasushi's attacks, beaten until his entire body was covered in wounds.
After a long while, Yasushi stood atop Shukaku's head, forcefully stomping on Shukaku's skull as he asked playfully:
"Well then, have you learned to behave? Little kitty."
"Mmph mmph..." Shukaku grunted in his mouth. The fierce light in his eyes hadn't diminished at all, but he'd become considerably more sensible.
"Tch, truly not the protagonist—can't subdue Tailed Beasts?" Yasushi complained dissatisfied, once more sitting atop Shukaku's head. Extending his hand to pat, he commanded: "Hurry and get moving. Don't make me angry. Understood?"
This time Shukaku was much more obedient, meekly rising from the ground and striding forward. But his mouth still roared:
"Tailed Beasts will never submit to violence! If you want to befriend a Tailed Beast, you must truly treat the Tailed Beast as a friend!"
"Equal friends!"
"Ah, right, I'll treat you as an equal friend." Yasushi insincerely spouted nonsense.
"No, you haven't! I can sense very clearly—your heart doesn't treat me equally!" Shukaku roared.
"Equality..." Yasushi turned his head to consider. It seemed those perfect jinchuriki in the plot indeed all genuinely paid out their hearts to Tailed Beasts.
But for Uchiha, genuine feelings were quite luxurious—how could they be wasted on a large cat?
"Alright, stop talking about equality or inequality. I'll take you to kill people for fun. How about it?"
Shukaku's entire body shivered. He hastily shook his head, calling out:
"I'm not going back to Sand Village!"
"Hey, I didn't say I'd take you back to Sand Village. This time we'll find a weak chicken place."
"Though there are also shinobi there, they're definitely not as strong as Sand Village. Definitely can let you kill to your heart's content."
"Other small shinobi villages?" Shukaku considered, then still shook his head: "I don't want to provoke any shinobi villages now. I just want to run and sleep freely in the sand."
"Not any shinobi village—the Land of Wind's capital!" Yasushi revealed a smile like abducting children, temptingly coaxing beside Shukaku's ear:
"Don't you want to thoroughly escape Sand Village's pursuit?"
"You should know—Sand Village shinobi are merely dogs raised by the Daimyo. Whatever the Daimyo orders them to do, they do."
"Similarly, things the Daimyo forbids them to do, they definitely won't dare."
"Tell me—if you captured the Land of Wind's Daimyo and forced him to order your freedom, forbidding Sand Village from pursuing you anymore."
"What do you think the final result would be?"
"Really?" Shukaku immediately perked up, becoming tempted. "Can it really work?"
"Whether it can or not, you have to try! If you don't even try once, how do you know this won't work?!"
"Good! Then we'll capture the Daimyo and force him to return my freedom!"
"Don't worry, I'll help you!" Yasushi laughed uproariously, pointing forward. He rode Shukaku, charging frantically toward the Land of Wind's capital.
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