Chapter 55: The Golden Shovel and the Dark Tengu
'So that's the Adamantine Staff's power,' Shinra mused, watching the aftermath of the Tailed Beast Bomb's deflection from his hidden vantage point. He idly materialized a gleaming, ornate golden shovel in his hand, a prize from a forgotten system lottery years ago. 'I wonder how my golden shovel would fare.' He dismissed the useless thought, storing the shovel away. Now was not the time for curiosities.
"Tsunade! This is no time for grief! We must stop the Nine-Tails! If it reaches the village, it will be a catastrophe!" Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice, strained with pain, cut through the chaos, directed at the grieving Sannin.
"My grandmother said... if it wishes to go, we should let it go!" Tsunade retorted, her voice thick with emotion as she cradled Mito's body.
Hiruzen's face was a mask of conflicted pain. "Tsunade, you know Konoha's situation! With war brewing on our borders, and even a small nation like Rain daring to challenge us... we cannot lose the Nine-Tails. It is the deterrent that keeps the other Great Villages at bay. Without it, they will descend upon us like vultures!"
Tsunade closed her eyes, the weight of her duty crushing the weight of her personal feelings. "...I understand." Gently, she handed her grandmother's body to a member of the Senju clan who had arrived on the scene. The once-mighty clan, which had dominated the Warring States Era, was now a pitiful shadow of its former self, numbering only a few dozen. The sight was a stark reminder of how far they had fallen.
Just as the Konoha forces regrouped to face the enraged fox, a new, unexpected voice rang out, clear and mocking above the din.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk! What a lively party! Don't mind if I join the fun, do you?"
A figure suddenly appeared, standing right on top of the Nine-Tails' head as if it were a common perch.
It was Shinra, but no one would ever recognize him. He had used a Transformation Jutsu to alter his build and wore a stylized orange mask with two eye holes, which were covered by dark lenses to hide his distinctive eyes. He was draped in the grand, white admiral's coat from another world, a figure of imposing and mysterious authority.
'This guy... he really went all out with the disguise,' Tsunade thought, a wave of relief washing over her. At least he wasn't being recklessly obvious.
"YOU INSIGNIFICANT VERMIN! GET OFF MY HEAD!" the Nine-Tails roared, momentarily ignoring the ninja pelting it with futile jutsu. The sensation of someone standing on its head triggered a deep, primal rage, a humiliation it had only ever suffered at the hands of Uchiha Madara. It swiped a massive paw at its own skull, but Shinra had already vanished, reappearing high in the air.
The fox's own paw smacked into its head with a thunderous thwack. It was a comically stupid sight.
"A beast is a beast," Shinra laughed, his voice echoing. "Even if it can talk, it's still stupid enough to hit itself."
The Nine-Tails stared up at the floating figure, its eyes burning with incandescent hatred. It was now entirely focused on this new, insulting foe.
"Who are you?!" Sarutobi Hiruzen demanded, his expression grim. "Why have you come to Konoha?" A shinobi who could fly was a strategic nightmare.
"You don't need to know who I am," Shinra replied, his tone dismissive. "I'm here for that animal, the Nine-Tails."
His repeated use of the word "animal" sent a wave of nervous disbelief through the Konoha shinobi. The Nine-Tails' rage reached a boiling point. It was a self-proclaimed noble being, and this was the second person in its long life to dare insult it so. The chakra in its maw condensed not into a sphere, but into a sustained, searing beam of pure energy—a Tailed Beast Beam—that it fired directly at the floating speck.
"Angry, are you? Good. Let me see your strength! Susanoo!"
A torrent of chakra so vast it was visible to the naked eye erupted from Shinra. It materialized, solidified, and took form. A colossal warrior, over a hundred meters tall, clad in the dark, demonic armor of a tengu, materialized around him. It was a perfect, complete-body Susanoo. Next to this divine giant, the Nine-Tails, crouched on all fours, looked like a child's pet.
"This... this is impossible..." Sarutobi Hiruzen whispered, his face pale with shock. The other shinobi could only stare, their minds reeling. The Susanoo they had seen four years ago was a mere skeleton in comparison. This was the true, legendary power of the Uchiha's ultimate technique.
"It's the Uchiha again!" Danzo spat, his voice dripping with venom. "That clan is a cancer! A disease Konoha must purge!"
"Danzo, enough!" Hiruzen barked, though a seed of doubt had been planted. With such a commotion, the Uchiha clan would arrive soon. Danzo's words, if overheard, would ignite a civil war.
"Enough? Sarutobi, am I wrong?" Danzo pressed, seizing the opportunity. "This is clearly an Uchiha plot! They seek to control the Nine-Tails and stage a coup!"
He continued to pour rhetorical poison onto the Uchiha name, his personal vendetta laid bare for all to see.
"Fall back! Now!" Hiruzen commanded, ignoring Danzo. This was no longer a fight they could intervene in. It was a clash of titans.
"Susanoo..." the Nine-Tails growled, its voice a mixture of hatred and painful memory. "You belong to the Uchiha! The Uchiha must die!"
"Save your breath! Take this! Susanoo Slash!"
The dark tengu warrior moved with speed belying its size. Its massive chakra blade descended not with a physical swing, but with a projected wave of pure, cutting force that moved like a stream of light.
The Nine-Tails' eyes widened in alarm. It tried to dodge, but it was too slow. The sword pressure sheared clean through three of its mighty tails as if they were smoke before continuing its path, effortlessly slicing a distant mountain in half miles away.
A roar of agony, genuine and piercing, erupted from the fox. Though made of chakra, it felt pain acutely.
"Nine-Tails," Shinra's voice echoed from the crystal embedded in Susanoo's forehead, cool and condescending. "Your strength is disappointing. Put some effort into it, or I might just decide to carve you into pieces for the fun of it."
"YOU ARROGANT WRETCH! NOT EVEN UCHIHA MADARA DARED SPEAK TO ME LIKE THIS!" the fox bellowed, its voice a thunderclap of pure, unadulterated fury that shook the very heavens. The battle between the false Uchiha and the furious Tailed Beast had truly begun.