Orochimaru had developed a special hallucination-inducing drug designed specifically to deal with Jinchūriki. A single pill had once killed the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki.
The smoke bomb Shinma had thrown contained Orochimaru's hallucinogenic compound. The Five-Tails' enormous lung capacity meant it had inhaled a great deal of the smoke.
Hatake Sakumo looked up and immediately noticed the change in the Five-Tails' eyes.
Before, the beast's gaze had been filled with a yearning for freedom—and deep loathing toward the shinobi of the Stone.
Now, the Five-Tails' eyes had turned savage.
Something had clearly agitated it.
The creature threw back its head and let out a piercing howl. The cry was so shrill and so prolonged that by the end of it the Five-Tails' voice had grown hoarse.
"Fall back! Everyone fall back!"
Seeing the Five-Tails descend into madness, the Konoha shinobi immediately leapt away to retreat.
Once they had created distance, Hatake Sakumo stared at the rampaging Five-Tails in stunned silence before turning toward Shinma.
Before Sakumo could issue any command, Pakkun acted instantly. Together with the eight ninja hounds, he lunged and clamped down on Shinma's arms and legs.
"Pakkun!" Shinma shouted in panic. "What are you doing?!"
The largest of the dogs—the Bordeaux hound—latched onto Shinma's dominant right hand.
Ten-centimeter fangs punched straight through his palm.
Hatake Sakumo's gaze wavered for a brief moment.
Then his expression hardened.
Fox's warning had not come from nothing.
The White Fang blade flashed forward—
—and stabbed straight into Shinma's heart.
Shinma's eyes widened in horror. His pupils shifted, trying desperately to focus on the man standing before him.
Lord Sakumo...
Why...?
Why would he kill him?
How could he bring himself to do it?
He was never this kind of person before.
Blood sprayed outward, splattering across Namikaze Minato's face.
Minato's expression changed drastically. Shinma had been one of Sakumo-sensei's subordinates—so why had his teacher suddenly killed him?
Standing nearby, Minato heard Pakkun mutter quietly:
"Good. At least we didn't disappoint that person."
That person...?
Who was that person?
Hatake Sakumo pulled the White Fang blade from Shinma's chest and turned toward Yamashiro.
"Yamashiro! Read the information from his brain!"
Yamashiro possessed a secret technique similar to that of the Yamanaka clan—one capable of extracting intelligence directly from a target's mind.
After overcoming his initial shock, Yamashiro hurried over and pressed his hand against Shinma's forehead.
The very first image he saw stunned him.
When Shinma had left the Capital of the Land of Grass, he had secretly met with someone wearing a hooded cloak.
From that mysterious figure, Shinma had received a smoke bomb.
"This is a toxic smoke bomb that will drive the Five-Tails into madness. Use it to provoke the Five-Tails and break—"
Shinma suddenly convulsed.
His nervous system began collapsing.
Yamashiro tried to dig deeper into the memories, but discovered that a dark and sinister force was destroying Shinma's brain.
He quickly withdrew his hand and stood up.
"Sakumo! Shinma was placed under some kind of strange seal."
"He met a mysterious person before departure. The seal destroyed his brain—I can't see anything more!"
"I only heard half a sentence before his mind self-destructed!"
"Someone gave him a smoke bomb capable of driving a Tailed Beast into a rampage!"
Hatake Sakumo nodded and addressed the others.
"Our mission is to prevent the Five-Tails from destroying the tribes of the Land of Grass."
"Shinma had already been bribed by spies and betrayed us. He attempted to sabotage our mission, so I executed him."
Yamashiro accepted the explanation quickly.
Shinobi killed people all the time.
Killing Shinma had been unexpected—but killing a traitor was best done swiftly.
What intrigued Yamashiro more was the other matter: what kind of person could provide such a powerful hallucinogenic smoke bomb—one capable of affecting a massive Tailed Beast?
Hayama Shirakumo's heartbeat raced.
Among the group, he had always been closest to Shinma.
