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Chapter 201 - Chapter 201 - How Dare You?!

The combined shinobi forces of the Four Great Nations were advancing at lightning speed.

Especially the nearly five-thousand-strong strike force led by Namikaze Minato and the Third Raikage's son, A.

With the high-speed capabilities of their steel warships, they reached the coastline guarded by Kirigakure's militant faction by 3 a.m. the next morning.

Under the command of Nara Shikaku and others at headquarters, these handpicked elite—mostly speed-specialized shinobi—used their mobility to its fullest advantage.

They launched a surprise night raid on Kirigakure's encampment.

If not for the White Zetsu, who hardly slept and remained highly vigilant even at night, this ambush might've crushed the entire forward detachment of Kirigakure's forces.

Following the successful strike, Minato and A wasted no time. Two hours later, they struck the southern coastline of the Land of Water, delivering another devastating blow.

After inflicting heavy casualties, the squad once again vanished into the sea under Minato and A's cover.

For nearly an entire day, Kirigakure's forces remained on edge.

Large numbers of White Zetsu in the rear, under Uchiha Hikari's control, rushed to the front lines to brace for another attack.

Yet the five-thousand-strong strike force didn't engage any other front directly.

Instead, when night fell, they repeatedly showed up near different strongholds.

Each time the Kirigakure shinobi scrambled to respond and confront them, the enemy would use their superior mobility to vanish again—only to harass another frontline.

Two days of this relentless harassment left the Kirigakure forces utterly exhausted.

It was only thanks to the naturally high stamina of shinobi that they hadn't collapsed already. If they were ordinary troops, they'd have broken before a real battle even began.

The militant leaders of Kirigakure held several meetings and finally agreed: this harassment tactic could go on for several more days.

After repeatedly requesting reinforcements from Uchiha Hikari, they ordered all shinobi on the frontlines to begin rotating rest cycles.

They also dispatched scout teams—ninja with water-based summoning beasts—to track down the elusive "vanguard force."

But before they could locate the attackers, a giant tortoise, as massive as an island, suddenly materialized right in the middle of a previously raided encampment.

The ground quaked with a deafening roar.

Countless tents were flattened, crushing nearly a thousand Kirigakure shinobi who had been resting, along with thousands of White Zetsu soldiers.

This was even with some of the White Zetsu reacting quickly and escaping underground with their natural abilities.

Otherwise, the death toll could've easily doubled.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the back of the enormous tortoise were over forty-five thousand members of the Shinobi Alliance. As the tortoise landed, they let out a thunderous battle cry that shook the sea and sky.

Led by Ōnoki and the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, they charged into the disoriented ranks of Kirigakure and White Zetsu.

"You seriously came up with using Flying Thunder God to teleport this big a thing?" Yamanaka Shinno muttered, still fuming at Nara Shikaku's tactical decision.

Teleporting forty-five thousand people plus a tortoise the size of an island—even if it was less than fifty nautical miles—was an outrageous use of chakra.

Only Shinno could've pulled it off.

Even if you gave the task to Minato or Tobirama, they'd drop dead before finishing something of that scale.

"Make sure to move the tortoise back into the sea. Keeping this big guy alive isn't easy, and we can't let Kirigakure or the White Zetsu take it out. Minato, Lord Tobirama—once the First Hokage and Lady Tsunade are done summoning their beasts, get them back to HQ. Fugaku—you assist Orochimaru..." Shikaku ignored Shinno's complaints, calmly giving out new orders as the attack commenced.

On both the northern and southern flanks, massive summoned beasts were dropped directly into enemy camps, forcing open the battlefronts, followed by elite forces driving the assault.

While these surprise attacks weren't as effective as the tortoise assault, the sheer gap in high-level combat ability meant the results were still overwhelmingly in the Alliance's favor.

As long as the shadow clones Kushina had distributed continued feeding sensory data to the whole army, the White Zetsu's shapeshifting tricks wouldn't work.

Victory still leaned heavily toward the Allied Forces.

Placing a hand on the tortoise's shell, Shinno waited until every last shinobi had disembarked. Then he enveloped the tortoise in space-time jutsu and teleported it several kilometers offshore.

In a blink, he reappeared on the warship's deck.

Within two minutes, Minato and Tobirama had returned as well, bringing back Hashirama and Tsunade after their slug and salamander summons.

Minato headed back to the frontlines, while Tobirama stayed behind with all the Jinchūriki aboard the expedition fleet.

By now, the warship hovered over a mountain shrouded in mist, southeast of Kirigakure.

Standing on the edge of the deck, Shinno, Hashirama, Madara, Tsunade, the Third Raikage A, Ōnoki, and Uchiha Izuna gazed down at the fog-covered peak.

