Kill Shinma?
Seeing Sakumo's surprise, Pakkun continued:
"Fox was very direct. He said Shinma is Danzo's man and that you must kill him!
Otherwise, you will die!"
Hatake Sakumo was filled with doubt.
Shinna and Shinma, these two brothers had followed him for a very long time. They were his trusted aides, his friends.
Shinna had died early. Shinma's skills progressed rapidly, and it was a foregone conclusion that he would grow into a capable Jōnin.
For Fox to suddenly claim Shinma was Danzo's man was very difficult for Hatake Sakumo to accept.
Hatake Sakumo said, "If Shinma is Danzo's man, I will carefully verify it. Killing Shinma immediately upon turning back is too rash."
Pakkun nodded. Shinma had been with them for a long time; they couldn't kill him just because someone else said so.
After a puff of white smoke, Pakkun disappeared. Hatake Sakumo turned and walked back towards Yamashiro-dera and the others.
He didn't look at Shinma and said to Yamashiro-dera, "I've received intelligence. This mission will be very difficult; we need to be even more careful.
Fortunately, there's no fixed protection target this time, so we can be more flexible.
Even if the Five-Tails destroys some pastures, it can't be helped.
Tailed Beasts are disasters on the level of natural calamities, comparable to a major earthquake.
Our goal is to prevent the Five-Tails from approaching the large tribes of the Land of Grass.
Yamashiro-dera, let's study the map, see where the large tribes around the border are located, and if we can avoid them."
Yamashiro-dera took out the map and said, "With the Five-Tails rampaging, Iwagakure must be more anxious than we are.
Our objective is to drive away the Five-Tails; we can use the Iwa-nin."
"That's a good method."
Shinma watched from the side as Hatake Sakumo and Yamashiro-dera studied the map, drawing several circles. He felt anxious inside.
Why had Hatake Sakumo suddenly become so conservative?
Before, Hatake Sakumo seemed willing to risk everything for the village, eager to confront the Five-Tails immediately.
If Hatake Sakumo was this cautious, how could he be made to fail the mission?
The group reached the Land of Grass border and quickly found massive hoofprints.
The Five-Tails, freed from its Jinchūriki, was running madly across the grasslands.
The hoofprints were a full five meters long and one meter deep.
Yamashiro-dera looked at the hoofprints and said, "During the Warring States period, the Five-Tails was a calamitous giant beast living in the Land of Grass.
The First Hokage believed Tailed Beasts were dangerous, captured the Five-Tails, and later gifted it to Iwagakure.
The Five-Tails has been imprisoned for so many years. This is one of its rare chances to return to the Land of Grass. It will definitely not easily return to Iwagakure in the Land of Earth or be sealed again.
Capturing it again will be extremely difficult."
Hearing Yamashiro-dera's assessment, Shinma's expression relaxed slightly.
Difficulty was good; difficulty gave him an opportunity.
Hatake Sakumo glanced at Shinma's expression.
Unlike the anxious looks of the others, Shinma's eyes were slightly different.
Hatake Sakumo began to believe Fox a little more.
He summoned the Eight Ninja Hounds, having Pakkun track the Five-Tails by scent to ensure nothing went wrong.
The group followed the Five-Tails' enormous footprints deep into the Land of Grass.
Yamashiro-dera opened the map, looked at it, and said, "Twenty kilometers ahead, there's a tribal encampment.
We need to speed up. We can't let the Five-Tails destroy that tribe."
The group quickened their pace.
After pursuing for over ten kilometers, they saw the giant beast rampaging in the distance.
Five white tails flying, four hooves churning the ground, the Five-Tails ran wild across the grassland.
The earth shook, each tremor reflecting the Five-Tails' joy.
Yamashiro-dera lowered his telescope and said, "Sakumo, there are over twenty Iwa-nin following the Five-Tails.
Those Iwa-nin are following it but don't have the ability to stop it."