Now that Yamashiro had confirmed Shinma's betrayal, Hayama thought for a moment before speaking.
"Lord Sakumo... now that you mention it, Shinma had been acting strangely lately."
"Especially back at Evergreen Divine Mountain. He zoned out several times—three or four times at least. That never used to happen."
Namikaze Minato looked between his teacher and Shinma's corpse.
He slowly recovered from his shock.
For friends and teammates, a shinobi should give everything—just as Sakumo-sensei always did for them.
But toward enemies, they must kill immediately.
If Shinma hadn't been killed quickly, the others might have died.
Yamashiro suddenly remembered something. Leaning closer to Sakumo, he spoke quietly.
"The village widely publicized Orochimaru's achievements."
"He's not only powerful in battle—his research into ninjutsu is said to be once-in-several-decades genius."
"Orochimaru once used a hallucinogenic pill to trigger the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki's rampage, eliminating the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki of Kumogakure."
"Sakumo... could this hallucinogenic smoke be Orochimaru's doing?"
"Could the person Shinma met have been one of Orochimaru's subordinates?"
Everyone in the village knew that Hatake Sakumo and Orochimaru were both competing for the position of Fourth Hokage.
Could Orochimaru be sabotaging them?
Hatake Sakumo frowned.
The Third Hokage favored Orochimaru as the next Hokage—but Sakumo had his own ideals. He wanted to realize his own political vision.
If Orochimaru had truly been involved...
Hatake Sakumo finally said,
"This matter is too serious. Don't assume anything yet."
"I'll investigate it."
Privately, Sakumo planned to consult Fox.
Fox had warned him in advance—he must know something.
Yamashiro picked up Shinma's chakra-metal short blade, sighing softly.
Shinma had once admired Sakumo more than anyone.
He had spent nearly all the savings from his missions—along with the money his brother Shinmei had earned—just to buy this chakra-metal blade.
He wanted to imitate the White Fang and develop his own secret technique.
Who could have imagined that Shinma would die by the very White Fang blade he worshiped?
Yamashiro looked toward Sakumo.
Sakumo shook his head and gestured toward Minato.
Yamashiro handed the blade over.
"Minato, you just became a Chunin. This is the critical stage where your strength will grow rapidly."
"This chakra-metal short blade should go to you."
Minato accepted the weapon, instinctively glancing at Sakumo's White Fang.
With a chakra-metal blade in hand, he looked more and more like his teacher.
"Thank you, Yamashiro-senpai!"
Minato excitedly ran his fingers across the blade.
Chakra metal wasn't something money alone could buy.
Luck was required.
Beside him, Hayama Shirakumo said,
"Minato, I never gave you a gift after your promotion."
He pulled out a scroll.
"Your chakra nature is Wind—same as mine."
"This is a scroll for Wind Release: Vacuum Blade."
"It also includes my notes on forming the hand seals one-handed."
"Don't let my Tokubetsu jonin rank fool you. When it comes to Wind Release: Vacuum Blade, I'd say I'm at least among the top two users in Konoha."
"Thank you, Hayama-san!"
"No need to thank me," Hayama replied.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Blade was originally taught to me by Lord Sakumo. It suits you just as well."
Minato's two teammates, Chōta and Chisa, looked on with envy.
For shinobi, strength was everything.
Minato had demonstrated astonishing talent, and so his teacher and senior shinobi naturally gave him special guidance.
Shinma's betrayal had been dealt with—but the Five-Tails mission was far from over.
The Five-Tails was still raging.
Having completely lost its sanity, the beast retained only a single instinct:
Escape as far as possible.
It hated the Land of Earth.
It hated being sealed.
Instinctively sensing the direction of the deeper grasslands, the Five-Tails bolted forward.
Its hooves pounded the prairie as it charged into the wilderness.
Hatake Sakumo used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Kitsuchi.
He glanced at the sweat on Kitsuchi's forehead.
"Kitsuchi. My mission is to stop the Five-Tails. Yours is to seal it."
