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At the exact moment that massive Chakra surged skyward, every Ninja in Sunagakure with even a slight sensory ability turned their heads towards the direction from which the Tailed Beast Chakra had erupted.
"Thud."
Izawa's head landed on the ground, his face filled with unwillingness, while his wife was cleanly split into two.
Ebizo knelt on the ground, barely clinging to life, with several scattered puppets lying askew beside him.
At this moment, Hatake Sakumo's eyes were bloodshot, and he had several new injuries on his body.
The steel factory in front of him had been reduced to a barren wasteland by the intense explosion; the Konoha Ninja and some Sand Ninja who had rushed in earlier had all perished in that earth-shattering explosion, completely vanishing.
However, Hatake Sakumo could no longer concern himself with these matters, turning his head instead towards the Sunagakure gate, which he had just passed through.
His brows were tightly furrowed.
"A Jinchuriki?"
"Didn't Anbu send word that Ichibi Shukaku had already been taken to the front lines by the Third Kazekage?"
"How could it be in Sunagakure…"
A bad premonition involuntarily rose in Hatake Sakumo's heart.
In the eyes of many Hokage fans in his previous life, mere Jinchuriki and Tailed Beasts were not considered powerful weapons.
Whether it was the Akatsuki Organization, specifically responsible for capturing Tailed Beasts, or the Third Raikage, who could single-handedly fight Eight-Tails, or the Uchiha, who could see for ten thousand years with a single glance, or Senju Hashirama, who was invincible beneath the Six Paths, all had proven that so-called Tailed Beasts were merely special weapons with immense Chakra reserves and extraordinary destructive power.
For the truly top-tier Ninja in the entire Ninja World, these minor characters were nothing significant and posed no threat to their lives.
However, the very fact that Senju Hashirama had equally distributed these entities among the Villages during the First Five Kage Summit already demonstrated their fundamental importance.
Do not overlook one point.
For the vast majority of Ninja in this Ninja World, and even for some top-tier powerhouses, they are unable to inflict truly fatal blows on these Tailed Beasts when suddenly ambushed.
In fact, sometimes, to prevent these monsters from rampaging, they even have to sacrifice their own lives.
Under such circumstances, a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki appearing on one's own battlefield naturally serves as a pillar of stability, even possessing powerful deterrence comparable to a Kage-level powerhouse.
A desperate comeback, all in this one move!
Evidently, at this very moment, Ichibi Shukaku, which usually caused the entire Sunagakure so much apprehension, immediately became the hope of all Sunagakure Ninja upon its appearance.
Many of the surviving Sand Ninja nearby, upon sensing its Chakra, almost instinctively cheered.
"Shukaku! It's Shukaku's Chakra!"
"Has the Jinchuriki returned to the Village?"
"Excellent! Damn it! Get rid of those bastard Konoha Ninja, Shukaku!"
All sorts of voices rang out from various parts of Sunagakure, including even those who had once lost loved ones to the Tailed Beast.
But at this moment, everyone truly felt the real meaning of the Village harboring a Tailed Beast.
Hatake Sakumo's expression was extremely grave, as he subconsciously sensed the familiar Chakra near the Tailed Beast.
"If the intelligence is correct."
"This generation's Ichibi Shukaku seems to be…"
"A Perfect Jinchuriki?"
He had to get there quickly.
At the same time, at the Sunagakure gate.
Namikaze Minato, having almost exhausted all his strength to move Ichibi Shukaku this short distance, knelt on the ground, gasping for breath.
Because the Chakra interference in that instant was too intense, he almost failed to complete the Flying Thunder God Technique.
However, at this moment, he also understood the reason why Kiri-kun was so desperate to have him move this old monk here.
"Buzz—"
Azure Chakra, like a flame, continuously boiled and ignited from his body, flowing skyward like steam, its vastness almost endless.
A dark red Tailed Beast Chakra cloak gradually enveloped the old monk's body, with tiny bubbles rising within it like carbonated water, constantly bursting on the surface of the Chakra cloak, making 'pop' 'pop' sounds.
Just standing before him, Namikaze Minato felt as if his entire body was being oppressed by an invisible aura, and even the air he breathed became heavy and scorching; the intensely spreading negative emotions seemed to fill his entire brain in one breath, making it impossible to think clearly.
"Young man, it must be very painful, isn't it?"
"I apologize."
The kind-faced old monk still had his eyes lowered, his expression filled with compassion.
In the current situation, if anyone else had said this, it would likely have seemed arrogant, but coming from the mouth of this elder, Minato inexplicably felt that he truly still held compassion for his enemy.
