"Hmm…"
Hearing Shukaku ask for his opinion, Mitsuki lowered his head and began thinking seriously. After a few seconds, he spoke up.
"How about this, you'll stick by my side and follow my orders."
The moment Shukaku heard that Mitsuki wasn't driving it away, it immediately agreed without hesitation.
"Great, great! Then, what exactly is our relationship now?"
"?"
Caught off guard by Shukaku's strange question, Mitsuki casually brushed it off.
"Let's say… partners."
"Partners!"
Shukaku was extremely satisfied with that answer.
Before the Sage of Six Paths passed away, he told the nine Tailed Beasts to help humans and live in harmony with them.
Most importantly, he said that one day a human would appear who could guide the Tailed Beasts to understand the true meaning of power.
Shukaku felt that among all the Tailed Beasts, it was clearly the model elite, the vanguard, the example to follow.
Looking at it now, its fellow Tailed Beasts were nothing but idiots. Only it, the great Lord Shukaku the Tanuki, had managed to form a genuine bond with a human.
And this human, who called himself Shimizu Mitsuki, from the very first meeting had shown no prejudice toward its identity as a Tailed Beast. Instead, he truly treated it as an equal, speaking to it with respect.
Shukaku was convinced: this was the very person the Sage of Six Paths had spoken of, the one who could truly guide the Tailed Beasts.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
As expected, the number of tails meant nothing at all. That stinking fox was probably still sealed inside some Jinchūriki. Meanwhile, it had already fulfilled the Sage's final wish.
Thinking this, Shukaku spread out its huge hand and said excitedly to Mitsuki:
"Come on, Shimizu Mitsuki, I'll carry you forward!"
Of course, Mitsuki wasn't going to refuse a free ride.
He leapt onto Shukaku's palm, pointed out the direction, and shouted loudly:
"Let's go!"
"Kyah!"
Shukaku let out a strange roar, carefully closed its hand, then burrowed back underground, using
Subterranean Voyage to quickly rush in the direction Mitsuki had pointed.
On the frontlines.
Minato Namikaze swiftly dodged a volley of projectiles from Chiyo's puppets and shouted:
"Jiraiya-sensei!"
"Got it! Dark Swamp!" Jiraiya's hands moved rapidly through seals before he slammed
the ground.
Instantly, the earth beneath Chiyo's feet transformed into a swamp.
But Jiraiya wasn't finished yet. Seeing her trapped, he formed seals again and spewed out a concentrated blaze of fire.
"Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"
This was an advanced fire release ninjutsu that Jiraiya himself had developed, using Mount Myōboku's special oil to greatly enhance the temperature and adhesive power of the flames.
Chiyo's legs sank into the swamp, and when she tried, she found she couldn't leap out. Without hesitation, she raised her hands, fingers moving with incredible dexterity.
Her left hand controlled three of the Chikamatsu puppets, pulling them back in front of her to defend.
"Three Treasures Suction Crush!"
Once again, a powerful suction force appeared, drawing in Jiraiya's flames into the vortex of wind.
Meanwhile, her right hand directed the remaining three puppets straight at Minato.
In her earlier battle with him, one of her puppets had been marked with the Flying Thunder God. She'd been forced to abandon that puppet, so now she could only control three with each hand.
"Hurricane Vortex!"
Ebizō, seeing his elder sister on the defensive, launched his own advanced wind release toward Jiraiya, who was still spewing flames.
Jiraiya had no choice but to stop his fire jutsu to evade Ebizō's wind jutsu.
But when he stopped, Chiyo was able to halt the suction of the Three Treasures Suction Crush, condense the scattered flames, and compress them.
From within the vortex, a dense chakra bullet shot forth, aimed directly at Jiraiya.
Facing attacks from two directions, Jiraiya helplessly spread his hands.
"Good grief… Minato, you really don't show your sensei any mercy."
He bit his finger, formed seals again, and slammed his hand to the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Boom!
A massive cloud of smoke burst forth as a giant toad appeared. From its back, it pulled out a huge, bowl-like shield and braced it in front.
The Hurricane Vortex and the chakra bullet slammed into the shield, releasing a massive shockwave.
The smoke from the summoning was instantly blown away, and the giant toad was pushed back several dozen meters.
But even so, that old, ridiculous-looking shield managed to withstand the ferocious double assault.
Jiraiya crouched on the toad's head, striking a cool pose with his hands extended forward.
"Now entering the stage—Mount Myōboku's Toad Hermit Sage, Jiraiya-sama!"
"As expected of Jiraiya-sensei!" Minato, dodging Chiyo's puppet attacks, still found time to play along and hype him up.
"Gamaken, go help Minato."
Jiraiya gave a command to the toad beneath him before leaping down.
"I'm clumsy, but I'll do my best" Gamaken replied as he bounded toward Minato.
Earlier, Minato had teleported Mitsuki back to camp from afar, consuming a massive amount of chakra. In this weakened state, handling Chiyo alone was pushing his limits, so he'd deliberately lured her toward Jiraiya.
Looking at things now, the plan seemed to be working out.
But Minato couldn't help worrying about Mitsuki's side.
Given how seriously Suna was taking this war, there was a strong chance they'd send a Jinchūriki to attack the rear. Risky, yes, but if successful, it could cause devastating losses for Konoha.
Considering the state of the other battlefronts, the best possible outcome for Konoha would be to pay some heavy price and then force Sunagakure into negotiating peace.
Mitsuki, I'm counting on you.
Logically speaking, the optimal choice wasn't to waste Minato's chakra teleporting Mitsuki back to camp.
It would have been far better to let Mitsuki rampage freely on the frontlines, slaughtering Suna shinobi. Even if the rear was compromised, Konoha could still win with enough enemy casualties up front.
But for some reason, Minato chose to believe in Mitsuki — believe that he could handle whatever enemy appeared in the rear.
Because he's a genius a hundred times greater than I am.
Of course, even with all his faith in Mitsuki, Minato never imagined just how he would return to the battlefield.
Chiyo was growing increasingly anxious. She still hadn't seen the signal from Rasa's side of the plan.
The allotted time had long passed, and she couldn't help but assume the worst: that Rasa and the One-Tail's Jinchūriki had already been defeated. Perhaps even…
She didn't dare think further, but reality kept screaming it at her—
For Sunagakure, it might truly be over.