When the Four-Tails—that massive red ape—and the Five-Tails—with its strange, protruding jaw—let out their earth-shattering roars and finally revealed their true forms, everyone on the battlefield knew things had gone sideways.
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, staring up at the two Tailed Beasts towering over a dozen meters high, couldn't help but gape in shock.
Of course, as a Hokage who would still be capable of wrestling with the mighty Nine-Tails in his sixties, Hiruzen wasn't exactly paralyzed by fear. He was simply stunned that the big-nosed brat Ohnoki actually had the stones to play a hand this heavy.
Watching the two beasts begin their rampage, Hiruzen snapped out of his shock and immediately tried to disengage.
Iwa had brought out the ultimate deterrents used to anchor their village. For a Konoha force that hadn't brought its own Jinchuriki along, the only logical response was a tactical retreat.
Although the two beasts appeared to be under the Jinchuriki's control for now, Hiruzen was a man who had personally witnessed the two titans who founded Konoha handle Tailed Beasts like they were walking disobedient dogs. He knew better than anyone that this "control" wouldn't last.
Tailed Beasts were manifestations of chakra, spirits of nature. In the wild, they might not be inherently malevolent, but after being hunted, shackled, and imprisoned in the cramped bodies of humans by shinobi, they weren't exactly known for their mercy.
Ohnoki, however, anticipated this move. The Tsuchikage, who had previously been struggling to keep Hiruzen pinned down with Taijutsu, suddenly flipped the script. He became the aggressor, throwing himself into close-quarters combat with reckless abandon to ensure Hiruzen couldn't escape or give the order to withdraw.
Without the Hokage's command to retreat, the two Tailed Beasts would be able to exert their maximum destructive potential on the concentrated Leaf forces.
"Holy... mother of..."
Staring at the two rampaging Tailed Beasts, Hatani—seeing these legendary creatures in the flesh for the first time—couldn't help but let out a colorful exclamation.
His rational mind was screaming at him to get as far away from these monsters as possible, yet a surge of irrepressible greed bubbled up from deep within his heart.
If I kill a Tailed Beast, how many Gold Coins would that be worth?
Based on his knowledge of Naruto, these beings were essentially immortal. Even if killed, they would simply dissipate and reform after a few years.
In Hatani's eyes, they weren't just monsters; they were the ultimate world bosses. They were like Roshan—the generous boss who repeatedly offered up the Aegis of the Immortal, Aghanim's Shards, Scepters, Refresher Shards, and mountains of gold and experience, meeting violence with "kindness."
Snap!
He snapped his fingers, sending a Wind Blade to decapitate an Iwa Genin who had tried to sneak up on him while he was "dazed." Hatani ultimately forced the reckless thought down.
He didn't have the power to kill a Tailed Beast. Not yet.
Once he grew stronger—once he could summon hurricanes as a Windranger, or unlock even more powerful heroes with the lethality required to wound such colossal entities—he would revisit the idea.
For now? It was time to run.
'Is this the power of the Tailed Beasts?'
Nearby, Danzo Shimura had already used his subordinates as human shields to break away from his opponent the moment the Jinchuriki transformed.
According to the plan, he should have retreated immediately. But looking at those two engines of destruction from a distance, he couldn't help himself. He stopped, his lone eye fixed on the beasts with a gaze full of hunger and avarice.
'These are just the Four and Five-Tails. If it were the Nine-Tails...'
Thinking of the great red fox sealed back in Konoha, his greed burned like oil thrown on a fire.
'As long as I can control the Nine-Tails, no one will ever dare question my right to sit in that chair!'
"Lord Danzo, we must leave now," a Root guard urged, his voice tight with anxiety as he saw Danzo lingering.
"Hmph."
Danzo retracted his greedy gaze, suppressing his desire behind a mask of cold indifference. He nodded curtly. "Are the preparations in place?"
"Yes, sir!" the guard replied with a bow.
"Good." Danzo nodded, looking almost triumphant. "Return to Konoha immediately!"
Wait, something's wrong.
Hatani had been pretending to flee in a panic to bait an Iwa Chunin. He'd intentionally taken a shallow cut while Windrun was active, and just as the enemy grinned in triumph, Hatani harvested another hundred-plus gold coins with a flick of a wind blade.
But then, he caught a scent on the wind—an ill omen.
The sensation was so unsettling that he stopped caring whether Yakushi Nonou or any other Root spies were watching. He activated his Blink Dagger and instantly flickered to Tsunade's side.
"F-Flying Raijin?!"
Tsunade nearly punched the "enemy" who had suddenly appeared in her personal space. She pulled her strike back at the last second when she saw the Konoha forehead protector, but when she realized it was Hatani, her brow furrowed in utter confusion.
Didn't Jiraiya say Minato was the one learning the Flying Raijin? Didn't he say Hatani had zero talent for Space-Time Ninjutsu? How was it that Minato had just mastered it, and now his younger brother was blinking around too?
And if he had mastered it, shouldn't the brat be using it to assassinate enemy Jonin and relieve the pressure on the front lines? Why was he wasting it to jump-scare his own allies?
"Lady Tsunade! Quick! Tell Minato to take you back to the main camp immediately. You need to prepare an antidote right now!"
Hatani didn't have time to explain his "teleportation" or worry about what she was thinking. Taking advantage of the fact that Kitsuchi, her opponent, was momentarily stunned by his sudden appearance, Hatani spoke at a frantic pace.
"Antidote?" Tsunade blinked, completely lost.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
Before Hatani could elaborate, a series of shrill, urgent cries echoed across the field.
He didn't need to look to know what was happening. The Hyuga scouts, with their Byakugan active, had spotted a new arrival.
But hearing those warnings brought Hatani no relief. On the contrary, his heart sank like a stone.
It was too late.
Tsunade soon realized why Hatani was demanding a retreat and antidotes, but like him, her face went deathly pale.
She saw it first at the periphery of the battlefield. The Genin and Chunin of both Konoha and Iwa were suddenly collapsing, clutching their throats.
One after another, they fell.
Tsunade knew this scene well. Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and every veteran who had survived the fighting in the Land of Rain knew it too. It was a nightmare they had lived through once before. Back then, their comrades had dropped without warning, and many never opened their eyes again.
Salamander Toxin!
As a faint, almost scentless poison wafted through the air, Tsunade was one hundred percent certain. This was the same lethal toxin that had once brought her to the brink of despair.
And there was only one man capable of releasing this toxin on such a massive scale—a man who could bring a creature that usually only lived in the marshes of the Land of Rain to this battlefield in the Land of Grass.
Hanzo of the Salamander.
The memories of their past humiliation flooded back, and Tsunade's eyes turned murderous.
"Lady Tsunade, you have to go back and make the antidote!"
Seeing the fury in her eyes, Hatani pleaded with her, terrified she would do something reckless.
In less than thirty seconds, nearly a thousand shinobi from both sides had collapsed. The battlefield was already a chaotic mess thanks to the two Tailed Beasts; getting the two sides to stop fighting now was impossible.
The only hope was for Minato to use the Flying Raijin to whisk Tsunade away so she could mass-produce the antidote and bring it back.
Otherwise...
Everything was over.
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