Is He... a God?

From the back of the Seven-Tails' second form, insect-like wings unfurled. Simultaneously, black-and-red skin began shedding, revealing a hard exoskeleton covered with a unique insect-like powder. This powder scattered through the air, refracting light and distorting the vision around it, making it difficult for Furen to discern his surroundings.

The transformation continued as the Seven-Tails rampaged, its chakra swelling with a terrifying intensity. The process resembled a complete deconstruction and reconstruction of the beast, with its internal structure becoming more refined, eventually resembling its fully awakened form.

In just over a minute, the creature, once only slightly larger than a human, had completed its transformation. The fully manifested Seven-Tails now stood before Furen, towering as high as the waterfall itself. Its seven tails included six wing-like appendages, with the final tail resembling a long, tendril-like appendage extending from beneath it. Its body, now clad in a dark, insect-like armor, loomed menacingly.

This was the complete form of Chōmei, the Seven-Tails.

The buzzing of Chōmei's wings filled the air as it hovered above the ground, creating massive whirlpools in the water below. The sheer force of its flight disrupted the flow of the waterfall, causing a temporary cessation of the torrent.

Chōmei fixed its gaze on Furen, its voice resonating in his mind.

"Who... are you?"

Furen's previous use of Wood Release had stirred something within Chōmei, triggering memories of a time long past. Unlike the Nine-Tails, who had been repeatedly used as a weapon by humans—controlled by the Sharingan and coveted by those with evil intentions—Chōmei's experiences had been somewhat less violent. As the only tailed beast held by a smaller nation, it had not endured as much exploitation or abuse. In fact, with some of its previous jinchūriki, Chōmei had even shared its chakra willingly, coexisting in relative peace.

However, the sight of Wood Release brought back memories of a man—the First Hokage, a god-like figure in Chōmei's mind. It was this very man who had once captured it, imprisoning Chōmei within a vessel from a small nation to prevent it from being used in war.

Furen, however, paid little attention to the tailed beast's mental question. "Little bug, revert to your previous form. I need to seal you back, and your jinchūriki must remain unharmed," he said calmly. If Chōmei was willing to negotiate, Furen was not opposed to showing it some respect.

But Chōmei let out a derisive snort in response. Was this human joking? After finally breaking free from its jinchūriki's control, why would it willingly return to that cursed seal? Despite Chōmei's relatively mild disdain for humans, compared to other tailed beasts, freedom was far more appealing than being bound once again.

Seeing Chōmei's refusal, Furen frowned. If the Seven-Tails remained outside its seal for too long, its jinchūriki, Fū, would eventually be consumed by the beast's chakra, leading to her death.

"Little bug, are you sure you don't want to go back?" Furen asked one final time.

But Chōmei ignored him, flapping its wings and ascending even higher into the sky. Now aware of Furen's Wood Release abilities, Chōmei knew its best advantage lay in its speed and ability to fly.

Watching the beast soar higher and higher, Furen's gaze turned cold.

"Do you really think you can escape me just by flying higher?"

"Yin Seal, Release!" Furen shouted. A burst of energy exploded from the blue diamond-shaped seal on his forehead, rapidly turning red as it released the stored chakra into his body.

"Wood Release: Hotei Technique!"

Furen clapped his hands together, pouring vast amounts of chakra into the ground. Massive wooden hands, thicker and faster than before, erupted from the earth, reaching toward Chōmei with incredible speed.

Realizing the danger, Chōmei flapped its wings even more rapidly, dodging the wooden hands while preparing another tailed beast bomb in its mouth. The game of cat and mouse seemed thrilling to the beast, as it dodged each of the wooden hands with ease.

But just as Chōmei was enjoying its aerial maneuvers, it suddenly felt an enormous surge of chakra beneath it. Before it could react, a massive wooden hand grabbed its tail. Looking down, Chōmei saw an enormous wooden golem forming on the ground, its size rivaling Chōmei's own body.

It was Furen's Wood Golem Jutsu.

"Keep flying, little bug," Furen taunted, his voice laced with mockery.

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!" Furen's eyes narrowed as he completed another set of hand signs. From the golem's hands, thick, coiling branches began to sprout, wrapping themselves around Chōmei's body, slowly draining its chakra.

The battle between Furen and Chōmei had grown so intense that the resulting shockwaves had drawn the attention of two figures: Yan Hua and Youlang, who had been searching for Fū. They stood in stunned silence as they arrived at the scene, watching in disbelief as Furen's wooden golem wrestled with the fully-transformed Seven-Tails.

"Is there really a shinobi capable of fighting on equal terms with a tailed beast?" Yan Hua muttered in shock, her eyes wide with awe.

"Is he... a god?" she whispered, glancing at her companion.

Youlang, equally stunned, slapped himself in the face to confirm he wasn't dreaming. "I can't believe... there really is a ninja with god-like power..." he murmured in disbelief.

The sheer scale of the battle unfolding before them left them both questioning the limits of human strength and ability. Could this man, Furen, truly be a god among shinobi?

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T/N:

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