At the bow of the largest ship on the sea, Yagura suddenly turned his head toward the side of Ryojō Port.
In one of the courtyards there, it was as if a bottomless well had opened—countless Konoha ninja were surging out from within.
"An ambush," Yagura murmured. "Who leaked the intel? Why did Konoha set up an ambush for us?"
He was given no time to investigate.
The Konoha ninja had already clashed with the Mist.
Standing on the roof of a building, Nara Shikakaku immediately identified the strengths and weaknesses of the Mist forces.
Three groups of Mist ninja were rapidly crossing the docks of Ryojō Port, charging toward the city. The fastest and strongest among them were the Kaguya clan shinobi serving as the spearhead.
He immediately commanded the Ino-Shika-Chō clans to intercept the Mist, with the Akimichi clan taking the lead.
Seeing the Mist blocked, Yagura turned and made a hand signal.
Ao was startled when he saw it. Without looking back, he leapt away.
The instant Ao left the ship, a thunderous crash erupted behind him.
Amid countless shattered planks, Ao turned his head and saw a wooden dragon bursting out of the sea, smashing the large ship apart.
Landing atop the surging waves, Ao charged backward without hesitation.
There was another ship in the distance.
That ship had been prepared for the Six-Tails Jinchūriki.
The hand signal Lord Yagura had just made meant activating their trump card for the decisive battle—
release the Six-Tails.
Landing on the deck, Ao shouted, "Stop staring! Drag the Jinchūriki out!"
The Six-Tails Jinchūriki was a little girl who had only recently had the Six-Tails sealed into her.
She was roughly dragged onto the deck and stared in terror at the dozen or so Mist ninja surrounding her.
Especially the one standing in front of her, holding a medicine bottle.
A Mist ninja brutally squeezed her cheeks, forcing her mouth open.
The pungent medicine poured into her throat.
Her eyes changed sharply.
No fear.
No terror.
Only emptiness remained.
Ao immediately shouted, "Scatter!"
A piercing acid mist began to seep from the little girl's body.
The acid mist swallowed the girl.
Then it swallowed the deck.
The mist was so thick that nothing could be seen.
Ao lifted his eyepatch, revealing his Byakugan, and observed the situation inside the acid mist.
The deck melted.
The metal plates melted.
The entire ship looked as though it were made of wax, slowly dissolving into thick slurry.
At the center of the acid mist, the temporary Jinchūriki—the little girl—was rapidly shrinking as well.
She was melting too.
This Jinchūriki had extremely poor talent. Her greatest use had been bringing the Six-Tails to the front line.
Only those with value were cultivated by the village.
The village had attempted to teach her to control the tailed beast's chakra, but every effort had failed. After that, they had stopped training her and treated her only as a tool. A vessel.
At a certain instant, terrifying chakra erupted from the little girl's melting body.
The chakra condensed in midair. A great mass of it even took physical form, becoming six tails and a slug-like tailed beast covered in slime.
The Six-Tails had appeared.
Only after seeing the Six-Tails did Ao finally breathe a sigh of relief. Then he turned to look toward the shore.
Konoha's fox.
Lord Yagura was fighting the fox.
At the same time, Ao deliberately searched the area and found Zetsu of the Akatsuki in the distance.
Upon seeing Fox appear, Zetsu vanished beneath the surface of the water.
Ao thought to himself that according to the strategy they had previously devised with Ōnoki, once Fox appeared, Ōnoki and the Raikage would launch a surprise attack on Konoha Village.
There was someone in the Akatsuki named Uchiha Obito, capable of bringing others instantly to any place in the shinobi world through a mysterious space-time dōjutsu.
What rotten luck.
Konoha's Fox had actually appeared on the Mist's battlefield, meaning the Mist would have to endure the first wave of impact.
But the Mist would not retreat.
Even if Konoha was strong.
Even if Konoha was the greatest village in the shinobi world.
