Chapter 460: The Runaway Tailed Beast
Whoosh!!
Mugetsu's wide range Fire Release surged forward again, forcing many of the Mist ninja to combine their Water Release just to hold it back.
Konoha immediately seized the opening and counterattacked.
"Flash!"
Kakashi focused his breathing, converting the chakra he had gathered into Lightning Release chakra to stimulate his cells. He shot through the battlefield like a bolt of lightning, and wherever he passed, a Mist ninja was cut cleanly in two.
"Eight Gates, Gate of Limit, open!"
Guy opened the fifth gate without hesitation. Chakra roared out of him, and his speed and strength climbed again. Every punch and kick slammed into the Mist ninja around him like a cannon blast.
At Guy's current level, opening five gates without activating Rock Breathing Chakra Mode did not put an excessive burden on his body.
Shisui refused to fall behind. His blood red eyes swept across the Mist ranks, and in the next moment, Phantom Shisui clones surrounded the enemy. Their bodies flickered between solid and ethereal, making them maddeningly difficult to deal with.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet Jutsu!"
Obito pushed Flame Breathing to its limit, gathering chakra deep in his throat, converting it into blazing flames, then expelling it in one breath. Sheets of fire rolled out like a sea, then split and twisted into fire dragons that surged through the Mist formation.
It was not as overwhelming as Mugetsu's fire, but on the battlefield it was still striking, and even stronger than the Fire Release of many Konoha jonin.
Under Konoha's fierce counterattack, the Mist force centered around Hozuki Mangetsu was pressed down. One Mist ninja after another fell.
Before Mangetsu died, the battlefield had felt like a balanced scale.
Mugetsu killing Mangetsu was like dropping a heavy weight onto Konoha's side, and the scale of victory began to tip, slowly but unmistakably.
Yagura's face grew darker with every passing second. Even with the Three Tails jinchuriki, Konoha was not a force to take lightly. Most of their jonin were here, so he could not simply decapitate Orochimaru the way Mugetsu had done to Mangetsu.
No matter how unwilling he was to admit it, Yagura understood something clearly.
Hidden Mist had lost this battle, even with a massive intelligence advantage.
"Use that," Yagura said to the Three Tails jinchuriki, who was currently battering Manda, after he forced Orochimaru back with his hooked iron rod.
Yagura was not reckless. Even though he believed the Mist force with a jinchuriki had a high chance of victory, he was not arrogant enough to think it was guaranteed.
So he had prepared an answer for this outcome.
A jinchuriki has several states. The strongest is Full Tailed Beast Transformation, where the jinchuriki fully becomes the tailed beast while retaining self awareness, drawing out the beast's terrifying power and immense chakra to the maximum.
But not every jinchuriki could achieve it. It demanded extraordinary ability.
The current Three Tails jinchuriki could not. If he could, Yagura would have ordered the transformation long ago, and the battle would not have become so difficult.
However, there was a brutal shortcut.
Make the jinchuriki lose consciousness and let the tailed beast take over.
That also produced a full transformation, except the body was controlled by the tailed beast rather than the human.
The price was obvious.
Tailed beasts rarely had good relationships with humans. The moment one gained freedom, it would attack everything around it indiscriminately.
Yagura had no better option now.
This was Konoha's main base. If the tailed beast rampaged here, Konoha would bleed heavily no matter what.
The Three Tails jinchuriki nodded. Tailed beast chakra erupted from him, and he charged straight into Konoha's formation without dodging incoming jutsu or ninja tools.
No matter how lacking he was, he was still a jinchuriki. Konoha's ninja could not stop that charge.
The moment he crashed into their lines, the jinchuriki used a secret method to put his own consciousness to sleep.
Instantly, a terrifying chakra surged from within him.
The chakra went from intangible to tangible, swelling and forming, until it became a colossal turtle covered in sharp spikes, bearing three massive tails.
When it opened its blood red eyes, it looked across the battlefield and released a killing intent so thick it made people's skin crawl.
It had lived peacefully in the water, only to be captured, sealed, and imprisoned by humans. Its entire existence had become confinement.
