Gekko Chizan slept for two whole days.
Even though he was a perfect Jinchūriki, this was his first time activating five tails, plus he had flown a long distance using Flying Thunder God.
Even with Chōmei supporting him in terms of chakra, his body couldn't take it.
After all, the chakra of the Seven-Tails doesn't have the same healing ability as the Nine-Tails.
So Gekko Chizan needed sleep to repair his body.
During these two days, Chōmei constantly monitored Gekko Chizan's condition.
Only after confirming it was just extreme fatigue did he relax.
"Quick! Move him to the rear!"
"Everyone else! Transfer all the wounded to the back!"
Originally sleeping soundly, Chizan was suddenly woken by a commotion.
Opening his bleary eyes, he suddenly realized the scenery around him was moving rapidly. It took him a while to react—he was lying on a stretcher, being carried at a run.
That gave him quite a shock.
"Hey hey hey! Stop! What are you doing?"
"Why are you carrying me?!"
As Gekko Chizan's startled shout rang out,
The ninja carrying him immediately stopped, staring wide-eyed at him.
"Holy crap! He came back to life!"
The ninja's words left Gekko Chizan speechless.
These were two Genin. Originally logistics personnel, they had been assigned to help transfer the wounded.
They thought he was a severely injured and unconscious patient—who would've guessed he'd suddenly wake up?
"Move aside. I'm not dead, okay?"
"I was just sleeping."
"Jeez, now you've completely thrown me off."
"What are you guys doing? Why were you carrying me and running?"
Gekko Chizan stood up from the stretcher and moved his stiff limbs a bit. Accompanied by a few cracking sounds from his bones, he let out a long sigh.
"Sunagakure is attacking, a ton of people!"
"Orochimaru-sama already led a team to the frontlines, but the number of enemies is just overwhelming. The main battlefield is under heavy pressure."
"So Orochimaru-sama ordered us Genin to transfer all the wounded."
"Our captain saw you still unconscious and told us to move you too."
Attacking?
And with many people?
Did Sunagakure go into full rebellion?
Gekko Chizan frowned slightly. It looked like the Kazekage's disappearance had already been discovered.
Chiyo and the others must have launched a full-scale assault to suppress the news of the Kazekage going missing.
Damn it, all he did was sleep, and so much has happened?
"Alright. You two help evacuate the others."
"I'll go check the frontlines."
Gekko Chizan turned toward the battlefield, preparing to activate Flying Thunder God.
But before he could act, the Genin who had been carrying him grabbed him.
"Hey kid, don't do anything rash. That's a battlefield. Orochimaru-sama and the others are already there—you shouldn't go making trouble."
Gekko Chizan smiled slightly at that, then patted the ninja on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'm a Jōnin of our village."
"Sunagakure? They're no match for us Konoha shinobi."
Then, with a flash of Flying Thunder God, Gekko Chizan vanished before the two of them.
"A Jōnin? Him?"
"Man, kids these days are already Jōnin?"
The two Genin stared at each other, faces full of disbelief.
Konoha's strength among the Five Great Shinobi Villages came from its number of shinobi and their quality.
Altogether, Konoha had over ten thousand ninja.
Chizan wasn't the type to show off, so it made sense the two didn't recognize him.
Using Flying Thunder God, he arrived at the forward base.
Sure enough, just as the Genin said,
A full-blown war had broken out between Sunagakure and Konoha.
Thousands of Sunagakure shinobi had mobilized.
Though Konoha had fewer people, their reinforcements were all elites.
For now, they were holding off Sunagakure's advance.
"Tsk tsk tsk... so many people..."
On the battlefield, five massive pythons had appeared—clearly Orochimaru-sensei's doing.
But all five were tightly restrained by ten white puppets.
This was none other than Chiyo, Sunagakure's elder and strongest puppet master.
Top-tier strength faced off against top-tier strength.
The rest of the ninja were engaged in chaotic skirmishes.
Hyuga and Uchiha elites were stationed on the left and right flanks, acting as Konoha's cutting edge.
Other ninja were pushing forward under the leadership of major clans like the Nara.
Even Gekko Chizan, who disliked battle, felt his blood starting to boil.
"Heh heh... Since I'm here, might as well contribute."
"Chōmei, lend me some chakra."
"I'll have to rely on Flying Thunder God for this."
Even though he had plenty of chakra, the battlefield was too unstable.
So Gekko Chizan decided to borrow his partner's power.
Chōmei immediately agreed, and Seven-Tails chakra began to flow into Gekko Chizan's body.
"Heh heh... then let's begin."
From his backpack, Gekko Chizan pulled out six technique-marked kunai.
Then he hurled them all toward the battlefield.
At the same time, he bit his finger and rapidly formed Hand Seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A massive cloud of smoke erupted at the Konoha frontlines.
Both sides immediately noticed the change.
"A Summoning Jutsu?"
"An enemy's? Or one of ours?"
On the battlefield, even Orochimaru noticed, but soon, he smiled.
Because as the smoke cleared, a gigantic snake covered in golden threads, with twin horns and a body over 50 meters long, appeared from thin air.
Although he'd never seen this snake before, it was clearly a snake-type summon—definitely summoned by his disciple.
Meanwhile, Gekko Chizan stared wide-eyed at the snake he had summoned.
This wasn't a snake he recognized. Covered in golden threads—wasn't this a golden python?
"Hm? Where is this? Did you summon me?"
A puzzled female voice suddenly spoke.
Oh great, it was a female snake???
Human and snake stared at each other on the battlefield.
Gekko Chizan was shocked—why hadn't he summoned Manda?
And the golden python was curious about who had summoned her.
"Manda? I was clearly trying to summon him."
"Manda? My sisters and I took over his den. Since you were able to summon me, you must be that Ryūchi Cave cultivator Tagorihime-sama mentioned—Gekko Chizan?"
Gekko Chizan was dumbfounded. Wasn't Manda supposed to be super powerful?
How could he have been evicted from his own den?
"This is a battlefield, right? I can smell the scent of blood."
"So you summoned me here... to fight?"
The golden python flicked her tongue toward the battlefield, her eyes gleaming with a fierce glint.
Seeing that look, Gekko Chizan thought, "Great, another battle maniac."
...
A/N: There will be no more appearances from Manda going forward. A more complete arrangement will be given later.
The golden python is just one of the protagonist's summons. There will be other snakes in the future.
Personally, I'm very afraid of snakes... so I won't include a picture. Please imagine it for yourselves, dear readers...