Kirigakure would not back down.
The Konoha Village founded by the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara had been powerful enough, hadn't it?
Yet even back then, Kirigakure had not bowed its head.
No matter how strong Konoha was now, could it possibly be stronger than Konoha during the era of Hashirama Senju and Uchiha Madara?
After the Six-Tails, Saiken, appeared, it roared continuously at its restored freedom.
Ao was just about to drive Saiken toward the main battlefield when he suddenly saw a crimson figure rushing in from afar.
A Jinchūriki.
Konoha's Jinchūriki.
The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, Princess Kushina, was covered in a translucent orange-red chakra cloak as she charged toward the Six-Tails.
Behind the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki were also six tails.
Just like Saiken.
Yako stood atop the Wood Golem, the eyes beneath his mask shifting slightly.
He had also seen Zetsu disappear.
If he appeared here, then the anti-Konoha alliance would surely be unable to hold back.
Wait.
Wait patiently.
Once Ōnoki and the Raikage were drawn out, he would deal with them too.
Yako folded his arms across his chest and began stalling for time.
"Yagura, you are about to witness history."
"What history?"
"This is the final battle between Konoha and Kirigakure," Yako said.
"From this day forward, your Kirigakure will never dare wage war against Konoha again.
While I am alive, Kirigakure will not dare.
And even after I die, Kirigakure still will not dare."
Yagura thought to himself that everyone said Konoha's fox Fesembled Hashirama Senju and had mastered the same Wood Release as Hashirama Senju.
But why did it feel like the intelligence was wrong?
Fox was clearly more like Uchiha Madara.
The same arrogance.
Yagura closed his eyes and said to the Three-Tails inside him:
"Three-Tails, release your chakra to your heart's content. Destroy everything before you."
A huge amount of chakra surged out of Yagura's body, rapidly forming a reddish-brown tailed beast cloak.
Yagura dropped to all fours. Three tailed beast tails swayed behind him, and his back rose high, making him look more and more like a turtle with three tails.
"Hey, hey!" Yako said. "Why are you entering a partial tailed beast transformation just because we disagreed? I still had plenty of advice to give you. You—"
Before Yako could finish speaking, the partially transformed Yagura raised his head and condensed a Tailed Beast Ball.
Yako turned his head and swept his gaze toward the temple.
If something happened on another battlefield or in Konoha, someone would appear from the temple and notify him.
On the Land of Grass battlefield, Tsunade had Yako's Flying Thunder God formula on her body.
On the Land of Hot Water battlefield, Namikaze Minato held one of his Flying Thunder God kunai.
As for Konoha Village, the Uzumaki clan's Mask Storage Temple had been transformed into a temple of the Church of the Three Calamities.
Yako withdrew his gaze and turned back toward Yagura Kokkuri.
Then he clapped his hands together.
"Wood Release: Eightfold Wood Dragons!"
From the back of the Threefold Wood Golem, more than a dozen thick wooden dragons surged out, rushing straight toward Yagura.
In a panic, Yagura fired the Tailed Beast Ball.
Three wooden dragons twisted around each other, and all three dragon mouths bit down on the Tailed Beast Ball at once.
The surging chakra inside the Tailed Beast Ball was absorbed by the wooden dragons, making them even stronger instead.
The remaining wooden dragons crashed toward Yagura.
On all fours atop the water, Yagura nimbly dodged several of them, but the dragons that followed immediately coiled around him.
The Three-Tails' chakra was rapidly absorbed by the wooden dragons.
Yagura watched helplessly as his tailed beast cloak became mottled. Patches of reddish-brown chakra faded away, revealing the burned skin beneath.
Pain filled Yagura's eyes.
It seemed that unless he fully released the Three-Tails, he would lose right here.
He could only hope Ōnoki and the Raikage would achieve a breakthrough somewhere else.
Yagura completely undid the seal.
The Three-Tails appeared upon the sea.