Chapter 405 – The Wrath of the Eight-Tails
"Almost there…"
The Third Hokage continued sprinting forward, tension coiling tightly in his chest.
This was the most dangerous moment.
Not only were nearly two thousand Cloud shinobi pursuing them—
They themselves were walking the edge of death.
Water showed no mercy.
Especially when you were the one breaking the dam.
Once the accumulated floodwaters surged—
They could easily die in the torrent as well.
"How far?" Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and asked the Hyūga beside him.
"Eight hundred meters."
"Good. Have the captains informed their squads of the mission?"
"Yes, Third Hokage-sama."
While retreating, Hiruzen had already ordered the captains to brief their teams.
From this point onward, unity was critical.
Even the slightest hesitation—
Would cost lives.
He nodded.
"Excellent."
The dam was now less than two hundred meters ahead.
Hiruzen suddenly raised his hand.
"Scatter!"
"Scatter!"
"Scatter!"
The command echoed down the formation.
Already aware of their objective, Konoha's shinobi immediately broke apart by squad, leaping left and right.
They had understood why the Hokage withheld the plan earlier.
But now that they knew—
They were terrified.
The strategy was brilliant.
But one mistake—
And they would drown alongside the enemy.
Or worse—
Expose the plan and doom everything.
They had been holding their breath the entire time.
Waiting.
At last—
The order came.
Yet transmission lagged slightly.
Some of the rearmost shinobi barely avoided the roaring wall of water that tore through trees.
Others were less fortunate.
Interference from pursuing Cloud shinobi delayed them by seconds—
And seconds were fatal.
They were swallowed—
Alongside their enemies—
By the raging flood.
Konoha's losses were small.
Kumogakure's—
Catastrophic.
The flood struck with merciless speed.
Most Cloud shinobi had no time to react before they were engulfed.
Human strength meant little before such devastation.
Screams and roaring water merged into a single, merciless chorus—
Washing away hope.
---
The Third Hokage stood in a relatively safe position below the dam, watching the torrent surge past.
Even he felt uneasy.
Given preparation time, he could have countered such force with Earth Release.
His teacher, the Second Hokage, and the First Hokage could unleash destruction rivaling natural disasters.
But without preparation—
Resisting something like this?
That was another matter.
He exhaled softly as he watched Cloud shinobi vanish into the flood—
When suddenly—
A monstrous surge of chakra exploded.
The pressure hit him instantly.
Without hesitation, he formed seals.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
Massive earthen walls erupted before him—
More than one.
But the thunderous impacts told him immediately—
It wasn't enough.
"Retreat!" he shouted to the Konoha shinobi nearby. "Regroup with the rear units and return to support me! Quickly! We have trouble!"
Yes—
Trouble.
That chakra—
It felt disturbingly similar to the Nine-Tails' chakra inside Konoha.
His worst suspicion surfaced.
Had the Eight-Tails been fully unleashed?
If so—
This would not be easy.
He would have to stall.
Buy time.
"Third Hokage-sama—"
Some shinobi hesitated.
They sensed the danger.
But abandoning their commander—
"Move! That's an order!"
His final wall shattered.
Boulders blasted outward.
Shockwaves nearly knocked them off their feet.
Through the dust—
They saw it.
A colossal silhouette.
Cold sweat broke out instantly.
"This… this is…"
One shinobi swallowed hard.
Two years ago, they had faced something even more terrifying in Konoha.
Now—
Another tailed beast stood before them.
The Eight-Tails.
Nearly rivaling the Nine-Tails in power.
They understood now.
Why Hiruzen ordered them away.
They would only hinder him.
"Third Hokage-sama! We'll return as quickly as possible!"
"Move!"
As they withdrew—
A massive tentacle slammed down.
But—
It was intercepted.
Hiruzen had summoned a massive staff—
Enma, the Monkey King's staff form.
The impact shattered the ground beneath his feet.
Even so—
He held.
---
Across from him—
Killer B burned with fury.
"That damned old monkey…"
His rage was barely restrained.
The Third Hokage had destroyed the dam—
Wiped out his forces in one stroke.
If only—
If only he had checked the terrain more carefully.
If only he had brought more tactical personnel.
If only—
Regret surged.
But regret changed nothing.
There was only one thought left.
Kill him.
Kill the Third Hokage.
Kill every Konoha shinobi here.
His fury ignited fully.
He transformed completely—
Perfect jinchūriki.
