"Just look at Roshi's recent experiences," murmured the Five-Tails Kokuo to himself. "Whether from the Senju Clan or the Uchiha Clan, they've both been extremely annoying."
"Kokuo, what's your opinion? Do you think there's still hope for their survival?" Inside the Tailed Beast Realm, the Four-Tails asked the Five-Tails beside him a question that sounded rhetorical.
From this single sentence, one could sense that the Four-Tails and Roshi clearly shared a closer bond than Han did with the Five-Tails. In response to the question, the Five-Tails remained silent, offering no immediate reply.
At this moment, he had already keenly sensed what lay deep in his companion's heart—the Four-Tails clearly intended to lend his chakra to Roshi, hoping to help him through this crisis.
At the same time, the Five-Tails himself had begun entertaining a similar thought—he wanted to pass some of his own chakra to Han.
So, the Five-Tails lost himself in memories, going over all the moments he had shared with Han. As these recollections flowed through him, he gradually reached an understanding, realizing that this slightly awkward young man, aside from being occasionally slow-witted, was actually quite admirable in many ways.
Most importantly, no matter what hardships he faced or how much cold indifference he endured, he had never felt any resentment or hatred toward him. That's exactly why Han was able to manage drawing chakra from him.
Witnessing this scene stirred an irresistible urge in the Five-Tails to lend a hand, yet, out of natural stubborn pride, he still searched for an excuse that sounded reasonable to himself.
Seeing this, he gave himself a justification and then resolutely transmitted a steady stream of chakra from within his body into Han.
Observing this, the Four-Tails first broke into a slight grin, then without hesitation made the same choice. Thus, both the Four-Tails and Five-Tails willingly offered their precious chakra without holding anything back to Roshi and Han. The Tailed Beasts and their Jinchuriki finally truly opened their hearts to each other.
Eventually, thanks to the powerful support from these two mighty sources, Roshi and Han's strength exploded to an ultimate level, successfully breaking free from Shiyu Uchiha's overwhelming fire release attack and retreating safely to a distant location.
On the other side, Shiyu Uchiha had already consumed a tremendous amount of chakra during the intense battle. Moreover, he didn't want to provoke Onoki by killing these two men, and chasing down opponents supported by the Four-Tails and Five-Tails would take time.
If this time were instead used to eliminate Iwa-nin, the gains would surely be far greater—hastening victory while minimizing Konoha's casualties. Therefore, he could only reluctantly abandon the thought of continuing the pursuit.
Meanwhile, Shiyu Uchiha mused that this victory had been somewhat lucky.
If it weren't for the successful use of Magical Mirage: Clone Jutsu to deceive those two individuals and make them let down their guard, he probably wouldn't have found the perfect moment to deliver a fatal blow.
And if that world-shaking slash had lacked even a little power and failed to create such a favorable situation, the outcome of this battle might have been completely different.
Had the two jinchuriki not made significant tactical mistakes, and considering the deep bond of friendship between Roshi and Han, causing both of them to misjudge the situation and fail to decisively unleash their Tailed Beast Balls to attack the enemy and implement a strategy of besieging the enemy to rescue themselves, then without Shiyu Uchiha having the opportunity to fully unleash his dojutsu, the victor of this battle would have remained uncertain.
Actually, under those circumstances at the time, if the enemy had truly adopted such a wise strategy, as long as Shiyu Uchiha wasn't willing to risk his life, even if he eventually managed to win by a stroke of luck, he likely wouldn't have achieved a particularly glorious victory. Over time, a stalemate between both sides would have probably been the most likely outcome.
At this critical moment, due to Shiyu Uchiha successfully achieving victory on another battlefield, this good news was rapidly conveyed to Wen Ya of the Iwa-nin side.
Upon receiving information about the current battlefield situation, especially upon learning about the dire straits that Roshi and Han were now in, Wen Ya's face instantly turned as pale as paper, sweat poured from his forehead, and his heart was thrown into utter turmoil. He never could have imagined that Roshi and Han, two of the most powerful elite Iwa-nin jinchuriki, had actually lost—and so quickly.
After all, in the Iwa-nin Village, Onoki's strength was undoubtedly peerless. Yet just below Onoki, these two were the strongest. Although Wen Ya had considered this possibility before the battle, in his opinion the chances were too slim. Even Onoki would find it difficult to defeat both Roshi and Han so quickly. Therefore, naturally, Wen Ya hadn't even considered this possibility at all.
Fortunately, this fellow was truly capable and hadn't lost his ability to judge the situation. He started anxiously pondering the serious consequences that would follow once a Kage-level expert had completely broken free and regained his freedom.
After a fierce internal struggle, Wen Ya realized his side had lost again. With bitterness, he glanced around, fully aware that time was running out. Immediately accepting their defeat, he decisively made his decision.
So, even though his heart was heavy with pain and reluctance, he firmly gave the order to retreat completely, already prepared to make painful sacrifices.
Events unfolded exactly as he had anticipated. Due to the urgency of the situation and the lack of adequate prior preparation for retreat, when the Iwa-nin forces received the retreat signal, many of them couldn't even react in time, let alone withdraw effectively.
These unprepared Iwa-nin were thus exposed to the fierce assault of the Konoha forces, quickly falling into encirclement. Watching helplessly as his comrades were mercilessly hunted down by Konoha's army, Wen Ya suffered unbearable anguish, yet he never felt the slightest regret over the retreat order he had given.
Deep down, he knew that once that Kage-level expert fully regained his strength and stepped back onto the battlefield, it would be a catastrophe for the Iwa-nin, who hadn't yet secured a battlefield advantage. At that point, not only might their forces suffer a crushing defeat, but even Iwagakure Village could face a grave crisis.
Therefore, now was the time to temporarily pull back the front lines, reinforce defenses, swiftly adjust strategic deployments, and lay low and wait for the Jinchuriki of the Four-Tails and Five-Tails to gradually regain their strength — this was the most stable and reliable course of action.
In the end, under Wen Ya's command, the Iwa-nin managed to withdraw from the battle, though at a great cost. Many Tokubetsu Jonin (Special Jonin) were hunted down and killed by Shiyu Uchiha during the retreat, dealing a devastating blow to the Iwa-nin forces.
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