In their shared ntal landscape, the Four-Tails, Son Goku, warned grimly, "Roshi, your situation... is dire."
"These three attacks have cut off every avenue of retreat. While you can still move, find an opening to escape."
"If you keep fighting, you will definitely lose."
In the physical world, however, Roshi, controlling the Four-Tails' imnse body, refused to give up. "The truth is right before my eyes... how can you ask to give up?!"
Son Goku was silent for a mont, then snorted coldly. "...As expected. Your stubbornness easily rivals Ōnoki's!"
At the center of the lava lake, thick vines burst through the molten surface, wrapping tightly around the Four-Tails' legs.
Roshi watched the rapidly spreading vines with a grim expression.
Bracing himself, he flexed the beast's massive arms as chakra erupted from his body, snapping the giant vines apart inch by inch.
But in that brief opening, the Magnet Wood Dragon tearing across the battlefield had already arrived.
With a violent twist of its massive serpentine body, it instantly coiled around the Four-Tails' right leg. Its dense magnetic shell tightened as it spiraled upward, aiming to crush the beast's upper torso.
"Shatter!" Roshi roared.
The muscles in the Four-Tails' right arm bulged to terrifying proportions. Grabbing the Magnet Wood Dragon by the neck with one hand, it raised its left fist, fully intending to smash the creature's skull apart.
But at that mont, the Scale Wood Dragon descended from above.
Its wings folded tightly against its body as its head lowered, armored horns aid directly at the Four-Tails' crown before it ca crashing down.
Bang!
A direct headbutt!
The Four-Tails' massive body shook violently, and its grip on the Magnet Wood Dragon loosened. Seizing the opportunity, the Magnet Wood Dragon tightened its coils, firmly locking down the beast's waist, abdon, and right arm.
With his movents restricted, a fierce light flashed through Roshi's eyes. He took a deep breath, and the surrounding lava chakra began boiling violently.
"Lava Release: Flower-Fruit Mountain!"
The magma erupted.
Boom!
A blinding pillar of lava and fire shot into the sky, violently crashing into the Magnet Wood Dragon and the surrounding vines.
Forced back by the molten torrent, the dragon's constricting force weakened instantly. The thick vines attacking from all directions ignited and carbonized in the searing heat.
The imdiate crisis was resolved.
However...
Clap!
The Wood Golem, empowered by senjutsu chakra, completely ignored the erupting lava geyser and charged straight forward. It forcibly tore through the molten hellscape, rushing directly toward Roshi.
"Such a nuisance!"
The fully transford Four-Tails glared furiously. Suddenly, it threw its head back and opened its massive jaws wide.
Terrifying black and crimson chakra rapidly condensed within its mouth.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
Hum!
The dense sphere ford in an instant and shot forward with a deafening roar, hurtling toward the approaching Golem.
Shinichi's expression darkened. The Golem beneath his feet raised its left palm and swatted sideways at the incoming attack.
Smack!
The edge of the massive wooden palm struck the side of the dense chakra sphere. The Tailed Beast Ball's trajectory twisted sharply off course.
It grazed the Golem's shoulder, streaked across the desert sky, and slamd into a distant sand dune.
Boom!
The dune exploded instantly. Endless yellow sand blasted into the sky, forming a massive mushroom cloud hundreds of ters wide.
"What?!" Roshi's eyes widened in disbelief. He was completely stunned.
"How could... a Tailed Beast Ball... actually be..."
His voice turned hoarse.
"...slapped away?!"
With decades of combat experience and the bloody baptism of three shinobi world wars, he had seen many ways to deal with a Tailed Beast Ball.
There was Minato Namikaze, who once used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport one away.
There were combined Earth Release barriers raised by entire platoons, creating mountain-like defenses to withstand the impact head-on.
Most shinobi, however, could only dodge desperately, relying on every jutsu they had just to survive while dancing on the edge of death.
But never...
Never had he seen one handled so casually. So effortlessly slapped aside.
As if it were not a concentrated mass of chakra capable of erasing a mountain, but nothing more than an annoying pebble.
A deep sense of absurdity mixed with an icy chill crawled up Roshi's spine. The sa suffocating helplessness he had felt over ten years ago while facing the Masked Man surged into his chest once again.
In the brief mont Roshi was stunned by the impossible scene, the towering Golem closed the distance.
Its giant right palm shot forward. Thick wooden fingers spread open before clamping down rcilessly around the Four-Tails' neck.
Roshi gasped.
The bones in his throat released a terrifying groan under the crushing force. The Golem's arm flexed, and its overwhelming physical strength violently slamd the massive beast backward.
Boom!
The Four-Tails crashed into the ground, sending sand and half-molten lava splashing in every direction.