Now it could finally move.
Isobu swung its three tails without restraint, lashing at the fighting ninja. Anyone who failed to dodge was smashed aside, blood spraying as they hit the ground and lay motionless, their fate unknown.
"Letting a tailed beast rampage on purpose is troublesome," Orochimaru muttered, his brow tightening.
He had once witnessed the Eight Tails go on a rampage. Even though a rampaging tailed beast was not as controlled or efficient as a true Full Tailed Beast Transformation, the sheer power and chakra behind it meant even mindless attacks created catastrophic destruction.
Yagura was making a desperate move. A tailed beast would not rampage forever, and once the jinchuriki recovered, the backlash would be severe.
[Name: Isobu]
[Chakra: 18,500,000]
Mugetsu appraised the transformed jinchuriki with curiosity. In this state, the appraisal no longer showed the human's name, only the tailed beast's. The chakra number was staggering.
Eighteen and a half million.
"As expected," Mugetsu thought. "A normal jinchuriki still can't fully draw on a tailed beast's chakra."
His mind flashed to the appraisal results he had seen on the Iwagakure battlefield. If he remembered correctly, Han and Roshi only had around five million chakra at their peak.
Mugetsu estimated that only someone fully acknowledged by their tailed beast, like Naruto with the Nine Tails, could truly use a tailed beast's chakra to its fullest.
"Retreat!" Yagura ordered, taking advantage of Isobu's chaos.
A rampaging tailed beast attacked indiscriminately. They were safe for the moment only because they were at a distance. If they did not leave now, they might get caught in a tailed beast ball along with Konoha.
"Water Release: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
Yagura gathered chakra and exhaled a thick, dense mist, covering his troops as they withdrew.
Orochimaru immediately countered with Wind Release, blowing the mist apart. Among the five nature transformations, Wind Release was his most proficient.
He had no intention of letting Yagura escape so easily. With an advantage, he wanted to wipe out as much of the enemy's remaining force as possible.
But at that moment, Isobu's sweeping tail forced Orochimaru to dodge, interrupting his attack.
Only then did Orochimaru truly understand how the Cloud ninja must have felt when the Eight Tails rampaged.
"Manda, go hold the Three Tails," Orochimaru ordered, intending to have Manda entangle it for a moment.
"Time's up. Don't forget my sacrifices," Manda replied coldly, then returned directly to Ryuchi Cave.
Manda was not stupid. Fighting a fully formed tailed beast was not a joke. Taking a tailed beast ball head on meant severe injury, if not death.
Its relationship with Orochimaru was a partnership, nothing more. A hundred sacrifices were not worth that kind of risk.
Orochimaru's expression did not change.
He was not surprised.
He understood Manda's nature well. In a critical moment, Manda could not be relied on. Orochimaru had to rely on himself.
"Shadow Imitation Jutsu!"
Shikaku formed signs and extended his shadow, overlapping it with the tailed beast's shadow.
The moment they connected, Isobu's movement stalled.
Shikaku's face turned pale at once. Holding down a creature like a tailed beast, even for a moment, came at an enormous cost.
"Partial Multi Size Jutsu!"
Choza immediately used the Akimichi clan's secret technique. Yang Release chakra surged, and his body expanded rapidly until he became a giant, almost matching Isobu's scale.
With that size came terrifying strength. Taking advantage of the brief restraint, Choza grabbed one of Isobu's tails, swung it, and slammed it into the ground.
"Inoichi," Orochimaru said while unleashing Wind Release at the tailed beast, "take everyone below jonin and retreat."
The Yamanaka clan's techniques were perfect for this, organizing an evacuation instantly.
Chunin and below would struggle to survive against a tailed beast. Even the shockwaves could kill them.
Inoichi nodded and used his clan's secret technique to broadcast the order across the battlefield.
"All chunin and below, retreat to the northwest."
The northwest led toward Konoha. There were no enemies there, and Konoha routinely patrolled that direction thoroughly.
Hearing Inoichi's voice in his mind, Obito instinctively started moving northwest, then froze when he realized the other disciples were not moving.
Only then did he remember.
