"Look! What is that?!"
"Are those summoning beasts?!"
The Ninja of Konoha saw the three giant snakes destroying the Air Fortress.
Hokage-sama's summoning beast is Enma!
The Ninja of the Sarutobi Clan muttered to themselves.
Lord Danzo's summoning beast is the Baku!
The Ninja of the Shimura Clan also muttered to themselves.
Whose summoning beasts could they be?
This was the question in everyone's hearts.
No one believed that the three giant snakes rampaging through the Air Fortress were related to Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu, the two Hokage Advisors.
Boom—!
Shinno punched the ground, which shattered with a roar, and a large boulder rose!
Taking advantage of the boulder blocking their sight, Shinno leaped up again. He only wanted to stop the three giant snakes from destroying the Air Fortress and had no desire to entangle with this group of people. Once he dealt with the three giant snakes, he would have plenty of time to fight them!
Swish—!
Orochimaru appeared above Shinno.
"What a coincidence…" My Kikaichu are here.
"What?!"
Shinno looked at Orochimaru, who had suddenly appeared in the air, and was momentarily stunned.
"White Snake Scale Blade!"
Bang—!
A huge white snake tail struck Shinno, knocking him down from the air.
Blood and torn flesh fell to the ground. Shinno stood up from the crater, the flesh around his wound wriggling, and the terrifying wound, which almost exposed his internal organs, healed instantly.
"Orochimaru, the monster inside him grants him vitality and Chakra. If we don't find a way to separate the monster from his body, he will keep regenerating."
Uzumaki Mito reminded her. She still didn't know that Orochimaru already knew about the existence of Tailed Beasts.
"Monster? If the Zero-Tailed is a monster, then what is the Nine-Tailed inside you? The Zero-Tailed was created from a part of the Nine-Tailed!"
Shinno laughed in extreme anger. He knew very well that he could no longer prevent the Air Fortress from being destroyed.
In that case, he could only use the power of the Zero-Tailed to defeat them. After the Zero-Tailed devoured the Nine-Tailed, Konoha would become the new Sky Ninja Village!
Deep purple Chakra condensed in Shinno's hand, compressing into a particle-like Chakra ball, which he blasted towards the approaching Orochimaru.
Orochimaru keenly sensed how dangerous this attack was. Her snake tail pierced into the ground, pulling her body, and she dodged Shinno's attack with a strange posture.
Whoosh—!
Chains grazed Orochimaru's hair as they flew past, four chains wrapped around Shinno's body. Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, Utatane Koharu, and Homura Mitokado each held a chain, forming a hand seal with one hand, and shouted: "Four Symbols Sealing!"
Chakra was injected into the chains, which glowed and formed a seal that restricted Shinno's movements.
Similar to the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Technique... So that's it, a Sealing Technique developed based on the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Technique?
Orochimaru's eyes flashed with surprise as she watched the four perform the Four Symbols Sealing.
"This move again?! Have you run out of tricks?!"
Shinno struggled. The Four Symbols Sealing, performed by the four who had consumed too much Chakra, was already struggling to restrain his movements.
"It's enough! It's enough to restrict your movements!"
Orochimaru rushed towards Shinno and struck him in the chest with her palm.
"It's useless! An attack of your level..."
Before Shinno could finish speaking, the sealing formula spread from Orochimaru's hand to his entire body.
"What did you do to me?!"
Shinno found that his contract with the Zero-Tailed had been broken.
"It's a Contract Seal. The Zero-Tailed you spoke of shouldn't be sealed within your body. Therefore, you and it must have a contractual relationship."
Orochimaru watched as the Zero-Tailed emerged from Shinno's body, then retreated to create distance.
Without the Zero-Tailed, Shinno's robust body rapidly shriveled, like a deflating balloon.
The Zero-Tailed raised its neck high like a snake, turning its head. It stopped when it saw Uzumaki Mito, instinctively craving the Nine-Tailed inside Uzumaki Mito, and twisted its body, rushing towards Uzumaki Mito at an extremely fast speed.
"Grandma Mito!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other three, seeing that the Zero-Tailed's target was Uzumaki Mito, exclaimed, released the chains, and tried to protect her.
Adamantine Sealing Chains appeared on Uzumaki Mito's back. Just as she was about to subdue the Zero-Tailed, she saw Orochimaru form hand seals, and the chains returned to her body.
"Sage Art: Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
A several-hundred-meter-high, hard rock wall rose from the ground. The Zero-Tailed crashed into the rock wall made of Sage Chakra, letting out a beast-like roar, and continuously slammed into the rock wall, trying to break through it to attack Uzumaki Mito behind it.
Shinno looked at the increasingly agitated Zero-Tailed and laughed, saying: "The Zero-Tailed will become extremely violent without my control. You will find that you have done something foolish!"
So, the Zero-Tailed acts on instinct... Orochimaru didn't understand why this person was so proud. An instinctively acting Zero-Tailed was much easier to handle than a Tailed Beast with self-awareness.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Orochimaru formed hand seals, and a Shadow Clone identical to her, maintaining Sage Mode, appeared beside her. They stood on the left and right sides of the Zero-Tailed, quickly formed hand seals, and slammed their palms onto the ground. Sealing formulas rapidly wrapped around the Zero-Tailed's body.
"Two Extremes Sealing!"
This was the Two Extremes Sealing, used by the Uzumaki Clan to seal summoned beasts, slightly inferior to the Four Symbols Sealing, but a Sealing Technique with extremely strong sealing capabilities for summoned beasts. However, the most troublesome aspect of this Sealing Technique was that it required two casters proficient in Yin Release and Yang Release to activate it.
Under the restraint of the Two Extremes Sealing, the Zero-Tailed's body became smaller and smaller, and the sealing formulas enveloped it, forming a black and white Tai Chi sphere.
