Chapter 45 (Patreon)

“Flame, help hold back Kumogakure’s main force. You only need to endure until our reinforcements arrive.”

Kushina’s gaze shifted toward the rapidly approaching enemies.

“As for the Fourth Raikage and the two jinchūriki, leave them to me.”

“My lady!”

The Anbu surrounding her were horrified.

Even if Kushina was a jinchūriki herself, Kumogakure had brought both of its jinchūriki as well as the Fourth Raikage, whose strength was overwhelming.

How could she possibly face all three of them alone?

“Don’t worry. I’m confident that I can protect myself.”

Kushina looked back at them.

“As long as you hold out until Shikaku arrives with reinforcements, everything will be fine.”

Before the Anbu could object again, Kushina leapt from the defensive stronghold and charged directly toward Kumogakure’s advancing forces.

When the distance between the two sides had closed to less than a hundred metres, she raised one hand and pointed it forward.

An incantation began to leave her lips.

Roy’s Zanpakutō had already emerged from within her chest.

As Kushina channelled the Nine-Tails’ chakra, the blade continuously purified it. Without the hatred and negative emotions that had accumulated within the chakra over countless years, she could draw upon the tailed beast’s power far more freely.

The expressions of Kumogakure’s sensor shinobi changed immediately.

The chakra fluctuations ahead of them were terrifying.

The intensity was almost comparable to a tailed beast running rampant within the village.

However, because the chakra had been purified, its presence felt noticeably different from ordinary tailed beast chakra. Kidō and ninjutsu also functioned according to different principles, further concealing its true nature.

Even the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails, both of whom were familiar with the Nine-Tails’ chakra, did not immediately recognise it.

There had been rare monsters throughout the history of the shinobi world whose chakra reserves rivalled those of tailed beasts. Although unusual, such an existence was not entirely impossible.

“Everyone, defend yourselves!”

The Fourth Raikage was equally alarmed by the terrifying energy gathering before them.

He had previously assumed that Kushina’s strength was merely comparable to Yugito’s.

Now, however, it was clear that his assessment had been far too conservative.

After completing the incantation, Kushina did not immediately unleash Hadō #31: Shakkahō.

Instead, she held the violently concentrated energy before her and called out to the opposing army.

“Fourth Raikage, you wouldn’t want to watch your subordinates die beneath this technique, would you?”

“What are you trying to do?”

The Fourth Raikage’s expression became exceedingly unpleasant.

At that moment, he genuinely wanted to curse.

Had anyone told him earlier that Konoha possessed someone capable of releasing an attack of this scale, he would have turned his army around and returned to Kumogakure long ago.

Even when facing Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Raikage had never felt quite this helpless.

Minato had been extraordinarily powerful, but he possessed few techniques suited to indiscriminate, large-scale destruction.

Because of that, during the Third Shinobi World War, the Fourth Raikage and Killer B had been able to occupy Minato while the rest of Kumogakure’s forces attacked Konoha’s troops without constantly fearing annihilation.

The reason the Raikage had not ordered Yugito and Killer B to immediately bombard Konoha’s defensive line with Tailed Beast Balls was precisely because he feared provoking Konoha’s own jinchūriki into responding in kind.

Once both sides began exchanging attacks of that magnitude, who besides the Raikage and the jinchūriki could survive?

Whether they were jōnin, chūnin, or genin, ordinary shinobi would be swept away in an instant.

The Raikage had come to exploit Konoha’s weakness and seize whatever benefits he could.

He had not come to gamble away Kumogakure’s entire military foundation.

Yet Konoha had immediately presented an attack capable of threatening his entire army.

Even if Kushina’s technique was weaker than a Tailed Beast Ball, the losses it could inflict were far beyond what the Fourth Raikage was willing to accept.

“I have no other intention,” Kushina replied. “I merely want to invite the three of you to continue this battle somewhere else.”

The Fourth Raikage immediately understood.

The woman from Konoha was equally concerned that Yugito or Killer B might unleash a Tailed Beast Ball against Konoha’s defensive line.

No matter how fierce a battle between ordinary shinobi became, enormous casualties would not occur in a short period unless one side possessed an overwhelming advantage.

“Very well!”

Kushina’s proposal suited the Fourth Raikage perfectly.

Once they were away from both armies, neither side would need to restrain itself out of concern for its own troops.

And no matter how powerful the woman before him might be, he did not believe she could defeat all three of them alone.

She had voluntarily abandoned the one advantage that allowed her to threaten Kumogakure’s army.

It seemed that possessing great power did not necessarily mean possessing sound judgement.

