"Sorry!", Temari quickly apologized to Aoba, "Gaara actually didn't want this either, but this was the village's mission…"
"Temari, you also don't want Gaara to get hurt, right?", Aoba suddenly said.
"Wh-what?", Temari was still somewhat dazed after hearing Aoba's words.
"You are currently enemies attempting to invade Konoha,"Aoba's expression instantly turned cold, "Most people here are civilians. If I hadn't stopped Shukaku, do you know how many people would have died here?"
"You wouldn't think a simple 'sorry' can just wipe all this away, right?"
Upon hearing this, and seeing this kind of expression on Aoba's face for the first time, Temari panicked immediately, and her body instinctively stepped back a few steps.
Beside her, Kankuro even directly collapsed to the ground.
This was the person who had so easily subdued Shukaku. Even that monster was no match for him, they might lose their lives at any moment if they weren't careful.
"S-sorry!", Temari bit her lip, "As long as you're willing to spare Gaara, I'll do anything."
"Really, anything?", Aoba asked with a stern face.
"As long as you're willing to spare Gaara," Temari didn't want Gaara to die like this. Even if Gaara had a bad personality and had never even called her "sister" once, he was still her younger brother.
"In that case, the three of you are now my captives. As for how to deal with you specifically, that'll depend on the teacher's decision."
"Huh?"
Temari and Kankuro were both a bit stunned.
"Huh what? You didn't really think nothing would happen to you guys, right?"
A playful expression appeared on Aoba's face, "Once you've done something, you have to pay the price."
"...", Temari and Kankuro said nothing more.
In this kind of situation, just staying alive was already success.
The war of shinobi had always been cruel.
———
"Aoba actually subdued a Tailed Beast by himself?"
"Worthy of being the Hokage's disciple."
"Aoba already has such powerful strength now, maybe he'll be the next Hokage."
In the stands, seeing Aoba single-handedly subdue the Tailed Beast on the field, many Konoha shinobi expressed their admiration.
The spectators who had originally rushed to leave the stadium were no longer crowding like before.
Tenten, Ino, and several little girls and staff responsible for maintaining order and evacuating the crowd all let out a sigh of relief.
The Konoha shinobi who had been struggling against the Sunagakure shinobi also felt the pressure greatly relieved.
Shukaku could be said to be Sunagakure's greatest trump card this time.
Now that trump card was gone, many Sunagakure shinobi who had been fighting with conviction also lost hope of victory.
Their moves became increasingly reckless.
"Wait! What is that?"
"There's another Tailed Beast?"
But just as the Konoha shinobi had relaxed, in the spectator stands, Yugito Nii, who was fighting against Danzo's Anbu team, actively transformed into the Two-Tails, Matatabi.
She entered a semi–Tailed Beast transformation state. With a single blow, she sent Danzo flying.
That was a petite cat demon covered in blue chakra flames.
Clearly, after witnessing Aoba swiftly subdue Shukaku, Yugito had grown nervous as well and decided not to hold back, opting for a quick battle.
"Samui, Mabui, we'll have to temporarily give up on those two Byakugan girls for now."
Yugito said to Samui and Mabui, "Let's first head to the Konoha prison and rescue our people!"
"Understood!"
The two immediately agreed.
After seeing One-Tail dealt with so quickly, they too had lost confidence.
Having made their decision, Yugito immediately entered a full-tailed state.
Aoba looked at the suddenly appearing Two-Tails without feeling surprised or troubled.
Rather, if she didn't show up, he might've been more annoyed.
Aoba glanced at the transformed Two-Tails, then at the Konoha shinobi around who were obviously struggling.
He handed Gaara back to Temari and Kankuro.
"Take care of him, and don't wander off later."
"You're not capturing us?", Temari, after catching Gaara, looked at Aoba with surprise.
From his words, he seemed to be allowing them to move freely.
"There's no need."
Aoba smiled at her and put his hands together.
"Mokuton…"
"Wood Human Technique!!"
RUMBLE!!
The ground suddenly began to shake. After a tremor, thick trees grew up from the earth and intertwined, finally forming a giant wooden figure.
Standing thirty to forty meters tall, the wood human was about the same size as Shukaku earlier.
Aoba stood on top of the wooden figure's head, overlooking the scene below from above.
"That's… Mokuton?"
Many Konoha Anbu who had been rushing toward the Two-Tails were instantly shocked by Aoba's current technique.
'This jutsu… seemed familiar…'
All Konoha shinobi who had studied at the academy knew what this was.
It was the jutsu of the God of Shinobi.
"That's Mokuton? I'm not seeing things, right?"
"Aoba can use Mokuton?"
But as many people were surprised, their gazes shifted toward Yamato.
Originally using Mokuton to bind several Sunagakure jonin, Yamato first looked at his own small twig, then looked at the massive wooden figure on the field, then silently put away the twig and replaced it with rope.
Aoba didn't care about the exclamations of the crowd.
He looked toward Yugito, who was wrapped in blue flames and frozen in place.
At this moment, because she hadn't entered full–Tailed Beast transformation, only a layer of Tailed Beast cloak surrounded her.
Though her size had grown, she was still tiny before the wood human.
And in front of her, Danzo and a few Anbu clearly had taken serious injuries.
Aoba narrowed his eyes. "Two-Tails, your power is too strong! Sorry, I can't allow you to rampage in my village!"
After speaking, Aoba stretched out his right hand.
At the same time, the wood human beneath him also stretched out its hand, grabbing toward the stunned Yugito!
"Yugito! Run!", Samui and Mabui instantly snapped out of it and shouted at Yugito.
Yugito had the Two-Tails inside her. Any Tailed Beast was a vital power for its village.
It absolutely could not be lost.
What they thought would be a simple opportunistic operation turned out to meet terrifying resistance from Konoha.
Yugito also came to her senses instantly.
But facing that terrifying giant hand, panic still rose in her heart. She immediately tried to escape, wanting to dodge the hand. But no matter what, she couldn't get out of the palm's range.
In just a blink, she was caught in the enemy's grasp.
[T/N: Well, it was a good development. Let's just hope, they don't mess it up and take full advantage of the situation. 🤞]
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