Hatake Sakumo said, "For the mission's sake, we must try to change the Five-Tails' direction."
The Five-Tails raised its head, running joyfully across the boundless grassland.
This was the place it loved! This was its home for thousands of years!
Occasionally breaking free from the Iwa-nin Jinchūriki, all it saw was the awful yellow earth of the Land of Earth.
The air of the grassland was so fresh, the ground so flat.
Some ants from Iwagakure were following far behind.
Without powerful shinobi to suppress it, their sealing corps was laughable.
The Iwa-nin behind suddenly noticed the Five-Tails slowing down. The Iwa-nin Battalion Commander saw the Five-Tails turn its head, looking to the side.
He followed its gaze and spotted a group of people running parallel to them on the grassland.
The man at the lead had white hair in a ponytail and carried a distinctive short sword!
Konoha's White Fang!
A figure like Konoha's White Fang, appearing in a place like this!
The White Fang drew closer, until a dazzling blade gleam slashed towards the Five-Tails' right foreleg.
The blade gleam was too fast; the strike landed squarely on the Five-Tails' leg.
A horse's leg is both its strongest and most vulnerable point.
If a warhorse breaks its leg, aside from euthanasia, there are no other options.
The Five-Tails cried out in pain.
The giant beast's scream was like a gale and thunder.
The White Fang's blade gleam cut through the Five-Tails' skin and flesh, biting into the bone.
Although it didn't sever the leg, the pain caused the Five-Tails to push off with its hind legs, rearing up.
Originally standing over fifty meters tall at the shoulder, the beast reared up to over a hundred meters, a terrifying sight.
The Five-Tails landed again, lowering its head to lick its foreleg.
Tailed Beast chakra surged forth, repairing the injury.
After the successful strike, Hatake Sakumo immediately retreated.
He turned his head and saw Shinma charging forward, almost side-by-side with Yamashiro-dera.
Shinma... you seem a bit too eager...
Logically, Yamashiro-dera charging forward made sense; he was an experienced Jōnin.
Special Jōnin like Hayama and Shinma should be in the rear, waiting for an opportunity to provide support, not be the first to intervene in the fight between Hatake Sakumo and the Five-Tails.
Hatake Sakumo said, "No rush! Our goal is to change the Five-Tails' direction, to prevent it from charging into the tribe. There's no need to fight it head-on."
When the Five-Tails was inside Han, it had heard of the White Fang's reputation.
Its eyes were full of wariness; the White Fang's blade gleam was too sharp.
A Tailed Beast's body is the physical manifestation of chakra, extremely tough. Ordinary methods like explosive tags are completely ineffective against Tailed Beasts.
If the White Fang slashed at the same spot three times in a row, it could even sever its leg.
Seeing the White Fang approaching again from the right, the Five-Tails instinctively dodged to the left.
After several such exchanges, the Five-Tails deviated from its original course, and the distant tribe was safe.
The deeper they went into the Land of Grass, the more tribes they encountered, and no one knew when it would end.
Yamashiro-dera frequently checked the map, used the sun to determine their direction, corrected their position, and planned the Five-Tails' route.
This continued for the entire morning. The Five-Tails was still running wild, showing no signs of fatigue.
Until four battalions of Iwa-nin appeared on the horizon.
Hatake Sakumo waved his hand, signaling them to retreat further away.
They wanted to retreat, but the Iwa-nin wouldn't allow it.
An Iwa-nin used the Body Flicker Technique to appear before Hatake Sakumo.
"I am Iwagakure Jōnin Kitsuchi," Kitsuchi said:
"White Fang, we are going to seal the Five-Tails. You Konoha ninja must keep your distance."
Kitsuchi was extremely serious.
The Five-Tails' rampage was the highest-level emergency for Iwagakure. As the son of the Third Tsuchikage, he was personally leading the team to handle the Five-Tails.
Hatake Sakumo said, "The Land of Grass is under Konoha's protection.
