"This is the intelligence we gathered on the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Ryuuren."
Sarutobi Sakihi handed a scroll to Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
"She claims to be the first perfect Jinchūriki in the Cloud Village's history."
"Her strength is immense. No matter how much Tailed Beast chakra she uses, she never loses control."
"One Tailed Beast Bomb from her was enough to erase an entire fortified outpost."
Shinnosuke quickly scanned the scroll and said,
"It's fine."
"Fox's Wood Release is extremely effective against large enemies with massive chakra reserves."
"Fox can engage Ryuuren directly."
"The rest of us will eliminate the remaining Cloud ninja."
"Fox has excellent survivability. Even against a Tailed Beast, he can hold the line for a short time."
Yako paused.
…Was he really that important?
Why did every sentence circle back to him?
Still, what could he say?
He simply nodded along.
"Advisor Shinnosuke's strategy is sound."
"I believe I can complete the objective and restrain Ryuuren."
At the side, Hippo listened to Fox's perfectly timed flattery and felt a pang of bitterness.
His codename had horse in it—
And yet he still lacked any real talent for flattering people.
Sarutobi Sakihi marked enemy positions on the map.
The Cloud force was only thirty kilometers from Konoha's temporary camp.
Behind his mask, Yako's eyes shifted.
A massive chakra presence was charging straight toward them—completely undisguised.
A few seconds later, Hyūga Ketsu suddenly stood.
"My lord! A large force of Cloud ninja has appeared three kilometers away!"
Shinnosuke frowned.
He had still been discussing troop movement with Sakihi.
And now the Cloud had launched a direct strike.
He glanced at the map and said,
"We're only eighty kilometers from the capital of the Land of Hot Water."
"We can't retreat any further."
"If we fall back again, the Daimyō won't accept it."
He looked at Yako.
"Fox—do you have confidence in stopping Ryuuren?"
Yako inwardly clicked his tongue.
A pity.
It wasn't a new full moon cycle yet—
Otherwise he might have been able to draw some reward from her.
He stood up.
"My lord, I can't guarantee I'll defeat the Two-Tails Jinchūriki."
"But if the goal is to hold her for twenty minutes… or even half an hour—"
"That much, I can do."
"Excellent."
Shinnosuke was clearly pleased.
"Then we fight here."
"We'll cripple the Cloud ninja badly enough to show the Hot Water Daimyō one thing—"
"Konoha is still powerful."
Everyone immediately rushed out of the tent.
Sakihi went to direct the three units.
Hyūga Ketsu tracked the enemy's position.
Yako reached into his tools pouch and took out a scroll—
Preparing to unseal the Senju broadsword.
Hippo edged over beside him and whispered,
"Fox-sama…"
"I once saw Advisor Mitokado Homura using a giant scroll half the height of a man."
"And in portraits of the First Hokage, he's also carrying a huge scroll."
"Now that you've got Advisor Homura's precious blade…"
"Wouldn't it be better if you also used a big scroll?"
"Wouldn't that give you the same kind of overwhelming aura as the great predecessors?"
Yako blinked.
Then slowly turned to look at him.
"Hippo…"
"You've grown."
"That one landed right in my heart."
He thought for a moment, then nodded seriously.
"I should carve a seal into my body and store a massive scroll there."
"If I unseal a giant scroll before battle…"
"It definitely has more presence than this palm-sized one."
Then—
A cry rang out from the low hills.
Something between a cat's shriek and a beast's roar.
A Tailed Beast Bomb the size of a human head came hurtling toward them.
As it traveled, the pressure of its passage tore the tops off the nearby hills.
Hippo's face changed.
The Jinchūriki was opening with a Tailed Beast Bomb?!
"Wood Release: Hōbi Technique!"
He heard Fox shout the technique from beside him.
In the next instant—
A massive wooden shield, carved like a fanged oni face, rose before them.
The Tailed Beast Bomb slammed into it.
Through the cracks in the shield, Hippo saw flashes of light—
The friction of the bomb grinding against Wood Release.
Fox's Wood Release actually had elasticity.
It compressed slightly—
Then bounced the Tailed Beast Bomb away.
The bomb was sent flying backward—
And exploded in the distance.
Only after the wooden shield opened again did the roar of the explosion and the tremor finally reach them.
Yako spoke calmly.
"Hippo, get out of here."
"Fighting a Jinchūriki is dangerous."
"Stay with Advisor Shinnosuke and help eliminate the rest of the Cloud ninja."
As soon as he finished speaking—
Thick maple trees erupted all around them.
Hippo was lifted by a crown of branches—
Carried out of the growing forest.
When he looked back one last time—
He saw Fox holding the Senju broadsword…
And casually batting away the Jinchūriki, who had only manifested a single tail so far.
Honestly—
That was almost insulting.
Yako stood atop a maple-wood rainbow bridge and watched the Two-Tails Jinchūriki crash backward from the impact.
This battle—
Was meant to build Shinnosuke's reputation.
So it had to be loud.
Spectacular.
A fight that changed the terrain.
A fight that altered mountains and rivers.
Only then—
Would Shinnosuke's greatness truly shine.
If even his subordinate was this strong—
How terrifying must Shinnosuke himself be?
The Two-Tails Jinchūriki was sent flying backward, carving trenches across two hills before finally stopping.
She slowly rose from the crater.
A second tail unfurled behind her.
Dark red Tailed Beast chakra covered her entire body.
So—
She was finally getting serious.
Yako unsealed additional weapons.
One thick wooden vine wrapped around the Senju broadsword.
Another wrapped around a giant shuriken.
As for Yako himself—
He held a chakra-metal blade in hand.
