"But we've barely drained any of its chakra…" Shimizu couldn't help but point out that undeniable fact.
Their original plan had been to bring the Nine-Tails down.
Yet the reality was the exact opposite—they were the ones being pushed to the brink of destruction.
"Back when I fought the Eight-Tails in close combat, we battled for an entire day and night," the Third Raikage said evenly. "And how long has this fight lasted so far?"
That might be possible for someone like him…
But ordinary people couldn't sustain that kind of high-intensity battle.
"Still, there is a clear gap in strength between the Eight-Tails and the Nine-Tails," the Raikage continued with calm objectivity. "The same technique that could 'kill' the Eight-Tails outright… is simply not enough against the Nine-Tails."
"That kind of injury just now may have looked severe, but at most, it only forced it to expend a bit more chakra. It doesn't hold much real significance."
"And for me, the cost is even greater… it's not worth it."
Shimizu frowned. "Then what do we do now?"
The Third Raikage's brow furrowed deeply as he shook his head.
"We wear it down. Bit by bit."
…Wear down the Nine-Tails in a battle of attrition?
To Shimizu, that sounded like wishful thinking.
At this level of intensity, if the fight dragged on for even another hour…
He wouldn't live to see the next moment.
Were they really supposed to place all their hopes on the Third Raikage alone?
"It's recovered," the Raikage said suddenly.
The Nine-Tails' eyes snapped open, its gaze locking onto them with vicious fury.
"You miserable insects…"
Clearly, the failure of its Tailed Beast Bomb to annihilate everything—and the Raikage's earlier strike—had wounded its pride.
The leader of the Nine Tailed Beasts, forced into such a position by mere humans.
To the Nine-Tails, these shinobi were nothing more than insignificant pests—
And yet, they still weren't entirely without hope.
Shimizu's thoughts raced.
He now knew that the Third Raikage's Hell Stab could deal devastating damage to the Nine-Tails. If they could create a moment—just a moment—where it couldn't move, and the strike landed on a vital point…
They might even be able to "kill" it once.
But the Nine-Tails understood that as well. It wouldn't leave such an opening easily.
So the only option was clear—
Restrict its movement completely… and then strike.
But relying on Garaga alone wouldn't be enough to fully restrain it. And the Raikage's technique, with its absolute speed and straight-line trajectory… if the target shifted even slightly at the wrong moment—
It could just as easily become a fatal mistake.
"I have a technique," Shimizu said slowly, his voice steady. "It should be able to paralyze it… and temporarily lock down its movement."
"Good!" The Third Raikage didn't question how or whether it would work—he chose to trust him completely. "Even a single breath is enough."
"With that… I can kill it once."
"…Then let's try it."
Shimizu shot forward at high speed, rushing straight toward the Nine-Tails as he shouted,
"Garaga!"
The serpent, lurking beneath the ground, burst forth in an instant, lunging toward the Nine-Tails' hind legs in an attempt to clamp down.
But the Nine-Tails was far too agile.
With a swift shift of its body, it evaded the ambush effortlessly.
"Wrap it up!"
Garaga obeyed immediately.
Abandoning its fangs, it coiled its long, sinuous body around the Nine-Tails—
Like a living rope, it successfully bound the beast.
But the Nine-Tails retaliated just as swiftly, snapping its jaws down onto Garaga's body.
Flesh tore. Blood sprayed.
"Shimizu!!" Garaga cried out in pain.
"It's ready!"
In that fleeting opening, Shimizu had already completed his hand seals.
In the blink of an eye, nine arcs of lightning shot out from nine different directions, converging on the Nine-Tails.
Bound by Garaga, the Nine-Tails could still move—but not enough to fully utilize its terrifying speed and reflexes.
It could only watch as those streaks of blue lightning pierced into its body.
Under the astonished gazes of the onlookers, every arcing bolt struck the Nine-Tails!
Even Dodai and the Third Raikage looked surprised.
Shisui, meanwhile, stared at Shimizu's back with undisguised admiration.
This was Shimizu's new technique:
Storm Release: Aurora!