He was the only chunin among Mugetsu's disciples. Rin was a special jonin.
Obito hesitated, caught between the order and his instinct to stay with his comrades.
"If you want to stay, then stay," Mugetsu said as he walked over.
As the deputy commander of the battlefield, Mugetsu had the authority to make that call.
If Obito retreated alone, Mugetsu would have to assign shadow clones to protect him, in case Madara took advantage of the chaos. It was better to keep Obito within reach.
A fully formed tailed beast was terrifying, but it also depended on which beast it was. If this were the Nine Tails or the Eight Tails, Mugetsu would retreat with his disciples without hesitation.
But this was the Three Tails, a relatively ordinary tailed beast.
And Konoha had Orochimaru, Ino Shika Cho, and a group of elite jonin on site. There were no Mist ninja left supporting the Three Tails.
The side that would lose this exchange was certain to be the Three Tails.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Orochimaru summoned again.
This time, not Manda.
Instead, a large, ordinary snake from Ryuchi Cave.
Because Orochimaru had a contract with Ryuchi Cave, he could summon other snakes besides Manda. Manda was simply the strongest.
In this situation, Manda would not answer. So Orochimaru summoned a snake large enough to serve the purpose.
He leapt onto its head and charged toward Isobu's massive body.
At this point, Shikaku could no longer maintain Shadow Imitation. The chakra cost had become too much.
Choza, using his gigantic body, continued suppressing Isobu instead. But the Three Tails' strength was overwhelming. Choza's giant form trembled constantly under the pressure.
All around them, Konoha's jonin used every method they had.
Those skilled in offensive jutsu attacked with Fire Release and Lightning Release.
Those specialized in support used Earth Release to build traps, walls, and restraints to limit movement.
Every jonin here had a specialty. Under such an elite siege, even Isobu could not endure comfortably. It pulled its vulnerable head back into its shell and released a huge wave of chakra from its body.
Boom!!
The moment Isobu unleashed its power fully, Choza could no longer hold it down. His massive body was blasted off balance and slammed to the ground.
Immediately, Isobu swung a tail toward Choza.
Choza, gasping on the ground, stared at the spiked tail rushing down. If it hit, he would be pierced through and through.
He rolled hard, barely dodging the first tail.
But Isobu had three tails.
The other two were already coming.
Whoosh!
A kunai sliced through the air and flew above Choza.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, Mugetsu appeared above Choza, Enma in hand, and raised the blade.
Clang!!
Mugetsu dropped down and landed atop Choza's body, stopping a spiked tail just two meters from Choza's chest.
Two meters was nothing for beings this size. For Isobu and Choza in Partial Multi Size, Mugetsu's body looked like a speck between two giants.
Yet despite the difference, Mugetsu held the tail in place, refusing to let it advance even an inch.
At the same time, Orochimaru and his snake arrived, coiling around another tail and locking it down.
Choza exhaled in relief, scrambled up, and thanked them with a grin. Then he grabbed a section of tail without spikes and swung again with all his strength.
Rumble!!
Isobu's massive body crashed into the ground, carving out a huge crater.
Konoha's jonin seized the opening and unleashed a barrage of attacks, carving small wounds into the tailed beast's more vulnerable areas.
Isobu was completely enraged.
It lifted its head and roared at the sky. Wild chakra exploded outward, sweeping across the battlefield with suffocating pressure.
It wanted to kill everyone here, no matter the cost.
"Spread out," Orochimaru commanded calmly. "It may use a tailed beast ball."
If they could not wipe out the Mist forces, killing a jinchuriki would still be an enormous gain.
Then Orochimaru turned toward Mugetsu.
"Mugetsu, now is the time for you and me to exert our strength."
To bring down a fully formed tailed beast, jonin attacks that only scratched its hide were not enough.
The strong had to carry the damage.
Jiraiya had once repelled two jinchuriki with Minato and a group of elite jonin supporting him. Orochimaru believed that with him and Mugetsu working together, plus the assistance of Konoha's jonin, killing the jinchuriki would not be a problem.
.....
[Check Out My Patreon For Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]