A massive red body, a booming voice, a short blade at his waist, and a smoking pipe in his mouth.
This giant toad radiated menace—and the man standing on his head was a legend in his own right.
"Bunta, can you go easy on me for once?"
"You want me to save your pride? Get lost! You dragged me out here to deal with this kind of monster? Hmph! You're lucky I'm not chewing you out right now, damn Jiraiya!"
Jiraiya, heir of Mount Myōboku, had arrived on the battlefield.
That earlier water cannon? Fired by Gamabunta himself.
The massive blast had soaked Kokuō and successfully enraged both the Five-Tails and Han.
Kokuō erupted in a burst of searing steam and charged straight for Gamabunta and Jiraiya, his massive horns gleaming with deadly intent.
Seeing the charge, Gamabunta snorted and spat toward Jiraiya again.
"Hmph! Damn you, Jiraiya! We'll settle this later!"
Bunta drew his short blade, ready for combat, but Jiraiya raised a hand to halt him.
"Bunta, watch yourself."
"Tch! Yeah, yeah. I'll just treat this thing like one of Hanzō's overgrown salamanders!"
Kokuō was blindingly fast. In an instant, it was right on top of them—its massive horns poised to strike.
"It's just a big horse!"
At the critical moment, Bunta sprang high into the air, dodging the charge and aiming his short blade right for Kokuō's eye.
Unfortunately, he was facing a Tailed Beast. Scalding steam erupted again from Kokuō's body, forcing Bunta to retreat in pain. As he landed, he cursed loudly.
"Damn it! Forgot this guy spews steam!"
"Jiraiya, what now?!"
"Hold on—we're just here to stall him until Minato and the others get here. Once they do, this turns around."
Reinforcements were coming. Jiraiya wasn't alone—his beloved student, Minato Namikaze, was leading a thousand shinobi to the front.
But for now, Jiraiya had arrived ahead of them.
The clash resumed. Kokuō's attacks were straightforward, but whether it was brute force or steam, the destruction was massive.
Bunta could only keep his distance and dodge. The brawl between these two giants forced all nearby shinobi to scatter.
Every hit that landed was devastating.
In pure power, Bunta couldn't match Kokuō. Thankfully, Jiraiya was there to back him up, hammering the beast with every jutsu he could manage.
"Bunta, wait... Something's not right. I think something's falling from the sky."
Jiraiya suddenly looked up.
"Huh? What is it?" Follow current novels on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾※𝙣𝙚𝙩
Bunta backed off from the Tailed Beast and glanced upward.
One look—and everyone froze. Jiraiya. Bunta. Even the Five-Tails.
What was plummeting from the sky was a massive, crimson, four-tailed monkey.
"Shit... that's Rōshi!"
"How the hell did he end up up there?!"
Han's stunned voice cut through the noise. But before he could process it, a shadow appeared before him.
"Want me to send you up too?"
Kazuyama, ghostlike as ever, had once again laid his devilish hands on another Tailed Beast.
That eerie grin made Han shiver. He recognized him instantly—one of Konoha's Twin Stars, the Ghost, Kazuyama Gekkō.
Before he could finish swearing, the Five-Tails vanished into thin air.
First the Four-Tails disappeared. Then the Five-Tails.
Shibito Azuma's eyes flew wide open. The back-to-back teleportations left him dumbfounded.
But he'd caught a piece of their conversation.
He looked up—and nearly dropped to his knees.
The Four-Tails was falling.
"All units! Stop the attack! Take cover—now!"
Azuma's shout rang out with every bit of strength he had. His voice thundered across the rear lines.
Because when a fifty-meter-tall Tailed Beast drops from the sky... it's not just noise that follows.
If this question had been asked before the war, no one could have answered it. But after the war, many people would say:
"Destroy the heavens and earth!"
"I still can't forget that day when the crimson Four-Tails came crashing down from the sky."
"It shattered the entire battlefield."
Panting slightly, Kazuyama, who had just launched the Five-Tails into the sky, felt the strain. Transferring two massive Tailed Beasts back-to-back had drained a staggering amount of chakra—he was genuinely exhausted.
"Kazuyama, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. We're talking about a thousand meters up and transferring Tailed Beasts, after all. It just took a lot out of me. Chōmei, keep the chakra flowing."
Chōmei hadn't stopped supplying chakra for even a moment—otherwise, Kazuyama would've already collapsed.
"White-Haired Sage, we need to get out of here, now!"
"The Four-Tails is about to drop!"
Kazuyama steadied his breathing and immediately signaled Jiraiya to retreat.
Jiraiya was more than ready to leave.
"Who are you calling White-Haired Sage!"
"I'm a sage from Mount Myōboku—"
Before Jiraiya could finish, Bunta had already leapt into the air, his massive body sprinting toward their own camp.
"You bastard, Bunta! I wasn't done talking!!!"
As Jiraiya's shout echoed behind him, Kazuyama shook his head. Just as he was about to move, he suddenly felt a faint tremor beneath his feet.
"Damned Konoha Ghost! After everything you've done, you still think you can escape!"
"Earth Release: Rock Barrier!"
"Explosion Release: Rock Blast!"
The voices of Shibito Azuma and another echoed out at the same time.
Both techniques were incredibly fast. In an instant, countless rocks surged around him, forming a trap.
Explosions erupted as the rocks detonated like bombs. It was hard to tell which technique caused it—it was complete devastation.
Unfortunately for them, Kazuyama was a master of self-preservation. His mind was always linked to the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The moment the tremor began, he had already teleported.
His speed was so fast, they didn't even realize he was gone.
"Captain Iwa, retreat!"
"The Four-Tails is coming down!"
The technique had already been unleashed, and Shibito Azuma didn't wait to see if it worked. He immediately called his team to fall back.
"No, Shibito Azuma. You retreat."
"The target's still alive. I'm going after him."
"This is the Explosion Corps' mission."
The Explosion Corps of Iwagakure—an elite squad made up entirely of shinobi with the Kekkei Genkai Explosion Release—specialized in powerful, high-impact missions. Iwa was the squad captain.
"Do you know where he went?"
Iwa looked off into the distance. A determined light flickered in the middle-aged man's eyes.
"I don't, but I'll find him."
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