Hmm... Where should I seal this guy?
Orochimaru looked at the Zero-Tailed, which would be successfully sealed once placed in a container, and pondered where to seal it. She would absolutely not seal the Zero-Tailed inside herself.
If its vast vitality could be utilized well, perhaps it could replenish the life force consumed by Naino when using Forbidden Techniques.
After much thought, Orochimaru took out her thermos cup, which she used for medicinal tea. Given that the Zero-Tailed was created from a part of the Nine-Tailed, it was essentially a living Chakra, just like a Tailed Beast.
Sealing it in a scroll wouldn't work, but sealing it in a thermos cup for a short period was feasible.
"Seal!"
The Yin-Yang sphere sealing the Zero-Tailed shrunk and flew into the thermos cup. Orochimaru bit her finger, wrote a sealing formula on a special piece of paper, and affixed it to the thermos cup.
After Orochimaru successfully sealed the Zero-Tailed, Uzumaki Mito could feel the Nine-Tailed cease its agitation, seemingly sensing the Zero-Tailed's disappearance.
"How could... The Zero-Tailed was sealed just like that..."
Shinno stared blankly at the thermos cup in Orochimaru's hand, unable to believe that the Zero-Tailed he had painstakingly created would be sealed so easily, and into a small thermos cup at that.
"What did you just say? I didn't quite catch it. Could you repeat it?"
Orochimaru shook the thermos cup in her hand, looked at Shinno, and really wanted to hear him repeat what he had just said.
Boom—!
A huge explosion sound came from the sky. The Air Fortress, emitting a large amount of smoke and burning with fire, shook violently. Sounds of fear and despair emanated from the fortress, as if the device used for flying in the air had been destroyed.
"It's falling! Run!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the falling Air Fortress, motioned for everyone to leave, reached out and grabbed a chain, wanting to take Shinno with him, only to see Shinno struggling to grasp that chain, a sinister smile appearing on his gaunt face.
"Die here with me!"
Shinno pulled hard on the chain, wanting to drag Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others down with him. However, he overestimated his strength after losing the Zero-Tailed.
"You can die here by yourself!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi let go of the chain and left without any hesitation. His life was more important than the intelligence Shinno possessed, and he was also the Hokage of Konoha.
If a Kage of a village died, wouldn't Konoha fall into chaos?
"Ah! Ah ah ah ah!!!"
Shinno looked up at the falling Air Fortress and let out a desperate, mournful scream.
Boom—!
The Air Fortress crashed, and the ground shook violently. The Ninja cleaning up the battlefield in Konoha watched the distant Air Fortress fall and let out enthusiastic cheers. This time, they had won the Konoha defense battle!
People hiding in the shelters felt a strong tremor. Children still attending the Ninja Academy secretly snuck out and stood on the platform with railings on the Hokage Rock, witnessing the distant Air Fortress crash.
Intelligence Ninja, who had infiltrated Konoha during the chaos, watched the crashed Air Fortress in shock and transmitted the collected intelligence through various means.
Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado watched Orochimaru put away the thermos cup containing the sealed Zero-Tailed, wanting to speak but hesitating, really wanting Orochimaru to hand over the Zero-Tailed.
They had personally experienced the power of the Zero-Tailed. It was equivalent to a Tailed Beast created using the Nine-Tailed. If the Zero-Tailed could be utilized well, it would greatly enhance Konoha's strength.
But it was Orochimaru who sealed the Zero-Tailed, so they found it difficult to voice their request.
It was Orochimaru who destroyed the Sky Ninja Air Fortress, and it was also Orochimaru who sealed the Zero-Tailed. Even if they wanted Orochimaru to hand over the Zero-Tailed, they couldn't speak up now.
Danzo Shimura looked at the expressions on Utatane Koharu's and Homura Mitokado's faces and knew what they were thinking. He didn't care. As long as the Zero-Tailed didn't pose a threat to Konoha, it was fine for Orochimaru to have it.
The Ninja troops on the western, northern, and eastern borders of the Land of Fire retreated. The Konoha Ninja who went to meet them still didn't understand what they were doing until they returned to Konoha and learned that Konoha had been attacked by the Sky Ninja, and that Konoha had won a great victory in this war against the Sky Ninja.
These Ninja who had rushed back from the borders felt incredibly frustrated.
The ruins of the Air Fortress were strictly guarded, and no one was allowed to approach.
Anbu and Root Ninja searched the ruined Air Fortress, hoping to find useful items. If they could unravel the secrets of this Air Fortress, that would be even better.
No one noticed a small, inconspicuous snake in the corner, carrying a scroll marked "Secret," quietly passing by.
Hokage Building, Hokage Office.
"How is the situation in Uzushiogakure?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the ANBU Ninja he had sent to Land of Whirlpools. He hoped he was overthinking things, that Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure's actions this time were to create an opportunity for the Sky Ninja to attack Konoha.
"Hokage-sama... Uzushiogakure has been destroyed. I saw the bodies of Ninja from the Four Great Shinobi Villages in Uzushiogakure."
The ANBU Ninja truthfully reported everything he had seen in the ruins of Uzushiogakure.
The pipe in Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth fell onto the desk, sparks flew, and burning tobacco scattered across the desk and documents, igniting the paper documents.
"How could this be..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened, unwilling to believe that Uzushiogakure, which had been on good terms with Konoha for generations, had been destroyed like this.
The documents burned, the firelight illuminating Hiruzen Sarutobi's face. He sat slumped in his chair, watching the burning documents on his desk.
"Hokage-sama!"
The ANBU Ninja was startled by this scene and couldn't help but shout loudly.
In an instant, several ANBU Ninja appeared in the Hokage Office, frantically putting out the fire.
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