"Bleargh!!"
Gai retched violently. But there was nothing in his stomach.
Yūhi Kurenai couldn't help but comment. "You seem to be very athletic and usually do a lot of unconventional physical training. Why do you get so seasick?"
"I... I, I don't know either!" Gai sat down on the snow, questioning his life.
But, standing on solid ground, he finally felt like he was alive again!
Kyohiko went back and brought out a huge box.
"What else could it be? Your training must not be thorough enough!"
"Uh..."
Gai turned his head, squinted, and then was stunned for several seconds.
Hatake Kakashi?
"What are you doing here?"
"You better not worry about that. Taking care of yourself is more important. We still have to make the return trip!" Yūhi Kurenai couldn't resist stabbing him with another "blade."
The thought of having to endure the torment again on the way back made Might Gai's face turn several shades paler. He immediately forgot to pay attention to why "Kakashi" was here.
His voice trembled, "Do we have to take the boat? Can't we run back?"
Run back? Yūhi Kurenai was stunned for a moment, then said, "Your idea is quite creative, but let's not talk about how tiring it would be to run back. If we pass through the Land of Earth, you'll be classified as an invader. If we take the long way around..."
"You basically slept through the whole journey here. It wasn't actually that painful. Just think of it as taking a nap. You wake up, throw up for a bit, and then you're fine," Kyohiko said mercilessly.
Gai was stunned for a few seconds, then said, "Kakashi, you're back to your old self again!"
"Hehe."
Kyohiko shouldered the box and walked ahead. "Let's go, idiot!"
Gai quickly followed.
***
Konoha Anbu. A piece of news was suddenly transmitted back.
Kakashi looked at the intelligence in his hand and couldn't help but fall into a long period of deep thought—
Hatake Kakashi's bounty had been raised again!
Secondly, the Cloud Village had raised its rating for Hatake Kakashi by another level.
What happened?
He rummaged through the intelligence, then fell into contemplation. Finally, his gaze fixed on Kyohiko's portrait.
Without a doubt, among the people who had left Konoha, there was only one person who had both the ability and the reason to imitate him and "help" him raise his value.
Ryoho Kyohiko.
"I'm really speechless!" Kakashi looked at the pile of documents on his desk and gnashed his teeth.
He was here, busy as a dog, and yet he still had to take the fall for Kyohiko. It was the height of misery.
Just as he was thinking.
"Captain, this is the front-line intelligence sent by Hokage-sama."
"Hokage-sama?"
Kakashi was stunned for a moment, then his expression suddenly became grave. "Give it to me, quickly!"
This must be from Kyohiko. But soon, he wasn't so worried anymore. If it were truly important intelligence, Tsunade would have sent it over immediately. The current situation was enough to show that Kyohiko's side didn't need reinforcements. This intelligence was mostly a report.
After taking a look, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected! They had encountered a Cloud Village ship and even used a wood clone as cover to capture the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. "He" had made a name for himself in this battle.
"Ryoho Kyohiko, I really have you to thank for this!" Kakashi angrily approved the documents, a strong sense of crisis rising in his heart.
Heaven knows what kind of performance Kyohiko had put on using his identity. He had to improve his strength as soon as possible, or it would be too embarrassing to go out!
***
"The Land of Snow is so beautiful!" Yūhi Kurenai looked at the snow-covered ground and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
She had never seen such a country draped in silver. But soon, she put away her joy—after she said that, Kojin Shun's expression was clearly a bit strange.
She immediately realized. For them, who had never experienced such a world, this world of ice and snow was indeed very interesting. But, for the people of the Land of Snow, it was not necessarily a good thing.
She immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kojin..."
"It's nothing. Every tourist from a foreign country marvels at the beauty of this country. It's only natural. For us, however, this country has many flaws." Kojin Shun said, then couldn't help but smile. "I really envy your Land of Fire. The Land of Fire has the best land and climate. You don't have to be like us in the Land of Snow..."
He looked around and sighed. "Our greatest wish is to be like you, to have normal four seasons. But in reality, in the Land of Snow, most of the year is winter."
Behind them, Nara Shikaku came over. "Alright, we'll handle the cargo here and come back for it later. Let's all travel light."
"Thank you for waiting, Mr. Kojin." Shikaku looked at Kojin Shun and nodded his thanks.
