After a moment, the monster finished roaring and turned around, allowing everyone to witness its terrifying appearance.
To it, humans seemed as insignificant and powerless as ants.
Its body was extremely bloated, resembling a gigantic, fat raccoon, covered with violet curse marks in no particular order.
"You damned humans, you dare seal me for so long, all of you should die!"
This monster, known to the Hidden Sand Ninjas as 'Shukaku,' had an incredibly loud voice with a unique sharpness, making its sound pierce into one's ears like a dagger, causing unbearable pain.
"Wind Style: Air Refining Bullet!"
Its mouth began to gather a massive amount of chakra, and enormous wind balls started spewing out in a fan-shaped coverage, sweeping through the forest along the way and dragging all the trees and enemies into the wind balls.
The air was filled with intense explosion sounds.
Its power and range were incomparable to any conventional ninja techniques.
At this point, the Hidden Sand Ninja and Hakushi, along with others, tacitly ceased fighting; they only wished to find cover and avoid the terrifying wind ball attack.
"Huff... huff... are you two alright?"
Hakushi clutched his shoulder, where his clothes had accidentally been cut by a wind blade from the dispersed wind ball, revealing a ghastly wound, bleeding profusely.
Honestly, it was truly a headache dealing with such a situation.
One unexpected event followed another.
What was supposed to be a simple mission to destroy a supply point had to be aborted prematurely due to incorrect information, resulting in a premature retreat.
And now, encountering such a rampaging monster left Hakushi at a loss for words.
Currently, more important than the Hidden Sand Ninja was avoiding being caught up in the monster's large-scale techniques.
"Fortunately, it's just that the chakra of this monster gives off a terribly unsettling feeling. It's the most powerful chakra I've ever seen. Hard to imagine that such a presence would exist in the Ninja Realm."
Ayane took a deep breath; with her Byakugan, she could directly observe Shukaku, noting how terrifying its chakra was.
In her acquaintance, Ruri was already considered a ninja with an exceptionally large amount of chakra.
However, compared to this monster, their chakra amounts were in completely different leagues.
"Of course, that is the tailed beast weapon of the Hidden Sand. Didn't expect the Hidden Sand to bring such a thing into the battlefield; we must escape out of here quickly."
Ruri seemed to know something, a hint of seriousness flashing in her eyes.
"A Tailed Beast?"
Hakushi's eyebrows raised; he had seen references to such beings in some records, but it was his first time seeing one in flesh.
It was said to be among the nine monstrous entities passed down from ancient times, now known by ninjas as tailed beasts.
Their original source is untraceable, only known to have existed since ancient times, having an extremely long lifespan.
Each tailed beast possesses an amount of chakra unattainable by ninjas, capable of causing earth-shattering effects with just a slight movement. Even suppressing such a monster with sealing techniques could come with great sacrifices.
Such a terrifying monstrous being.
Even more intimidating than what Hakushi had learned from books.
The three hid behind a rock, facing the storm head-on, which had been marked extensively as if slashed by countless blades.
Feeling the heavy atmosphere in the air and the continuous storm, Hakushi rubbed the aching in his brow.
It can't be said the situation was more dangerous than before; because of the monster's rampage, the Hidden Sand Ninja stopped pursuing them, their attention now focused on Shukaku.
However, the problem was that Shukaku's wide-range attacks had dragged the three of them into it too.
"Wait!"
Ayane suddenly noticed something with her Byakugan.
"What is it?"
"Hurry up and move!"
Ayane couldn't spare time to explain, urging Hakushi and Ruri to follow her and leave quickly.
Hakushi and Ruri didn't dare delay; Ayane must have discovered something, or she wouldn't be so anxious.
Indeed, the chakra leaking into the air grew increasingly heavy.
The white part of the eyes turned pitch black, the pupils sandy yellow; those were Shukaku's eyes fixed on them.
Its gaze, like sharp blades, was harsh as it gazed down, its mouth exaggeratedly split open into a dangerous and sly grimace.
It ripped open its bloodied mouth, chakra balls began aggregating in front of its face.
The chakra balls merged and turned into a massive black chakra ball.
A mystical purple halo enveloped the outer layer of the black chakra ball.
It looked like a gigantic, violet-glowing black gem, perfectly spherical.
The surrounding air became still; the biting cold seeping into one's skin induced a chilling sense of dread.
Just as it prepared to launch the attack, a heavy blow caused its bloated body to stumble, and the black, purple-glowing sphere arced into the sky.
Even flying out in an arc, the black ball's speed was incredibly fast, like a gust of wind.
As Hakushi and the others ran in the opposite direction of the camp, they instinctively looked up to see this gigantic black ball brusquely sweep over their heads, flying into the distance.
Light, shone upon everything.
All figures, trees, and the ground vanished from sight.
Because of the strong light from the explosion, Hakushi and the others involuntarily closed their eyes.
The silence lasted only a few seconds before the explosion's thunderous noise began.
The forest quaked, the riverbed collapsed, creating a cliff directly in front.
Dust rolled like a tsunami.
A few kilometers of land became a massive crater, devoid of any vegetation.
"Cough, cough!"
Hakushi emerged disheveled from the dirt, covered in dust.
Just in time to see Ayane and Ruri similarly emerging, looking quite disheveled, with clothes on their arms and thighs scuffed up, revealing a dense network of blood marks, their injuries not light.
And these injuries came despite being outside the explosion's range.
If the chakra ball had landed right on their location, they likely would have been vaporized.
Hakushi tilted his head, shaking his ear to get the dust out.
Is this still a fight between ninjas?
Witnessing the desolated land before them, the thought flashed through the minds of Hakushi and the others.
No matter how you cut it, causing such extensive collapse of ground in an instant seemed too exaggerated.
If a few more of such chakra balls came, no matter how strong a ninja squad, they wouldn't stand a chance against such a monstrous being.
"Right ahead!"
"Stop them, don't let them get away!"
Footsteps of figures moving came from behind.
"Run quickly!"
No time to be shocked by Shukaku's destructive power, the persistence of the Hidden Sand Ninja was unexpected; up till now, they still didn't intend to let them escape.
It's to prevent any information from leaking out, right?
Indeed, possessing such a powerful monster weapon can't be prematurely disclosed to the enemy, allowing for a surprise attack.
In fact, because Shukaku's rampage was known, the Hidden Sand Ninja were even more unwilling to spare them; if news leaked, it might render their meticulously planned strategy in vain.
Being chased so quickly, Hakushi and the others had no choice but to run straight, leaving the battlefield as fast as possible.
What was happening with Shukaku? Was it sealed again or something else? Hakushi didn't know.
The most pressing issue now was avoiding the pursuit of the Hidden Sand Ninja.
Passing through the barren land created by Shukaku, around were clusters of faint black chakra gas emitting a purple glow, swirling in the air visibly.
Seeing this, a thought struck Hakushi.
He felt a very direct sense of Shukaku's power.
This power was alluring to anyone.
So, he immediately took out a glass bottle from his Ninja Tool Bag, uncorked it, and while running, collected the residual tangible chakra along the way.
In no time, the chakra collection was complete, and Hakushi returned the glass bottle to the Ninja Tool Bag, smiling contentedly.
Seems like this wasn't a fruitless venture after all.
If conditions allowed, he would love to find a spot and study this peculiar chakra in depth; it might provide great insights.