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My Journey as Fourth Kazekage 169
🕑 Added 2025-05-08 16:00:05 +0000 UTCChapter 169: Pakura vs. Han
The entire battlefield was left speechless, especially the Iwagakure shinobi.
As the deep purple Tailed Beast Bomb shot toward Michikawa in the sky, the massive explosion that followed filled the heavens with smoke and flames. The violent shockwave whipped up clouds of sand and stone, blasting outward in every direction.
The Iwagakure shinobi shielded themselves with their arms.
When the explosion finally subsided and the smoke dispersed, the shinobi, cold sweat pouring down their backs, shouted in disbelief.
"Is this... the power of the Tailed Beasts?"
"Amazing... truly amazing!"
"That Sunagakure shinobi must be dead!"
They cheered as their strong jinchuriki once again came victorious. However, their joy lasted less than a second before someone trembled and spoke.
"No... he's still alive..."
As the words fell, the last bit of smoke in the sky cleared, revealing Michikawa’s figure once again. A thick iron wall about a meter wide stood before him, molten iron slowly dripping from it.
"How... how is this possible?!"
The astonishment wasn’t limited to the two Iwagakure jinchūriki— even Madara Uchiha in the distance was surprised. He knew well the power of a Tailed Beast Bomb. Even though a Tailed Beast Bomb launched during a half-transformed state was much weaker, it was still easy enough to destroy a mountain.
This was precisely why jinchūriki were considered living weapons that symbolized a nation’s military strength. Yet now, a powerful Tailed Beast Bomb had been stopped by a mere layer of sand iron.
Of course, Madara himself could easily block a Tailed Beast Bomb. His old friend, Hashirama, could do so as well. But how did this Sunagakure shinobi manage?
Madara, who had originally dismissed this as mere children’s play, immediately grew interested.
Seeing his Tailed Beast Bomb blocked, the half-transformed Five-Tails jinchūriki’s face revealed confusion, but it didn’t stop him from launching another attack.
Dark purple chakra once again gathered at Han’s mouth.
Facing such a lethal move, Michikawa remained perfectly calm, forming hand seals with both hands.
This time, however, he wasn’t just manipulating chakra—he was also drawing upon the sage energy stored within his body.
"Sage Art: Magnet Release — Iron Sand Shield!"
In an instant, countless grains of iron sand infused with chakra and sage energy surged around Michikawa, merging with the existing iron sand to form an enormous wall over ten meters thick.
At the same time, the Five-Tails jinchūriki launched another Tailed Beast Bomb.
This time, everyone on the battlefield could finally see clearly how the iron sand defended against such devastating force.
The moment the Tailed Beast Bomb touched the iron sand shield, the fist-sized ball seemed to pierce through the surface easily, merging into it—at first glance, it looked like the shield had failed to block it.
But then, the iron sand shield rapidly morphed from a cube into a sphere, completely enclosing the Tailed Beast Bomb inside.
Everyone watched in stunned silence as the surface of the iron sand sphere writhed irregularly as if something inside was desperately trying to explode. Eventually, all movement stopped, and searing molten iron began to slowly drip from the sphere.
"This..."
Every Iwagakure shinobi, even the two jinchūriki, were utterly dumbfounded.
None of them had expected that the jinchūriki’s ultimate move—the Tailed Beast Bomb—would be neutralized so easily.
But even now, they couldn’t fully grasp what had happened.
Only Madara Uchiha, watching from afar, observed everything clearly through his Sharingan.
The moment the Tailed Beast Bomb touched the Iron Sand Shield, he saw that the peculiar iron sand absorbed the chakra. At the same time, the absorbed chakra was transformed into more iron sand, replenishing the parts melted by the Tailed Beast Bomb and further reinforcing the shield's defense.
This familiar scene reminded Madara of his old friend, Hashirama Senju’s Wood Release.
What made Hashirama’s Wood Release so troublesome was precisely its ability to absorb the enemy’s chakra, turning the opponent’s power into a source of strength for the Wood Release. Borrowing power to counter power was an infuriating technique—even chakra monsters like the Nine-Tails could be drained in an instant.
Of course, Madara could also tell that the iron sand’s chakra absorption wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as Hashirama’s Wood Release.
At best, it had absorbed about a third of the Tailed Beast Bomb’s chakra.
But that was already enough.
With a third of the chakra drained and with the spherical structure evenly distributing the explosion's force, it perfectly withstood the impact.
"Interesting... Looks like Sunagakure has raised a rather impressive brat," Madara praised without reservation.
Meanwhile, the expressions of the Iwagakure shinobi grew even gloomier.
A Sunagakure shinobi had so easily blocked a Tailed Beast Bomb launched by a half-transformed jinchūriki.
Han, the Five-Tails jinchūriki, also wore an ugly expression at this point.
Firing two consecutive Tailed Beast Bombs was already a considerable burden for him in his half-transformed state.
It wasn’t a matter of the Tailed Beast’s chakra being insufficient.
Rather, it was because the amount of Tailed Beast chakra he could control in this state was limited. If he continued recklessly, he would risk losing control of the chakra and entering a berserk state.
Han’s current ability to use the Five-Tails' power wasn’t because he had reached a true understanding with the Tailed Beast. He could merely borrow some of its strength.
If he wanted to borrow more chakra, he would have to enter full Tailed Beast Mode.
But now… was it really the time to do that?
After all, Sunagakure’s main force—the Kazekage—hadn’t even entered the fray yet.
Nearby, Roshi, the Four-Tails jinchūriki, also sensed the situation growing dire. He frowned and looked at Pakura coldly.
"So that’s it… This is where Sunagakure’s confidence comes from? Daring to face us with just three people?"
Yakra furrowed her brows, but then smirked, as fireballs floated around her once more.
"What’s wrong? Iwagakure’s Four-Tails jinchūriki, are you thinking of surrendering?"
Despite Pakura’s confident words, she was actually feeling a bit of a headache.
She had realized that while the sage energy she had mastered gave her Scorch Release excellent chakra absorption and enhanced defensive capabilities, it was still awkward against something as overwhelmingly destructive as the Tailed Beast Bomb.
It wasn’t like she could just tank a Tailed Beast Bomb with her body.
What now?
It was obviously impossible for her to master a whole new defensive secret technique on the spot.
Suddenly, Pakura thought of something.
That Tailed Beast Bomb… seemed somewhat familiar.
No, this was clearly her first time seeing such a move.
But why did it feel so familiar?
In a flash, Pakura remembered—she had indeed seen a jutsu that resembled the Tailed Beast Bomb before.
It was the Rasengan, used by a Konoha shinobi— Minato Namikaze.
If she remembered correctly, Rasa could also use that technique. He had even once used it to save her life! If she could master that jutsu too, then she could counter the Tailed Beast Bomb with her own similar technique, using offense as defense.
Thinking of this, Pakura couldn’t help but show a faint, almost mischievous smile. As for whether Rasa would teach her, she didn’t worry about it at all.
However, she didn’t realize that her wicked little smile, when seen by Roshi on the other side, completely infuriated him.
"Sunagakure shinobi! Don’t underestimate a jinchūriki!"
Roshi roared.
"Let me show you one truth: only a Tailed Beast can stand against another Tailed Beast!"
BOOM!
Dark red chakra erupted around Roshi’s body.
But this time, he didn’t stop at half-transformation—he directly transformed into a giant red ape, four enormous tails thrashing as he roared into the sky.
(AN: Hah! A filthy monkey – Freeza.)