Had the circumstances been different, the Fourth Raikage would have dragged every elder in Kumogakure who claimed his head was filled with nothing but muscle to witness what true foolishness looked like.

Compared to the woman before him, he was practically a brilliant strategist.

Standing behind him, Dodai felt that something was wrong.

Before he could fully identify the problem, however, his Raikage had already accepted Kushina’s proposal.

Dodai felt a familiar exhaustion settle over him.

No one with even a little strategic sense would willingly abandon such an overwhelming advantage without reason.

Kushina’s true objective was most likely the Fourth Raikage and Kumogakure’s two jinchūriki.

Dodai even began to suspect that Hiruzen Sarutobi had secretly sent Konoha’s jinchūriki to the front line so that she could ambush Kumogakure’s three greatest combatants.

Kushina, meanwhile, whispered beneath her breath.

“Roy-kun, your plan really did lure them away from the main army.”

“Of course it did,” Roy replied. “Aside from the setbacks he suffered against Minato, the Fourth Raikage has almost never been placed at a disadvantage.”

“He trusts his own strength so completely that his confidence borders on arrogance. And since you’re offering to fight all three of them alone, there was no chance he would refuse.”

At this point, Dodai could no longer openly object.

The Fourth Raikage had already accepted Kushina’s proposal in front of the entire army.

If he withdrew his agreement now, his reputation as a man who always kept his word would be destroyed.

Worse, Kumogakure’s shinobi might believe that their Raikage did not care about their lives—that even after the enemy threatened to annihilate them, he had still refused an opportunity to move the battle elsewhere.

Dodai could only hope that Konoha had been forced to prepare this ambush in haste.

Perhaps they had misjudged Kumogakure’s current strength because Minato had once managed to fight the Raikage and Killer B at the same time.

“Lord Raikage, please remain alert for an ambush,” Dodai warned.

That was all he could do.

He could only hope the Raikage would not become overconfident and charge recklessly into whatever Konoha had prepared.

“Rest assured.”

The Fourth Raikage glanced back at him.

“I’ll leave this battlefield to you, Dodai. Break through Konoha’s defensive line.”

He offered no further explanation.

The Fourth Raikage was no longer the reckless young man he had once been. He had long since passed the age when he would charge forward without considering the consequences.

If the enemy dared to make such a proposal, then they undoubtedly possessed another plan.

However, while Konoha had experienced the Nine-Tails’ attack and witnessed the destructive power of a tailed beast, they did not understand one crucial fact.

A tailed beast reached its greatest combat potential when fighting in perfect coordination with its jinchūriki.

When acting independently, even a tailed beast was ultimately only an exceptionally powerful Kage-class combatant.

Yugito Nii and Killer B, however, had both formed genuine bonds with their respective tailed beasts. They were comrades capable of coordinating their movements and chakra without hesitation.

Even if Konoha had truly sent the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki to the front, how much experience could she possibly possess fighting alongside the Nine-Tails?

At most, she could forcefully release Tailed Beast Balls and use their destructive power to threaten Kumogakure’s ordinary shinobi.

Yet Konoha had willingly abandoned that advantage by moving the battlefield to an isolated location.

In the Fourth Raikage’s eyes, they were courting their own destruction.

Before long, Kushina, the Fourth Raikage, Killer B, and Yugito left the battlefield behind.

They travelled dozens of miles from both defensive lines before arriving at a deserted stretch of coastline.

The open sea extended into the distance beside them.

“You deliberately chose a place like this?”

The Fourth Raikage surveyed the empty surroundings.

“It doesn’t seem very convenient for your people to set up an ambush.”

Despite his mocking tone, every muscle in his body had already tensed.

It was common knowledge that an ideal ambush site required as much cover as possible. Concealment allowed shinobi to hide their numbers and attack from unexpected directions.

Although sensor ninjutsu existed, barrier techniques capable of obstructing sensory perception also existed.

Because of that, shinobi could never rely entirely on chakra sensing. Visual observation remained essential.

This coastline, however, was completely open.

There were no forests, cliffs, buildings, or other structures capable of concealing a large number of shinobi.

Kushina had deliberately chosen a battlefield thoroughly unsuited for an ambush.

Could Konoha’s shinobi be hiding beneath the water?

Without making his suspicion obvious, the Fourth Raikage glanced toward the sea from the corner of his eye.

“Yes, you’re right,” Kushina replied casually. “It really isn’t a very convenient place for an ambush.”

A faint smile touched her lips.

“So you three had better remain careful. Konoha’s shinobi might leap out at any moment and knock all of you down.”

Rather than explain herself, Kushina simply played along with the Fourth Raikage’s suspicion.