Soon, the troops led by Orochimaru and Jiraiya stood face to face with the forces of Iwagakure.
The sky above Amegakure still drizzled with a cold, misty rain.
Many shinobi simply let the rain soak through their flak jackets. No one complained. No one spoke. The entire battlefield was silent, the heavy killing intent pressing down on every chest like a physical weight.
In the center of Amegakure, the crater-riddled ruins were still painfully obvious. The collapsed buildings and scattered rubble told the story clearly enough.
It wasn't hard to imagine what kind of battle had taken place here before.
That sight alone cast a shadow over the hearts of the Iwagakure shinobi.
They knew all too well that the two people who had created this scene… were both from Konoha.
If those monsters decided to join this battle as well, no one could predict how it would end.
The war had not even begun, and morale had already dipped.
The commanders of Iwagakure and Konoha faced each other across the open space.
"Orochimaru, long time no see. You traitorous snake," Roshi sneered, his voice carrying over the rain. "You actually have the face to return to Konoha? Ridiculous."
His mockery slid right off a man like Orochimaru.
Orochimaru stepped out of Konoha's ranks at an unhurried pace, that eerie smile curling on his pale face.
"I didn't expect Ōnoki to be willing to send out both of his Jinchūriki," he drawled. "It seems Iwagakure truly has no one else to rely on."
There had long been an unspoken agreement between the great villages: tailed beasts would not casually be brought onto the battlefield.
Tailed beasts were strategic weapons—just like nuclear bombs—and every major village had one.
Once a tailed beast entered the fray, the casualties among ordinary shinobi would skyrocket to a completely different level.
Orochimaru's words were a thinly veiled jab at Iwagakure for breaking that tacit rule.
Roshi didn't get angry. Instead, he answered with a righteous tone.
"You people in Konoha are trying to unify the entire ninja world and were the ones who started this war," he shot back. "Under these circumstances, of course we'll fight with everything we have."
"Don't call us despicable."
"Despicable?" Orochimaru's tongue flicked across his lips as he shook his head. "No… I've never thought you were despicable. In fact, I appreciate that you brought your Jinchūriki along."
"After all, if I can capture two tailed beasts and take them back, our leader will be very pleased."
Seeing how arrogant Orochimaru was, Roshi stopped wasting words. He raised his hand, gesturing his troops into battle formation.
Orochimaru calmly retreated back into Konoha's ranks.
The ninjas on both sides glared at each other across the rain-soaked ground, killing intent surging.
"Advance!"
"Kill them all!"
With two simultaneous commands—
Countless shinobi from both sides surged forward, charging toward the enemy with deafening shouts.
"Earth Release: Heavenly Dragon Spear!"
"Earth Release: Split-Open Earth and Turn the Palm!"
"Lightning Release: Ground Current!"
"Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!"
…
A storm of ninjutsu erupted across the battlefield, bursting like fireworks of death.
There were very few Fire Release users present. In a place like Amegakure with constant rain, Fire Release was greatly weakened. That was precisely why most of the Uchiha clan—who specialized in Fire Release—had been deployed to the other front.
In addition to ninjutsu, countless shinobi clashed in close quarters, kunai and shuriken flashing amidst the rain.
War was a meat grinder.
Every passing second meant more corpses falling into the mud.
The fighting grew more and more intense.
On Iwagakure's side, after exchanging a few brief words with Roshi, a blue tail of chakra emerged behind another shinobi. Her eyes sharpened as she stepped forward and moved swiftly toward the battlefield.
Yugito Nii—the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki.
"Tail Beast Bomb!"
A cat-shaped mass of blue flame shot from Yugito's mouth, then split apart in midair, scattering into countless blazing projectiles that rained down in all directions.
Several Konoha shinobi were pierced in an instant.
Moments later, blue flame erupted over their bodies, burning fiercely before reducing them to nothing but drifting ash.
Yet the sight did not make the Konoha shinobi falter. Instead, even more surged forward to surround her.
On the battlefield, it was always the same—
Either you kill… or you're the one who dies.
