Shukaku's massive eyes narrowed, a glint of ancient disdain flickering in their depths. Inwardly, he scoffed, his thoughts dripping with contempt.
"I only humored you because you're a descendant of Indra... giving face to that old man, the Sage of Six Paths."
His bulk shifted ever so slightly in the sand as he brooded, claws twitching.
"Besides, I've mellowed out in my old age. If this were centuries ago, I'd have blasted you into dust with a Tailed Beast Ball before you could finish your arrogant little speech."
But now? This boy—Akira—wasn't just impudent. He was insolent.
"You dare proclaim that you'll take me down? You overestimate yourself, brat. A mere pair of Mangekyō Sharingan... and you think that scares me?"
A cruel smile split Shukaku's jagged maw, equal parts amused and enraged. He raised his voice, laughter booming across the battlefield like thunder:
"Hahaha! YOU think you can defeat ME? With a pair of ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan? You don't even have the Eternal Mangekyō! You're delusional beyond saving!"
Shukaku stood proud, arrogance surging like a sandstorm. The whispers of history had told him the names: Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha—those titans who once shackled the Tailed Beasts. But they were gone. Dust. Ghosts.
Now, there was no one who could suppress him. No one who dared.
Or so he thought.
Akira scoffed, his voice calm but sharp as a kunai.
"A dog that doesn't bite barks the loudest. That old saying? Perfectly describes you, Shukaku."
The moment the word "dog" left Akira's lips, Shukaku's laughter halted. Instantly.
The tanuki's expression twisted in fury, eyes flaring with primal hatred. Of all things, being called a dog was the ultimate insult.
"YOU BASTARD!" Shukaku howled, his voice shaking the dunes. "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A DOG! I'LL RIP YOU APART!"
He lunged, extending one of his massive claws like a battering ram toward Akira's Susanoo.
But Akira didn't flinch.
In one smooth, deliberate motion, the jet-black greatsword—Eclipse—materialized in the hand of his Susanoo. The blade whistled through the air and cleaved through Shukaku's claw in a single, devastating strike. Bone, flesh, chakra—all severed.
Shukaku roared in pain, retracting the bleeding stump as his severed claw was sucked into the black blade, disintegrating into nothingness.
"W-What is that sword?!" Shukaku bellowed in disbelief. "It broke through my skin?!"
He wasn't exaggerating. As the second most defensively powerful among the Tailed Beasts, he'd endured battles with the likes of Jiraiya and Gamabunta without a scratch.
But this boy—this Uchiha—had wounded him.
Akira's voice carried pride, almost smug.
"This is Eclipse. A blade forged for my Susanoo alone. It's not just sharp—it devours chakra. The moment I locked onto you, it began feeding on the chakra that coats your body. That weakened your defense... and made my blade sharper."
Eclipse was monstrous. Its jet-black edge was broad and imposing, almost shield-like in stature, yet designed to slice or pierce with lethal precision.
Shukaku cursed under his breath. Because he had underestimated Akira's abilities, he had already paid a steep price.
Tailed Beasts could regenerate, yes—but not without burning vast amounts of chakra. And in battle, that kind of loss was critical.
Akira's ability to drain chakra wasn't just powerful—it was a natural predator to beings like Shukaku.
Deciding that close combat was too dangerous, Shukaku retreated slightly, sand swirling around him. From a distance, he began to unleash a barrage of Wind Release and sand-based jutsu, intent on exhausting Akira's eye power.
But the tide refused to turn.
Akira met every wave of sand with Eclipse. As it clashed with Shukaku's ninjutsu, the sand would collapse, chakra drained away until it became nothing more than lifeless grit.
Three massive Wind Style: Sand Shurikens soared through the air—each the size of a house. Eclipse blocked them all, the chakra absorbed before they could land a blow.
Akira smirked.
"Did you really think Eclipse only fed on your body's chakra? Even your jutsu fuels me. Every attack you make—only makes me stronger."