We must monitor the Five-Tails and will absolutely not allow you to destroy any tribe in the Land of Grass."
Seeing the tension between the two sides, Yamashiro-dera stepped in to mediate:
"Jōnin Kitsuchi, please understand our position.
We also understand your urgency; the Five-Tails is moving further and further from the Land of Earth.
Although our villages are hostile, our temporary goal regarding sealing the Five-Tails is aligned.
Jōnin Kitsuchi, as long as you do not allow the Five-Tails to destroy the Land of Grass, we will not interfere with you."
Kitsuchi nodded upon hearing this and vanished with a Body Flicker.
The four Iwa-nin battalions, two of which were led by sealing ninja, surrounded the Five-Tails.
"Earth Release: Mountain Soil Technique!"
Hatake Sakumo's eyes lit up; Kitsuchi's Earth Release was truly powerful.
Kitsuchi used an Earth Release technique on the Five-Tails. Two hemispherical mounds of earth, over a hundred meters high, instantly closed together, squeezing the Five-Tails between them.
As the son of the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, Kitsuchi's Earth Release ninjutsu had reached the pinnacle of the shinobi world.
Seeing Kitsuchi, the Five-Tails grew even more furious.
The last few times it had rampaged, it was Kitsuchi who suppressed it!
"Kitsuchi! I'm already on the grasslands! Won't you let me go?!"
Kitsuchi had both hands pressed to the ground, continuously channeling chakra into the earth, saying:
"You left the grasslands decades ago; you're no longer welcome here.
Besides, you were taken from the grasslands by Hashirama Senju. What does that have to do with us?"
Trapped between the hemispheres, the Five-Tails opened its mouth, a Tailed Beast Ball forming within.
The Tailed Beast Ball, over ten meters in diameter, distorted space and light.
An Iwa-nin Jōnin landed in front of Kitsuchi, commanding: "Everyone! Prepare the Myriad Earth-Style Walls!"
Over two hundred Iwa-nin simultaneously used the Earth-Style Wall technique.
Each created at least three Earth-Style Walls. Nearly a thousand walls blocked the exit of the Mountain Soil Technique.
The Tailed Beast Ball shot forth, crushing the Earth-Style Walls one after another, but its trajectory was slowly altered by the barriers.
Originally aimed at Kitsuchi, the Tailed Beast Ball ultimately grazed past his body and flew into the distance, exploding far out on the grassland.
After the terrifying mushroom cloud came the tremors of the earth and the roar of the explosion.
The two sealing battalions jumped onto the earthen hemispheres of the Mountain Soil Technique.
Scrolls covered in sealing formulae unfurled, wrapping towards the Five-Tails.
The Five-Tails looked at the sealing scrolls with disgust. It abruptly retracted all its tails.
Gathering its full strength, the Five-Tails suddenly erupted, using the horns on its head to push open the left earthen hemisphere and its five tails to whip away the right one.
Earthen blocks the size of small hills flew backwards.
Kitsuchi shouted: "Don't rush! Success won't come in one attempt! Just like before, the Five-Tails will tire eventually!"
Having broken through the Mountain Soil Technique, the Five-Tails hurriedly ran into the distance.
Kitsuchi led the Iwa-nin in pursuit.
The Five-Tails charged towards the Konoha shinobi, thinking that since Iwagakure and Konoha were mortal enemies, perhaps the Iwa-nin and Konoha shinobi would fight each other first.
As the Five-Tails charged towards them, Yamashiro-dera quickly said, "Dodge! Let the Iwa-nin handle it themselves!"
Shinma took a smoke bomb from his tool pouch and hurled it forcefully at the ground in front of him.
Within the smoke, Shinma's eyes flickered.
This was the smoke bomb given to him by Shimura Kōko. The smoke contained a hallucinogen, said to have miraculous effects against Tailed Beasts.
Even the Eight-Tails couldn't withstand this hallucinogen!
***
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(End of Chapter)