Gazing at the massive beast silhouette swirling within the raging sandstorm, Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with undisguised fascination.
"A One-Tail Jinchūriki…"
"I've wanted to study a Jinchūriki for a very long time."
Even Orochimaru was interested in Jinchūriki?
Did that mean he had been harboring designs on Kushina all along?
"Then why not capture this one and study it?" Shimizu suggested casually.
Immediately afterward, he shouted to the younger shinobi, "Inform the Konoha forces to withdraw from this battlefield. Orochimaru and I will lure it outside the city!"
Clashes between monsters of this scale were far beyond what ordinary ninja could handle.
And the aftermath of a battle at this level… it wouldn't just cause massive casualties—it might very well reduce Kikyo Castle to ruins.
"O-Okay! Yes, sir!" The newly promoted chunin quickly began retreating into the distance.
As they withdrew, a few figures seemed to glance back briefly before vanishing into the darkness.
"The kids are gone. Orochimaru, you're up first?"
"Heh…" Orochimaru chuckled softly as he formed hand seals with blood.
Summoning Jutsu!
With a thunderous poof, a colossal figure appeared—its size rivaling Shukaku itself.
Amid the endless sandstorm, the two titanic beasts faced each other from afar…
"Orochimaru, you dare let a stranger stand on my head?!" the summoned creature roared.
"It's me, Manda."
"You think that—" Manda suddenly paused, as if recalling something. That scent… he had encountered it not long ago.
"So it's you… the new master of Garaga."
"Focus on the enemy in front of you," Shimizu reminded him coolly.
"Orochimaru, you've provoked something like this… I want twice the usual number of living sacrifices!"
Manda even knew how to raise his price mid-contract. Quite the shrewd negotiator.
"Fine," Orochimaru agreed without hesitation.
"Then… let's have some fun!"
In the next instant, Manda lunged at Shukaku, his massive jaws opening wide as if to swallow the beast whole.
But Shukaku neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, it raised its left arm and took the full force of Manda's crushing bite head-on!
Boom! The two giants collided violently.
"Foolish," Orochimaru sneered. "Manda is a venomous snake."
A surge of black fluid was instantly injected through Manda's fangs into Shukaku's arm—
Yet in that same fleeting moment, Shukaku's right claw lashed out, tearing through Manda's scales in a single swipe. Blood sprayed into the storm.
"Hiss—damn it, that hurts!" Manda hissed, releasing his bite at once and retreating at a speed utterly disproportionate to his massive size.
"…Impressive strength," Manda muttered, glancing at the horrifying gash across his body, genuine shock flickering in his eyes.
His scales were notoriously tough—even Orochimaru's Kusanagi blade could not pierce them so easily.
Yet that casual swipe had inflicted such devastating damage. The enemy's raw power was nothing short of terrifying.
Still… he wasn't without his own advantage. The arm Shukaku had used to block his bite was already turning pitch black from the venom.
"As expected of a Tailed Beast," Orochimaru remarked calmly, unsurprised by such overwhelming strength.
"We need to lure it out of Kikyo Castle," Shimizu said, scanning their surroundings. After only a few exchanges, the district around them had already been reduced to rubble.
If this continued much longer, with destruction on this scale, the entire city would be left as nothing but broken ruins.
But a Jinchūriki wasn't some mindless beast—how could it be led away so easily?
In that case… there was only one option.
"Orochimaru, have Manda restrain it. Just one breath of time will be enough."
"Since it's your request, Uzuki-kun, I'll give it a try."
…
......
.........
At the temporary command camp of Konoha forces in Kikyo Castle—
Shikaku Nara frowned deeply. "Is Lady Tsunade still unconscious?"
A medical-nin beside him nodded grimly. "Yes… Lady Tsunade lost far too much blood. The fact that she's still alive is already a miracle…"
"If only I had arrived a little earlier…"
"You don't need to blame yourself, Commander Arai," Kosuke Maruboshi said sincerely. "If it weren't for you, Tsunade and I might not have escaped the enemy's pursuit at all. In a way… you saved our lives."