One of Kumogakure's two tailed-beast hosts.
A true partner to the Eight-Tails.
Tentacles lashed downward in wrath.
BOOM!
Hiruzen blocked again with Enma.
But his arms went numb.
He felt microfractures in his bones.
This—
Was a tailed beast.
Such power was not meant to be resisted by flesh and bone.
"I cannot fight him head-on."
The thought flashed through his mind.
Ten years younger—
Perhaps.
Now?
No.
His hands moved rapidly.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
A spear of crackling lightning erupted from his mouth, tearing through the smoke toward the massive form of the Eight-Tails.
The bolt struck the Eight-Tails directly—
And did nothing.
The beast didn't even flinch.
Instead, another massive tentacle lashed down toward him.
It slammed into the raging floodwaters, sending towering waves crashing skyward.
Hiruzen immediately leapt backward.
The moment his feet left the stone beneath him—
Another tentacle smashed down.
The rock shattered.
Spray exploded into the air.
The Eight-Tails had more than one limb.
"Hmph!"
Hiruzen snorted—though it sounded more like frustration.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Strike after strike pounded the lake's surface.
Tentacles blurred through the air, each wrapped in overwhelming chakra. Every blow carried enough force to split mountains.
Though aged, Hiruzen was not slow.
With sheer agility and the aid of Body Flicker techniques, his figure flashed across the water's surface.
Above him—
Afterimages of descending tentacles filled the sky, as if tens of thousands of whips were striking at once.
The lake trembled violently.
Even the surrounding valley shook under the relentless assault.
For the moment—
The battle had reached a stalemate.
But Hiruzen knew the truth.
He couldn't keep this up for long.
Such high-speed evasion placed immense strain on his aging body.
More critically—
He had no opportunity to counterattack.
Just as he was searching for a solution—
Another tentacle crashed down.
He leapt to evade—
But this time, the Eight-Tails anticipated it.
The tentacle twisted mid-swing—
Striking from a bizarre angle.
Hiruzen's expression changed.
He raised Enma in staff form to block—
Yet he was still sent flying.
He hit the ground hard.
Clutching his chest, he spat out blood.
And in that instant—
He felt it.
An immense concentration of chakra.
He looked up.
Before the Eight-Tails' mouth—
A dark sphere of chakra began forming.
---
"Damn it… the Eight-Tails is fully out!"
Nara Kyōhei stared grimly at the massive silhouette in the distance.
That enormous body—
Part ox, part octopus—
There was no mistaking it.
He issued orders immediately.
Though not the highest-ranking officer present, he had been appointed commander of this unit by the Third Hokage.
The shinobi obeyed.
"Captain Kyōhei! Everyone's regrouped," the Hyūga reported. "Do we move to support the Third Hokage?"
"No. Not yet."
Kyōhei shook his head.
Several Sarutobi clan shinobi arrived, breathless.
He turned sharply.
"What about the Third Hokage's unit? How many regrouped?"
"Roughly six hundred," the Hyūga answered. "The rest…"
Kyōhei nodded.
Six hundred was already fortunate.
Those shinobi had faced the flood head-on.
Some were likely swept away.
Some injured.
Some lost in the chaos.
He had prepared himself for that.
Compared to Kumogakure's losses—
Konoha had been lucky.
"I understand."
As the Sarutobi shinobi reached him, he asked directly:
"How many Cloud shinobi survived?"
"You're worrying about that now?!" one Sarutobi snapped. "The Eight-Tails is right there!"
"Silence."
Kyōhei's voice turned cold.
"If you want to save the Third Hokage, you will listen."
"You're all squad leaders. Prepare for combat. Remember—it was the Third Hokage who placed me in command here."
He looked back to the Hyūga.
"How many?"
"At least a few hundred survived," the Hyūga answered. "Possibly more, but some were swept too far away for me to see."
Kyōhei's eyes sharpened.
"That's enough."
He pointed decisively.
"You—take the First and Second Divisions. Capture those survivors. Alive."
"You have five minutes."
"After five minutes, regroup at the Third Hokage's position."
"W-Wait—what's the point of capturing them? The tailed beast's rampaging! And what about you?"
"That's not your concern."
Kyōhei's gaze shifted toward the towering Eight-Tails.
"As for us?"
A faint, calculating glint appeared in his eyes.
"We're going to support the Third Hokage."
But clearly—
He had something more in mind.