Holding the Ama no Murakumo Sword in his hand, Kizaru turned toward the battlefield where Iwagakure and Sunagakure were still locked in battle.
He swung once.
A massive golden slash tore across the sky, split through the desert, and carved a deep trench straight through the battlefield.
The crack stretched so far that no one could see where it ended. In a single stroke, it divided the armies of Iwagakure and Sunagakure, forcibly separating the two sides.
A few unfortunate shinobi who had pushed too far ahead found themselves stranded on the wrong side of the line, surrounded by enemies.
"Anyone who crosses this line…"
Kizaru lowered the glowing blade slightly, that lazy, unreadable smile still on his face.
"…dies."
Several Sunagakure and Iwagakure shinobi froze in place, kunai raised. Cold sweat ran down their faces. They did not know whether to retreat, attack, or simply stop breathing.
"Kizaru."
Ōnoki finally managed to steady himself. His battered body rose into the air once more, and his sharp gaze locked onto Kizaru.
"This is a war between Iwagakure and Sunagakure. It has nothing to do with Konoha."
Before Kizaru could answer, Chiyo spoke first.
"Konoha is Sunagakure's ally. We requested aid, and Kizaru came in response."
Standing behind Kizaru, Chiyo finally felt the pressure in her chest ease.
Kizaru had arrived.
That meant Sunagakure was saved.
That meant this battlefield could finally be stopped.
Even though Konoha had only sent one man for now, in Chiyo's eyes, that one man was worth an army.
"Ooh… if I let you keep fighting, things will get troublesome for me, old man."
The Ama no Murakumo Sword vanished into particles of golden light. Kizaru slipped both hands into his pockets and looked at Ōnoki with the same relaxed expression.
Ōnoki's face darkened.
"Iwagakure is also Konoha's ally. Are you saying Konoha intends to interfere in a dispute between two allied villages?"
As he stared at Kizaru, Ōnoki's mind raced.
Three thousand Iwagakure shinobi were still here.
If they joined forces with him, could they kill Kizaru?
Could they bury Konoha's golden monster in this desert?
If Kizaru died here, even sacrificing thousands would be worth it.
The thought tempted him.
But the fear that followed it was heavier.
Kizaru's speed, his power, his ability to move through the sky as light itself—Ōnoki had no confidence in stopping him, much less killing him.
He gritted his teeth.
After a long silence, he chose caution.
"What a headache," Kizaru said, as though he were the one being inconvenienced. "My mission is to stop this war. That's all."
"You…"
Ōnoki's anger flared.
One man.
Just one man, saying one sentence, expected Iwagakure to withdraw.
Did he think his mission outweighed the will of two great shinobi villages?
Did he think he could decide the outcome of a war by himself?
The worst part was that Ōnoki could not deny it.
Because Kizaru really did have that kind of power.
"For this war, Iwagakure has spent money, manpower, and lives," Ōnoki said through clenched teeth. "If I stop now, how am I supposed to explain that to my village?"
Kizaru tilted his head and touched his chin.
"And that has what to do with me?"
Ōnoki's finger shot up, pointing at him.
"You—!"
His voice caught in his throat. He was so furious that he could not even find the words.
Beside Kizaru, Chiyo listened to their exchange, and for the first time in days, the corner of her mouth lifted.
So even Ōnoki had days like this.
Serves you right.
With Kizaru standing between them, Chiyo's confidence returned.
"Ōnoki, you shameless old fox," she said coldly. "Sunagakure will never forget this invasion."
Ōnoki's expression twisted.
For a moment, he truly wanted to order his troops to attack and crush Sunagakure then and there.
But Kizaru was standing in front of him.
That single fact forced the order back down his throat.
Damn Konoha.
Damn this monster.
I'll remember this.
Ōnoki had no confidence in defeating Kizaru. He did not even have confidence in keeping him here.
In the end, no matter how unwilling he was, he had to accept reality.
"Kizaru," Ōnoki said, forcing down his anger, "for your sake, I'll let Sunagakure go today."
He shot Chiyo one last glare, then turned and flew back toward the Iwagakure camp.
"Take the wounded. We're withdrawing."
The Iwagakure shinobi looked up at him in shock.
Many were unwilling. Some clenched their fists. Others stared at the trench Kizaru had carved into the desert and said nothing.
