Chapter 56 (Patreon)

After Yujiro finished speaking, the black blade in his hand was suddenly wreathed in scorching flames.

Fire-nature chakra, compressed to its limit, clung to the blade like a living heat haze.

A terrifying temperature swept across the battlefield.

Yujiro grinned.

Then he kicked off the ground.

“One-Sword Style—Dark Flame Wind Demon Slash!”

A blazing crescent of light tore through the air and struck the Three-Tails’ jinchūriki head-on.

In the next instant, Yujiro appeared on the flat ground behind him.

The flames along the black blade slowly faded.

That strike had speed, precision, and destructive power.

Its range was not wide, but everything had been focused into one point.

The Three-Tails’ jinchūriki definitely would not be walking that off easily.

“Gah… cough, cough…”

Sure enough, in the next moment, Yagura’s half-tailed beast form collapsed back into a tailed beast cloak.

Blood spilled violently from his mouth.

But his eyes had already lost their pupils.

Only a red, beast-like glow remained.

Yujiro’s previous strike had caused Yagura to lose control over the Three-Tails completely.

If the Three-Tails had not taken over his body at the last second, Yagura would have been sent straight to the Pure Land.

“Brat…”

The Three-Tails took control of Yagura’s body and slowly turned around.

“You’re strong. To think you pushed Yagura this far.”

Then it raised its head and laughed.

“Still, I should thank you. If not for you, I would still be stuck under this brat’s control.”

Yujiro grinned.

“Then show me, Three-Tails. Let me see what a tailed beast can really do.”

“Oh?” The Three-Tails narrowed its eyes coldly. “You’re challenging me?”

Yujiro did not answer.

He simply swung the black blade.

A flash of sword light shot straight toward the Three-Tails.

The Three-Tails’ expression twisted.

“Fine, human! Don’t regret it!”

It had thought Yujiro might show at least a little restraint after realizing who he was facing.

Instead, this human was provoking him even harder.

Yagura might have swallowed that kind of insult.

The Three-Tails would not.

The ground shook.

A massive shadow rose from the battlefield.

The Three-Tails, Isobu, had fully transformed.

In the distance, Jiraiya’s expression changed.

“Summoning Jutsu!”

With a burst of smoke, two small figures appeared on his shoulders.

Shima Sage and Fukasaku Sage of Mount Myōboku.

“Jiraiya boy, I just finished preparing dinner. Why did you call us so suddenly?” Shima complained.

Fukasaku’s eyes sharpened as he looked ahead.

“Forget dinner for now, Ma. Look over there.”

Shima followed his gaze.

Then her expression immediately turned grave.

“The Three-Tails…”

“Ma, Pa,” Jiraiya said quickly. “I’m entering Sage Mode. If I don’t, no one here can hold that thing back.”

“Understood,” Fukasaku said.

“Then don’t lose focus,” Shima added.

The two sages leapt onto Jiraiya’s shoulders.

Jiraiya clasped his hands together and began gathering natural energy.

“ROOOAR!”

The fully manifested Three-Tails let out a furious roar.

In front of it, Yujiro slowly tightened his grip around the black blade.

The complete Three-Tails.

Good.

This was finally worth cutting down.

“Thunder God’s Descent!”

“Flame Emperor’s Descent!”

“Lightning Water Dragon Bullet!”

Yujiro unleashed three techniques in succession.

Devastating ninjutsu slammed into the Three-Tails’ massive body one after another.

The beast roared in pain.

None of those techniques were weaker than S-rank.

Even for a tailed beast, taking them head-on was no small matter.

“You forced me to do this!”

The Three-Tails opened its enormous mouth.

Chakra began gathering wildly.

The surrounding mountains trembled under the pressure.

“A complete Tailed Beast Bomb from the Three-Tails, huh?”

Yujiro’s eyes sharpened.

In this short exchange alone, he had already released more than a dozen S-rank-level ninjutsu.

Together with the sword techniques from earlier, his chakra reserves were running low.

Among his attributes, lightning and fire had the highest offensive power.

Wind could cut, but against the Three-Tails’ hardened body, it would not be decisive enough.

Then he would use lightning and fire with everything he had.

Yujiro had not used his true finishing move yet.

His techniques were classified as S-rank only because of the chakra he usually allocated to them.

If he poured everything into one strike—

It would surpass S-rank entirely.

Yujiro leapt back and landed near Jiraiya’s group.

“Everyone, use Earth Style defenses with everything you have.”

His voice left no room for argument.

After saying that, he turned back toward the Three-Tails.

“Yujiro! Get out of there!” Jiraiya shouted from behind him. “My Sage Mode won’t be ready in time! You need to move!”

Yujiro smiled calmly.

“Don’t worry. An opponent of this level is exactly what I was waiting for.”

Then he gripped the black blade with both hands.

“Lightning nature… fire nature…”

Yujiro closed his eyes and began drawing out the lightning-nature and fire-nature chakra within his body.

In the next instant, dazzling lightning wrapped around him.

At the same time, waves of searing heat burst outward.

Yujiro’s aura turned violent.

Jiraiya and the others were forced to retreat more than ten meters.

“What kind of technique is that…?”

Jiraiya stared in shock.

“He compressed fire-nature chakra that far?”

The temperature had risen to an absurd degree.

Was that still ninjutsu?

No.

Strictly speaking, it was not.

This was Yujiro’s absolute control over chakra nature transformation.

Not a hand-seal-based jutsu.

A technique.

Something he could unleash directly.

“Thunder-Flame Devourer.”

Yujiro raised his head.

A strange red light flickered in his eyes.

Then he swung the black blade with everything he had.

That strike drained every last bit of chakra from his body.

Not only that—

He also pushed his third Limiter release to its absolute peak.

Now—

Let’s see if the Three-Tails can endure it.