"FATHER——!"
Haruno and Yukino fell to their knees, nearly breaking down.
Haruno, who always wore a mask in daily life, and Yukino, who had armored herself like a hedgehog, were both wailing.
Mrs. Yukinoshita was surprisingly the calmest.
Though her pupils had also contracted sharply, she wasn't as utterly devastated as her two daughters.
"Who the hell are you?"
Shukaku couldn't help but curse.
Having only operated in the Land of Wind since the Warring States Period, it hadn't immediately recognized Susanoo.
Makoto leisurely walked up to Shukaku, sizing up this big creature with an ambiguous smile.
"Naruto."
He suddenly spoke.
Naruto, who was being influenced by the Nine-Tails' Chakra, froze. The fierce expression on his face gradually faded.
From Makoto, the Nine-Tails sensed that Chakra unique to the Uchiha Clan that was naturally suited to suppress Tailed Beasts.
It dared not use this opportunity to continue fighting for control of Naruto's body.
In nearly a second, Naruto's eyes shifted from crimson back to their usual blue.
"Take Sasuke back for now. Later, bring him to see me. I have something to tell him."
Naruto nodded: "Got it."
He and Makoto had always had a decent relationship, and having just witnessed Makoto's absolute power, he naturally didn't object.
With that, Naruto hoisted Sasuke onto his shoulder and ran off.
"I'm talking to you! Didn't you hear me?!"
Seeing Makoto ignoring him, Shukaku flew into a rage.
It puffed up its stomach and suddenly spat out a massive wind bullet.
"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!"
The wind bullet was as huge as a meteor, and all the players below changed expressions drastically.
The Aizono sisters, Chizuru, and even Yui instinctively grabbed the hem of Makoto's clothes.
Though Yui hadn't had anything beyond friendship with Makoto, after washing his feet for four years, she had developed a dependency.
Moreover, in this situation, only Makoto could handle it.
Just then—
A skeletal frame even larger than before emerged from Makoto's body. One hand caught the Drilling Air Bullet and pushed it back.
It was just like when Hashirama had once used his Wood Human to catch the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb and push it back.
"Boom—!"
The Drilling Air Bullet exploded directly against Shukaku's abdomen, blowing a massive hole in its bloated belly.
Yet, its body was visibly regenerating.
Makoto glanced at the shattered ground… the sand floating in the air was rapidly converging toward Shukaku's wound, rebuilding its body.
Though Shukaku was the weakest of the Nine Tailed Beasts in overall strength, it was also, in a sense, the hardest to kill… as long as there was sand, it could keep regenerating.
"Hahaha! I'm invincible! Invincible!"
Shukaku cackled wildly.
Inside Naruto, the Nine-Tails, watching all this, was speechless.
'That idiot... still hasn't noticed that kid's Mangekyo Sharingan?'
'After all these years, still as foolish as ever.'
"So stupid."
Just then, Makoto's voice came again, cutting Shukaku's laughter short.
"What did you say?!"
Shukaku raged, just as Makoto put his hands on his hips and looked at it with an expression reminiscent of Madara's.
Makoto had briefly considered cosplaying Madara and taking a Tailed Beast as a summon. But after seeing Shukaku's behavior, he abandoned the idea.
Its appearance didn't pass muster, for one thing, and its brain didn't seem to work well either.
"Go back, Shukaku."
The pattern of the Eternal Mangekyo in Makoto's eyes spun wildly.
Shukaku, which had been laughing boisterously just moments ago, suddenly jolted… its massive body froze in place.
'That is?!'
Haruno, still weeping over her father's death, changed expression.
The giant tanuki's state reminded her of when her father had been controlled by Makoto.
Shukaku's eyes gradually turned into three tomoes. Its consciousness was also fading, returning to Gaara's mental space.
"D-Damn it! I finally... finally had a chance to come out!!"
Finally, Shukaku let out an unwilling roar. Under the players' incredulous stares, its body gradually shrank and transformed, eventually reverting to the form of its Jinchuriki, Gaara.
"H-How can this be?!"
Temari and Kankuro, who had just arrived, were dumbfounded.
Their gazes darted between Makoto and Gaara.
In their memory, Gaara was synonymous with invincibility.
Yet before this man, he seemed so insignificant.
It wasn't just the Sand Siblings… Kakashi and Asuma, who had just finished fighting, also looked incredulous.
Many of them recognized Shukaku but hadn't expected it to be defeated so easily.