Its very first appearance achieved remarkable results. Not only did it strike the Nine-Tails, but the overwhelming lightning coursing through it paralyzed the beast, freezing it in place.
As for Garaga, who had risked everything to create that opening—he had already retreated underground.
And in that very instant—
A figure wrapped in blazing blue lightning shot forward like a meteor, crashing straight toward the immobilized Nine-Tails.
"RAAAAGH—!!"
The Nine-Tails let out a howl of pure agony, its roar echoing across the battlefield.
"Its chakra cloak…"
The Third Raikage's strike had only managed to cleave halfway through the Nine-Tails' neck before it stalled completely.
A vast surge of crimson chakra erupted violently from within the beast, forming a dense barrier that resisted his Hell Stab with everything it had.
At this rate, his lightning would eventually be swallowed whole—and when that happened, this attack would fail.
Had the opportunity Garaga bought at the cost of severe injury… really come to nothing?
"Yo, looks like you've run into a bit of trouble."
A slightly flippant voice suddenly rang out across the battlefield.
That voice…
Everyone looked up in unison—
It was Jiraiya, in Sage Mode.
Descending from the sky, he held a massive, azure sphere of spinning chakra in his hand.
Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan!!
This was no ordinary Rasengan—it was dozens of times larger, infused with an immense amount of senjutsu chakra.
As it came crashing down, it struck with perfect accuracy the very wound the Third Raikage had just carved into the Nine-Tails.
"BOOM—!!"
The colossal body of the Nine-Tails slammed into the ground, and the violent chakra that had been raging moments before dispersed in an instant.
It was… "dead."
For a brief, eerie moment, silence blanketed the battlefield—
Then it erupted into deafening cheers.
The tide had turned.
Even the Third Raikage himself had thought their all-out assault was about to fail…
Yet out of nowhere, Jiraiya had appeared and pulled them back from the brink.
"Jiraiya—you've got impeccable timing," the Third Raikage said, extending his rough hand. The two of them bumped fists heavily.
"Hahaha! Isn't that how protagonists always make their entrance?" Jiraiya replied shamelessly.
Shimizu, however, wasn't surprised by Jiraiya's sudden arrival.
Jiraiya had already been in the Land of Waterfall, gathering intelligence on Madara. Shimizu had been wondering when he would show up.
In fact, Gamabunta being reverse-summoned back to Mount Myoboku at just the right moment… likely had Jiraiya's hand in it.
Which meant—
He had probably been watching, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"Hey, little Shimizu, that technique of yours just now was pretty interesting. Cooked up something new again?" Jiraiya asked, glancing over with curiosity.
"It looked a bit like our village's Storm Release…" the Third Raikage said, somewhat uncertain.
This young man—wasn't he supposed to be ordinary? How was he using a kekkei genkai?
"Storm Release?" Jiraiya blinked in surprise. "What's that?"
"Well, Storm Release is—"
Their conversation gradually faded from Shimizu's awareness.
He could no longer hear them.
Because at that moment, his consciousness seemed to be pulled into another world entirely.
His gaze locked onto the Nine-Tails' enormous, ferocious head—onto those eyes filled with boundless hatred.
And then he saw it—
Scenes, one after another, like flickering images projected into his mind.
The Nine-Tails' birth.
Its growth.
Its eruption into violence—
Clashes with other tailed beasts. Endless wars with humanity.
Those humans…
Greedy. Weak. Filthy. Deceitful.
And behind it all—
A hatred that had festered for thousands of years.
A boundless tide of malice.
An infinite killing intent.
"You think this is enough to defeat me?"
"I'll kill all of you!"
Shimizu jolted awake.
The world snapped back into place.
"The Nine-Tails is about to revive!" he shouted urgently.
Then, in the next instant, he turned—
And saw the one person he most wanted to kill in this life.
White Zetsu… Tobi.
The culprit who had murdered his subordinates, severed his bonds, and ruined everything for Natsue!
I'll kill you!!
An overwhelming surge of lightning burst forth from his body, spreading outward in an instant like a vast net—
And in the blink of an eye, it closed in around Tobi.