The Two-Tails Jinchūriki charged on all fours.
Yako gripped the hilt with his right hand—
And pressed the fingers of his left against the blade.
He poured a huge amount of Earth Release chakra into it.
A thin layer of crystallized earth chakra coated the silver blade.
Under the blessing of Absolute Defense: Bronze Light—
The weapon turned a deep copper-red.
It had become absurdly durable.
The Two-Tails rushed in at blinding speed.
Yako thrust.
The blade stabbed into her throat.
The Tailed Beast cloak was incredibly tough—
But the sword still sank in half a centimeter.
And then—
No further.
At that same moment—
The vine on the left swung in a massive arc.
The Senju broadsword smashed into the beast's lower back—
And drove her into the ground.
The vine on the right followed—
Swinging the one-meter-wide giant shuriken down onto her spine.
These oversized weapons—
Were perfect for someone with monstrous strength.
Off to the side, Nara Kyoichi had just trapped three Cloud ninja with a shadow technique.
As others finished them off—
A deafening impact echoed from nearby.
He turned—
And saw Fox using wooden vines to swing giant weapons over and over—
Bludgeoning the Two-Tails Jinchūriki.
That was…
An absurd amount of power.
Just watching it made his teeth ache.
Then—
A piercing shriek.
Yako was blasted backward by a sudden burst of blue chakra.
The true Two-Tails, Matatabi, had appeared.
Its body burned with flowing blue flames.
Two tails swayed behind it.
Its eyes gleamed in eerie yellow-green contrast.
Yako stood atop the rainbow bridge.
The hot wind blowing from the Two-Tails lifted the edge of his white cloak.
Strong.
A true disaster-class beast.
As expected of a perfect Jinchūriki.
The Two-Tails opened its mouth—
And launched a massive fireball.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Nara Kyoichi stared in disbelief.
A mountain-sized fireball crashed into a Water Formation Wall over thirty meters high—
Like a vertical waterfall.
A seemingly ordinary Water Release—
Yet in Fox's hands, it was monstrous.
The fire and water collided—
Generating a dense cloud of steam that swallowed the area whole.
And then—
From the mist—
A Wood Dragon burst forth.
It moved fast.
The Two-Tails tried to leap—
But its rear leg was caught by the dragon's claw and dragged back down.
The dragon coiled like a serpent—
Wrapping around the giant beast.
The Two-Tails' chakra began to drain.
It roared in pain.
Its eyes widened in panic.
This feeling…
It was exactly like forty years ago—
When Senju Hashirama had captured it.
It had to gather enough chakra to destroy the Wood Dragon in a single strike—
Or it would be drained dry.
The beast frantically concentrated chakra—
Forming a Tailed Beast Bomb over ten meters wide.
The dragon's jaws were still locked around its neck.
The heat from the forming bomb scorched Yako's mask.
He immediately vanished with Body Flicker.
The Tailed Beast Bomb exploded point-blank against the Two-Tails itself.
The Wood Dragon was destroyed.
And the beast was badly injured.
Its left shoulder and arm were blown away—
Only for massive chakra to surge forth and reform them as blue flames.
Yako clapped his hands together.
A second Wood Dragon erupted beneath his feet.
He assessed quickly.
The Two-Tails was strong—
But not at the super-Kage tier.
For villages, Tailed Beasts represented stable, inheritable Kage-level power.
That was why they were valuable.
But among Kage-level fighters—
They were not always supreme.
The Third Raikage, for example—
Could reportedly beat the Eight-Tails head-on.
The second Wood Dragon lunged forward.
The Two-Tails had only just regenerated—
And was immediately bound again.
Their battlefield kept pushing northward, away from the camp.
The Two-Tails was steadily driven back.
Yako had fulfilled his promise.
He had held the Two-Tails in place.
Meanwhile—
On the main battlefield, Sarutobi Shinnosuke was achieving excellent results.
He targeted the densest enemy concentrations with the Five Elements Great Barrage.
Each blast was like a miniature Tailed Beast Bomb.
The battle lasted half an hour.
For that entire time—
The Two-Tails was completely tied down by Yako.
And Shinnosuke dominated the battlefield.
In the end, the Cloud ninja left behind countless corpses—
And retreated with the Two-Tails.
After several consecutive uses of the Five Elements Great Barrage—
Shinnosuke was no longer able to continue fighting.
Nara Kyoichi excitedly recorded the results.
Advisor Shinnosuke had led just over a hundred Konoha ninja—
And repelled over five hundred Cloud ninja head-on.
More than two hundred Cloud ninja had been killed.
Konoha…
Was still the number one ninja village in the world.
We may not be able to beat Madara…
But we can still beat you.
Yako returned to the ruined temporary camp and said regretfully,
"Advisor…"
"I can avoid defeat against the Two-Tails, but I lack the offensive power to kill a perfect Jinchūriki."
Shinnosuke was in excellent spirits.
"It doesn't matter."
"This result is already more than enough."
"Once the Cloud fully withdraws, we can return and negotiate with the Hot Water Daimyō."
When news of the Cloud's failed offensive reached Iwagakure—
Ōnoki's expression turned ugly.
"Konoha really does breed endless monsters, doesn't it?"
"Where did this Sarutobi Shinnosuke come from?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"Will the Third Raikage swallow this humiliation?"
"Would he be interested in cooperation?"
Then his tone turned cold.
"Why not kill Shinnosuke?"
"Break Konoha's momentum."
"Let Sarutobi Hiruzen taste the pain of losing a son."
"We send three Kage-level fighters."
"The Cloud sends three as well."
"Six of them."
"Would that still not be enough to kill one Sarutobi Shinnosuke?"