On a rooftop not far from Eight-Tails Gyūki...
Reiji squatted down, seriously picking his nose as he studied the raging beast.
"Hey, Neko, think the two of us could take him?"
A snarky, proud voice rang out in his head. "That dumb ox? Please. I could scratch his face into a mess with one swipe!"
Reiji gave a half-hearted thumbs up, muttering to himself.
Heh... as if. You're just a little brat. You'd get smashed flat by that jacked-up meathead.
"I heard that!" Neko's furious voice shouted in his mind.
Then she added with a pout, "If you look down on me so much, why do you keep clinging to me?!"
Reiji's brow twitched. He coughed twice, trying to cover his fluster.
"Ahem... It's for training! I need you to help me train!"
"???
!!!
Why does it sound like you're thinking something dirty!?"
Reiji's serious façade broke instantly. He coughed harder, sighing.
"It's not like that. I meant it literally. I need your chakra to help me master the Lightning Release Chakra Mode."
The cat went quiet for a moment, then huffed, "Fine. After we beat the dumb ox, I want two days off to go play!"
"Deal!" Reiji nodded eagerly.
The ninja world wasn't short on wilderness. Letting her roam for a couple days wouldn't be a problem.
The man and cat struck a deal easily—partners in mischief once again.
Jumping down from the roof, Reiji's body rippled with flowing Iron Sand, shifting back into the form of Raimei—dark-skinned and wild-haired.
The street was dimly lit by flickering firelight. The panicked villagers had long since fled. Only ANBU darted by now and then in the shadows.
Reiji stared at the towering Gyūki and walked forward unhurriedly.
Electric arcs began to dance across his skin, slithering like blue serpents.
The immense chakra of Two-Tails surged through him.
It converted into raw Lightning Release chakra, flooding his cells, firing up every nerve ending.
Each cell flirted with death—dancing at the brink of destruction—but none broke.
With every pass through that edge, his body grew stronger.
Closer and closer...
All around Gyūki, Kumogakure's ninja were locked in battle.
Some had collapsed by the roadside, gasping for breath.
Some, eyes bloodshot, clung to the Wind and Thunder Chains with every last ounce of strength.
Others poured out their chakra, chaining seals, hurling ninjutsu nonstop at the rampaging beast.
Many of them had survived the last Two-Tails rampage.
"Raimei!"
"Raimei!"
"Raimei!"
Even exhausted, those who recognized him still called out.
"Yo~" Reiji waved, flashing a bright smile.
Then a masked ANBU suddenly stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
"Raimei, report the situation to Lord Raikage immediately using the Heavenly Transfer Technique!"
Reiji didn't stop. He strolled right past.
As he passed, he patted the ANBU's shoulder casually.
"Come on. It's just Eight-Tails. No need to bother the Raikage. I, Raimei, got this."
As he looked up at the struggling, howling Gyūki, a twisted grin curled on Reiji's lips. His pupils dilated, blackness spilling outward until they swallowed his eyes whole.
"Me? I get chopped up a lot, sure—but I've picked up more than a few tricks from my sashimi master."
"Lightning Release Chakra Mode—activate!"
In the next instant, an eerie, monstrous pressure unfurled from him like writhing tendrils, warped and pulsating.
It sent a primal jolt of fear through every Kumogakure ninja present.
Without thinking, they all stepped back two paces, eyes wide in horror.
A monster.
That was a monster.
That... that wasn't Raimei.
Gyūki seemed to sense it too. His massive body writhed, thick neck twisting violently to glare straight at Reiji.
No bloodlust. No killing intent.
Just the deepest, most suffocating darkness.
"Here we go."
Reiji gathered power. The ground cracked beneath him, forming a crater as he launched forward—his body a streak of blue-black lightning—driving upward like a sledgehammer into Gyūki's chin.
"Boom!" A dull thud echoed.
Reiji vanished. All that could be seen was Gyūki's massive head snapping back.
The Kumogakure ninja gripping the chains felt a huge force surge through them.
The ANBU who had stopped Reiji earlier shouted, eyes wide with fury,
"Raimei! What the hell are you doing?! You idiot! Are you trying to unleash Gyūki?!"
Beside him, another ANBU, one of Amai's escorts, snapped,
"Lady Amai and our comrades fought tooth and nail, bled to chain down Eight-Tails! If you're not here to help, then get lost!"
Before they could finish, Reiji's figure reappeared midair and crashed down to the ground.
With his back to the others, he stared silently at his right hand.
Then, a burst of searing blue lightning engulfed his entire arm, radiating a terrifying, blade-like aura—like a divine weapon drawn from its sheath.
The surrounding ninjas didn't even need to look directly—just catching it from the corner of their eyes made their skin sting as if pricked by needles.
Reiji vanished again.
Sensing the incoming threat, Gyūki's instincts kicked in. His bound right arm bulged with explosive power—his muscles suddenly swelling.
In an instant, the chains flew from the ninja's hands, sending them stumbling in all directions.