Kojin Shun shook his head gently. "It's nothing. This is what we should do. On the other hand, you've seen the situation here. The conditions may not be very good for you."
"We are ninja. A little cold is nothing. Let's go."
***
In the vast snow, a figure carried a box, walking through the blizzard. From the box behind him came a stream of curses.
"Let me down! Idiot! Moron!"
"Say one more word, and I'll seal your mouth and nose too. Anyway, with a Jinchuriki's life force, you won't die for a while even if your nose and mouth are sealed," Kyohiko responded.
His tone was indifferent and calm, but to Killer B, it was full of threat. This guy looked like Hatake Kakashi, but he absolutely did not believe that the other party was the son of Konoha's White Fang.
Kakashi was strong. With Hatake Kakashi's talent, at his age, he was indeed a genius, but he wasn't yet capable of making him feel such a threat. Of course, the most important thing was that Hatake Kakashi definitely did not possess this strange technique.
"This should be a Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu derived from Wood Release. It can't be Hatake Kakashi."
Wood Release. Back then, only the First Hokage had mastered it. In the current Konoha, he had heard that besides Kyohiko, another person had also mastered Wood Release ninjutsu, but their strength and level were not on the same tier as Kyohiko's.
Who else but Ryoho Kyohiko would have the confidence to control the Eight-Tails?
Killer B's spiritual body sat cross-legged. He couldn't figure it out. What was this guy doing in the Land of Snow? Could it be that he had specially set a trap to capture him? Or... did he have a bigger scheme?
Just as Killer B was pondering, he suddenly heard a muffled voice from outside.
"Tell me, if your brother or the Third Raikage came again, in a country like this, do you think I could possibly capture him?"
Capture the Raikage? How is that possible!
Killer B sneered, but then he couldn't help but gradually fall silent. If it were before, he would have thought the Third Raikage was invincible. Even Konoha's twin stars couldn't defeat him, let alone kill him.
But the reality was, in the previous battle, the Third Raikage had failed to save A, which showed that Kyohiko and Namikaze Minato, when united, could already pose a fatal threat to the Third Raikage. The Strongest Shield was not omnipotent.
With the miraculous Flying Thunder God, if Kyohiko was here, Namikaze Minato might not be absent. Killer B's limited wisdom was now fully engaged, but he could only think that Konoha had set a trap here to kill the Third Raikage...
Suddenly, his spiritual space shook. The next moment, Killer B opened his eyes and saw the vast snowstorm.
What's going on?
Killer B was momentarily stunned, but he reacted extremely quickly, immediately trying to use his chakra—the next second, it was as if there was a water pump outside, rapidly drawing chakra from his body.
Opening his eyes, he saw a huge tree growing out of his body. It was these trees that were extracting the chakra from within him.
"B! Hold on!" Gyūki used its chakra to help stabilize his body, temporarily slowing down the rate at which his chakra was being extracted.
However, the next second, Gyūki's chakra was rapidly drawn out. Instantly, Gyūki realized... the other party's target was itself!
However, it was too late for it to withdraw now. Killer B's chakra sustained the Wood Release, and the Wood Release simultaneously extracted the Tailed Beast's chakra, which was then guided by Kyohiko and channeled into the octopus tail wrapped by the trees.
A new Eight-Tails was forming.
"B..." The Eight-Tails' consciousness was gradually weakening. Because more and more of the Tailed Beast's chakra within Killer B was being drawn away by the Wood Release's ability, gestating a new Eight-Tails Gyūki within the great tree.
Kyohiko was already very familiar with this operation. On the tree, a flower bud bloomed, and a small Gyūki emerged. It looked up, speechless.
This state... was familiar! Too familiar!
At this moment, the tree quickly withered and dissolved in a short time, leaving only the many shackles on Killer B's body.
"What do you want to do?"
"The Cloud has carried out several operations against our Konoha. Let's not mention the matter during the time of the Nidaime-sama-sama for now. Later, they first tried to steal the Nine-Tails, then they tried to lure away our Konoha's rogue-nin, Danzō." Kyohiko lowered his head. "Do you think I would let them off so easily?"
"..." Gyūki had nothing to say. From its perspective, many of the things the Cloud Village did were indeed not authentic. The only reason it was willing to help the Cloud Village was because it had a good relationship with Killer B. Therefore, it had no intention of whitewashing things like the Cloud Village stealing the Nine-Tails or colluding with Danzō.