Ōnoki's rule over Iwagakure was absolute. No matter how dissatisfied they were, no one dared question the Tsuchikage's order.
As Iwagakure began to withdraw in formation, the Sunagakure shinobi finally broke into cheers.
They had survived.
But unlike the celebrating shinobi around her, Chiyo's heart did not grow lighter.
Iwagakure had retreated.
But Kumogakure was still advancing.
And Sunagakure would have to pay dearly for Konoha's aid.
It was easy to invite a god in.
It was far harder to send him away.
Chiyo understood that truth better than anyone.
She looked at Kizaru's back with complicated eyes.
This man could force Iwagakure to retreat alone.
That meant he could also suppress Sunagakure alone.
They had borrowed the power of a dragon to drive away wolves and tigers.
Now, they had to consider what price they would pay to satisfy that dragon.
But how much could Sunagakure even offer now?
The thought filled Chiyo with bitterness.
For the Hidden Sand to fall to this point…
How miserable.
But Chiyo could not afford to dwell on that sadness for long.
The hope of the entire village was on her shoulders.
She forced a smile onto her face and walked toward Kizaru.
"Thank you for Konoha's assistance," Chiyo said, looking up at him. "Sunagakure will remember this."
Kizaru did not waste time on ceremony.
"Which direction did Kumogakure invade from?"
"Please follow me."
Since Kizaru was being direct, Chiyo did the same.
She led him back to Sunagakure's temporary camp and ordered her subordinates to bring out a map of the Land of Wind.
Kneeling down, Chiyo spread the map open.
"Kumogakure came in from the coastline. The last report I received said that Ebizō and his unit were hiding around here, and they had already found traces of the Cloud forces."
She pointed to a spot on the map.
Kizaru looked down and memorized the location.
"Konoha's main force should arrive by tomorrow at the latest," he said. "Take your people back and recover first."
The moment he finished speaking, his body turned into golden light and vanished.
Because of Kizaru's rescue, and because of the overwhelming way he had forced Iwagakure to retreat, many Sunagakure shinobi were looking at him with gratitude and awe.
When they saw him turn into light and disappear, shock spread across their faces.
Chiyo noticed their reactions and sighed inwardly.
How much time had passed?
Had they already forgotten?
The Third Kazekage and thousands of Sunagakure's elite shinobi had died at Kizaru's hands.
"Search for the wounded and prepare to withdraw."
Her expression turned cold again as she gave the order.
"Yes!"
The reply was uneven, but the shinobi quickly moved. Some spread across the battlefield to search for survivors, while others carried orders to units farther away.
Kizaru's body had already become light.
He flew across the sky at terrifying speed, crossing the Land of Wind and heading toward the location Chiyo had marked on the map.
When he neared the battlefield, his body reformed in midair.
Floating above the desert for a brief moment, Kizaru spread his Observation Haki and quickly locked onto the center of the fighting.
An amused smile appeared on his face.
Instead of flying straight into the heart of the battlefield, he landed silently near the edge.
Compared to Chiyo's side, Sunagakure's situation here was even worse.
Ebizō was an elite jōnin, but his true strength lay in strategy, not direct combat.
On this battlefield, Sunagakure's only Kage-level force was the One-Tail's jinchūriki, the monk Bunpuku.
Bunpuku got along well with Shukaku, but he had not mastered many combat techniques himself.
More importantly, Sunagakure had kept him imprisoned for years. He had very little real battlefield experience.
Rather than calling Bunpuku a jinchūriki, it was more accurate to call him a human cage built to contain Shukaku.
Facing the Third Raikage, who could fight evenly with the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, Bunpuku could not keep up while only borrowing part of Shukaku's power.
After the Third Raikage beat him down again and again, leaving him gravely injured and on the verge of death, Shukaku finally went berserk inside him.
It was not like the future, where Shukaku would fully acknowledge Bunpuku and compare him to the Sage of Six Paths.
Even so, Shukaku did have a good impression of the old monk.
Sunagakure's sealing techniques were not especially strong. Once Bunpuku lost consciousness, the enraged Shukaku broke through the seal and manifested his true body.
He was furious at the Third Raikage for beating his jinchūriki to the brink of death.
