The moment the Hyuga ninja finished speaking, he dashed forward. Kushina and Minato followed closely behind.
"I can sense Kamishiro's chakra!" Kushina suddenly yelled after they had covered a huge distance.
The chakra felt incredibly active. Regardless of what state Kamishiro was currently in, that intense energy meant he definitely wasn't dead yet.
At this point, they didn't need the Hyuga tracker to lead the way anymore. Minato and Kushina shifted into a higher gear, instantly leaving the poor scout eating their dust.
Soon, the two of them spotted Kamishiro.
Sure enough, he was still fighting.
And it was a one-versus-many situation. He did not look good. As for his clothes... well, think of the state Goku's clothes are in every time he finishes fighting a major boss. That was basically Kamishiro right now.
He looked battered.
Okay, he looked extremely battered.
At a quick glance, Minato and Kushina thought Kamishiro was being actively mauled by nine massive chakra beasts. But upon closer inspection, the situation was completely different.
The beasts were actually split into two factions. Kamishiro was currently commanding three of the monsters to attack the other six ferocious hounds.
He might have looked half-dead, but his positioning and overall presence were undeniably badass.
The blood on his face had dried. Despite being on the losing end of an agonizing war of attrition, his expression was fiercely determined. His messy hair whipped in the wind as he casually tossed out a Fire Style jutsu every now and then.
...But none of that was the most important part. The most important part was that he was currently standing on the head of a massive, bizarre bird. The creature had a huge yellow beak and dark cyan feathers. Bizarrely, it had one leg on its belly and two on its back.
The giant bird was hovering mid-air, flapping its wings at a relatively low altitude. Right beneath it were the warring hounds.
Whenever a hostile hound leaped up to attack the aerial target, Kamishiro would command the bird to climb. Once the hound's attention shifted back to the enemies on the ground, he would command the bird to dive, closing the distance so he could blast the dog with Fire Style.
Despite being heavily outnumbered, Kamishiro wasn't panicking. His feet were firmly glued to the giant bird's head with chakra. He was just taking cheap shots from the high ground, completely abandoning any idea of a quick victory.
He couldn't win quickly anyway.
"These beasts... they aren't normal," Minato noted in a low voice. Aside from their massive chakra reserves, their sheer size and physical strength were easily on par with Gamabunta.
Minato instantly deduced Kamishiro's tactical advantage: these monsters were just monsters. They had the raw power of high-level Summoning Beasts, but absolutely zero intelligence.
Usually, a Summoning Beast's power and intelligence scale together. There are also smart but weak summons. But powerful, completely brain-dead beasts like these were incredibly rare.
While Minato was conducting a serious tactical analysis, Kushina actually laughed out of sheer anger.
She wasn't mad at Minato. She was furious at her absolute weirdo of a student.
Her focus was completely different from Minato's. She had been worried sick about him for three days. And what the hell was this idiot doing?! She saw through the situation in a single glance.
After waking up in this bizarre place, Kamishiro didn't try to find a way back to Konoha. He didn't try to look for her. In an environment where his basic safety wasn't even guaranteed, what did he do?
He was busy taming Summoning Beasts.
There is a literal World War happening outside. Every village is fighting tooth and nail, beating each other to death. And this little bastard was hiding in another dimension trying to farm a free mount?!
Can you take the World War seriously for five minutes?!
Yes, Kushina was absolutely right. Kamishiro was happily preoccupied with playing Pokémon.
In that moment, Kushina felt an overwhelming urge to beat him into a bloody pulp.
However, Kushina was slightly mistaken about one thing. She had misunderstood Kamishiro's initial intentions. He hadn't actively picked a fight with these monsters; he was the victim here! Kamishiro loved messing around and testing the limits of his luck, but he wasn't suicidal.
Initially, his injuries and blood loss had severely delayed his reaction time. But after being chased by the split-dog for a while, a brilliant lightbulb suddenly went off in his head: These giant, chakra-filled things would make amazing Summoning Beasts, wouldn't they?
Once a guy like Kamishiro got an idea like that in his head, there was no stopping him. He immediately changed his escape strategy, seized the initiative, and began a relentless campaign of trickery, baiting, and beatdowns against the low-IQ rare beasts.
He had been mostly successful—he'd already secured three beasts—but he was paying a heavy price. Ever since that night on the battlefield, aside from passing out, he hadn't rested for a single second. He was fighting on absolute fumes.
If he hadn't found a perfect topographical glitch to exploit the enemies' pathing, he would only have three choices left:
Let himself become a chew toy.
Risk his injuries and fry the beasts with lightning (but he wanted to capture them alive, not vaporize them).
Flee by casting Reverse Summoning again, which would probably teleport him straight to the afterlife.
Thank God Kushina and Minato arrived. The cavalry was here!
Because Kamishiro was on high alert, he spotted them instantly. Without a shred of hesitation or shame, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Kushina-sensei! Don't just stand there! Help me catch it!"
Kushina slapped a hand over her face. How was she supposed to react to this? Out of sight, out of mind.
"Minato. Go help him."
Minato was utterly speechless, but he nodded anyway. He could tell Kamishiro was at his absolute physical limit, so he didn't hesitate to step in.
Seeing Minato join the fray, Kamishiro let out a huge sigh of relief. But then he immediately started barking instructions like a backseat gamer.
"Minato-senpai, be careful! Those six dogs are actually just one dog! If it takes enough blunt force damage, it splits! It hasn't split anymore after turning into six, but I'm not sure if it hit its limit!"
Did you think Kamishiro was warning Minato out of concern for his safety? Absolutely not.
"Also, Minato-senpai! I really like this dog, so please, for the love of God, don't accidentally kill it!"
"Oh, and try to herd them all together! If it can split, it can definitely fuse back together!"
So incredibly annoying.
The splitting hound naturally possessed multiplication properties. However, on its own, it maxed out at six bodies. Any further severe damage would just kill it. But if it was amplified by the Rinnegan and supplied with infinite chakra, the dog could theoretically multiply forever...
Of course, that was a purely hypothetical scenario. Kamishiro didn't have the Rinnegan, and anyone who actually had the Rinnegan wouldn't have infinite chakra to waste on a dog anyway.