If you hesitated because you feared death, you were always the first to fall.
And right now, with blood rushing in their ears and vision tinged red, who had the clarity to care how strong the opponent was?
Seeing the Konoha shinobi closing in, Yugito's expression turned cold. Razor-sharp chakra blades suddenly extended from her hands and feet.
"Human Cat Claw!"
She rushed into their formation. In that moment, she truly resembled a demonic cat—her movements light and agile, her limbs a blur of claws.
Anyone who got close to her was instantly carved into ribbons.
Even those who tried to block with kunai or swords couldn't avoid the same fate—their weapons were shattered, and their bodies followed soon after.
On Konoha's side, the moment Jiraiya saw a Jinchūriki personally enter the fray, he could no longer stay still.
He leapt down from the command platform.
Racing toward Yugito's direction, he formed hand seals as he ran.
At the same time, Yugito spat out another wave of blue flames.
"Fire Style: Blue flames eruption!"
Jiraiya landed in front of the Konoha shinobi, hands slamming together in a final seal.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
BOOM!
An earthen wall burst from the ground, blocking the roaring blue flames. Steam hissed up where fire met wet stone.
Jiraiya's fingers blurred again as he immediately formed a new series of seals.
…The Konoha shinobi behind him could only grit their teeth and silently entrust their backs to him.
"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"
WHOOSH!
Jiraiya's white hair suddenly lengthened and spread out like a lion's mane, swelling to an enormous volume. Then each strand of hair hardened into a spear, surging forward in a raging wave.
Everything in its path was shredded.
But even faced with these blade-like hairs, Yugito didn't panic. Her body twisted and flickered with feline grace, slipping between the spear-like strands as if she were dancing.
By then, Jiraiya had closed the distance.
A blue Rasengan whirled to life in his hand, and he drove it straight toward her.
BOOM!
Yugito's body spun through the air like a struck cannonball, crashing back and bowling over several shinobi behind her.
"…That didn't feel right."
Rather than being satisfied, Jiraiya's brow furrowed as he stared ahead. The sensation in his palm just now had definitely not been that of a normal human body.
Sure enough, as the smoke cleared, Yugito slowly rose to her feet. A deep, dark blue layer covered her chest where the Rasengan had hit.
Tailed Beast Chakra armor.
Before the Rasengan struck, Matatabi's chakra had already wrapped around her entire body.
His attack hadn't harmed her at all.
"Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin," she said, her eyes narrowing with battle lust. "Let me see how much that title is really worth."
"Partial Transformation."
Chakra roared around her in an overwhelming wave.
Yugito's body shifted and expanded into a crouching beast-like form. Two long tails emerged from behind her as her entire body—tails included—was wrapped in surging, burning chakra tinged a dark, ominous blue.
At the same time, Jiraiya slammed his hands together and Summoned two small figures to his shoulders.
The Toad Sages of Mount Myōboku—Fukasaku and Shima.
Sage Mode activated.
His face took on the familiar sage markings, wart-like bumps appearing on his nose. A dense natural aura gathered around him, and his presence surged to a different level entirely.
Jiraiya's Sage Mode was still imperfect; he could only maintain it with the assistance of the two Toad Sages.
But its power was nothing to scoff at.
…
In her partial Tailed Beast form, Yugito's speed was no longer something ordinary eyes could track.
To the other shinobi, she all but vanished.
Deep, bone-revealing claw marks began to appear out of nowhere on the bodies of Konoha ninjas at the front line, blood spraying into the rain.
The others couldn't see her movements at all.
But Jiraiya could.
He dropped into a low crouch, eyes sharpening.
"Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon!"
SHHHHHHHH—!
His hair bristled and shot outward in a storm of spikes, firing at incredible speed and with terrifying precision. The earth was perforated in an instant, and a large number of Iwagakure shinobi in front of him collapsed where they stood.
Yugito, who had been darting through their ranks at high speed, immediately pulled back her claws and twisted her body, narrowly avoiding the incoming barrage as she flickered away with even greater urgency…
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