"Shukaku, you see, it doesn't really want to bear this power."
"It is a child of simple nature."
"However, just like us humans who have been fighting for countless years… it also has no choice."
"Race, ecology, stance, enemy and ally… these were all determined for us by the Sage from the moment of birth, and can no longer be changed, leading to such a situation."
"Just as this old man has been a vegetarian and chanted Buddhist scriptures for decades, yet still has no choice but to stand against you from the Village's perspective."
"Konoha's young man…"
Bunpuku still maintained the posture of clasped hands, his body enveloped by Tailed Beast Chakra.
Even though he was recognized by the Tailed Beast itself, he must have been constantly enduring a pressure that mortals could hardly bear, like being scorched by flames.
However, the old monk's expression remained unchanged, looking at him with a serene demeanor:
"If possible, could I ask the Konoha members to stop here?"
"In this Village, there are only old people and young children left, who have no combat ability."
Having practiced silent meditation for decades, Bunpuku's voice was already hoarse and dry like iron and stone, and ordinarily, only Shukaku could speak with him.
Now, opening his mouth, even the movement of his lips seemed a bit difficult.
Yet, it was for the lives of his fellow villagers.
"…"
Namikaze Minato, whose Chakra was almost exhausted, gasped for several breaths, still forcing himself to stand up from the ground, tightly clutching his specialized three-pronged Kunai, his tone unprecedentedly calm and gentle:
"When the Sand Ninja invaded the Land of Fire, did they ever show mercy to our countrymen?"
"Going further back, if Shodai-sama hadn't let you off the hook and treated you with equality and courtesy back then, instead of killing and eliminating you all, where would the Land of Wind and Sunagakure be now?"
"What's the point of saying such useless things now?"
As his words fell, he unhesitatingly raised the Kunai in his hand towards the old man in front of him, its blade glinting with cold light.
Only battle remained.
"Alas."
Although he knew this effort was futile and the young man in front of him spoke the truth, Bunpuku couldn't help but sigh deeply, a sense of indescribable sorrow in his heart.
"If that is the case, then there is only this one path."
"As a monk, this old man does not understand the techniques of Ninjutsu well; what I can offer is only my martial arts and the companion who has been with me my entire life."
"Shukaku, please lend your power to this old man."
It wasn't until his words fell that a very impatient voice came from within his body:
"So long-winded! You should have done this earlier!"
"How can someone recognized by me be so indecisive?"
"Take it quickly!"
Almost at the instant this voice fell, Namikaze Minato instinctively perceived that the Tailed Beast Chakra cloak, which had been fluctuating on the old man's body, suddenly solidified.
Bunpuku's body, which was already decaying and frail, seemed to return to its youthful state under the immense Chakra's augmentation.
He slowly took a step forward, his Ninja sandals imprinted on the sand, assuming a standard combat stance.
Compassion, pity, benevolence.
These were indeed the essence of his inner self.
However, he also had his stance as a part of Sunagakure.
"Please be careful, young man."
As his words fell, an intense sense of crisis suddenly surged in Namikaze Minato's heart.
The sudden rush of wind instantly overwhelmed his entire hearing, a violent and fierce roar deafening him.
The seemingly hunched Bunpuku suddenly opened his eyes, and in that brief instant, his figure shed all the sonic boom rings behind him, appearing almost abruptly before him.
His withered arm was wreathed in a massive amount of burning Chakra, even his wide sleeves were suddenly torn apart by the air, and his fist pointed directly at Namikaze Minato's face.
"Hōjōken!"
A Bodhisattva with lowered brows, a demon with furious eyes.
The immense Chakra imbued this seemingly simple punch with supreme power.
The mastery displayed in this single punch surpassed that of most Taijutsu-type Ninja Namikaze Minato had ever seen in his life.
"Flying Thunder…"
Chakra, refined at ultra-high speed, circulated within his body.
However, there was suddenly an instant of interference.
Namikaze Minato didn't have time to move his eyeballs to observe his surroundings, but within his sensory range, several tiny dust particles had somehow appeared around him, almost clinging to his body.
In that instant, he understood.
The cooperation between this Sand Jinchuriki and Ichibi Shukaku was seamless.
However, before he could forcefully activate his Chakra—
"Rumble—!!"
His withered arm extended forward, and the surging Tailed Beast Chakra struck out in sync.
The sand within several hundred meters in front of Bunpuku was instantly cleared, forming a straight trench as if carved by a chisel.
However, it struck empty air.