Freed from the restraint on his right arm, Gyūki swung his fist at the oncoming Reiji with full force.
He aimed to crush this little insect with the hardest punch he could muster.
Closer.
Closer...
Then—impact.
Reiji's fist collided with Gyūki's, unleashing a thunderous boom.
Reiji was launched like a cannonball, crashing through shattered ruins before slamming into a distant high-rise. He smashed through the outer wall, leaving a gaping hole.
Gyūki roared triumphantly, pounding his chest with his massive right hand, seemingly unfazed by the twisted, broken angle of his fingers.
The Kumogakure ninja grimaced, many letting out heavy sighs.
A few glared furiously at the hole in the building, eyes burning with frustration.
But then, from that dark gap in the wall, an inhuman roar suddenly erupted.
In the shadows, a pair of vertical pupils flared to life.
Matatabi... was furious.
Inside Reiji's mind, her voice thundered.
"Take it! Take all my chakra and beat that brute down!"
Hearing her, Reiji grinned crookedly, extended his left hand, and straightened his mangled right arm piece by piece.
"What a fiery little minx."
The next instant, a tidal wave of chakra burst from the seal—dozens of times more intense than before.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the entire building. It spilled from the broken wall like a flood of blue light.
The thunder was so intense, it drowned out even the storm above.
At that moment, the line between life and death blurred for Reiji.
Every cell in his body teetered on the edge of combustion.
Unlike natural lightning, the Lightning Release Chakra Mode targeted every cell, every inch of skin, every bone.
And with it, his physical strength surged.
One second.
Two seconds.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Gyūki locked eyes with him, a deep unease rising in his gut.
For the first time ever... he felt like he was facing a fusion of the Nine-Tails and the Third Raikage.
He couldn't wait any longer!
With a mighty roar, Gyūki opened his jaws, aimed downward, and began forming a Tailed Beast Ball.
He had to break free from the chains—even if it meant taking some damage himself. Better to be wounded and strike back than sit helpless.
Blue and violet chakra surged rapidly.
Instantly, the Kumogakure ninja launched a frantic barrage at his head.
If that thing exploded here, they were all dead.
"Fall back! Everyone, retreat!"
The ANBU screamed as they scrambled to pull back. With Amai gone, retreat was their only option.
The Tailed Beast Ball formed quickly—just seconds from release.
Time seemed to freeze. The Kumo ninja stared in horror, eyes wide, teeth clenched.
And then—the building Reiji had crashed into collapsed with a thunderous crash.
At that same moment, a figure cloaked in blinding lightning surged from the rubble, appearing beneath Gyūki's chin as if he'd warped through space itself.
"Gotcha!"
Reiji's fist shot upward with a furious roar.
The strike slammed into Gyūki's chin, snapping his massive head skyward.
The Tailed Beast Ball shot up—into the sky, not the ground.
"BOOM!"
A blinding explosion lit up the heavens like a firework.
But Gyūki had achieved his goal. The chains around him had slackened.
His strength flooded back.
With an ear-splitting roar, Gyūki lowered his head and locked onto Reiji. His fists rose high—coming down like twin warhammers toward the blue-and-black blur below.
Reiji met the incoming blow—massive, larger than his body—with rolled-up sleeves and bare, muscular arms.
He extended his palm, flattening it into a blade.
The moment Gyūki's fist dropped, Reiji vanished from the impact zone, dodging by the slimmest margin.
He bent his knees—charged.
Then shot upward like a missile, faster than the eye could follow.
"Lariat!"
With a furious roar, the self-taught Reiji drove his hand blade into the crook of Gyūki's arm.
Charged with roaring lightning, the blade sliced clean through like a hot knife through butter—severing Gyūki's forearm in one fluid strike.
The massive limb thudded to the ground, kicking up a wave of dust.
A split second later, Gyūki let out a bone-rattling shriek that echoed through the battlefield.
From a distance, the stunned Kumogakure ninja could only gape, eyes wide, words caught in their throats.
For a moment, they saw not Reiji—but the silhouette of someone who had once brought them hope.
"L-Lord Raikage...!"
A jōnin, missing an arm, trembled violently as he stared at Reiji's back and cried out in disbelief.
Those watching were briefly lost in a haze—the image of Reiji overlapping with a figure burned into their memories.
Then, all at once, a tidal wave of shouts rose up.
"Let's go, brothers!"
"Hit him hard, Raimei!"
"Take down that beast, Fourth!"
"For the ones we've lost!"
Feeling the rising tide behind him, Reiji, still facing away, slowly raised his right hand and gave a firm thumbs-up.
"Let's do this," he growled.
In the blink of an eye, his form vanished again.
Around Gyūki, blue afterimages streaked like lightning, weaving lines of pure energy.
Within the thunder's roar, Gyūki looked less like a mighty Tailed Beast and more like a helpless animal at the butcher's block—and Reiji was the blade.
Then came the strike.
