The Land of Iron could be considered a vacuum zone for shinobi forces. Under those circumstances, it could almost certainly be judged to be outside Akatsuki's surveillance range. So compared with what happened to the One-Tail, the chances of Akatsuki discovering the battle between Hagoromo and the Nine-Tails—or even the fact that the Nine-Tails had already faceplanted—were much slimmer.
Perhaps by the time they figured out the Nine-Tails problem, who knew how long would have passed.
Fortunately, by now, Akatsuki's plan had already changed somewhat.
"You mean the Seven-Tails, the One-Tail, and the Nine-Tails have all been dealt with? But what exactly does 'dealt with' mean?" In the Hokage's office, Tsunade stared at Hagoromo in astonishment.
Anyone who had spent enough time around Hagoromo could sometimes easily grasp the key point in his words. Clearly, the "dealt with" he mentioned was probably different from the usual meaning.
In the ordinary sense, tailed beasts were considered chakra aggregates that could not be killed.
And in another ordinary sense, Hagoromo never took the ordinary path… Combining those two points, Tsunade could not help forming a bold idea.
And the direction of that idea was undoubtedly correct. Hagoromo's actions were always so unexpected, and he always left people "at a loss."
Before doing anything, he never discussed it with others, did he? Sometimes, after finishing, it was already good enough if he told you at all. Most of the time, he said absolutely nothing.
Take the Seven-Tails, for example. It had faceplanted ages ago, all right? Yet only now did this guy say it would never come back to life. What was Takigakure supposed to do after waiting forever?
"It means these tailed beasts have been killed by me, and they will never revive again," Hagoromo said calmly, in a sense confirming Tsunade's guess.
"You mean three of the nine tailed beasts have been 'completely' erased?"
This was not only Tsunade's first time hearing such a thing. Jiraiya had never heard of it either… Hagoromo had hidden his little secrets quite thoroughly.
"That isn't entirely accurate. In reality, I can't do it to that absolute degree. But saying they're dead isn't wrong either. Tailed beasts are chakra aggregates to begin with. You can simply understand it as me dispersing their enormous chakra and making it impossible for it to gather again. So those tailed beasts can no longer manifest. And since their chakra can no longer gather, it naturally cannot support or circulate with itself. As time passes, it will definitely gradually dissipate," Hagoromo explained.
According to him, the chakra of the three tailed beasts had not disappeared. It was currently doing Brownian motion all over the world.
Tsunade and Jiraiya exchanged a glance. Although Hagoromo described it very simply, was it really that simple? Did he think smashing tailed beasts was like smashing cucumbers—once broken, they were just broken?
"Even merely preventing tailed beast chakra from gathering again should be considered an extremely complex project. That isn't something that can be completed with a single ninjutsu or sealing technique. So how did you do it?" Tsunade asked Hagoromo quite seriously.
A ninjutsu or sealing technique capable of permanently dismantling tailed beast chakra was something Tsunade had never seen, never heard of, and did not even have the slightest clue about. If Hagoromo could truly accomplish that, of course she would be curious.
"It's my special ability… Actually, I can use dōjutsu. You can consider my ability to destroy tailed beasts as a type of innate dōjutsu," Hagoromo said, looking a little bashful.
After all, even he felt that he seemed to be talking nonsense a bit too much.
Sure enough, when Tsunade heard this, she immediately clicked her tongue. Could this guy never explain one thing thoroughly from the beginning? Wasn't his innate ability supposed to be an ultra-high affinity for Lightning Release? When had it changed into dōjutsu?
Did he need to switch things up every time?
Tsunade had never seen Hagoromo's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. Many people had faceplanted after seeing them, and quite a few had survived, but Tsunade was not among them.
Or rather, among non-allies who had seen Hagoromo activate his eyes multiple times and survived, was Uncle Snake the only one?
"Let's set aside how you did it for now," Jiraiya said, choosing to continue on the basis of temporarily believing Hagoromo's explanation. "How long do you estimate it will take for the tailed beasts' chakra to dissipate?"
This question was meaningful, but Hagoromo decisively shook his head… because he had no idea either. No tailed beast had dissipated before, and Hagoromo had no experience. Everything could only be estimated.
"I don't know. But I imagine the time limit should be longer than the average revival cycle of a tailed beast."
Although this was one hundred percent true, in practice, it sounded rather like nonsense. If a tailed beast's chakra dissipated within its revival cycle, then what would it revive for? It would simply dissipate and die outright.
Even so, based on this extremely rough estimate, it could be determined that the dissipation of tailed beast chakra would take several years at least, and likely longer rather than shorter.
Although Tsunade and Jiraiya were now exploring the possibility of tailed beasts completely disappearing, there was actually an even more common-sense question they needed to think about.
As for why neither of them brought it up, it was not because they had not thought of it. It was because they had no answer at all.
If Konoha lost the Nine-Tails, was that good or bad for the village?
Who the hell knew?
During the Third Hokage's era, the Nine-Tails—and Naruto, its jinchūriki—had been treated like a nuclear bomb: protected and guarded against. Now that Tsunade had just taken over, Hagoromo had guest-starred as a bomb-disposal expert?
Tsunade glanced at Hagoromo.
You really are something.
A jinchūriki could become a village's powerful military asset. That was beyond doubt. But with people like Hagoromo currently existing, Konoha seemed not to need that kind of combat power. If so, then the Nine-Tails was simply a time bomb, and its necessity had been greatly reduced for the time being.
The problem was that because of its "immortal attribute," the Nine-Tails could originally have been passed down generation after generation as Konoha's "village-protecting divine beast." But no matter how strong Hagoromo was, how many years could he live at most?
A human lifespan was limited in the end, so this issue was truly difficult to weigh.
"One more thing. Since the Nine-Tails was extracted, why is Naruto completely unharmed?" Jiraiya asked again. Logically, a jinchūriki whose tailed beast was extracted should have only one outcome: death. Yet Naruto was still alive and kicking.
Hagoromo: "…"
This was why he did not want to tell these people the full truth. Their questions came one after another.
"How did Chiyo revive Gaara of Sunagakure? I simply used her method," Hagoromo had no choice but to continue explaining.
Previously, he had already told the two of them the entire process of his last trip, with Chiyo naturally being a key point of explanation. However, he had slightly concealed Orochimaru's involvement.
"But didn't you say that resurrection technique requires one person's life as the price?" Jiraiya pressed.
"Of course there was a price. But someone paid that price for me."
Hagoromo thought to himself, Ask me one more question. Ask one more, and I'll sell out Uncle Snake.
But at that moment, Tsunade suddenly spoke again. "If three tailed beasts can no longer revive, doesn't that mean Akatsuki's tailed beast collection plan can no longer be completed?"
It seemed that way. But Hagoromo always had an instinctive feeling that things would not be that simple. Would Akatsuki really give up on their actions?
Impossible, right?
He had just opened his mouth to explain when another sudden incident occurred.
From somewhere in Konoha came the sound of a violent explosion…
What was it this time?
Tsunade felt bitter inside. Why did everything seem to go wrong right after she became Hokage?
Hagoromo even raised both hands, indicating that this incident really had nothing to do with him. He could guarantee that. After all, he was standing right here. Even if he wanted to cause trouble, he could not split himself in two.
But…
Anyone who actually believed his guarantee would be seeing ghosts.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Chakraflow789