I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 679 Treat every defeated opponent as if they were a new enemy.

"So what if you look good? Do you still have the agility that quicksand brings?"

After a brief but intense moment of envy and jealousy, Yawei came to her senses and said with feigned disdain.

Long before the Tailed Beasts "split up," they fought quite a bit together and were very familiar with each other's abilities and characteristics.

Shukaku's chakra is even considered a weakness among the Tailed Beasts. The Tailed Beast Balls that other Tailed Beasts can easily obtain are a huge drain on Shukaku's resources as a last resort.

But is Shukaku weak overall? Not really. In fact, if it really came down to a fight, Shukaku could even be ranked in the upper-middle range.

There are two main reasons. First, Shukaku doesn't sleep. When the Sage of Six Paths used to give lectures, the other eight tailed beasts would sleep, but Shukaku would listen to the lectures.

Therefore, unlike other tailed beasts, Shukaku is very good at converting tailed beast chakra into "jutsu". Its mastery of wind release is also extremely profound, and it is even very good at sealing techniques.

The sealing technique combined with Magnet Release chakra can even seal other tailed beasts. Unless it's like the Nine-Tails, which can unleash chakra to tear the seal apart, other tailed beasts still have a lot of trouble facing Shukaku's sealing technique.

The second advantage is Shukaku's body, which is not modeled after flesh and blood, but rather constructed of yellow sand.

Take the Eight-Tails itself as an example. It mimics chakra into flesh and blood, which allows it to unleash greater power, but at the same time, it can also get injured, and injuries will affect its combat.

But Shukaku is different. Even if other tailed beasts' tailed beast balls hit Shukaku, if Shukaku is willing, the part of his body that is hit can instantly collapse and instantly recover, only losing a small amount of chakra that is negligible to the tailed beasts.

It is these two advantages that allow Shukaku to stand in the upper-middle tier of tailed beasts in terms of actual combat power, even with "weak" chakra, assuming they are wild.

If they were both wild and free, the Eight-Tails would still have a headache facing Shukaku. But now that they have become tailed beasts sealed inside jinchūriki, that's a different story.

Putting aside other things, Killer Bee and the Eight-Tails can communicate with each other, allowing the Eight-Tails to fully unleash its power and even exert a stronger fighting force than in its wild state by leveraging Killer Bee's control over chakra.

As for Shukaku, its relationship with its jinchūriki seems quite good, and the combination of their abilities has produced some positive chemical reactions, but Yōkura is not a perfect jinchūriki.

This greatly limits the ability of Shukaku itself. In addition, although Shukaku has now been given a shiny new look, Ruri is far less agile than Yosuna.

Seeing the disdain in the Eight-Tails' eyes, Shukaku gritted its teeth in anger, slammed its forelegs heavily on the mountaintop, reducing its height somewhat, before saying irritably, "Then let's give it a try!"

"Let's give it a try!"

The eight-tailed creature pounded the ground with its fists, and then all eight of its octopus legs moved at the same time. It pounced on Shukaku at an extremely fast speed, and a powerful punch was thrown directly at Shukaku.

"Shatter!"

With a roar, the Eight-Tails' violent chakra surged. With a punch imbued with a thousand years of power, it could probably shatter not only a large piece of glass, but even an iron mountain.

However, instead of the expected sound of glass shattering, just as the Eight-Tails' fist was about to touch Shukaku's body, Shukaku's glass body suddenly turned crimson.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

The Eight-Tails cried out in pain as its fist and half an arm sank into Shukaku's glass body, the crimson glass scorching its skin.

"Sizzle~"

The sizzling sound of frying meat filled the air, and wisps of white smoke rose continuously. Shukaku took a deep breath and said, "The taste of beef hooves! It's really good!"

"Let me go!"

The Eight-Tails tried to pull its fist back, but Shukaku's arms held it firmly in place. The Eight-Tails' face contorted in pain, and in its desperation, it swung its eight tails down toward Shukaku.

"Sizzle~"

However, when the octopus tentacles landed on Shukaku, it only produced a louder sizzling sound and produced more white smoke. Even when the Eight-Tails tried to retract its octopus tentacles, it discovered that its flesh was already stuck to Shukaku's body.

The suction cups on the octopus's tentacles, which used to lock down its enemies, have now become the prison it must escape from, causing it great pain.

"Hehehe~ I'm not a non-stick pan!"

The eight-tailed creature struggled incessantly, its bull-headed head raised high, emitting mooing sounds, clearly in extreme pain.

"Hachi!"

Inside the Eight-Tails, Killer Bee, who was sensing the Eight-Tails in sync with it, also cried out in pain. However, compared to the Eight-Tails, which had already lost its mind, he was still relatively conscious. He shouted, hoping that the Eight-Tails could come back to its senses.

At the same time, he continuously unleashed his chakra, and thick arcs of electricity began to emerge from the Eight-Tails' body. Under the electric shock, Shukaku's body continued to shatter.

Finally, the Eight-Tails broke free from Shukaku's control. It had multiple charred burns and fresh, open wounds from being torn apart. After breaking free, the Eight-Tails retreated without looking back.

After retreating several kilometers, the Eight-Tails stopped and used chakra to repair its body. When it turned to look at Shukaku, there was a hint of fear in its eyes.

It never imagined that Shukaku would be so disgusting!

Is Shukaku's damage output high? Not really, but its methods are effective against tailed beasts that mimic chakra into flesh and blood, and even better against other tailed beasts.

