Bzzzt—!
Violent lightning instantly condensed into a massive thunder-serpent, coiling tightly around the chakra arm that had lashed out in ambush.
The serpent bit down savagely, and the terrifying high-voltage current blasted a huge chunk out of the Six-Tails cloak covering Naruto's body.
The sheer force of the impact sent six-tail Naruto staggering back several steps, each footfall smashing a crater into the ground.
Inside Naruto, the Nine-Tails bared its teeth in pain.
"What kind of ridiculous Lightning Style is this brat using? It can even tear through my chakra cloak... not bad."
But being driven back didn't stop Naruto. Instead, he began circling Akira at high speed, searching for an opening.
Every step he took made the whole forest tremble, like a berserk siege engine tearing through the land.
Akira stood perfectly still, calmly observing every tiny movement Naruto made.
The two remained locked in a standoff deep within the forest, but outside, every onlooker already felt their heart in their throat.
Sakura especially looked close to tears, so desperate she wanted to rush in and help, only to be held back firmly by Kakashi.
By then, things on Chiyo's side were done.
Gaara slowly opened his eyes.
He was weak, but he was alive.
Temari wiped away her tears and quickly helped her brother over to where Kakashi and the others were standing.
Gaara looked toward the smoke-choked forest and felt the terrifying shockwaves still pouring out of it. His brows drew together.
"Inside... is Naruto fighting Akira?"
Temari nodded, still full of worry.
"The Nine-Tails' chakra feels overwhelming. It's on an entirely different level from the One-Tail."
The shinobi of Sunagakure nearby had all gone pale too.
"Can that man called Akira really subdue a rampaging Nine-Tails? This feels less like a fight and more like someone standing against a natural disaster."
Kakashi kept saying he trusted Akira, but the fists he had unconsciously clenched already betrayed how tense he really was.
Deep in the forest.
Akira still hadn't rushed to force Naruto down. He wanted to see where Naruto's true limit lay.
At this point, an eighth tail had already formed behind Naruto, and the monstrous skeletal structure around him was growing at a furious pace.
This was the sign of partial full Tailed Beast transformation.
The moment the ninth tail appeared, Naruto would become a complete Nine-Tails.
And yet, even though he already wielded the power of eight tails, Naruto abruptly stopped attacking.
It was a beast's instinct.
From Akira, he smelled something overwhelmingly dangerous.
Akira watched him like someone watching a stage performance, his expression calm to the point of being chilling.
Then, during that brief standoff, the final tail finally finished forming behind Naruto.
"ROOOOAR—!!!"
The howl rolled out like collapsing mountains and crashing seas. The air within several kilometers vibrated with the sound.
Centered on Naruto, every tree within hundreds of meters was instantly ripped out by the explosion of chakra and ground into fragments.
The ground itself collapsed at once, leaving behind a giant crater as though a meteor had fallen.
The shockwave, dragging sand, shattered stone, and splintered trees with it, swept outward like a tidal wave and hit the people at the forest's edge.
Some of the weaker Suna shinobi were blown straight into the sky, tossed around like kites with their strings cut.
Kakashi reacted instantly. He slammed his hands together in seals and struck the ground, raising a thick Earth Flow Wall.
But in the face of that overwhelming storm, even the solid wall split with cracks and began to shake as though it might collapse at any second.
From behind the barrier, Kakashi shouted, "What kind of monster is this?! Just the roar alone can flatten a forest. Can Akira really hold against something like this?!"
Sakura braced herself against the gale, refusing to blink.
"Akira! Naruto! Please, don't let anything happen to either of you!"
The old guard of Sunagakure had their minds blown.
They used to think a rampaging One-Tail was terror enough. Now they were seeing the truth.
Compared to the Nine-Tails, the One-Tail was barely worth mentioning.
The gap was like comparing the Second Hokage's chakra to the First's. Tobirama might have been monstrous in his own right, but in front of Hashirama's absurd reserves, he still looked like a younger brother standing in the shadow of a giant.
The Nine-Tails' chakra was simply not on the same level as normal beings.
"ROOOAR—!"
Before anyone even had time to breathe, an even more terrifying roar erupted.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth began pulsing rhythmically, as if some colossal titan were walking across it, each step triggering a localized earthquake.
The people sheltering behind the earthen wall realized in horror that their bodies were being bounced off the ground by the sheer force of the tremors.
Every heart sank.
The worst-case scenario had arrived.
Naruto had fully, completely transformed into the Tailed Beast.
The storm raged for more than ten seconds before it finally began to die down.
The moment it did, everyone leapt onto the broken remains of the earthen wall and looked out.
The forest that had stood there just moments ago was gone.
Nothing remained but a barren wasteland.
With the view now unobstructed, the giant crimson fox standing over seventy meters tall revealed itself fully before everyone's eyes.
"So that's... the Nine-Tailed Fox?!"
As the strongest of the nine Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tails was not only the most powerful, but also the one feared most as a symbol of catastrophe itself.
The terror it inspired rose straight from the soul.
It didn't matter what nation someone belonged to. Every shinobi present felt their legs starting to shake.
Especially the old relics who had lived through the era of the First Hokage.
Looking at those nine tails blotting out the sky, it felt as though they had been dragged back into that age when monsters had walked the earth and gods had fought each other.
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