"No, Han, get back!"
On the ground, Rōshi watched Han's fist punch straight through Edo Ōnoki's chest. The joy in his eyes lasted only a mont before turning into a horrified shout.
And it wasn't just Rōshi. Kitsuchi and the others on the ground saw it too. They saw that Ōnoki's shattered chest hadn't really been destroyed at all—it had only broken apart into drifting ash and dust, and now those scattered fragnts were gathering back toward him.
In less than half a breath, the hole torn through Ōnoki's chest had completely healed.
And the hardest part to accept was this—
Han's entire right arm was still trapped inside Ōnoki's chest!
"Damn it, what kind of monster is this?!"
Seeing the white glow flare up in Ōnoki's hand again, Han didn't hesitate in the slightest. Right in front of the Iwa ninja watching from below, he chose the fastest, most decisive option possible and tore off his own right arm on the spot.
And the instant Han severed it, a brilliant white light exploded where he had just been standing.
Just a little closer—just a little—and his whole body would have been caught in the Dust Release.
"M-monster…"
"Lord Tsuchikage… after being brought back… he can't die…"
One of the younger Iwa ninja watching the scene in the sky stumbled backward two steps and dropped onto the ground.
"How is this possible…?"
Another Iwa ninja stared with his eyes wide open. He couldn't understand how the dead Third Tsuchikage could not only reappear before them, but also survive a fatal wound like a hole through the chest.
"That's not human…"
So of them had started shaking.
They weren't afraid of strong enemies.
But the one standing before them now was the Third Tsuchikage. He wasn't their enemy—he was their village's Kage.
Rōshi's brows twisted tightly together as well. He had fought through the Great Ninja Wars and seen more than his share of enemies and strange things, but even for him, the sight of sothing so close to true immortality sent a chill straight through him.
"Damn it! Move! My body—move already!"
In the sky, the frustration in Ōnoki's eyes rivaled anyone else's. His voice was already hoarse.
Iwagakure had already suffered a devastating blow by losing him, the Third Tsuchikage. And now, one of the village's tailed beast jinchūriki had lost an arm because of him. For the first ti in his life, Ōnoki hated his own power.
"Get the sealing squad here! Use sealing jutsu! Seal this body completely!"
The white light in Ōnoki's hand flared again as he shouted.
The mont he realized this body no longer had any real weakness, Ōnoki also understood that even if its chakra reserves were lower than when he was alive, his actual combat strength was in so ways preserved even better.
With all his years of battlefield experience, he imdiately thought of the one thod left to stop himself.
In truth, Ōnoki wasn't the only one to realize sealing jutsu was the answer. The problem was that sealing techniques took ti. They required hand signs. And above all, they required getting close.
But Ōnoki was flying high in the air and refusing to co down, which made him difficult enough to approach already. And Han—the one best suited for close combat—had lost an arm in a single exchange.
"Han and I will pin Ōnoki down. Kitsuchi, get the sealing squad ready!"
By now, even Rōshi understood that if they wanted to stop Ōnoki, they had to rely on the sealing squad.
As for soone flying in the sky—Rōshi and Han were both jinchūriki. And not the kind who still needed ti to sync with their tailed beasts, but the kind who had already lived with them for years.
In other words, they could enter tailed beast form.
"ROAR!!"
The mont Rōshi spoke, Han imdiately understood what he ant.
Right in front of Iwagakure's gates, chakra began to surge and rumble. Dark-red tailed beast chakra tore through the skin of both Rōshi and Han, wrapping itself around their bodies in a cloak of violent power.
They still retained human form, but their bodies swelled to several ters in height.
Han, as the Five-Tails' jinchūriki, now wore a dark-red, spiked, bucket-shaped helt of chakra over his head, and five dark-red tails flared behind him. Every breath he took brewed searing steam in his mouth.
Rōshi, as the Four-Tails' jinchūriki, was also covered in dark-red chakra, with four dark-red tails whipping behind him. And his body radiated a terrifying level of heat.
The two of them barely exchanged a word. The mont they half-transford, two Tailed Beast Bombs shot into the sky one after the other toward Edo Ōnoki.
The charge ti had been extrely short, which ant the power inside them wasn't at its peak.
But even weakened Tailed Beast Bombs were still Tailed Beast Bombs. If one hit Ōnoki directly, even an Edo Tensei body would be blown apart in an instant.
Faced with the two incoming spheres, Ōnoki poured every ounce of his will into resisting.
But unlike in a normal battle, what he wanted now was to force himself to stay where he was—to stand there and take both Tailed Beast Bombs head-on so he could finally be destroyed for good.
"Crash into them already!"
Ōnoki roared, fighting to suppress the Dust Release in his hand, fighting to keep himself from dodging.
Far away, in the town, Kabuto sensed that struggle too. Even with the control formula in place, he could still feel his hold over Ōnoki weakening.
"So a powerful enough will can really let an Edo Tensei shinobi break free of Edo Tensei control?"
Kabuto frowned. Through Ōnoki's vision, he could already see the two Tailed Beast Bombs flying toward him. Ōnoki's resistance was still having an effect—at the very least, his will was interfering with Kabuto's control.
And then, right in Kabuto's sight, the two incomplete Tailed Beast Bombs struck Ōnoki dead-on.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
A terrifying roar shook the sky over Iwagakure, and with it, another massive mushroom cloud rose above the village.
Taking two Tailed Beast Bombs head-on, even an Edo Tensei body couldn't endure that kind of force.
In Kabuto's senses, the reanimated Ōnoki he had been controlling was instantly severed from him, and the ash scattered through the sky marked Edo Ōnoki's disappearance.
"So this is the power of tailed beasts…"
"Maybe later I should look into the identities of past jinchūriki from the Five Great Nations and try reviving them too."
Kabuto gave Iwagakure one long look.
As far as he was concerned, this test had been a qualified success.
~~~
You're Welco!
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