Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 286 Zero Tail

As Ichihime spoke, she walked to a pillar near the throne and touched it with her palm. Soon, glowing incantation characters appeared on the pillar, and a hidden hole was revealed on the shiny surface of the pillar.

She reached in and pressed a hidden button, triggering a mechanism that opened a hole in the floor, seemingly connecting to some space below, which aroused her curiosity.

Ichihime manipulated the thorns to roughly throw the Aokiji, who was bound like a dumpling, into them.

After that, she jumped in herself.

Using his Byakugan to observe the battle, Hiten discovered that Aokiji had been defeated and even captured alive. A look of surprise appeared on his face. He never expected that the Queen of the Sky Country would be so powerful.

Aokiji is an important jinkaku of the village and cannot fall into the hands of the enemy. He was about to go to rescue him, but instead of going to rescue him immediately, he chose to go and call for reinforcements.

Even Aokiji failed. If he went with his meager strength, he would be powerless even if he wanted to, and might even lose his life in vain.

"Click".

Bound and thrown heavily to the ground, nearly breaking his bones: "Is this how you treat prisoners?"

After saying that, he looked around and found himself in a bright place with mysterious runes covering the walls.

She landed gently on the ground and glanced indifferently at Aokiji.

At this moment, a warm voice came, addressing her respectfully:

"Lady Ichihime".

As Ichihime turned her head, a handsome young man walked towards her.

Yi Ji asked calmly, "Shennong, how is Zero-Tail's condition?"

Shennong shook his head, looking regretful: "I'm sorry, Lady Yiji, we still haven't found a way to reliably provide zero tails."

After saying that, he looked at Ichihime's face with a fascinated gaze: "Lady Ichihime, your face..."

Ichihime raised her smooth chin at Aokiji: "I fought with this Konoha ninja."

Shennong looked surprised. Someone had actually managed to force their queen into this situation. He stole a glance at Yi Ji's beautiful face and thought that this wasn't so bad.

Yi Ji highly valued Shennong's talent and would often entrust him with important national affairs. He held a position of great power and influence in the national leadership, second only to the emperor. He was also one of the few people who knew her true appearance.

Shennong repaid this trust by dedicating himself wholeheartedly to his work.

He held Yi Ji in high esteem, as a subject to a ruler, and also harbored romantic feelings for her.

Ichihime pointed at the Aokiji on the ground: "In that case, let's feed this guy to Zero-Tails."

"This guy?" Shennong asked in surprise.

Ichihime laughed and said, "This guy seems to be a Jinchūriki. No one can cultivate the Zero-Tails with his power."

Shennong flattered, "I see, as expected of Lady Yi..."

Aokiji remained silent.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Zero Tail I just heard about must be that thing. As for the person I was talking to, it should be that hypocritical old man in the back.

Aokiji's silence gave Shennong room to use his imagination. He mocked the subdued Aokiji, "Aren't you curious about why there's a Zero-Tail in this world when there are only nine tailed beasts?"

Aokiji glanced at him, formed a hand seal, and unleashed a fierce burst of cold energy centered on himself.

ICE AGE……

Yi Ji was startled, and quickly grabbed Shennong, who was still standing there dumbfounded, by the collar and tossed him back. Shennong was different from his other subordinates; he possessed superb medical skills and was an extremely rare talent.

"Lord Ichihime..." Shennong retreated backward, crashing into the wall before stopping.

Ignoring the pain, he quickly looked up and saw Ichihime, who had been frozen into an ice sculpture while protecting him, and roared:

"Lady Ichihime..."

Qingzhi found him too long-winded, so she wrapped her palm in icy energy, flicked her wrist, and threw out several ice needles that flew straight for the target's head.

Ice Release: Ice Soul Silver Needle.

The ice needles were extremely fast. Shennong at this time was not like he would be in the future; he was still a weakling and could only watch helplessly as his pupils dilated.

Just when he thought he was doomed, a miracle happened: the ice needles that were just inches away suddenly turned into particles of light and drifted away.

Aokiji frowned and followed the direction in which the light particles drifted, seeing a huge tombstone-like object with strange patterns carved on it, emitting a light source.

In front, there is a huge yellow cocoon, which is entangled in a sticky substance resembling yellow spider silk, supporting it and suspending it in mid-air.

The light that his Ice Soul Silver Needle had transformed into drifted into it—no, rather than drifting, it would be more accurate to describe it as absorbing.

The surface of the silkworm cocoon is yellow and transparent, emitting a faint glow, and inside is a curled-up ball.

