The moment Saiki and Minato vanished from the first battlefield, A and Bee let out a brief breath of relief—only to be met by Tsunade and the Leaf reinforcement units.
It was a clash between the ambushers and the interceptors. With the Cloud strike team already battered, the engagement was immediate and brutal.
Having been thoroughly "healed" from soul to body by her night of dual cultivation with Saiki, Tsunade was operating at her absolute peak.
With the A-B brothers already wounded and exhausted, Tsunade found it surprisingly easy to stall them both single-handedly while her subordinates handled the rank-and-file.
"DIE!" Tsunade roared, unleashing a level of violence that stood in stark contrast to her beautiful features.
BOOM!
Tsunade launched herself into the air, her pale fist clenched tight. She delivered a haymaker directly to the Eight-Tails' head. Even a Tailed Beast found its skull rattling and its vision swimming under the impact of her Chakra-Enhanced Strength. The massive head was slammed sideways into the dirt.
MOOOO!!
Gyuki let out a pained roar that shook the forest. Before it could recover, Tsunade's "Heavenly Foot of Pain" descended, slamming onto the beast's skull again and pinning its face into the earth.
The sheer kinetic energy and chakra discharge triggered a massive shockwave. The ground beneath them shattered, and fissures snaked outward like earthen dragons through the trees.
Matatabi had made Jiraiya look like an amateur, yet Tsunade was single-handedly bullying the Eight-Tails. It looked bizarre, but the logic was sound.
Tailed Beasts were terrifying because of their size, their bottomless chakra, and their nukes.
But that same size made them slow and clumsy against high-speed, high-power human specialists. They lacked refined Ninjutsu; they relied on biting, tail-swipes, and Tailed Beast Balls.
For average ninja, a Tailed Beast Ball was an extinction-level event. But for Kage-level powerhouses, they possessed the speed to dodge the orbs and the specialized jutsu to inflict genuine damage. In a duel of precision vs. raw mass, the beast usually lost.
Jiraiya had only struggled because the Cloud had launched a nuke into a crowd of his own people; he'd been forced to tank it to save the Leaf ninja.
"BEE!" Seeing his brother being pummeled by Tsunade, A flared his chakra, blasting back the Leaf Jonin surrounding him before charging the Sannin.
"Lightning Style: Lightning Fist!" Stimulated by his Lightning Armor, A achieved a velocity that made him look like a literal bolt of static. He concentrated a massive volume of electricity into his knuckles and threw a punch aimed directly at Tsunade's face.
Tsunade didn't flinch. She tightened her own fist, focusing every drop of her monstrous chakra into her knuckles, and met the charge head-on.
BOOM!!
The massive, dark fist met the smaller, pale one. It was a hammer striking an anvil. Lightning and kinetic force exploded between them, creating a boom like a localized thunderclap.
The power was equal, but the aftermath told the story: it wasn't Tsunade who was forced back, but A!
"You... woman!" Looking at the majestic, imposing Tsunade, even a man as dedicated to muscle and brotherhood as A had to offer a moment of respect.
Tsunade tilted her chin up, her expression one of cold arrogance. "What's the matter, brat? Do you have a problem with women?"
"You are strong," A conceded. He didn't care about being called a brat; Tsunade was nearly a decade his senior, so the title was technically accurate. While she might not match his top speed, her raw power and overall combat efficiency were superior to his own.
"Brother!" Killer Bee, having dropped his transformation back to human form, limped to A's side.
Whether in human, semi-tailed, or full-beast form, Bee had been systematically battered by Tsunade. He was a miserable mess, having finally realized that this beautiful woman was a literal avatar of destruction.
The Leaf ninja regrouped around Tsunade, returning the battlefield to a tense standoff.
The strategic situation was delicate. Tsunade had the numbers, but the Cloud unit was composed entirely of elites.
Fortunately, Saiki and Minato had already bled the Cloud team dry. Neither A nor Bee were at full strength. If they had been, Tsunade's unit would have been overrun.
The moment Saiki and Minato had intercepted them earlier, A knew they couldn't win. Now, his only objective was to facilitate a withdrawal.
Tsunade, however, assumed the Cloud were still pushing for the camp. She was determined to hold them there at all costs. The stalemate persisted.
Tsunade's fists were clenched, her mind racing with worry about the main front, when...
Swish!
Two figures materialized in the clearing between the two forces.
Seeing Saiki and Minato, A didn't hesitate for a second. He barked the final order: "RETREAT!"
A was in a pathetic state. Aside from his speed, he wasn't a "complete" combatant like Saiki; he only possessed Kage-level velocity.
His Lightning Armor's defense wasn't absolute. High-level Ninjutsu could still pierce it, which meant he always had to play carefully. This allowed him to be bogged down by a handful of coordinated Jonin.
But Saiki was a perfected version of A. He had the speed, but he also had an absolute defense that could tank a Tailed Beast Ball point-blank. His offensive power was such that even a Jonin couldn't survive a single parry.
In a melee, as long as you couldn't break Saiki's shield or match his blade, numbers meant nothing.
Saiki's current combat state was very similar to an Uchiha wielding the Susanoo—absolute offense and absolute defense. If the enemy couldn't pierce the veil, he was just a man playing a video game on "God Mode."
"Running?" Saiki drew his blade and launched a parting slash at the retreating Cloud.
But they were too fast. Smoke bombs detonated, and by the time the haze cleared, only one unlucky Cloud ninja had been bisected. The rest were gone.
"Should we chase them?" Saiki asked, turning to Tsunade.
Tsunade shook her head. "No. Never pursue a cornered enemy."
Since Tsunade had given the word, and Saiki was genuinely tired and allergic to unnecessary effort, he sheathed 'Thunderstorm' with a satisfied click.
Tsunade's gaze lingered on Saiki. Remembering the blinding flashes of his blade and looking at the perfectly sliced corpses on the field, she couldn't help but wonder. "When did he become this terrifying? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed the intel reports."
"Lady Tsunade!" Minato greeted her politely.
"Mm," Tsunade acknowledged him. "What's the status of the main front?"
"The Cloud have officially withdrawn. We sensed the fighting here and came to reinforce you," Minato reported.
"I see. Good." Tsunade didn't waste another second. She ordered Minato to return to Jiraiya with a full report, then began directing the other ninja to gather the wounded for immediate treatment.
Ninja gear often contained specialized poisons or explosive traps, so Saiki had zero interest in looting the corpses. He found a sturdy tree, sat down against its trunk, and began the process of recovering his stamina and chakra.
"You brat... what's with you? Are you hurt?" After treating the last of the wounded, Tsunade walked over to him.
"Sister Tsunade, I told you, I'm not a 'brat'. Those guys couldn't lay a finger on me," Saiki said, rolling his eyes at her.
Hearing his sass, Tsunade walked over and gave the top of his head a light smack. She then knelt beside him, resting her hand on his messy hair as she began channeling her medical chakra to accelerate his recovery.
With Saiki's natural vitality, his chakra would have recovered on its own soon enough, but having Tsunade act so uncharacteristically tender was a rare treat. Saiki simply closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth of her presence and the beauty of her face.