"Hahaha! Orochimaru, the Gallant Jiraiya has arrived!"
A boisterous voice boomed from atop the giant toad, filled with pride at his timely rescue.
The newcomer was the final member of the Sannin, the "Gallant" Jiraiya. He wore a Konoha Jonin uniform and flak jacket identical to Orochimaru's, with his spiky white mane of hair making him instantly recognizable.
The toad beneath him, wearing a kimono and smoking a pipe, was even more eye-catching. As soon as it appeared, it clamped its massive arms around the Five-Tails, pinning the beast down.
Kokuō, momentarily restrained, quickly recovered and struggled violently to break free.
"Stupid snake! Don't just stand there! Get in here!" Gamabunta's rough voice grumbled from beneath Jiraiya.
Orochimaru cracked a rare smile. His expression turned serious. "Manda, let's go!"
Manda displayed agility that belied his massive size. He slithered rapidly to the Five-Tails and coiled around its body like a boneless rope, binding it tight.
The two summons worked in perfect sync. If this continued, they might actually control the situation.
But Onoki wasn't going to let that happen. He had taken this risky gambit because the war wasn't going well for the Stone. If Konoha captured the Five-Tails, he would lose both the battle and his strategic asset.
Abandoning restraint, Onoki flew closer.
Orochimaru noticed Onoki's movement immediately. He left Manda to assist Jiraiya and moved to intercept the Tsuchikage himself.
"Tsuchikage! Do you really think this fragile balance will last?"
Onoki formed the seals for Dust Release in mid-air, aiming for the chaotic melee involving the Five-Tails.
Seeing this, Orochimaru formed seals at blinding speed.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"
He unleashed a barrage of compressed wind bullets from his mouth like a machine gun, strafing Onoki in the air and forcing him to break off his Dust Release preparation to dodge.
But this was only a stalling tactic. Orochimaru couldn't keep this up forever. His goal was to buy time for the main Konoha force to retreat.
Meanwhile, Night's squad was in a dilemma.
Although they had used the Flying Thunder God to escape the immediate blast radius back to the valley's perimeter, they were now pinned between the advancing Stone army and the Tailed Beast battle.
Fighting either side head-on was suicide for their small squad.
Worse, Night couldn't sense the Flying Thunder God marker he left at the main camp. It must have been destroyed in the shockwaves of the giant beast battle.
Night cursed himself for not hiding more markers around.
With no other choice, they had to gamble. According to his Mind's Eye of the Kagura, the Stone forces had them surrounded on three sides. The only way out was to slip through the gap between the Stone encirclement and the Five-Tails' battlefield.
He looked at the anxious Nawaki and Shibi. "Do you trust me?"
They nodded without hesitation. Without Night, they would have been vaporized by the Tailed Beast Bomb moments ago.
"We can't break through the front or back. Our only chance is to flank through the weak point in their line. Stick close to me."
Night took point and sprinted, picking up speed.
With his sensory abilities fully active, they dodged several patrols. When avoidance was impossible, Night forced a breakthrough with overwhelming speed.
Things were looking up. They were close to escaping the danger zone.
"ROAR!!!"
Just then, Kokuō seemed to fully awaken. Its struggles became even more violent. Steam erupted around its body again, and its horns glowed ominously.
The scorching steam nearly boiled Manda alive. In pain, the giant snake loosened its grip.
Jiraiya saw things going south and shouted to Gamabunta, "Toad Oil, ready!"
The two synchronized perfectly. Gamabunta spat a massive stream of oil at the Five-Tails, and Jiraiya clapped his hands to ignite it.
"Fire Style: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"
The combo jutsu hit the Five-Tails dead on. While roaring in the flames, unable to charge up fully, Kokuō charged blindly at the source of its pain.
Manda whipped his tail, slapping the Five-Tails' head and deflecting its charge. But in doing so, Manda's tail was sliced off by the beast's horns.
Having taken significant damage, Manda decided he had done enough. He ended the summoning.
"Don't forget my sacrifice," he hissed before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Thanks to Manda's sacrifice, Jiraiya and Gamabunta avoided a direct hit from the Unrivaled Strength charge, though Gamabunta was still battered.
"Bunta, you go back too. Good work." Jiraiya unsummoned his old partner, unwilling to let him take more damage.
The situation turned critical, but most of the Konoha ninjas had reached safety.
Orochimaru and Jiraiya, longtime teammates, exchanged a look. Jiraiya's eyes still held that familiar determination.
"Time to go. Let the Tsuchikage clean up his own mess," Orochimaru said to Jiraiya.
Even for the Tsuchikage, subduing a rampaging, injured Five-Tails alone wouldn't be easy.
Once Orochimaru and Jiraiya stopped engaging, the Five-Tails immediately locked onto Onoki hovering in the air. It recognized the man who had sealed it and hated him with a passion.
It opened its mouth, and a pitch-black Tailed Beast Bomb formed rapidly, firing straight at Onoki with apocalyptic power.
Onoki expected this. He flickered in the air, dodging easily. He didn't counterattack, wary of leaving an opening for the Sannin.
But while Onoki dodged, Night's squad—fleeing in the same direction—was screwed.
The Tailed Beast Bomb tore through the sky, heading straight for them. It looked almost like Onoki and the Five-Tails had coordinated to snipe them.
Night sensed the cataclysmic attack early. Fortunately, he had left several Flying Thunder God markers along their escape route. He grabbed his teammates and teleported again, dodging the blast.
But teleporting three people consumed exponentially more chakra than teleporting alone. Even Night was starting to feel the drain.
Worse, the teleport put them back inside the encirclement.
"We can't keep doing this. Shibi, have your bugs carry this kunai and fly as far away as possible. The further the better."
Shibi sensed his bugs recovering some vitality and nodded solemnly. A swarm of black insects wrapped around the kunai and buzzed away into the distance.
At the same time, Night asked Shibi for a single kikaichu bug.
Shibi handed it over. For a split second, he felt his connection to that specific bug vanish, but he brushed it off as a hallucination in the heat of battle.