Standing atop the Wood Golem's head, Shinichi's hands blurred through a rapid series of seals.
He slowly raised his head toward the sky. A cold light flashed through his amber eyes.
"Sage Art..."
High above them, the atmosphere suddenly distorted.
"Gates of the Great God!"
Hum!
As his words fell, the sky darkened.
Nine massive crimson torii gates broke through the clouds, descending from the heavens amid howling wind and roaring thunder.
The first gate fell.
Boom!
It crashed down, pinning the Four-Tails' left wrist firmly to the earth.
The second gate followed imdiately.
Boom!
It slamd into the right wrist.
The third and fourth gates descended in rapid succession, crushing both hind ankles beneath their imnse weight.
The Four-Tails' body stiffened violently. Bone-cracking pain exploded through its joints, accompanied by a strange suppressive force that completely paralyzed its movents.
Then ca the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth gates.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The massive crimson torii crashed down one after another, slamming into the bases of the Four-Tails' wildly thrashing tails.
Eight sealing gates now pinned its limbs, tails, and torso firmly against the desert floor.
The struggling stopped. Its will to resist was extinguished like a fragile candle fla, vanishing instantly.
Shinichi stood atop the Golem's head, tall and unmoving. Fierce winds whipped around him as the sage markings across his face reflected the eerie crimson glow of the torii gates.
Lowering his gaze, he looked down at the completely subdued beast.
"Four-Tails, Son Goku... capture successful."
The mont those words left his mouth, the Wood Dragon coiled around the Wood Golem's chest loosened and slithered downward onto the pinned Four-Tails.
Its chakra-devouring power activated completely.
Hum!
Across the Four-Tails' body, dark red chakra condensed into tangible strands of light. They were forcibly torn away and sucked directly into the Wood Dragon's gaping maw.
'Damn it... why can't I resist anymore?!'
Roshi's eyes widened in alarm. He could only watch helplessly as his chakra was drained away.
He wanted to struggle, but strangely, his will had beco sluggish and unfocused. Every thought of resistance scattered the instant it appeared, like loose sand blown away by the wind.
Combined with the overwhelming weakness caused by his rapidly draining chakra, he could no longer gather the strength to move.
Back within Roshi's ntal landscape, the Four-Tails stared fixedly at the Wood Dragon latched onto its physical body.
It remained silent.
Then, the dark brown wood covering the dragon's body slowly began turning dark red, its surface taking on a molten, lava-like glow.
Son Goku's massive pupils suddenly constricted.
"This color... this feeling..."
The beast paused briefly before its expression changed dramatically.
"So... it was YOU!"
Its voice thundered through the ntal landscape like a rolling storm. "You're the one from ten years ago! The masked man who absorbed Kokuō's chakra! You are 'him'!"
Hearing those words, Roshi's taphysical projection trembled violently.
"What?! Son Goku... what nonsense are you talking about? He's only twelve years old! The tiline doesn't match at all!"
"Age? Heh..." Son Goku continued staring intently at Shinichi's face in the outside world.
"I wouldn't mistake it. That specific thod of absorbing chakra... the unique properties of the Wood Dragon's mutation..."
"And..."
Within the beast's mind, mories from a decade ago perfectly overlapped with the present.
A masked figure standing amidst chaos. Nine distinct Wood Dragons summoned with a re wave of his hand, each carrying the unique power of a Tailed Beast.
And then...That jutsu.
"God: Deep Forest Ergence..." Son Goku growled, emphasizing each word heavily. "It's him!"
In the outside world, completely unaware of the revelations unfolding within the ntal landscape, Shinichi kept his gaze fixed on the feeding Wood Dragon.
Bright crimson light flickered across the wooden construct as its dark brown bark fully transford into deep red wood, the edges glowing with a molten, lava-like luster.
Having been completely drained of chakra, Roshi could no longer maintain his Tailed Beast transformation.
In an instant, the gigantic fifty-ter-tall Four-Tails dissolved into steam, leaving only the old monk collapsed on the scorched earth, utterly unable to move.
The Lava Wood Dragon's crimson glow intensified further and further until, at last, the transformation was complete.
Just like when it had devoured the chakra of the Seven-Tails, Chōi.
The next mont, boundless chakra surged backward through the Lava Wood Dragon and poured directly into Shinichi's body.
Hum!
Violent chakra flooded through his system.
Shinichi's robes billowed violently as his black hair danced in the sudden storm of energy. A powerful shockwave burst outward from his body, causing the scorched ground beneath his feet to collapse outward in a perfect ring.
He slowly closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled. Gradually, his clothes and hair settled.
"Heh..."
Shinichi opened his amber eyes, a faint smirk forming on his lips.
"I've grown stronger again."
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