I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 512 Even the most mature man can't resist a cool, glowing toy.

"It's been resolved."

Tenka looked at Tatsuma, who had brought Shikaku and the others, and nodded. He also looked very tired, especially his eyes, which were bloodshot and looked as if they were constantly soaking in tears.

Even the inner corners of his eyes, extending down to the sides of his nose, showed signs of dried secretions. His face no longer had that playful demeanor; he now appeared as somber as a male escort in an izakaya, attracting lonely women with his melancholic charm.

Chenma nodded and looked up. On the tops of the surrounding mountains, there were crowds of people. They were all Konoha ninjas who had spent the whole night clearing out the Cloud Ninjas of Cloud Thunder Gorge.

On the mountain peak that the Konoha ninjas had not yet set foot on, there stood a magnificent palace. The palace was very new, as if it had been built in just a few years.

Indeed, this was the case, after all, the palace had been almost completely destroyed by Tatsuma, Minato, and Sakumo Hatake six years ago.

Tatsuma gripped the chain in his hand, his eyes glazed over. The Two-Tails, now less than half its original size, was being pulled along by him. Tatsuma looked at Tenka and asked, "Help me control the Two-Tails, okay?"

Don't worry.

Tianfeng nodded, his composed demeanor giving people the impression that he was very reliable. In fact, Tianfeng had indeed been very reliable over the past few months.

After he finished speaking, his eyes widened slightly. Beneath his swollen eyelids, the blood-red color in his eyes began to converge at the pupils, and his dark pupils instantly turned red, revealing a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.

Chenma narrowed his eyes slightly. He had just noticed the unnatural movement of the magatama in Tianfeng's eyes as it rotated, and his [Insight] talent made him vaguely realize that he had been under an illusion.

However, Tatsuma did not break the illusion, nor did he pay attention to Tenka for too long. He glanced at her casually before looking away. He looked at Shikaku, but found that Shikaku did not even turn his head. He was just gazing at the palace on his own.

The two-tailed beast's heterochromatic eyes gradually began to be tinged with the colors of the Sharingan.

"Splash~"

At this moment, Tatsuma also withdrew the chains. The two-tailed cat did not go berserk as a result, but instead obediently lay down, turning its two front paws over and placing them under its body, just like a cat taking a nap in its safe and warm home, full of trust in its surroundings.

"Shikaku, you lead the others to guard against external enemies."

The chains returned to his body. Tatsuma looked at Shikaku and asked, "Can you hold on?" Shikaku nodded, then pointed to his forehead and asked, "Can you hold on?"

In order to control the Two-Tails, Tatsuma always maintained Sage Mode. Shikaku had never trained in Sage Mode, but in his understanding, no power is free; there is always a price to pay.

Tatsuma shrugged and said, "It's alright, I rested last night."

"Um."

Shikaku nodded, and then together with Inoichi, he began to issue mobilization orders to all the Konoha ninja. Choza also handed over the defense layout map that he had prepared in advance to Shikaku.

Shika made some minor adjustments to the details, and soon a circular defensive formation was formed. However, it was not for defending the central palace, but rather for protecting it.

Once the setup was complete, Tatsuma formed hand seals, and his Sage Chakra surged within him.

"Sage Art! Fire Release! Blazing Inferno!"

It's a newly developed technique, which took about half an hour to develop. It incorporates the Two-Tails' talents.

"【Spirit of Ash】(Two-Tailed Matatabi Limited Edition): Possesses an innate ability to manipulate fire, and can coalesce fire into a physical form."

With the help of this talent, Tatsuma's Fire Release even has the characteristic of "stability". Although he has not tried it yet, Tatsuma feels that as long as he is familiar enough with it, he may even be able to condense sealing techniques or other ninjutsu techniques in the flames.

"Phew~"

Chenma took a deep breath, opened his mouth and exhaled, and a fire dragon flowed towards the palace. When it reached the flattened mountaintop, the fire dragon coiled and formed a ring with its tail. Then, the fire ring descended like a waterfall of fire, enveloping the entire palace.

"Sage Art! Fire Release! Jade Fire!"

Leaping high into the sky, Chenma spat out a fireball. As the fireball fell, it continued to expand, growing to the same diameter as the fire dragon with its tail in the blink of an eye. It then fell down through the channel formed by the fire ring and the fire waterfall.

"boom!"

Suddenly, towering flames erupted from the ring of fire, like oil gushing out after its protective layer was pierced.

Chenma also landed on that mountain peak, and the scene inside was only revealed after the flames died down.

The magnificent palace had been completely burned down. The scorched earth was so bad that not even large wreckage could be found. Only ashes were left, blown about by the mountain wind.

In the center of the ashes, a tower-shaped object wriggled, its charred surface peeling away to reveal its original shape: an octopus's tentacle.

As the octopus's tentacles retracted, a figure emerged from them—it was Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. Killer Bee pushed up his sunglasses and looked at Tatsuma in the distance.

"He seems to have grown much stronger, not just a little bit. Your progress is still not enough."

Within the spiritual realm, the Eight-Tails spoke to Killer Bee with concern. Killer Bee waved his hand and said, "Hachi, don't focus too much on the outside world. As long as you persevere, you can tear apart all obstacles! Keep it real! You know?"

Eight-Tails looked helpless and troubled. It was still so hard to adapt. He sighed and said, "I will do my best to help you, and I will take over in the final moments."