Meanwhile, Tobirama, Kushina, Killer Bee, Roshi, Han, Yugito, and Fū entered a multi-layered barrier that had been prepared in advance.

Even though this left the main battlefield short five top-tier fighters, taking extra precautions was wise—especially with Isshiki now in play.

The Divine Tree, a creation of the Ōtsutsuki clan designed to drain planetary energy, was naturally under their control.

If it were any other Ōtsutsuki...

...

Before the Divine Tree was revived, seizing control of White Zetsu, who had been created to combat the Ōtsutsuki, would've been tough. But now that the Divine Tree had sprouted—planted by Ōtsutsuki Isshiki himself—and Kaguya had been tricked and sacrificed to become the Ten-Tails' vessel...

That man's emergence meant Hikari had lost control over the Zetsu army. Even if Madara showed up and used his Rinnegan to fight for dominance, it wouldn't be easy.

The only reason Isshiki hadn't taken over was because he still viewed Hikari as a useful pawn.

"The Six-Tails is down there, right?" the Third Raikage A asked, his expression tense as he stared at the mountain.

To maintain morale after the Hidden Mist Village rebellion, the villages had spun a narrative about the terror of the 100,000 White Zetsu.

Then, once the ninja populace had psychologically aligned under the threat, they revealed a plan: gather all the Tailed Beast chakra, activate the Divine Tree, and eliminate the White Zetsu in one fell swoop.

It should've worked.

But who could've predicted that this would draw out an Ōtsutsuki who had hidden for nearly a thousand years?

"Yeah," Shinno's eyes gleamed with pale white light as he casually tossed a dozen kunai marked with Flying Thunder God seals into the valley below.

Thanks to Hikari's covert intel, they already knew what Isshiki was planning.

According to him, even activating the Divine Tree with a small amount of Tailed Beast chakra would be enough to undo the seal on Kaguya.

In her weakened state, Kaguya would be the perfect "vessel" for him.

If she proved strong enough, he'd have her fight the Alliance to wear her down, then strike from the shadows and mark her with a Kāma, aiming to seize her body.

If she was too weak, he'd just take over immediately.

Either way, with his own power combined with Kaguya's, even without the full Ten-Tails, the Allied Forces would be like ants before him.

It sounded... suspiciously dumb.

The moment Shinno heard it, he realized this was just a flimsy excuse. Kāma was basically a compressed file of one's genetics, bloodline, will, memory, and abilities.

And when it came to Ōtsutsuki, power flowed from top down—there was no such thing as a weaker one overpowering a stronger.

Kaguya had once lost to Isshiki, sure—but after eating the Divine Fruit, she'd advanced to a whole new bloodline tier.

Isshiki, who had been sacrificed, was now just a Kekkei Genkai level being. What made him think he could take over someone at the Kekkei Mōra level?

Ridiculous.

If he had at least claimed he could absorb Kaguya's chakra while she was weakened, Shinno might've believed him.

Even Momoshiki in the original series had turned Kinshiki into a chakra fruit and eaten him.

Isshiki having some hidden ability not shown in canon wouldn't be a stretch.

But no—this plan was nonsense.

So Shinno consulted Lady Orochi, who held their core scientific knowledge, and Shikaku, with his 190 IQ.

They agreed: Isshiki didn't want Kaguya. He was targeting a "vessel."

Given that the Kāma required a strong body and deep mastery of natural energy...

Aside from the newly revived Hashirama and Madara, the only real candidates were Tsunade with her Sage Body, Kushina with her magical transformation...

And Yamanaka Shinno himself.

In fact, Shinno was the most likely target.

"How dare he..." Shinno muttered, shaking his head and giving the others a nod.

Under the effect of the Flying Thunder God technique, the group of seven teleported in a flash—appearing before the cave where the Six-Tails, Saiken, was sealed.

...

A deep, echoing hum resounded from the cave, chains rattling in the dark.

The Kirigakure guards stationed there wasted no time—they attacked immediately.

CRACK—!

Lightning boomed as the hot-tempered Third Raikage A lashed out with fury, sending the enemy tumbling with screams of agony.

BOOM—

Shinno waved a hand and summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path from his limitless realm. The colossal statue crushed the hollowed-out mountain cavern.

Madara leapt onto its head.

With a rapid set of hand seals, black chains burst from the statue's mouth, wrapping around the stunned Six-Tails and dragging it toward the gaping maw.

Shinno then tossed the Amber Purifying Pot—now filled with the chakra of other Tailed Beasts—into the statue's mouth.

The statue began to morph rapidly, having absorbed the full Six-Tails, the Seven-Tails, and the chakra of the other seven.

It transformed into a giant one-eyed beast, crouched low.

Ten tails flailed wildly behind it, demolishing everything around it.

It let out a roar that shook the heavens—

"ROAAAR—!!"

Ten-Tails, First Form.

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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