At the very moment when the great forces of Sunagakure and Iwagakure clashed—
At a ruined village far from the battlefield, amidst the crumbled remains—
The earth twisted, and a figure slowly rose. Cloaked in a hooded coat, wearing a white mask that revealed a single blood-red Sharingan eye, he emanated an aura as chilling as death itself. His gaze drifted slowly toward the distant battlefield.
He first glanced at the battling shinobi of Sunagakure and Iwagakure with an expression of disdain. Then, as the three tomoe of his Sharingan spun, his eyes locked onto the towering figure atop the distant earth wall. In an aged, hoarse voice, he murmured,
"Interesting. So that's the current Kazekage of Sunagakure?"
From the same body, a second, comical voice answered,
"Yes, Madara-sama, that is the Fourth Kazekage: Rasa."
"Hmm."
Madara Uchiha seemed mildly intrigued.
"A curious power indeed... it's a little like Hashirama's Sage Art. Even my senses cannot detect him fully."
"Madara-sama, should we get rid of him? What if he disrupts your plans?"
Madara paused as if he shook his head.
"No... no need to rush. Let me observe this power first. After all, it's rare to have an opportunity to walk outside like this. Let's see just how much the little brats of today's shinobi world have grown."
As Madara's voice fell silent—
On the distant battlefield, the clash between Sunagakure's Pakura and Michikawa and Iwagakure's jinchūriki Rōshi and Han was reaching its peak.
As time passed, the battlefield between Scorch Release Pakura and Lava Release Rōshi, the fight was getting heated.
Both, relying on the advantages of their Bloodline Limit and secret techniques, had naturally chosen the most direct and efficient way to fight: pure taijutsu clashes. After several probing exchanges, they realized that, due to the similarity of their abilities, neither's ninjutsu could easily overpower the other.
Though Pakura was a woman, she was in no way inferior to Rōshi when it came to taijutsu.
Meanwhile, on the other battlefield—
Magnet Release: Iron Sand's unrivaled offensive and defensive capabilities were firmly suppressing the speed and strength granted by Han's Boil Release. No matter how powerful the Five-Tails jinchūriki's strength was, against the absolute defense constructed from iron sand, he found it hard to make any progress. No matter how fast he was, he couldn't outpace the sand iron.
And what's more, Michikawa had one clear advantage that Han did not — he could form wings from iron sand and fly freely through the air, completely dominating the aerial battlefield. Han could only suffer attacks passively from the ground.
From Iwagakure's side.
Watching the astonishing battles unfolding before them, the genin and chunin of Iwagakure were left utterly shocked.
After all, in any village, Bloodline Limit and secret techniques were rare treasures.
Battles like this were things ordinary shinobi could live their whole lives without witnessing even once — yet now, they were seeing them play out right before their eyes.
The sheer destructive power and dazzling spectacle left the Iwagakure shinobi in awe of the strength of their two jinchūriki... but for the first time, they also realized. Sunagakure had such terrifyingly powerful shinobi too?
As for the jōnin, they all wore grave expressions.
"As expected of Sunagakure's renowned Scorch Release and Magnet Release shinobi. They can actually go toe-to-toe with our two jinchūriki."
Even so, they remained full of confidence in their village's jinchūriki, because until now, neither Rōshi nor Han had revealed their Tailed Beast powers. However, a shadow of concern lingered—Sunagakure's true trump card, their Kazekage, had yet to make a move.
"Quick, report this information to the Kazekage-sama."
"Understood."
After giving the order, the Iwagakure shinobi continued to watch the battlefield with tense gazes.
Realizing that their Bloodline Limit and secret techniques were not particularly effective against each other, and in order to conserve chakra, both sides tacitly canceled their Lava Release and Scorch Release chakra modes.
"Lava Release: Melting Rock River Jutsu."
With Rōshi forming hand seals, countless massive lava fireballs surged toward Pakura.
These lava fireballs not only carried terrifying heat, but the burning, heavy rocks also held devastating impact force.
Though Pakura wasn't afraid of heat, she dared not let herself be smashed by those massive rocks.
With nimble, flowing movements, she weaved between the lava fireballs while forming her own hand seals.
"Scorch Release: Rabbit Jade."
Countless flames appeared at her sides, and as they fell to the ground, they transformed into blazing rabbits that charged at Rōshi.
Rōshi tried to intercept the flame rabbits by spitting fireballs, but quickly realized something odd: despite their numbers, the flame rabbits moved with an unnatural agility, almost as if they possessed a will of their own.
He had no choice but to dodge nimbly as well.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Han, the Five-Tails jinchūriki, was growing more and more frustrated.
As a user of Boil Release, he could raise his chakra to the boiling point, exploding with monstrous strength. How monstrous was it? He could punch away a sand iron cylinder the size of a small mountain weighing over ten tons with a single blow.
But it was useless.
His opponent only needed to break the unified sand iron cylinder back into individual particles to disperse the impact. Worse, the enemy could fly.
Flight is something that even in Iwagakure, only the Tsuchikage with Light-Weight Rock Technique can achieve.
By flying, Michikawa easily controlled the battlefield from above, using his sand iron to attack Han as if he were merely a stationary training post.
As a young man, Han naturally had a temper. After being battered passively for several minutes, he finally lost his patience.
From above, Michikawa—riding on his sand iron wings—immediately noticed Han's change.
Dark red chakra surged over Han's body as he entered a half-Tailed Beast transformation. Cloaked in a dark red Tailed Beast coat, five dark red tails unfurled behind him, and the terrifying aura he emitted swept across the entire battlefield.
Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to Han's transformation.
Even among the Iwagakure shinobi, many were seeing one of their jinchūriki enter a half-Tailed Beast form for the first time. The overwhelming chakra stunned them to the core.
Pakura, who was exchanging blows with Rōshi, also sensed it immediately.
"So this is the power of a Tailed Beast? What an evil and overwhelming chakra…!"
It was her first time truly witnessing a half-Tailed Beast transformation. If not for the fact that her power had already risen several levels and that she had mastered Sage Mode energy, she wouldn't have had any confidence to even stand against it.
Compared to everyone else's shock, Michikawa, facing Han, was much calmer.
He had already seen this form once before, that of the late Eight-Tails jinchūriki from Kumogakure during the last Shinobi World War.
But what happened next even startled him.
A deep purple chakra ball, about the size of a fist, began forming in front of the half-transformed Five-Tails jinchūriki—
And then it fired.
"Tailed Beast Bomb."
BOOM!