From Konoha's perspective, what they did was not wrong at all!
"Then how do you plan to deal with Killer B?"
"He should fetch a good price." Even without the identity of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B was still a very powerful elite jonin. With a little polishing, reaching Kage-level would be no problem. What's more, he had left one-fifth of the Tailed Beast's chakra for the other party. Kyohiko wasn't worried that the Cloud Village wouldn't want him.
Gyūki couldn't help but look up at the young man before it. He was reminded of a certain person from the past.
Uchiha Madara! The young man before him possessed certain traits similar to Uchiha Madara.
"What exactly do you want to do?"
"That's not something you need to worry about. Now, Gyūki, you have two choices. One is to come with me. After we get to Konoha, you will have a certain degree of freedom. The other... I will send you to an absolutely safe place, where you will face imprisonment."
With such a long distance, sending Gyūki back via Flying Thunder God was certainly not realistic. But, Kyohiko still had Mount Myōboku. With his ability, he could completely seal the current Gyūki in an amber stone again and use the amber stone as a medium to have the toads send it to Mount Myōboku for storage.
Gyūki was silent for a few seconds, then said, "I choose the first option."
Since it couldn't resist... it could only choose the more favorable direction. It sighed silently. If not for Kyohiko's ability being too much of a counter to the Tailed Beasts, it would not have been so docile and obedient.
"Very good, the cooperation is reached. The one being sent back will be Killer B." Kyohiko's hands formed a seal.
Sending Killer B from the Land of Snow to Konoha required a huge amount of chakra, but for him... it was just a matter of releasing the Yin Seal! During his time in the Anbu, Kyohiko hadn't been idle when he wasn't on missions. He had already stored six chakra sealing pools in his body, which contained a considerable amount of chakra.
Releasing two would be enough for the Flying Thunder God teleportation!
Chakra released. And then... two wood clones appeared beside Kyohiko. Then, the main body and the wood clones quickly constructed a spatial passage together.
"What are you trying to do?" Killer B had just recovered from the dizzy state of having a large amount of chakra drained in a short time when he sensed Kyohiko's aura rapidly rising. When three Ryoho Kyohikos appeared... he was extremely shocked.
Three times the chakra! Did this guy's chakra have no upper limit? The clones possessed a chakra amount comparable to the main body, with almost no reduction...
Killer B was still pondering when the next moment, the world spun. When he opened his eyes, monkeys were barking wildly, gorillas were beating their chests, and snakes were climbing all over him.
Killer B swallowed.
What is this place? The kingdom of animals?
He looked around and saw a figure walking closer and closer. This face...
Orochimaru!
"Heh, Killer B of the Cloud Village? The things Kyohiko sends over are getting more and more high-class." Orochimaru licked the corner of his lips. "Such a good experimental subject, how should I thank him?"
Killer B immediately drew the sword from his waist. The next moment.
Bang!
A gorilla ran up behind him and directly knocked him out. Killer B, who didn't have much chakra left, was instantly knocked unconscious.
"Well done, but it was too loud. You can be a little more stealthy next time," Orochimaru glanced at it, then pressed a button on the side.
After a moment, Anbu members arrived.
"Orochimaru-sama, again..."
"It's not a lab accident. This person, send him to the prison and keep an eye on him. Also, send a report to Tsunade and Kakashi so they are both informed."
"Yes!"
Gekkō Shusaku glanced over, his heart secretly surprised.
Killer B! The Tailed Beast Jinchuriki of the Cloud Village! How did he...
Kyohiko!
He immediately thought of Kyohiko, who had left the village. Besides him, no one else had such an ability.
"The captain is so strong. He goes out for a trip and directly brings back a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki! But, this is the Jinchuriki of the Cloud Village. Won't a war break out?"
"What's there to be afraid of?" Gekkō Shusaku sneered. "Didn't the Cloud Village try to capture Kushina back then? We just did what they failed to do. The things you're talking about will be handled by Hokage-sama!"
With that, he waved his hand. "Take him to the Sealing Team!"
On Tsunade and Kakashi's side, they simultaneously received two pieces of news. One was the news that Killer B had been sent to Konoha. The second was that the Cloud Village hoped to negotiate a deal with Konoha regarding the issue of Killer B.
"Old man, what do you think? I told you, Kyohiko could do it!" Tsunade slammed the two scrolls on the table, more confident than ever before.