His body surged with restored chakra, the Yin Seal glowing faintly on his forehead, storing the excess. His Susanoo pulsed with power, unwavering.
And his eyes—those weren't ordinary Mangekyō. They were Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Shukaku's plan to wear him down had completely backfired.
Akira clenched his fist inside the ethereal cage of Susanoo. Chakra flared.
The Susanoo's form shifted. Legs emerged. Its size ballooned, surpassing even the legendary Gamabunta, standing tall—equal in stature to Shukaku himself.
Now in full humanoid form, Susanoo's presence was awe-inspiring. A divine warrior born of wrath and resolve.
Akira, encased at its center, commanded it with deadly precision.
The black greatsword rose high—and Susanoo charged.
The battlefield shook as Eclipse came crashing down, aimed directly at Shukaku's head. The Tailed Beast raised his remaining claw in desperation, concentrating layers of chakra into it.
The blow landed. It didn't slice clean through—but the claw cracked. Slowly, Eclipse began to sink deeper, chakra siphoned from Shukaku's limb.
He stumbled back, each movement less powerful than the last.
"H-How?!" Shukaku growled. "Why are you... overpowering me?!"
Never before had brute strength been used against him this way—especially not from a human.
But Akira wasn't ordinary. Though his Susanoo hadn't reached its final form, its chakra absorption ability was slowly breaking down Shukaku from the inside out.
Desperate, Shukaku swung his massive tail at Akira from the side. As he'd hoped, Akira was forced to pull his sword away and dodge.
But Akira's reaction was instantaneous. With a swift backhand slash, Eclipse tore through Shukaku's tail, severing it in a clean arc. The chakra-infused flesh vanished into the hungry sword.
Another scream of agony ripped from the tailed beast's throat. He was disheveled now—one arm and one tail gone.
Humiliated.
No shinobi—not even Might Guy, who had once stood before the power of the Ten-Tails—had ever made him suffer like this.
Akira hovered in the air, calm amidst the storm. His eyes burned with crimson light. His chakra surged, undaunted.
Shukaku's fury was reaching a fever pitch. The humiliation was unbearable. And now, cornered and bleeding, he would no longer hold back.
He would unleash his true strength—unshackled, unrestrained. He would annihilate Akira.
No matter the cost.
The battle between Susanoo and Shukaku, two colossal forces of chakra incarnate, was a spectacle unlike any other. Even amidst the chaos of their own mortal clashes, ninjas on both sides couldn't help but cast anxious, awe-struck glances toward the titanic struggle unfolding at the heart of the battlefield.
It wasn't just the visual magnitude that drew their eyes—it was the sheer, bone-deep terror of what such monsters could unleash. A single stray blow, a fragment of their wrath, could obliterate entire squads in an instant. Every shinobi, whether from the Leaf or Sand, instinctively understood: staying alive now meant keeping their distance.
Leaf Village ninjas, though puzzled by the appearance of the black-armored colossus, felt their spirits surge. It was clearly overpowering the Sand's own beast—an immense, sandy monstrosity formed of hatred and desert spirits. Who else could be wielding such devastating power, if not one of their own?
Conversely, the Sand shinobi were rattled. None of their intelligence had prepared them for this—a Leaf ninja who could stand toe-to-toe with Shukaku and even drive it back? Their dread toward the Leaf deepened like a creeping shadow.
Akira, oblivious to the ripple effect his presence had triggered across the battlefield, stood atop his towering Susanoo. In a single blinding instant, he had severed Shukaku's tail and arm with a devastating sweep of his massive blade. The six key figures of the battlefield—Leaf and Sand alike—were left stunned.
Among them, the Third Hokage's aged eyes narrowed with suspicion and hope. He had seen this chakra armor before—Madara Uchiha's ultimate defense and offense: Susanoo. That it now stood again, cloaked in dark energy and wielding such might, meant only one thing: the Mangekyō Sharingan had reawakened. But hadn't it vanished with Madara himself?