He was also furious at Sunagakure for forcing Bunpuku onto the battlefield in the first place.
So Shukaku went on a rampage and attacked everyone without distinction.
In the desert, Shukaku had the perfect terrain.
With the sand beneath his feet and endless wind in the air, he became a ruthless reaper of lives.
"Damn humans! I'll kill every last one of you! Hahaha!"
Shukaku spat out Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullets packed with massive amounts of chakra, while his huge claws swept wildly in every direction.
Other than the Third Raikage, no shinobi could even approach him.
The Third Raikage, his entire body wrapped in Lightning Release Chakra Mode, leapt into the air with a fierce scowl and charged straight at Shukaku.
His right fist slammed into Shukaku's head.
Part of Shukaku's head burst apart into sand.
But before the Third Raikage could be pleased, the scattered sand began to swirl around him.
Shukaku's head quickly restored itself.
"Hahaha! You see that? That's the power of Lord Shukaku!"
The Third Raikage's arms and legs were bound by sand.
Shukaku laughed loudly at him.
"Break!"
With a roar, the Third Raikage released a violent burst of power and forcibly tore himself free from the sand's restraint.
He kicked off the air and pulled back, immediately putting distance between himself and Shukaku.
But Shukaku had no intention of letting the man who injured his jinchūriki escape.
He opened his mouth and fired another Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet straight at the Third Raikage.
The attack was too fast.
Unable to dodge in time, the Third Raikage took the blast head-on and was sent flying across the desert before crashing heavily into the ground.
Watching from a distance, Kizaru's smile widened.
Interesting.
He gave Shukaku a silent word of praise, then looked at the giant tanuki in the distance.
A rather wicked idea came to him.
Kizaru bit his thumb, formed the hand seals, and used the Summoning Technique.
With a burst of smoke, the Two-Tails, Matatabi, appeared beside him.
At that very moment, Matatabi had a grilled fish in her mouth.
She stared at Kizaru blankly.
Then she tilted her head back, tossed the fish into the air, expanded her body, opened her mouth, and swallowed the entire thing in one bite.
Only after finishing her meal did she lower her gaze back to Kizaru.
"What is it? I was eating."
Kizaru smiled and said nothing.
He simply raised one hand and pointed toward Shukaku.
Matatabi followed his gesture.
The instant she saw Shukaku, her eyes sharpened.
"Shukaku."
The sight of another tailed beast made her instinctively alert.
"Is he your enemy?"
Kizaru shook his head.
"No. I just thought you might want to meet one of your relatives."
Matatabi's eyes narrowed.
She understood immediately.
This was Kizaru amusing himself again.
She turned her head and glared at him.
"Do you want me to calm him down?"
"If you can, that would help me quite a bit."
Of course, Kizaru had no objection to a cat helping him deal with trouble.
Matatabi's body expanded fully in an instant.
She leapt forward and entered the battlefield.
Kizaru turned into light and landed casually on top of her head.
Annoying.
Feeling him standing there, Matatabi complained inwardly, though she did not throw him off.
She directed her irritation toward the battlefield instead.
"Roar!"
Her beastly roar echoed across the desert.
The sudden appearance of another tailed beast made the fleeing shinobi on the battlefield fall into deeper despair.
"Everyone…"
Kizaru stood on Matatabi's head with both hands in his pockets, looking down at the battlefield.
"…how about giving me some face and stopping here?"
With chakra carrying his voice, his words spread far across the battlefield.
The shinobi below looked up one after another.
They saw Matatabi.
Then they saw Kizaru standing on her head.
Konoha's reinforcements had arrived.
Ebizō, who had been trying to stabilize morale while directing the withdrawal, felt his heart loosen the moment he saw Kizaru.
Kumogakure's shinobi, on the other hand, felt their expressions stiffen.
Konoha's golden light had come.
"Hahaha! Give you face?"
Shukaku, who had never dealt with Kizaru before, turned toward Matatabi and the man standing on her head.
"I'll crush you first, human!"
He looked at Matatabi and sneered.
"And you, damn cat. Don't think I'll let you—"
Before Shukaku could finish, a sharp pain struck his jaw.
A golden flash appeared beneath him.
Kizaru's kick slammed upward with terrifying force.
Shukaku's massive body lost balance, and the One-Tail toppled backward, crashing into the desert.