"We can cooperate."
"Cooperate?"
Kitsuchi glared at the White Fang.
"That's a joke."
"Your man just threw a smoke bomb that sent the Five-Tails completely berserk."
"And now you want cooperation?"
"That was an accident," Sakumo replied calmly.
"You saw it yourself. I killed the traitor."
"You're free to distrust me."
"Even if I intended to sabotage you, it would be when you're sealing the Five-Tails."
"Before that, neither of us wants the Five-Tails running wild."
"If it runs too far, not only Konoha—Kumogakure might come poking around the Land of Grass too."
"I've seen the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Ryuuren."
"Your village's sealing techniques are far inferior to Kumogakure's."
Kitsuchi swallowed hard.
"Damn Kumogakure..."
"They plundered far too many sealing techniques from the destruction of the Uzumaki clan."
"Of course their sealing arts are stronger than ours."
Despite his massive build, Kitsuchi's resolve wavered.
He remembered the sight of Sakumo killing his own subordinate moments ago.
"...Fine."
"I believe you don't want the Five-Tails crashing into a tribal camp either."
"For now, we'll cooperate."
Hatake Sakumo vanished again.
He chased after the Five-Tails until he appeared directly in front of it.
White Fang blade in hand.
His gaze cold and unwavering.
The gigantic beast towered fifty meters high.
Its hooves thundered across the ground, shaking the earth itself.
Even for Sakumo, the pressure was immense.
But he accelerated.
Charging straight at the Five-Tails.
"White Fang Chain Blades!"
His arm blurred as the White Fang flashed.
Three pale blade arcs appeared in rapid succession before the dagger.
Thin crescent-shaped slashes overlapped like fragments of a waning moon.
They shot forward—
—and struck the Five-Tails' right foreleg.
The beast screamed in agony.
The White Fang Chain Blades had severed the entire leg—
bone and all.
The massive body crashed sideways, collapsing with a thunderous impact.
"Now's our chance!" Kitsuchi roared.
Taking advantage of the fall, he unleashed his Mountain Technique once again.
Under the crushing force of the technique, the Five-Tails was pinned down once more.
The sealing squad prepared to climb onto the earth-style hemisphere created by the jutsu.
But Kitsuchi suddenly shouted,
"Don't go! The Five-Tails is resisting too violently!"
The Iwagakure shinobi looked up.
The massive earthen dome—over a hundred meters wide—was trembling violently.
Even something that large could barely restrain the Five-Tails.
Sweat streamed down Kitsuchi's face.
"Don't rush it!"
"Sealing the Five-Tails won't happen in one or two attempts!"
"The Five-Tails' chakra reserves are enormous. Prepare for a prolonged battle!"
Inside the earth dome, steam began pouring out.
The thick vapor obscured the shinobi's vision.
The roaring within the steam made their hearts tighten.
Kitsuchi's hands had been pressed against the ground.
But in the next instant, he abruptly jumped back.
The Five-Tails—said to possess the greatest raw strength among the Tailed Beasts—broke free from the Mountain Technique with the assistance of its boiling steam.
Kitsuchi panted heavily.
His father had once told him he still had a long road ahead.
At just over twenty years old, he was still too inexperienced.
Minato looked up toward the Five-Tails bursting out of the steam cloud.
How could such a massive creature move so fast?
Steam boiled beneath its hooves, propelling it forward with tremendous force.
Minato thought to himself—
This looks a lot like my Wind Release chakra compression...
Then he noticed something else.
Steam was erupting from the Five-Tails' body as well.
The steam pushed its enormous frame, granting it terrifying agility.
Boil Release was the Five-Tails' unique power.
Minato was suddenly inspired.
Could he imitate the Five-Tails?
If he compressed Wind Release chakra along his back, shoulders, and hips—could he increase his own speed?
Yako had reset the timeline.
Yet both times, Namikaze Minato arrived at the same realization—
—the same future direction for developing his Wind Release.