A strange creature, entirely black, with a smooth, viscous texture, like an earthworm crawling out of the picture.

He was wearing a white mask-like device on his head, with a large "zero" written on it.

At this moment, the creature was sleeping peacefully, just like a baby born from a placenta.

If you look closely, you can see that an unidentified black substance is flowing inside the viscous substance wrapped around the yellow cocoon, continuously transporting and nourishing the organisms inside the cocoon, almost like providing nutrients to the placenta through blood vessels.

Although it wasn't very obvious, Aokiji could sense that the creature inside the yellow cocoon was undergoing some kind of transformation, especially after absorbing the light particles from earlier.

Suddenly, a stern female voice rang out.

"It seems I really underestimated you."

Aokiji turned his head and saw that Ichihime, who had been frozen into an ice sculpture, had now completely broken free of the ice and was unharmed.

"I should have crippled you first," Ichihime said with some annoyance.

"If that were the case, do you think I would so easily let you manipulate me?"

Aokiji had to admit that he seemed to have gone a bit too far; he hadn't expected that Zero-Tail Special already existed in this day and age.

"What on earth is this thing...?"

A solemn expression appeared on Aokiji's face.

"It is a substance derived from the darkness within the human heart."

Aokiji certainly knew what this thing was. It was a redundant move, just a way to buy time and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

However, he did not expect that what the other party said next would be somewhat unexpected.

"To be more precise, this is something I peeled off from a monster called a Wraith and nurtured."

Ichihime said this.

Wraith?

Aokiji was taken aback.

He vaguely remembered this thing, but wondered if it was related to the one in the Land of Demons.

"Alright, enough chit-chat. I won't let you break free of your restraints so easily from now on."

Ichihime formed a Tiger Seal with her hands, and the instrument on the tombstone emitted light, as if awakening Zero-tail, which was sleeping in the giant yellow cocoon, and began to wriggle.

Yi Ji called out Shennong's name.

Shennong understood immediately and ran towards the direction of Zero Tail.

Although Aokiji couldn't understand his actions, he knew it was definitely not a good thing. He spat out a mouthful of flame at his target, and then swiftly threw several shuriken wrapped in flames to attack.

Fire Release: Phoenix Claw Red

The advantage of this move is its speed and difficulty to dodge, but it is still inferior in the end. Zero-Tails first absorbed the chakra of Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Claw Red, and then a hand emerged from the yellow cocoon to knock away the shuriken.

"snort……"

Zero-tailed Ichihime, who was being remotely controlled, smiled smugly.

During this time, Shennong successfully ran to Zero's side.

Zero Tail coiled around Shennong from deep within his body, pulling him into the cocoon and merging them into one.

"roar!"

With a roar, Zero-Tail emerged from its cocoon.

"What bad luck..."

Aokiji tried to use Uncle Long's words.

Absorbing chakra is troublesome enough, but the key issue is that it's area-of-effect absorption, which is practically a bug in this confined space.

Only a fool like Aokiji would continue to waste time with them.

From the beginning, he noticed what seemed to be a tunnel in the wall; if he ran in that direction, he should be able to leave this place.

With that in mind, Aokiji made the decisive decision to run away.

Seemingly having read Aokiji's mind, Ichiki had Shennong, who was already possessed by the Zero-Tails, use the Zero-Tails' power to create wave-like yellow tentacles to block the cave, while she herself held Aokiji back, preventing her prey from escaping.

In the end, Aokiji could only watch helplessly as Zero-Tails completely blocked the cave with some unknown yellow object.

You fucking...

Soon, with Aokiji outnumbered two to one, the battle quickly turned into a situation extremely unfavorable for him.

Aokiji leaped across rooftops, struggling to fight Ichihime while also dodging the yellow tentacles surging from Zero-Tails' body. Once entangled by these tentacles, they would mercilessly drain his chakra, making the situation extremely troublesome.

In this dire situation, Aokiji, who had been waiting for reinforcements for so long, was almost in despair.

Damn it, Tsunade, why aren't you here yet?!

If this continues, I won't be able to handle it next time.

Aokiji gritted his teeth, steeled his resolve, and turned his eyes red, with three tomoe swirling around his pupils.

Sharingan, activate!

Ichihime's pupils suddenly dilated as she fought Aokiji.

Aokiji seized the moment when his opponent was distracted, and at the same time, when Zero-Tails was unable to react, he condensed a deep blue spinning ice ball in his palm. This was a Rasengan infused with ice-style chakra.

Ice Release·Hyōrin Pill.

A powerful vortex swirled around Ichihime's abdomen and then erupted.

(End of this chapter)