Onoki, beaten and embedded into the wall, his wrinkled old face bearing the imprint of a fist, looked at the three people opposite him in disbelief.
He had also heard that when the Ninja World Government attacked Kumogakure, they used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport a large coalition force directly into the Land of Lightning, catching Kumogakure off guard.
In response, he had already stationed Sensor-type Ninjas throughout the Land of Earth, precisely to get immediate intelligence on the government coalition's movements.
But he never imagined Makoto would dare to attack with only two people.
No wonder there was no information at all.
At that moment, a fierce roar echoed from afar.
A figure, shrouded in dark red Tailed Beast Chakra with five tails flailing wildly behind it, charged fiercely towards Makoto.
Judging by the number of tails, the person's identity was clear: Five-Tails' Jinchuriki, Han.
Seeing only one Jinchuriki arrive, Makoto remembered: The other Jinchuriki of Iwagakure, the Four-Tails', Roshi, had left the village to travel due to political conflicts with Onoki. Although he wasn't officially classified as a Missing-Nin.
He can be said to be the Iwagakure version of the Sannin.
"Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength!"
Han, in his partial-Tailed Beast form, roared, raising his thick right arm. Dense white steam erupted from it like a booster, further amplifying his speed and strength as he slammed a fierce punch down at Makoto.
The three tomoes in Makoto's pupils spun slightly. He directly copied Han's movements, also raising his fist and charging forward with the same motion.
Only without the steam as propulsion.
The fists collided.
Boom—!!!
Instantly, Han's body shot back like a kite with its string cut, spinning rapidly through the air, smashing through countless mountains along the way.
Kurotsuchi's face turned even paler.
It was her first time seeing someone overpower Han in terms of raw strength with her own eyes.
After Han smashed through who knows how many mountains and finally stopped, suddenly, everyone felt a dense wave of Chakra burst from within him.
Accompanied by the collapse of yet another mountain, the Five-Tails, Kokuo, revealed its full form.
However, Han did not possess the ability to perfectly control his Tailed Beast like B or Yugito.
This was clearly a rampage triggered by seeing the Sharingan.
Makoto looked up at Kokuo. The creature looked remarkably like the offspring of a dolphin and a horse.
Kokuo howled at the sky, lowered its head, and charged at Makoto with the massive white horn atop its skull.
Makoto smiled slightly and threw out a Poké Ball.
"Gyuki! I choose you."
Gyuki, who emerged from the Poké Ball, looked displeased but still obediently opened his arms to block the Five-Tails.
After being subdued by Makoto, Gyuki had initially wanted to act like Ash's Charizard, refusing to follow orders at first.
After all, Makoto's subordinates had killed B, whom Gyuki acknowledged, so of course the Tailed Beast had no goodwill towards this group.
However, although Gyuki wanted to imitate Charizard, Makoto wasn't Ash.
You won't obey?
I'll beat you into obedience.
After being whipped with a chainsaw by Makoto for three days and nights, Gyuki finally obediently submitted.
For a while, the two behemoths pummeled each other. Under the impact, the surrounding rocky mountains collapsed like toy blocks.
The Iwagakure's Ninjas in the rear watched the joining of Gyuki with terror.
Through intelligence, they also knew that the two Tailed Beasts of the now-destroyed Kumogakure had fallen into Makoto's hands, and Gyuki appearing here undoubtedly meant the Ninja World Government was attacking.
Gyuki had once said that the strength of a Tailed Beast couldn't be proven solely by the number of tails.
There was some truth to that statement. Although Shukaku had only one tail, based on its performance in the original work, it seemed at least average. And Gyuki was genuinely the second strongest among the Tailed Beasts. Kokuo was no match for it.
"Damn it! Get out of my way!"
Although B was dead, after years together, Gyuki had picked up some of his speech habits, talking as if rapping.
He raised Kokuo with both arms and hurled it violently at a distant mountain.
After an ear-shattering crash, the Five-Tails slammed into the mountain, snapping its peak in half.
"I am Gyuki-sama, the Eight-Tails! Oh yeah!!!"
Gyuki made a victory sign and shouted to the sky.
Watching this goofball's antics, Makoto pondered: 'If this guy were placed in the Pokémon World, he'd probably qualify as a minor legendary, right?'
Looking at Han, who had passed out and was reverting from his full Tailed Beast form to human, Makoto remembered he forgot to bring Ai along.
'Ah well, just take him back as is.'
On the other side, Tsunade walked up to Onoki, who had just fallen out of the wall, and looked down at him:
"Give me one reason not to kill you."
Onoki naturally knew about the grudge between her and Iwagakure.
He wanted to say that the Will of Stone never yields.
But seeing Han, who had reverted to human form in the distance, and his granddaughter trembling nearby, unable to speak...
Onoki understood.
Power is not will. Power is a phenomenon caused by matter.
In the end, this old man, whose tenure could rival or even surpass that of Hiruzen, slowly lowered his proud head and replied in a deep voice:
"No need for words... Do it quickly."
…
Afterwards, in the Tsuchikage's office.
Makoto plopped down in the Tsuchikage's chair, the seat symbolizing the supreme authority of Iwagakure.
On the other side of the desk, the Iwagakure's higher-ups led by Kitsuchi sat in a row, looking exactly like princesses waiting to be chosen by customers in a VIP room.
Kitsuchi, who had just lost his father, tried his best to hide it, but the hatred in his eyes leaked out involuntarily.
On the other side, his daughter Kurotsuchi felt more fear than hatred.
After all, she wasn't much older than Naruto. She hadn't experienced the baptism of war, and her mindset was still relatively immature.
The other Iwagakure's elders and Elite Jonin had faces filled with humiliation.
Being men, they certainly noticed that Makoto's gaze occasionally glanced over their village's Legs Kage.
The bullying was utterly unbearable: not only trampling on their village's dignity but also openly coveting their village's flower.
Makoto crossed his legs and put his feet directly on the desk. He first pointed at Kitsuchi:
"From today onwards, you will be the Fourth Tsuchikage."
Hearing this, Kitsuchi was slightly stunned and raised his head in disbelief.
'I become the Tsuchikage?'
Up until just now, he had been convinced that Makoto would assign a Konoha's Ninja to take over Iwagakure. Wouldn't that be easier for Makoto?
But Makoto's next sentence made Kitsuchi understand why.
Makoto pointed at Kurotsuchi:
"She goes to Konoha as a hostage."
'Good grief, so that's what he was waiting for.'