Inoichi Yamanaka sighed with regret. "It's a shame that Ueno Takumi-senpai and Kimura-senpai both fell in battle…"
"If Orochimaru-sama hadn't arrived in time, the three of us probably wouldn't have made it either…" Choza Akimichi let out a heavy breath. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he straightened up. "Speaking of which—where is Orochimaru-sama now?"
"He's most likely gone to find Shimizu," Kosuke replied, already aware of his whereabouts.
"Shimizu? Shimizu Uzuki? But wasn't he in the southwestern mountains…?" Shikaku Nara looked momentarily stunned.
In truth, Shikaku wasn't the only one confused—Kosuke himself was just as baffled. He had seen it with his own eyes: Shimizu descending from the sky…
Could it be… that Shimizu had actually learned to fly?!
Or perhaps he had contracted some kind of flying summon?
In the end, Kosuke could only answer vaguely, "Ah… to be honest, I'm not entirely sure either…"
"What… what is that?!" someone suddenly cried out in terror.
Everyone instinctively looked up, only to see a colossal beast silhouette rising within Kikyo Castle itself.
The entire command post fell deathly silent.
A quiet gulp echoed as someone swallowed hard.
That… wasn't anything from Konoha's side.
Which meant—it could only be the enemy.
If something that terrifying were to rampage inside the city, their defensive lines would collapse in an instant.
Moments later, an equally massive snake appeared on the battlefield.
Within the swirling sandstorm, the two titanic creatures faced each other from afar…
Before long, several chunin rushed in with a report—they were part of allied squads stationed at a lookout post within the city.
"Orochimaru-sama and Shimizu-senpai are fighting that monster!" one young shinobi reported breathlessly.
"As expected… that's Orochimaru-sama's Manda!" Shikaku exhaled in relief.
"But what exactly is that other creature?"
"At first, we saw an old monk… but then he transformed into that thing…"
"It has an enormous amount of chakra… even the Kage are nowhere near its level!" Hyuga Hayakumo said, still shaken.
Through his Byakugan, what he had seen was nothing less than a true monster.
A Jinchūriki!!
Shikaku and Kosuke exchanged a glance, immediately arriving at the same conclusion.
Sunagakure had actually deployed a Jinchūriki to Kikyo Castle.
Were they trying to… completely destroy the city?!
Yet before they could even process this, another crisis arose.
Several medical-nin hurried over, reporting that a large number of Konoha shinobi had suddenly become unable to mold chakra.
It was a clear sign of poisoning.
"You're saying there's poison in the sandstorm?" Shikamaru Nara immediately rejected the idea. "Sunagakure has already resumed their assault—if the sandstorm were poisoned, why aren't they affected?"
"Maybe they took antidotes in advance?" someone suggested.
"A poison that convenient? Then why didn't they use it earlier?"
Indeed, if Sunagakure had been spreading such a toxin all along, Konoha's forces would have been wiped out already.
A poison carried by the wind would be nearly impossible to defend against—and if it could somehow avoid harming allies as well…
If something like that truly existed, what need would there even be for ninja?
As the discussion continued, the two massive beasts had already resumed their fierce clash.
Each collision sent out violent shockwaves, and every building nearby was obliterated without exception.
"This is…" Commander Arai found himself at a loss for words, unable to describe a battle of such overwhelming scale.
As the dust and sand gradually settled, they could vaguely make out that Manda had completely coiled around the opposing beast, locking it in place so tightly that it could no longer move.
Then—
A far more terrifying roar echoed from above.
From above?!
Everyone instinctively looked up, only to see an even more monstrous snake suddenly materialize in midair, its massive jaws snapping down directly onto the sand beast's head.
Crack.
At that sound, everyone's hearts seemed to skip a beat.
The beast's head… had been crushed.