Kizaru floated briefly in the air, his body flickering with light, then reappeared above Shukaku, who had fallen onto the ground.
"Ooh… how scary."
Looking down at Shukaku, Kizaru touched his chin and commented as if he had not just kicked over a tailed beast.
"How dare you hit me from behind!"
Shukaku roared in fury.
"I'll kill you!"
He raised one massive claw and swiped at Kizaru in the sky.
Kizaru twisted in the air.
His right foot glowed with golden light.
Another kick struck Shukaku's raised paw, blasting it apart into loose sand.
"Kizaru, watch the sand!" Matatabi called out quickly.
Seeing him strike because Shukaku had insulted her, she felt a little moved, but she still gave him a warning.
"Mangy cat! Traitor!"
Shukaku heard her and snapped at once.
While shouting, he used Magnet Release to control the surrounding sand and seize Kizaru in midair.
The sand moved in a massive wave, both heavy and fast. In almost an instant, it swallowed Kizaru from every direction.
Ebizō's expression changed.
If Kizaru was killed by Shukaku here, Sunagakure would have no way to explain it to Konoha.
Compared to Ebizō's worry, Kumogakure's shinobi showed clear excitement.
If Konoha's golden light died here, that would be perfect.
Only the Third Raikage, who had already risen from the ground with only minor injuries, looked grim.
He knew Kizaru would not die that easily.
The man could turn into light.
Shukaku's sand would not be enough to kill him.
Kizaru's arrival meant Konoha's reinforcements were truly here.
And that meant Kumogakure's plan to raid Sunagakure was about to fail.
That was why the Third Raikage's expression was so ugly.
Shukaku clenched the sand tighter, then laughed when he saw that Kizaru had not dodged.
"Hahaha! Die! Die, human!"
"Ooh… as expected of the One-Tail."
Kizaru's voice suddenly came from behind Shukaku.
"You really are a monster."
Shukaku's laughter stopped.
He quickly turned his head.
But before he could fully look back, a foot wrapped in golden light filled his vision.
Bang!
Kizaru's kick smashed into Shukaku's face.
The force snapped his head forward, dragging his huge body with it, and Shukaku was kicked down into the desert again.
Kizaru did not stop there.
The moment Shukaku hit the ground, Kizaru raised his right leg and fired a thick laser from the sole of his shoe.
The beam struck Shukaku's chest with perfect accuracy.
Boom!
A fiery explosion erupted.
A shock wave rolled outward, mixed with sand and heat, sweeping across the battlefield.
The nearby shinobi could only raise their arms to shield their faces from the flying sand.
"That hurt!"
Shukaku rolled on the ground and shouted in pain.
"Shukaku, give up," Matatabi said, stepping forward. "You can't beat Kizaru."
Shukaku pushed himself up from the sand and glared at her. His anger mixed with something almost like hurt.
"Why are you standing with that human? You stupid cat! We're the same!"
"Kizaru is my chosen partner."
Matatabi looked at him seriously.
"If you refuse to stop, I'll fight too."
"You…"
Shukaku stared at Matatabi, furious.
Kizaru landed lightly on Matatabi's head again. With both hands in his pockets, he looked down at Shukaku and smiled lazily.
"Ahem."
He placed one hand against his chin and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"You don't want to be sealed up again, do you, Shukaku?"
Shukaku's eyes narrowed.
Kizaru continued in that slow, careless tone.
"If you still haven't had enough of running around… why not come with me?"
His smile deepened.
"Carry my name on your back and keep making noise across the shinobi world."
Matatabi's ears twitched.
This bastard.
When he summoned me, I was a summoning beast.
But when he invites Shukaku, suddenly it becomes "partner"?
And he did not even bother changing the line properly.
Too much.
Matatabi shook her head in dissatisfaction, nearly rolling her eyes.
Shukaku, however, froze.
His eyes moved between Matatabi and Kizaru.
He was not the only one stunned.
Every shinobi on the battlefield fell silent.
No one had expected someone to openly invite a tailed beast to become his partner.
Most of them were shocked.
Ebizō, however, felt his heart sink.
We asked you for help.
Not to steal our tailed beast.
Between you and Kumogakure, who is the real bandit here?
Even Kumogakure is not this ruthless.
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