"So that's... the power of the Uchiha's legendary Mangekyo Sharingan."
Kakashi murmured to himself.
Having a Sharingan himself, he had only heard rumors about the Mangekyo. He hadn't expected it to be this powerful… defeating a Tailed Beast effortlessly.
But what shocked Kakashi and the others even more was—
Why did Makoto suddenly have a Sharingan? And clearly, he had it even before stealing Itachi's eyes.
Also, how could he freely switch between his normal eyes and the Sharingan when he wasn't from the Uchiha Clan?
Too many questions.
"Someone."
Makoto suddenly spoke.
The scene was momentarily silent, no one had fully recovered yet.
"Someone!"
Makoto raised his voice, startling everyone back to their senses.
"U-um... Makoto, is something the matter?"
Kakashi, drenched in blood, walked over with a wry smile.
Because Guy wasn't present, he was more injured than in the original work, but not fatally.
"Lock them up. We'll use them as bargaining chips in negotiations with the Land of Wind."
Makoto pointed at the Kazekage's three children.
"Stop!"
Baki, who had been confronting Asuma and Genma, rushed over, attempting to rescue the Kazekage's children.
He didn't yet know that the Kazekage on the arena rooftop was actually Orochimaru in disguise.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Makoto gave Baki a cold glance.
Swept by the Eternal Mangekyo, Baki felt a chill run from his spine to his brain, freezing him in place.
Taking the opportunity, Genma and Raido quickly stepped forward, pinning Baki down on either side.
"Makoto, the Hokage is..."
Kurenai came over to say.
"I'm going to reinforce Sensei now."
With that, Makoto vanished.
Only then did the Konoha's Jonin remember… at the earlier meeting, Makoto had given a Flying Thunder God kunai to Hiruzen and the two advisors.
"Thank goodness Makoto is here." Kurenai patted her ample chest, relieved.
With that, it was certain that Konoha would win this war.
But Kakashi's expression remained serious.
He felt something was off.
The Yukinoshita mother and daughters crouched on the ground, gathering the remains of Mr. Yukinoshita.
Yukino had truly experienced the cruelty of reality. As tears streamed down her face, she scooped up the blood-soaked sand mixed with shredded flesh, clenching her teeth as she silently vowed:
'I will get stronger!'
'I will definitely get stronger!'
Totsuka Saika slumped to the ground.
He had survived a life-and-death battle on adrenaline alone.
Now that the crisis had passed, the accumulated emotions surged forth, making this beautiful young man, more attractive than most girls, cry out loud.
Most other players were like Saika, collapsed on the ground weeping with joy.
Though they were all crying, their emotions varied.
Hachiman kept comforting his teammate: "It's okay, it's okay. There are no enemies left."
Eriri hugged her mother, both crying: "Mom, I want to go home... back to our home..."
Sayuri: "Yes, yes, we'll go home after this."
The Aizono sisters were the most composed of the players present.
Though they had also been frightened, they had never doubted that Makoto could resolve this, and indeed, he had.
The kind-hearted Marina began providing basic treatment to the wounded around her.
Airi suddenly remembered something: "Isn't this the Konoha Crush Plan mission? After it's over, can we go home?"
Hearing this, all the players' expressions changed dramatically.
Some showed relief, some nostalgia, some release.
Having spent nearly five years in this world, they really did want to go home… especially those like Yui and Yumiko, whose families hadn't come with them.
Yumiko remembered something else: "I recall that what we learned in this world can be taken back, right?"
Hearing this, everyone's expressions shifted again.
Even after just going through a life-or-death battle, many couldn't help but smile.
After all, the skills learned over these four years would be extremely useful in the real world.
Just the Transformation Technique alone could make them incredibly wealthy.
"Don't even think about it!"
Yukino's cold voice cut through.
"No one is allowed to use this power for evil!"
'Brave!'
Looking at Yukino's righteous expression, Hachiman couldn't help but admire her inwardly.
Honestly, he hadn't had much liking for Yukino, thinking she was just a privileged young lady out of touch with reality.
This was evident from how she had invited him, Eriri, and others to join the Service Club to try to catch Makoto.
She was the quintessential idealist… believing the world should be exactly as she wanted it to be.
But today, Hachiman's opinion of Yukino had changed somewhat.
Because she truly adhered to justice.
But there was one problem—
'Quite a few people here seemed stronger than you. Could you control them?'
'And setting that aside for a moment,'
'Even if you could control these people...'
'Could you control Makoto?'