"Okay, okay~ You're so annoying, just like your mom washing the sheets in the morning."

Outside, Killer Bee drew two short swords, looking at the enemy who stood still yet exuded a mountain-like weight. His fingers, gripping the swords, moved rhythmically. In a moment, he clenched his fists again and charged towards Tatsuma.

"Next up is Killer Bee, the Three-Sword Style!"

With a strange cry, Killer Bee slashed diagonally with his twin swords. As Tatsuma stepped back, he raised his right leg and kicked out, striking Killer Bee in the ribs, just as Killer Bee's left side was exposed after the slash.

"Three-sword style? Don't you only have two swords?"

"Hehe! And there's also a hot knife fight with Lei Li!"

Killer Bee was neither knocked down nor became serious; in fact, he was even more cheerful than he had been a few months ago, continuing to wield his twin swords.

Tatsuma also smiled slightly. Killer Bee was much stronger than he was a few months ago. Just now, Killer Bee didn't use the power of the Tailed Beasts. He easily took a kick from him with just his own physical strength.

Although Tatsuma didn't use his full strength or any super-powerful attacks, his kick was still enough to easily crack rocks, while Killer Bee didn't even lose his balance, showing remarkable progress.

"Sage Art! Fire Release! Shadowless Blade!"

The azure flames materialized in Chenma's hand, forming a dazzling fire blade that, under the morning light, cast no shadow on the ground.

"Clang~"

The fire sword clashed with the two short swords in Killer Bee's hand, producing a metallic clang.

The fight was about to erupt when Killer Bee stopped, leaping back away from Tatsuma. His right hand held a short sword tucked under his arm, while his other hand stroked his chin. He looked at the ghostly blue fire blade that had appeared in Tatsuma's hand and then said:

"That's so cool!"

"I think so too. I don't think any man would think my knife isn't cool, right?"

Chenma raised an eyebrow, his face showing no sign of pressure, unlike someone who had been besieged for months and struggling to survive. He awkwardly brandished his fire sword, leaving a ghostly blue afterimage in the air, and said:

"But you're not bad either. You've made such great progress in just a few months. I'm really curious how you cultivated."

"The secret is to keep it real!"

Killer Bee also brandished his two short swords, his movements far more flamboyant than Tatsuma's. In terms of mastery of the short swords, if it weren't for the inherent visual appeal of Tatsuma's fire swords, Killer Bee's performance would have far surpassed Tatsuma's.

After his performance, he said, "However, you don't seem to know much about using a sword! Let me, Killer Bee of the Three-Sword Style, teach you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Killer Bee transformed into a black shadow and rushed towards Tatsuma. Two flashes of cold light streaked across Tatsuma's heart and throat, two vital points. Tatsuma twisted his body to dodge, and as he passed by, he slashed at Killer Bee's back with his dark blue fire blade.

"Ding~"

But Killer Bee seemed to have anticipated this, bending his arm and making a gesture as if drawing a sword from his back, blocking Tatsuma's rather unorthodox fire sword. In the instant of the stalemate, the surface color of the two short swords began to change.

Killer Bee narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses, and with a flick of his tail, suddenly lashed out from between Tatsuma's legs, aiming to strike upwards.

"Trying this kind of trick in front of me?"

Tatsuma stomped his leg, his right foot landing hard on the octopus leg. Killer Bee quickly followed up with a high backspin kick, forcing Tatsuma to retreat and dodge, releasing the tail he was stepping on.

Dodging Killer Bee's sweeping kick, Tatsuma thrust out his fire sword again, but it was blocked by Killer Bee once more.

Although the fire sword is cool, it has to be said that it is actually a constraint for Tatsuma, because he is not proficient in swordsmanship. He only learned some basic White Fang sword techniques more than ten years ago, but he has not picked them up for many years and has forgotten most of them.

It was only through its greater strength, faster speed, and the characteristics of its fire blades that it was able to go toe-to-toe with Killer Bee.

After a few rounds, Tatsuma threw away the fire sword in his hand. The fire sword pierced the ground and, freed from the restraint of Tatsuma's chakra, instantly transformed into a ball of dark blue flame and exploded.

Tatsuma gently shook his left hand, which had been scratched by Killer Bee, and said, "Is your warm-up time enough?"

"Hey! Come on!"

Killer Bee sheathed his twin swords, his body enveloped in a fiery red chakra cloak, and tails began to sprout from his back once more. When Tatsuma saw all eight octopus legs fully formed, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration:

"As expected of a perfect Jinchuriki, your mastery of the Tailed Beast's power is probably unmatched by any other ninja."

"A perfect Jinchūriki? What a magnificent compliment!"

This wasn't the first time Tatsuma had described himself this way, but this time, Killer Bee felt he deserved the title.

"Hachi! Let's go on stage together, so as not to disappoint our enemies!"

"good!"

Upon hearing the reply from within his spiritual world, Killer Bee grinned, and then more and more tailed beast chakra coalesced, forming the flesh and blood of the Eight-Tails form, with himself merging into it.

On the other side, Tatsuma clapped his hands together, pouring a massive amount of chakra into the ground.

"Sage Art! Wood Release! Advent of the Tree World!"

"Sage Art! Wood Release! Wood Human Technique!"

(End of this chapter)