Chapter 80 – The Toad vs. the Tanuki
Pinned down by the Fourth Kazekage and unable to break free, the Third Hokage urgently shouted:
"Jiraiya! Stop Shukaku, quickly!"
Orochimaru was in the same predicament—locked in a fierce stalemate against Chiyo, unable to spare even a moment.
Only Jiraiya held a decisive advantage against Ebizō. With the mighty Gamabunta summoned to his side, Ebizō had no hope of keeping him occupied should Jiraiya decide to disengage.
Even without the Third's command, Jiraiya already knew what had to be done. With a giant summon under his control, he was the most suitable person to intercept the rampaging One-Tail.
Without hesitation, he abandoned Ebizō and leapt onto Gamabunta's back. Together, they bounded toward Shukaku.
With a single leap, Gamabunta covered dozens of meters, vanishing from Ebizō's sight in an instant.
Ebizō briefly considered imitating his sister and the Fourth Kazekage by pinning Jiraiya down to buy time. But he quickly realized he had no chance of matching the speed of that massive toad, not with only two half-broken puppets left at his disposal. With a sigh, he gave up the thought.
A few heavy jumps later, Gamabunta landed squarely before Shukaku. The ground shook violently, and the lumbering beast finally turned its attention toward the toad, the sound of his arrival impossible to ignore.
Jiraiya's expression hardened.
"Bunta, be careful. This is one of the Nine Tailed Beasts. Even if it only has a single tail, its power is beyond imagination."
Gamabunta's usually brash demeanor was gone. He fixed his eyes on the massive tanuki with uncharacteristic caution. Though he was the largest and most skilled sage of Mount Myōboku, the sheer size and aura of this monstrous beast weighed heavily on him.
The reputation of the Nine Tails' kin was no trivial matter. Gamabunta tightened his grip on the massive tantō strapped to his back—its blade the size of a human skyscraper—and held it in front of him. Sweat trickled from his enormous jaw, splattering onto the ground to form puddles large enough to drown a man.
Shukaku narrowed his eyes, a mocking grin spreading across his sandy face.
"Well, finally—a worthy opponent. Those little bugs down there weren't even worth noticing. But you, ugly toad—you might last a little longer."
Being called an ugly toad made Gamabunta's temper flare. He barked back without hesitation:
"Then let's see how much strength the so-called weakest of the Nine Tailed Beasts really has."
That word—weakest—stabbed directly at Shukaku's pride. His grin twisted into rage.
"You filthy fool! You know nothing! A beast's power isn't measured by how many tails it has!"
"You ignorant toad—you've pissed me off! I'll tear you limb from limb! Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!"
With a loud thump to his belly, Shukaku launched a compressed blast of air straight at Gamabunta.
"Bunta! Dodge!" Jiraiya shouted from atop his head.
Gamabunta reacted quickly, springing high into the air to evade the attack. In the same motion, he swung his enormous tantō downward toward Shukaku's head.
But Shukaku only sneered. Such an attack wasn't even worth dodging.
He casually raised one massive hand and caught the blade mid-swing. The sharp edge didn't even break his skin.
With a contemptuous flick, Shukaku hurled both the blade and Gamabunta attached to it dozens—no, hundreds—of meters away. The toad nearly flattened a swath of Leaf and Sand shinobi beneath him when he landed.
Gamabunta twisted his body mid-air, managing to land on his feet, though his tantō had slipped from his grasp at some point during the throw.
Feeling the lingering weight of Shukaku's power, Gamabunta's face grew grim.
"As expected of a Tailed Beast… what terrifying strength."
That earlier strike hadn't even scratched Shukaku. Worse, the beast's counterattack had been so overwhelming that Gamabunta lost his grip on his tantō.
The toad had barely steadied himself when Shukaku's voice thundered once again:
"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three massive air bullets ripped through the battlefield, all aimed directly at Gamabunta.
Still off balance, Gamabunta had no time to dodge. In desperation, he flashed through hand signs.
"Water Release: Iron Cannonball!"
Two pressurized blasts of water roared from his mouth, colliding with Shukaku's attack midair.
The impact detonated like a storm. Torrents of spray erupted outward, drenching half the battlefield. Leaf and Sand shinobi alike, locked in their own clashes, suddenly found themselves soaked to the bone.
But one air bullet had slipped through. With no chance to evade, Gamabunta and Jiraiya were struck head-on, blasted dozens of meters back.
Jiraiya shook off the impact, clutching onto his summon. "Bunta! Are you alright?"
Gamabunta grimaced, rubbing his aching jaw.
"Damn it… took a direct hit. That jutsu carries far too much chakra—even I can't withstand many more of those."
Fortunately, his hide was as tough as stone. Aside from throbbing pain, he was still battle-ready. But his anger toward Shukaku burned hotter, tempered with a growing sense of dread.
Wasting no time, Gamabunta retrieved his fallen tantō and squared off against the monstrous tanuki again.
This time, he fought cautiously. Instead of clashing head-on, he relied on agility, weaving around Shukaku's sweeping strikes and searching for openings to retaliate. Yet every blow he landed glanced harmlessly off the beast's armored body. His attacks simply had no effect.
From atop his head, Jiraiya called out grimly:
"This isn't working. We can't beat Shukaku like this. The only way is to wake the jinchūriki and seal him back inside."
He glanced toward Shukaku's forehead, where Bunpuku lay slumped in deep slumber, the medium binding the beast.
Gamabunta frowned.
"But to wake that old man, you'd have to get onto Shukaku's head. That means I'd need to pin him down… and I can't. His claws, his teeth—there's nothing I can hold onto. His strength is too great. I can't restrain him."
Jiraiya clenched his jaw. His usual arsenal wouldn't be enough. The realization left him with only one path forward—he would have to draw upon senjutsu.
"Then keep stalling him," Jiraiya said firmly. "I'm going to summon the Two Great Sage Toads. With their help, I can use Sage Arts against this monster."
Placing his hands together, he began to gather chakra for the summoning.
Gamabunta nodded. He understood—if Jiraiya was reaching for senjutsu, this was truly their last resort. Tightening his grip on the tantō, he pressed forward once more to keep Shukaku occupied.
From a distance, Nan's true body watched the battle unfold, every detail etched into his mind.
When Jiraiya first summoned Gamabunta, Nan had felt a flicker of hope—that perhaps the Toad Boss could control Shukaku. After all, in the original course of events, during Orochimaru and Sunagakure's assault on Konoha, Naruto had summoned Gamabunta to stop Shukaku. With clever timing, he'd woken Gaara and ended the rampage before Konoha suffered irreparable losses. Gamabunta had even severed Shukaku's arm in that clash.
But what Nan saw now was different. Jiraiya and Gamabunta together could barely hold their ground. Not only had they failed to wound Shukaku, they couldn't even pierce his hide.
Could it be that Jiraiya was weaker than Naruto? Impossible.
No—the difference lay in Shukaku himself. In the original events, Gamabunta had fought a partly-transformed Gaara, wielding the One-Tail's power in a pseudo-tailed form. That arm he cut was never Shukaku's true flesh, but sand given monstrous shape.
Now, however, Jiraiya faced the fully unleashed Tailed Beast in its natural domain. Shukaku, born of desert winds and sandstorms, was strongest here, amidst the very environment that birthed him. His size dwarfed even Gamabunta, his might multiplied by the sands around him.
It was no wonder Jiraiya's strikes left not a single mark.
Here, they were up against the true Shukaku—the living incarnation of the desert's wrath.