**Chapter 82: A Single Tree vs. the Two-Tailed Beast**

"Meow!"

With a sharp cat cry, Yugito Nii began to change.

Her body surface showed blue demonic cat patterns, a manifestation of chakra.

Her hair, under the massive surge of chakra, stood up and flowed like flames.

The most noticeable change was in her eyes—they turned completely white.

Two tails appeared behind her.

Partial Tailed Beast Transformation!

"Kid, you're dead!"

Feeling the overwhelming power inside her, Yugito was thrilled.

At this moment, she was powerful! Extremely powerful!

And this time, the chakra was willingly provided by the Two-Tails, ensuring there would be no loss of control.

With the Two-Tails pouring all its chakra into her, could she lose?

Absolutely not!

"Flame Mice Fireballs!"

Yugito opened her mouth, spitting out numerous small, mouse-shaped fireballs that scattered and homed in on Itsuki from all directions.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Itsuki opened his mouth and released a massive fireball.

"Boom!"

All the blue Flame Mice Fireballs were swallowed up.

Once again, Yugito was embedded into the wall.

The fireball was too large to dodge.

Fortunately, the Two-Tails was naturally aligned with fire.

Her body was already burning with flames, or else the last two attacks would have been enough to roast her alive.

As expected, a larger size means justice!

"Stop using these small tricks!"

The Two-Tails screamed madly inside Yugito, "Use the big moves! Against this kind of monster, the Flame Mice Fireballs are just like real mice."

Calling him a monster again?

"I got it!"

Yugito gritted her teeth.

She gathered a large amount of chakra and shot out a massive fireball.

"Heh!"

Seeing this, Itsuki chuckled.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

"Boom!"

Fireballs clashed again, and once more, Itsuki was victorious.

Yugito was slammed into the wall yet again.

At this point, the wall behind her already had three human-shaped imprints.

"Argh!!!"

Yugito was about to explode with rage.

Her body underwent yet another transformation.

Blue flames soared to the sky.

Yugito's form began to change.

In the end, she transformed into a massive blue demon cat.

Full Tailed Beast Transformation!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Itsuki clicked his tongue in amazement.

This was the first time he had seen a real Tailed Beast.

That overwhelming pressure felt very real.

No wonder Tailed Beasts are called natural disasters.

The great powers that Senju Hashirama used to balance the villages.

In fact, Itsuki wasn't entirely sure what these Tailed Beasts had done to deserve such hatred.

Even Senju Hashirama viewed the Nine-Tails coldly.

On the contrary, it seemed to be humans constantly trying to control the Tailed Beasts.

Was it just because they possessed power?

Did having power mean they should be destroyed?

Itsuki didn't know how the Tailed Beasts felt, but he knew that if he were one, he'd hang around villages, launching Tailed Beast Bombs at them just for fun.

Then he'd run away!

He'd keep doing it until the villages were destroyed.

Especially Konoha—they'd get special attention.

After all, why did Senju Hashirama have to be so impressive?

Unfortunately, he wasn't a Tailed Beast.

"Kid, you're dead!"

There it was again, that line.

Itsuki blinked, clapped his hands together, and released another Great Fireball Technique.

"Boom!"

This time, the Two-Tails took the hit head-on with its massive form, only stumbling back a few steps without getting embedded into the wall.

"You think I'm the same as before?"

Seeing the clearly more arrogant Two-Tails, Itsuki chuckled.

"Two-Tails, how about we work together?"

"Work together?"

The Two-Tails paused, then burst into maniacal laughter.

"Little thing, you think you're worthy of teaming up with a Tailed Beast?"

"Stop calling me little, alright?"

Itsuki's eyes flashed with the eerie pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Then, Susano'o began to form.

This was the first time Itsuki fully unleashed its power after gaining the Eternal Mangekyō.

The skeletal structure appeared!

Muscles and flesh grew over the bones.

It took the shape of a tengu!

And it was massive!

With Itsuki's deliberate control, Susano'o stood even taller than the Two-Tails.

And it was fully armored, looking incredibly imposing.

Thick and robust!

Itsuki stood in the center of Susano'o, arms crossed, looking down on the Two-Tails.

"Little kitty, do I still seem small? Hmph, let me tell you, if I showed my full power, you'd be scared to death."

Matatabi (Two-Tails) lifted its head, gazing at Itsuki (One Tree), falling into silence.

"Matatabi, can we even win this fight?"

"This guy reminds me of someone."

"Who?"

"Madara Uchiha. Back in the day, I got completely wrecked by him."

"You've met Madara Uchiha?"

Yugito was shocked. She had long heard of the legendary figure's fame.

Though he eventually became a terrifying rogue ninja, infamous across the shinobi world, his strength was something she still deeply respected.

"No kidding!" Matatabi replied irritably. "When Hashirama Senju was capturing the tailed beasts, do you think he was acting alone? Madara Uchiha was involved too. He compared all the tailed beasts and ultimately chose Kurama (Nine-Tails) as his summoning beast."

Thinking of that man made Matatabi tremble uncontrollably.

That overwhelming, unbeatable power still left it feeling powerless to this day.

"So… are we just going to give up?" Yugito's voice was full of frustration.

Even in the unique communication between Jinchuriki and their tailed beast, Matatabi's voice was very low. "Use the Tailed Beast Bomb!"

"Alright!"

Itsuki watched Matatabi in silence and smiled. "So, little kitty, still not going to surrender?"

"Take this!"

Matatabi suddenly let out a loud roar and opened its mouth. Yang-natured blue chakra and Yin-natured purple-black chakra began to quickly merge together.

Eventually, the chakra compressed and condensed into a high-density sphere in Matatabi's mouth.

"Tailed Beast Bomb!"

Boom!

A massive dark purple Tailed Beast Bomb shot out of Matatabi's mouth, heading straight for Susano'o.

BOOM!!!

A huge explosion roared.

The Tailed Beast Bomb created a violent explosion, engulfing Itsuki in an instant.

"Did we get him?"

Both Matatabi and Yugito stared intently, eyes wide open.

They wanted to see the result right away.

But then—

"Watch out!"

Matatabi suddenly felt a strong gust of wind approaching, shouting in panic as it hastily retreated.

WHAM!

A giant hand smacked Matatabi hard on the head.

SMACK!

Matatabi was slammed into the ground.

Face-down and spread out flat!

"Oof!"

It let out a pained groan, struggling to lift its head and look up.

It was Susano'o!

"You… how?"

Matatabi was dumbfounded.

How could Susano'o have taken a direct hit from the Tailed Beast Bomb without a scratch?

Did her attack not even land?

"What do you mean 'how'?"

Itsuki sneered coldly. "Since you don't want to talk things through, I guess we'll settle this the hard way!"

THUD!

As soon as he said that, Susano'o plopped down, sitting right on Matatabi's back.

Matatabi's eyes immediately bulged.

If it hadn't kept its mouth shut, it probably would've thrown up its stomach.

And then…

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

Massive fists rained down, pounding relentlessly onto Matatabi's body.

"Meow!"

A screech of agony echoed out.

"S-stop… stop…"

(End of Chapter)