A glimmer of worry crossed the Hokage's mind. This newcomer, this prodigious wielder of a forgotten power—was he truly a blessing to the Leaf, or a harbinger of the same pride that once burned them?
Orochimaru, by contrast, didn't have to guess. He recognized the man within the chakra armor. "Uchiha Kawa," he muttered, wide-eyed. That man had vanished years ago, presumed dead. And now—he returned not as a man, but as a god among shinobi. Orochimaru's lips curled with curiosity. How had an ordinary Uchiha become this?
Shukaku, snarling with pain and fury, shrieked across the desert winds. "I'll rip you apart, whelp! I'll crush your bones and grind your flesh to sand!"
The sand trembled with every rampage of the beast, its massive limbs causing tremors that tore across the field. Ninja fell, some injured by debris, others by sheer chakra shockwaves.
But then—Shukaku froze. It began to inhale, chakra gathering in immense volume within its gaping maw. Red and blue chakra spiraled, a 2:8 ratio that struck fear into the hearts of even seasoned warriors.
Akira narrowed his eyes, a cold, knowing smile flickering across his lips. "So... you're finally getting serious."
This was it—the ultimate move of any Tailed Beast: the Tailed Beast Ball. Akira's body tensed with anticipation. This wasn't just another jutsu. It was a test. Not just of his Susanoo's strength—but of his Mangekyō Sharingan's very limit.
The ball of chakra swelled—black, dense, throbbing with cataclysmic energy. Larger than Shukaku's own head, it loomed like a miniature moon. Akira's breath slowed. His Susanoo surged with fresh power, its skeletal frame thickening, armor darkening into obsidian. The blade it held—Eclipse—glowed faintly as it drank in Akira's resolve.
The Tailed Beast Ball fired, a black comet tearing through the air.
But Akira didn't flinch. Instead, he laughed.
"Yes! Show me the wrath of legends!"
Eclipse, like a black guillotine, met the monstrous sphere in mid-air. The impact was apocalyptic. A flash of light seared across the battlefield as the forces collided. Akira's Susanoo slid backward, feet gouging deep trenches into the earth, but it held.
The Eclipse blade was devouring chakra—siphoning the power from the Tailed Beast Ball with every passing second. The clash became a contest of attrition.
Yet, Shukaku had poured everything into this one final attack. It couldn't last.
Akira could feel it—his blade growing heavier with stolen chakra, his Susanoo responding with sharper movement, quicker regeneration. The tables were turning.
Shukaku's panic was visible. Its massive eyes widened as it realized the ball was shrinking. The chakra it had so painstakingly compressed was being stolen, devoured.
Desperate, it roared and detonated the Tailed Beast Ball prematurely.
The world went white.
A towering mushroom cloud burst skyward. The air shockwave flattened dunes for miles. Debris spiraled into the heavens like fireflies of death. The sun was swallowed by smoke.
Every shinobi fell silent. Even Might Guy, locked in fierce battle nearby, paused. No one could survive that, surely.
But then—
A voice, cold and defiant, echoed through the choking dust.
"It's not that easy... to blow me up."
A pitch-black slash ripped through the cloud. Faster than the eye could track, it cleaved toward Shukaku with finality.
The beast stared, stunned.
That attack—it had poured every ounce of hatred and chakra into it. And it had failed.
Akira's silhouette emerged from the dispersing smoke, his Susanoo now glowing with devoured chakra, its eye sockets ablaze like twin eclipses. Standing firm in the cratered earth, he raised Eclipse once more, wordless.
Shukaku took a step back. For the first time in centuries—it felt fear.
This... this wasn't just a man. This was retribution incarnate.
Akira moved.
The battle wasn't over. But the tide had turned.
And all the world would remember the day a single man stood against a Tailed Beast—and won.