Searing arcs of lightning crashed into Gyūki, and he howled in agony.
Chunks of flesh and fibers tore away in savage bursts.
Blood sprayed through the air as Reiji ripped him apart with terrifying precision.
Gyūki writhed, howling, rolling across the battlefield.
This wasn't the Third Raikage.
This was Reiji.
The Reiji who had finally unleashed the monster inside him.
The brutal assault continued, and Reiji's voice cut through the chaos—calm, cold, and merciless.
"Does it hurt? Is it cruel? Is it torture?"
A flash—another bolt of lightning—and one of Gyūki's massive tails slammed into the ground, severed.
"My pain is worse than yours!!!"
Reiji's chakra erupted, more ferocious than a Tailed Beast's—his roar of rage shook the skies.
Yes.
From the moment he infiltrated a year ago, everything had been carefully laid out.
Every step, every day—calculated.
But what he hadn't expected...
When the time came to say goodbye,
When it came to cutting that final thread himself—
He would feel this furious, this lost.
He had never truly been heartless.
He'd awoken in darkness, lived in it. Bit through others' throats. Tore his own flesh open with his fingers.
Until Amegakure... until that sliver of light pierced the void in his soul.
And slowly, he stopped gazing at the light with resentment and longing.
He began to reach for it. To treasure its warmth.
But the light eventually dimmed. And he thought he had returned to the dungeon.
Yet more light found him again.
Now, he was leaving it behind. He'd severed one of those lights with his own hands.
He had once thought that would be easy.
But then...
The monster woke.
"AAAH!!!"
A roar shook the heavens, echoing across the entire village. With blood-red eyes blazing, he looked like a demon risen from the depths of hell.
The nightmare had begun.
Gyūki, who had started out thrashing in fury, swinging arms and tails in blind rage, was now reduced to a wreck.
Bit by bit—
His arms were gone.
His tails were severed.
Shrill cries tore from his gaping maw.
Terror filled his enormous eyes, raw and visible.
Not even the Third Raikage had ever inflicted such fear upon him.
This... this monster was something else entirely.
It wasn't just the agony of his body being torn apart—it was the torment of his very soul.
That savage, all-consuming will to destroy everything cast a suffocating shadow over Gyūki's spirit.
And it wasn't just Gyūki. Even the Kumogakure shinobi who had fled far from the battlefield felt it—an icy dread crawling across their skin, sharp as needles.
The torment continued.
Reiji stood silently, expressionless, as he watched Gyūki—tail-less, armless, broken. His red-and-black eyes locked onto Gyūki's neck.
One step.
Two.
He walked up slowly.
His hand blade crackled with lightning as he raised it to Gyūki's throat.
Then—his body suddenly faltered, staggering.
At the same moment, the red and black drained from his eyes.
Silence.
It was a long while before Reiji finally looked up, eyes softening as he stared at Gyūki's ravaged form. He scratched his head awkwardly.
"Sorry about that! He gets wild sometimes. I had no choice but to let him out. Looks like you took the worst of it."
At his words, Gyūki flinched in terror, struggling to inch away from Reiji.
If he had the choice, he'd rather go another round with the raging beast that had just torn him apart.
Because with that beast, death was at least a release.
A Tailed Beast could always reform from chakra.
But the man in front of him...
He made Gyūki feel a fear beyond death—
A fear of losing all control, of being utterly dominated.
A fear of being trapped, unable to live or die.
Even with that goofy smile on his face...
...
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
Kumogakure had returned to a semblance of peace, and reconstruction was well underway.
The streets buzzed with life again.
Five days earlier, Lord Raikage had returned.
The ANBU dispatched to the Land of Lightning had managed to relay the village's status to the Third Raikage on the battlefield in the Land of Grass.
Upon learning that Gyūki had been gravely wounded and sealed inside the Temple of Wind and Thunder by the Sealing Team, the Third Raikage didn't rush home.
Instead, he took that momentum and sealed Son Gokū, the Four-Tails, into the Kohaku no Jōhei—then wiped out the entire Iwagakure squad as if venting all his fury.
Now, the village was moving forward again. Life had resumed.
But the sorrow hadn't faded.
...
In the broad canyon just outside the village lay the Kumogakure shinobi cemetery.
The morning sun cast a warm, gentle light.
Fresh flowers covered the base of tall, solemn stone graves.
Standing before one of them was Amai, dressed in a black short-sleeved blouse and skirt. She gazed quietly at the face etched into the stone, a soft, peaceful smile on her lips.
Buried beneath that marker was Raimei—the real Raimei.
Amai stared for a long time, then exhaled slowly and whispered to the grave:
"Reiji... you really are cunning, aren't you?
You took Raimei's life... and in the end, you returned his body, let him bask in your glory—while you slipped away."
Her words slowed with every syllable.
Suddenly, she dropped the flowers in her hand, wiped at her eyes in frustration, and muttered under her breath:
"Coward."
[End of Volume 2]