The Nine-Tails and Four-Tails have thick fur on their bodies. Even if they attack Shukaku like the Eight-Tails, they will retreat as soon as they realize something is wrong, and at most they will only lose some fur.

Or we could switch to a three-tailed turtle; it could simply become a turtle that hides in its shell and see if its shell is more defensive, or if Shukaku can steam it from a distance.

If it's the Two-Tails, it's even simpler. Shukaku can't even grab the Two-Tails' body. They can even scald each other to see if the flames are stronger or the molten glass is stronger.

However, the Eight-Tails and Six-Tails, being flesh and blood and without fur, would have a very difficult time facing Shukaku now. As soon as they made contact, regardless of whether Shukaku was injured or not, they would definitely be in excruciating pain.

Although they are just some superficial injuries, they hurt a lot.

Shukaku absorbed some of the glass beneath its feet, restored its body, and looked triumphantly at the Eight-Tails in the distance.

"Close combat is not allowed!"

Killer Bee reminded him, and the Eight-Tails nodded, saying, "If only the Two-Tails were here."

Upon hearing this, Killer Bee said helplessly, "The Two-Tails was just sealed into the two Yugitos. Yugitos are still trying to control the Two-Tails' abilities, so it's impossible for them to participate in the battle."

Although Killer Bee, who has grown into a perfect Jinchuriki, suffered more defeats than victories in the wars of the past few years, the power of a perfect Jinchuriki has been known and recognized by the world.

Especially in Kumogakure, which had already trained a perfect Jinchūriki, they paid even more attention to the training of Tailed Beast Jinchūriki. Therefore, when the war stopped, the village immediately selected the Jinchūriki of the Two-Tails.

Ultimately, the two Yugitos became the new Jinchūriki of the Two-Tails. However, like Burubi, Killer Bee, and others before them, due to the flaws in the sealing technique, the Jinchūriki needed a long time to adapt to and suppress the Tailed Beast's chakra.

If Yugito were to participate in the battle at this point, the most likely outcome would be that the Two-Tails completely breaks free of its seal, Yugito dies, and the Two-Tails, after participating in the battle once, would flee and might not even participate in the battle as the Hidden Cloud Village wishes.

Therefore, the only ones who can deal with Shukaku right now are Killer Bee and the Eight-Tails. Killer Bee tentatively asked, "Will the Tailed Beast Ball work?"

"It will be useful. Shukaku's body is not as flexible as it used to be, and it will take longer to recover. If the Tailed Beast Ball hits, it will definitely cause serious damage to Shukaku."

Upon hearing this, Killer Bee nodded and said, "From now on, I will control the chakra."

This is the advantage of a perfect Jinchuriki: by using the Jinchuriki's superior control over chakra, the power of the Tailed Beast can be made more precise and controllable, while the Tailed Beast can continue to control its body to defend against enemy attacks without being interrupted.

"Then it's up to you!"

The Eight-Tails nodded. The two were in perfect harmony. With just a thought, Killer Bee took control of the Eight-Tails' chakra. Killer Bee also used the special positive and negative chakra within the Eight-Tails' body.

"Buzz buzz buzz~"

Countless hurricanes raged, and violent energy began to converge, with purplish-black chakra gradually condensing in the mouth of the Eight-Tails.

"I can't dodge it. That Eight-Tails can use Tailed Beast Balls continuously. Even if the accuracy isn't good, it will still cover us."

On the other side, seeing the Eight-Tails' actions, Shukaku instantly understood what the Eight-Tails wanted to do; it undoubtedly wanted to clash with the Eight-Tails, but unfortunately...

It's difficult for him to use the Tailed Beast Ball now because Pakura interferes with Shukaku's chakra to some extent, making the Tailed Beast Ball, which he's not very good at to begin with, even more difficult to execute.

"Leave the rest to me."

Yecang said, and Shukaku nodded. Then, a singularity appeared in the middle of its huge body. The huge gravitational force pulled and twisted Shukaku's body, converging towards the center.

In the blink of an eye, Shukaku's body disappeared, while Yekura reappeared.

"quick!"

As soon as Shukaku's body began to twist, the Eight-Tails warned him, and Killer Bee had no choice but to launch a somewhat "underdeveloped" Tailed Beast Ball towards Shukaku.

The moment Shukaku's body disappeared, the Tailed Beast Ball arrived in front of Pakura.

Yekura formed hand seals and pushed forward, releasing a large amount of chakra that had transformed into glass-like particles. It condensed in front of her into a complex shape, like looking through a kaleidoscope and seeing a psychedelic pattern.

"Scorching Release! Myriad Blossoms Guiding the Ceiling!"

The Tailed Beast Ball bombarded the Kaleidoscope. The glass mirror could not stop the Tailed Beast Ball from advancing, but the mirror exploded, reflecting the scenery in all directions. In each mirror, there were different scenes that were sometimes far away and sometimes near, sometimes large and sometimes small.

Under layers of cover, Killer Bee and Eight-Tails had completely lost sight of Leafa, and even just staring at the broken shards of glass gave them the feeling of being trapped in an illusion.

However, this is not a true illusion. Neither the Jinchuriki nor the Tailed Beast is aware of the other's intention to awaken them.

In that brief period of time, the sand and rocks on the mountain where the Eight-Tails were located began to heat up, even turning red and beginning to melt.

"Burning Escape! Glazed Sealing!"

(End of this chapter)