"Natsuki is amazing!"
Naruto gently laid down the injured chūnin on his back, his eyes never leaving the distant Shukaku.
Rinya, standing guard over the two medical-nin, proudly declared, "Of course! He's our boss—mine and Megumi's. Of course he's amazing!"
Ino, Sakura, and Hinata couldn't help but roll their eyes.
"Natsuki being amazing has nothing to do with him being your boss, right…?"
Only Megumi stayed focused on her work. She knew her boss was strong, so she trusted him to handle the dangerous enemies. Her job as a medical-nin was to heal the wounded, so she didn't have time to care about anything else.
Seeing Megumi so dedicated, Sakura snapped out of it and refocused on helping her treat the injured.
Meanwhile, after severing Shukaku's arms, Natsuki stared at the fallen limbs with a bit of greed in his eyes. After all, they were chakra-formed arms. If he could seal them for himself, they'd be like massive batteries—no more worrying about chakra depletion.
But… he didn't know any sealing techniques!
"Damn it! What a missed opportunity! Once Tsunade returns, I need to figure out a way to learn some sealing techniques!"
Natsuki grumbled internally.
Seeing Shukaku's furious state, he found the constant screeching a bit annoying.
But of course, Shukaku wasn't one to take this lightly. Though regenerating his arms was slow, he still had other attacks.
Shukaku opened his mouth wide. A giant, swirling sphere of dense, condensed chakra slowly formed in front of it.
A Tailed Beast Bomb!
The tanuki was about to unleash its ultimate move!
Natsuki didn't waste a second. He hurled multiple special kunai around, embedding them into the ground. As they landed, they linked together, forming a massive, makeshift barrier formation that surrounded Shukaku in the center.
Then he raised his hand, a swirling blue water sphere forming in his palm, spiraling and radiating intense heat.
Many of the fighters nearby glanced over and were stunned, a single thought flashing through their minds:
Is that the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan?!
"Suiton: Uzushio Futon! (Water Style: Whirlpool Boil Bomb!)"
Natsuki hurled the spiraling water sphere forward. Before Shukaku could finish forming the Tailed Beast Bomb, the Whirlpool Boil Bomb collided directly with the half-formed sphere.
Shukaku's expression twisted in horror. "Oh no…"
BOOM!
An earth-shattering explosion erupted, engulfing Shukaku completely.
The shockwave roared outward, sending searing heat in all directions.
Thankfully, Natsuki's barrier formation held back most of the blast, containing the worst of the energy. However, the formation wasn't strong enough to hold for long—it eventually shattered under the force.
Spectators were knocked off their feet, and many were scorched by the intense heat.
But what could Natsuki do? In such a desperate situation, this was the best he could manage. If anything, blame Shukaku. Or maybe blame Konoha's knowledge monopoly—if they'd just let him learn higher-level barrier techniques, this wouldn't have been a problem!
It certainly wasn't Natsuki's fault—he did his best!
Meanwhile, Genma, Sasuke, Neji, Tenten, Shino, and the Suna ninja were all forced to dodge, stunned by the sheer scale of the explosion.
They couldn't believe what they were seeing: a Konoha genin unleashing such a devastating attack—and it looked like the Tailed Beast Bomb itself had been destroyed in the blast.
Could it be… had the tailed beast actually been killed?
All battles across the field temporarily halted as everyone turned to stare, unable to believe their eyes. Even Orochimaru, Hashirama, Tobirama, and Hiruzen, locked in fierce combat, paused for a moment.
Orochimaru licked his lips, eyes glinting with intrigue. "Is that Natsuki-kun? I didn't expect him to have such a trump card."
Though Hashirama was under control, he still retained his own consciousness. He couldn't help but marvel.
"That's Konoha's prodigy of the new generation? He's already capable of fighting the One-Tail… truly impressive!"
Tobirama glanced at Hiruzen. "Monkey, who is that kid?"
Hiruzen sighed deeply.
"That's Natsuki, a very promising child… Konoha's future. He already defeated Orochimaru once before, but I didn't expect him to be capable of fighting a tailed beast now. It seems I underestimated him. Had I known, I wouldn't have had him participate in the Chūnin Exams—I should have promoted him straight to jōnin."
Hiruzen couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret.
Tobirama, for his part, was dumbfounded. "A genin? That kind of strength, and he's still a genin? Monkey, how the hell did you become Hokage?! The moment he beat Orochimaru, you should have made him a jōnin, or at least a special jōnin. What's the point of having him take the Chūnin Exams? You're wasting talent!"
Hiruzen felt nothing but awkwardness—he truly regretted it.
If he had promoted Natsuki earlier, they would have had another powerful jōnin ready to handle this crisis. Sure, Natsuki was fighting the enemy now, but with a different status, he could have played an even bigger role. For example, as a jōnin, he could have been by Hiruzen's side as a personal guard—and with Natsuki's keen intuition, they might have uncovered Orochimaru's disguise earlier!
"...It's too late to say anything now. Sarutobi-sensei, it's time for you to die. Konoha's decaying windmill needs to be torn down and rebuilt anew. You relics of the past… need to disappear!"
Orochimaru sneered and resumed controlling Hashirama and Tobirama to fight.
Hiruzen could only grit his teeth and continue the battle.
In the center of the arena, the dust slowly settled.
Shukaku was nowhere to be seen—only a massive crater remained.
At the bottom of the crater lay a small, unconscious, red-haired boy.
Gaara.
…
Did Shukaku… retreat back into the host?
Everyone stared in shock, unable to recover for a long time.
Even Natsuki took a moment to process what had happened.
He used Raishunshin to flash over to Gaara, touched his nose, and confirmed that he was still alive—just heavily injured.
As for Shukaku… it looked like the Whirlpool Boil Bomb had completely overwhelmed him, scaring him enough to retreat back into Gaara.
Good—one less headache to deal with.
"Tenten! Are you okay?!"
Tenten and Shino had already subdued the siblings Temari and Kankuro. They rushed over, worried.
"I'm fine. Just burned a lot of chakra—didn't even get hurt."
Natsuki gave a reassuring smile, glancing at Tenten and Shino. Both were unharmed as well—it seemed Temari and Kankuro hadn't been much of a challenge.
As expected of his girlfriend and his close friend—utterly reliable!
Natsuki turned his gaze elsewhere.
Sasuke and Neji had each defeated a chūnin and were now engaged with another opponent, taking the pressure off Genma significantly.
With only Baki left, Genma had a much easier time holding his own.
In fact, Baki and the remaining Suna shinobi seemed hesitant to keep fighting—Natsuki's overwhelming display had shaken their resolve.
"Hachimon Tonkō: Dōmon, Kai! (Eight Gates Release: Fifth Gate of Limit, Open!)"
Natsuki didn't waste time. He activated the Fifth Gate and flashed over to Baki—one punch, and Baki was down.
(End of Chapter)
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