As if sensing something, Bunpuku's lowered eyes slowly lifted, looking to his side.
There stood a slender figure, holding the exhausted Namikaze Minato as if he were a handbag.
"Thud."
And then threw him back onto the ground.
Sawara Kiri looked at him with his azure "Six Eyes," observing the highly condensed Chakra cloak on Bunpuku's body, which was completely fused with him, and said with some surprise:
"A Perfect Jinchuriki?"
"It's truly surprising that Sunagakure didn't release you earlier."
Bunpuku's voice remained calm and steady: "That is only because this old man did not wish to cause more bloodshed for the Village, nothing more."
"Even now, if you Konoha Ninja are willing to retreat, this old man will not pursue further."
"The Village's important facilities have been completely destroyed, rendering it unable to continue the war; you should have achieved your goal by now."
"This old man's only wish is to protect the people in the Village."
Sawara Kiri tilted his head, looking at him, then suddenly smiled: "Just because you want something, you must achieve it?"
"Naive."
At this moment, his voice was slightly low, his azure eyes lifted, looking at Bunpuku's wrinkled, aged face, seeming to carry a rare hint of anger, yet also amusement:
"Even a guy like me, who feels as strong as a monster now, had to advance by stepping on thousands of lives to get here, to destroy your entire Land of Wind's logistical system."
"In this batch of assault troops, there were even many people whose names I had memorized over the past three months, who didn't appear at the base of Mount Moro on the day of the rendezvous."
"But I never feel their deaths were in vain."
"Because by myself, even if I forcefully reached Sunagakure, the threat to the entire Land of Wind would only be confined to a small corner."
"Without the sacrifices of those people, perhaps even you, this Jinchuriki, would not have appeared here at all."
"So…"
He raised his fist, gesturing to the old monk opposite him:
"This punch, two thousand lives."
"Can you block it?"
Bunpuku suddenly opened his eyes wide, looking straight at him.
The moment Sawara Kiri's words fell, his left foot abruptly stepped forward.
Almost the instant he took that step, Ichibi Shukaku, which was nearly perfectly fused with Bunpuku, frantically warned him in his mind:
"Stinky monk! Don't take it head-on!"
However, Bunpuku stood calmly in place, like a city wall in the desert, his thin, withered body forming a barrier between him and Sunagakure.
The sandstorm in his vision, like a black sandstorm that occurs once every decade in the Land of Wind's great desert, swept up from the distant horizon, surging towards his location.
The figure at the very front, moving at an extreme speed, left the endless dust behind, leading the charge.
The moment the Limitless was activated, the sense of distance between spaces seemed to be compressed to the extreme in that brief moment, even Sawara Kiri's senses became vaguely blurred, only the dust and sand beneath his feet erupted with a roar, kicking up dust, and the ground where he stepped even faintly bore vitrified, crystalline traces.
In the instant he vanished and reappeared, Sawara Kiri's slender figure had already closed in on Bunpuku, swinging his fist, his arm seemingly tearing a vacuum arc in mid-air.
"Boom—!"
A dull yet extremely oppressive explosion, accompanied by a sonic boom, erupted.
Even before Bunpuku began to move, the floating sand around him had already, in advance, followed the Magnet Release's sensing to obstruct his view, forming a thin sand shield.
However, it utterly failed to block the fist, which arrived like a meteor, shattering into a scattered mist of sand.
The old man's figure was sent flying and tumbling across the sand, bouncing up and down repeatedly.
The Tailed Beast Chakra cloak covering his front was also instantly pierced, creating a large void, but it continuously repaired itself under Ichibi Shukaku's massive Chakra supply, and his body half-crouched on the ground.
However, he still slowly stood up from the ground, under the seemingly endless supply of Tailed Beast Chakra.
He now understood the resolve of the young man before him, and the immense pressure he bore while fighting.
"But…"
"Hidden Sand has nurtured this old man for decades, and the grace of Shamon-sama's teachings must be repaid, and Shukaku's life in this world is entrusted to this old man's hands."
Bunpuku muttered in a deep voice, as if convincing himself.
And so, he slowly resumed his combat stance once more, the Tailed Beast Chakra cloak on his body burning even more fiercely, scorching the heavens and the earth.
He was originally a monk, and in this life, he detested all forms of conflict and killing the most.
At this moment, however, he had no choice but to go against his own will, letting out a long sigh:
"Just as you advance by stepping on the lives of your comrades."
"How can this old man not be bearing the lives of thousands of Sunagakure residents?"
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for dozens of advance chapters for over a dozen fics | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter