Inside the Shikkotsu Forest, Tsunade was organizing the messy pile of documents for Haseo.
It wasn't necessarily because she wanted to do something special for him. The truth was, most girls found cluttered rooms intolerable—but sadly, before their complaints could even reach that level, otaku rooms rarely saw the presence of girls at all.
Tsunade had already decided to follow Haseo's example and build her very own "Secret Research Base" deep inside the Shikkotsu Forest. But of course, she wouldn't stay with Haseo. Since Katsuyu's barrier system was complex, she had other locations to choose from—if there was enough space, why would she have to squeeze together with him?
That just wouldn't look right. Although she sometimes acted violently, Tsunade considered herself fundamentally reserved and dignified.
Outside the barrier, occasional dull thumps could be heard—like when a massive chunk suddenly disappeared from beneath the earth, causing the ground to collapse and produce a corresponding rumble. Still, the barrier kept most of those sounds from ever reaching Tsunade's ears.
However, Katsuyu's strange behavior eventually caught Tsunade's attention—the tiny slug's two antennae kept rotating nonstop, like an active radar scanning its surroundings. There was no way she could ignore those wild movements.
"Katsuyu, has something happened?"
"...No, nothing at all, Lady Tsunade."
After a brief silence, Katsuyu gave this reply. Even if she told Tsunade what had occurred, it wouldn't make any difference. After all, the distance separating them was too vast—Even if they had been close by, Tsunade still wouldn't have been able to help Haseo in any meaningful way.
Yet incredibly, despite being locked in a brutal, life-or-death battle, Haseo was somehow linked to Tsunade—who was quietly hidden away inside the Shikkotsu Forest acting far more delicately feminine than usual—and while both understood there was a connection, neither fully grasped just how entwined they were through this very slug...
... ...
Regaining consciousness felt like a thousand needles stabbing his brain at once. Amidst excruciating head pain, Haseo came back to his senses. He pushed himself out from the sticky mucus-covered body of the slug and emerged back into the open air.
"Cough..." Half-kneeling on a tree branch deep within thick foliage, he continued coughing hard. First, tissue fluid from the slug poured from his nose and mouth; then blood began flowing from his ears, mouth, and nostrils.
Once finished, he covered his mouth with one hand, then wiped his face with the back of his hand.
"Katsuyu, how long was I unconscious?"
Haseo rasped out lowly, his voice barely intelligible. Right now, his physical condition was absolutely terrible. To cause the tailed beasts to lose control earlier, he had consumed tremendous amounts of stamina and chakra... Strangely enough, most of his injuries right now—his body's exhaustion, chakra corruption, and mental depletion—were actually self-inflicted. In comparison, the superficial wounds given by his enemies were practically negligible.
This wasn't because Haseo had a habit of torturing himself or was a textbook masochist—it was simply because if he hadn't put himself through such torment, he would surely already be dead.
"It's been about ten minutes since you lost consciousness, Haseo-sama," Katsuyu said, standing nearby.
"...This is much longer than I expected." Haseo covered his head with one hand and frowned deeply.
When someone's mind is this drained—or even damaged—it's actually a bad idea to force yourself awake. Unconsciousness was the body's way of protecting itself; coma was just another form of rest. Trying to wake up too soon would only make his injuries worse.
Waking up after ten minutes didn't mean the effects of that mental-type forbidden technique had worn off. In fact, they'd last for who knows how long.
Yet, on this battlefield, Haseo had no choice but to wake up.
He needed to rest a bit longer before taking his next move... The slight trembling in his hands and feet told him his control over his body had dropped to an alarmingly low level.
"Eight-Tails... has it broken free from control?" He asked Katsuyu again.
In terms of intelligence gathering, protection, combat, and support, during this battle where Haseo faced off against hundreds alone, the summoned beast Katsuyu had played an immeasurable role. Its lightweight, pliable body could change size effortlessly, offering great versatility.
If he ever got the time, he planned to write a book called [Katsuyu: One Hundred Uses].
Chakra — the lifeblood of ninja — combines both spiritual intent and physical energy into one. Haseo's spiritual nature was extraordinarily rare—so much so that he could freely combine different hand seals to perform Multi-elemental Ninjutsu. Therefore, by the same logic, drawing upon this unique spiritual power to develop the [Zero Light Fragment Technique] should be a highly effective mental-type sealing method.
But exactly how effective it was, even Haseo couldn't determine himself… This fight had practically become his personal testing ground for forbidden techniques.
"There currently isn't any sign of calming down; Eight-Tails remains chaotic and rampaging. The Jinchuriki... can do nothing," Katsuyu replied.
Haseo fixed his gaze on Eight-Tails' figure, clearly seeing its tentacles still flailing around uncontrollably.
The space-sealing barrier constructed by Kumo incorporated Renjiro's sensing techniques at key points, giving it an irregular shape. Additionally, to ensure the barrier could contain Haseo and his group upon their arrival, it was quite extensive.
However large it might be, the maximum distance between any two points inside remained under ten kilometers. Within such a space, Eight-Tails' enormous physique and the freely radiating chakra emanating from it were truly fearsome.
You can only understand the true terror of Tailed Beast-level chakra if you've seen it with your own eyes.
Just one Eight-Tails could force numerous elite ninja from Cloud Village to flee in panic.
"And Chichio? Is she alright?"
"My clone is with her. Currently, she's safe, hiding farthest behind Eight-Tails."
This momentarily calmed Haseo. But right at that moment, Eight-Tails suddenly lifted its head and let out an enormous roar. A black sphere began forming near its mouth... With Tailed Beasts, everyone knows there are three things they love most: eating, sleeping, and unleashing energy balls.
The Tailed Beast Ball surged forward before erupting in a violent explosion. Blinding white light engulfed everything in front of the Eight-Tails. The powerful blast instantly obliterated anything within half the barrier's range, while the translucent shield flickered briefly before finally fading away.
What he saw shook him—deeply. So what was the point of mastering all those ninjutsu techniques anyway? In the end, nothing compared to recklessly expending chakra—it was far more satisfying and brutally thrilling.
"Chichio... he's behind the Tailed Beast, correct?"
"That's right... he's on the back side."
It was just sheer luck on Chichio's part. When such wide-scale devastation struck, it was fifty-fifty between life and death—she ended up standing among the survivors.
"I've rested enough. It's time to move again."
After the explosion of the Tailed Beast Ball, the surroundings fell into silence—a silence filled with despair. Apart from the continuous roars of the Eight-Tails, not another sound could be heard.
Yet Haseo spoke these words, then slowly pushed himself up using one hand against his knee. His body swayed slightly but eventually steadied.
"Master Haseo, the barrier must've already been destroyed by the Eight-Tails. Why are we continuing…?"
Haseo smiled, only to taste blood in his mouth, forcing him to suppress it as he replied, "I'm not a hot-tempered person by nature. But still, how can I just stand by and do nothing after someone beats me around and then casually walks away?"
Katsuyu fell silent.
Could Kumo shinobi really afford to act so nonchalant anymore? After enduring Master Haseo's attacks and being battered by the tailed beasts, how many Cloud ninja were still breathing?
"All right then, maybe it's just self-satisfaction on my part… kind of boring." Haseo helplessly shook his head, finally saying so.
Who exactly was he showing off his ninjutsu to now? If not for self-satisfaction, wasn't it just boredom?
"Now something rather interesting is about to happen. If I appear before the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, guess what he'll do, Katsuyu."
No need to guess; the Two-Tails Jinchuriki would turn and run immediately.
It was quite an amusing phenomenon. On the battlefield, Haseo clearly lacked the strength of a Jinchuriki. Yet, when facing him now, any Jinchuriki would flee like a mouse spotting a cat... After all, the result of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki confronting Haseo head-on had already been made painfully clear to everyone.
Though due to massive spiritual exhaustion, Haseo couldn't possibly use his Tail Beast Rampage technique again at the moment, no one else knew this except himself.
Even if enemies suspected his spirit reserves were low now, there remained the possibility—the uncertainty.
You may not fear the thousand, but you must fear the single uncertain possibility.
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