Watching their summoned target trapped in quicksand, seconds away from being crushed into a pulp by the descending mountain, the Iwa Jonin couldn't help but feel a surge of smugness.
Unlike smaller hidden villages that might lose their will to fight at the sight of a colossal summon, Iwagakure specialized in dealing with them. In fact, compared to a human-sized target—agile and maddeningly difficult to hit—these massive creatures were a dream for ninjas with a wide repertoire of techniques. You didn't even have to aim; anything you threw was bound to land.
No matter how large a summon was, it wasn't immune to ninjutsu.
People die when they are killed.
Summons were no different.
But just as the Iwa Jonin expected the combined assault to critically wound the creature and force a de-summoning, the gargantuan slug suddenly disintegrated.
"Slug Great Division!"
If Tsunade's enemies had suffered from trypophobia, she wouldn't have even needed to lift a finger. Simply summoning Katsuyu and ordering a mass division would be enough to send them into a state of shock or total unconsciousness.
The mountain-sized Katsuyu, facing a falling rock of equal mass enchanted by the Weighted Rock Technique, chose to scatter. Like an image suddenly dissolving into its constituent pixels, the slug shattered into tens of thousands of miniature clones in less than a second.
BOOM!
The massive rock slammed down, obliterating several hundred tiny slugs, but that was the extent of the damage. The vast majority of the clones had already used the liquid nature of the Swamp of the Underworld terrain to slip away with terrifying speed.
"Monstrous Strength Strike!"
Tsunade never worried about Katsuyu. She knew that even if a few hundred of these divisions died, the impact on Katsuyu's true body was as negligible as a cow losing a single hair. Thus, the moment the Iwa Jonin launched their assault on her summon, she launched her own.
Using Katsuyu's head as a springboard and adding the gravitational potential of her descent, Tsunade struck. With the Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid having already corroded a large section of the Great Mud Wall, she became a living bunker-buster. She tore through the weakened—yet still sight-blocking—section of the stone rampart.
Her targets: the Iwa defensive ninjas maintaining the wall.
Her fist shattered the brittle stone, kicking up a cloud of debris so thick it looked like a localized smog emergency. Lunging into the haze, she held her breath and used the yellow-gray dust as a cloak.
"Run!"
By the time Tsunade burst through the dust cloud like a clay-covered demon, the defensive ninjas had only one thought left in their minds.
Unfortunately, except for a few wary Jonin who had bolted the moment the smoke appeared, it was too late for the rest.
CRACK!
A crater far more terrifying than the one she'd left during her assault on Kyu appeared. But this time, beneath her fist, the thing that actually made contact with the earth was a human skull.
Swish!
She didn't stop to admire the carnage or let the recoil settle. Forcing her body through the discomfort of the impact, she blurred into motion again.
THUD!
The sound of her fist meeting a body was like a 70 mph steel beast plowing into soft flesh. The sight of the miserable figure being sent flying made the scene look less like a battle and more like a high-speed car crash. This was no "pretty girl's cute little punch to the chest."
"Choza! Formation 4!"
Minato, unwilling to play the role of the passive victim, looked toward Choza the moment Tsunade made her move.
"Multi-Size Jutsu!"
Choza wasted no time. He used a Partial Multi-Size Jutsu to expand his palm, scooped Minato up, and—with every ounce of strength he possessed—hurled the boy over the top of the Mud Wall.
Formation 4 was a specialized tag-team maneuver between Minato and Choza. It utilized Choza's massive strength to launch Minato into the air to rain down attacks from above.
In a perfect world where the "Ino" and "Shika" of the trio were present, they would capitalize on the distraction. Nara Shikaku would use his Shadow Possession to bind the enemies, and Yamanaka Inoichi would use Mind Transfer to sow chaos, shielding Minato while he was vulnerable in the air. Finally, Choza would initiate a Human Bullet Tank to clean up the mess.
The core of the tactic was Minato drawing the aggro, creating an opening for the Ino-Shika-Cho trio to strike, who would then cycle back to protect Minato.
But without Shikaku and Inoichi, Minato was currently in extreme danger the moment he reached the apex of his arc.
Choza knew this. To protect his teammate, he threw caution to the wind. He reached into his pouch, pulled out the box of secret pills he'd been "playing with" earlier, and popped the Green Spinach Pill.
"Secret Technique: Super Multi-Size Jutsu!"
Ignoring the searing pain of the pill, Choza transformed into a literal titan. With a roar that shook the air, he lunged forward, his massive body falling toward the enemy like a collapsing skyscraper.
Shinobi combat is usually a complex affair, but it is often decided in the blink of an eye. The true "turning point" usually happens within a split second. Freaks of nature like Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara, who could fight for three days and nights, were the extreme exceptions.
For the rank-and-file Genin, they were mostly there for morale and fodder.
This was especially true when facing an elite Jonin like Tsunade and a high-spec team like Minato and Choza.
Mid-air, Minato unleashed ten shuriken he had been holding in his hands and mouth. With pinpoint accuracy, he ended the lives of ten Iwa Genin. Meanwhile, the colossal Choza flattened the earth, leaving behind a dozen smears of red and white.
However, the Iwa Chunin who survived the initial slaughter used the deaths of the Genin to buy themselves time for a counterattack.
"Earth Style: Earth Stone Flow!"
Facing the giant Choza, several Chunin slammed their fists into the ground in unison. They created a massive landslide of quicksand designed to swallow Choza's enormous frame.
A normal ninja would be swept away by the flowing earth. But Choza, with his immense size and weight, acted as a dam. The sand piled up against him with incredible speed, threatening to bury him alive within seconds.
Meanwhile, the Iwa response to Minato was even more direct.
Capitalizing on the fact that he was mid-air and unable to dodge, dozens of Genin—ordered by their Chunin commanders—unleashed a volley of shuriken at him.
The accuracy wasn't perfect, but the volume of nearly a hundred blades filled the air, effectively sealing off every cubic inch of space for ten meters around him.