After saying that, the Hyūga ninja immediately dashed off in a certain direction. Kushina and Minato followed closely behind him.
"I can feel Hagoromo's chakra!"
After running for quite some distance, Kushina suddenly spoke up.
The chakra she sensed was extremely active. No matter what state Hagoromo was in right now, at the very least it meant one thing—
He wasn't dead yet.
At this point, there was no longer any need for the Hyūga to lead the way. Kushina and Minato instantly increased their speed again, leaving him far behind.
Soon enough, the two of them spotted Kamishiro Hagoromo.
Just as expected, he was still fighting.
And he was fighting one against many.
Needless to say, he didn't look great.
Judging purely from his clothes… well—however Goku usually looked after finishing a boss fight, that was pretty much Hagoromo's current state.
Disheveled.
Alright, extremely disheveled.
At a rough glance, Minato and Kushina initially thought there were nine chakra beasts attacking Hagoromo. But after taking a closer look, they realized that wasn't quite right.
The beasts were actually divided into two groups.
The current situation was this: Hagoromo was commanding three beasts to fight against six ferocious hounds.
Although he looked miserable, his positioning—and the way he appeared to others—was still oddly impressive.
The blood on Hagoromo's face had already dried. Even though he was clearly at a disadvantage, his expression remained resolute. His half-long, disheveled hair fluttered in the wind as he occasionally hurled out a Fire Release ninjutsu.
…None of that was the main point.
The important part was this—
At this very moment, he was standing on the head of a gigantic, bizarre bird.
The creature had an enormous yellow beak, a dark greenish-blue body, and—most strangely—one leg on its belly, but two legs on its back.
The bird was almost hovering in midair, not flying particularly high, its wings beating from time to time. Directly beneath it were the eight ferocious hounds.
Whenever the hounds tried to leap up to attack the airborne target, Hagoromo would command the bird to gain altitude. When their attention shifted back to the enemies on the ground, he would order the bird to descend rapidly, closing the distance—then casually toss out a Fire Release attack or two.
Outnumbered though he was, Hagoromo didn't appear anxious.
Using chakra, he firmly adhered himself to the head of the Yatagarasu, launching opportunistic attacks rather than pursuing a quick victory.
Because he couldn't win quickly.
"These beasts… they're not ordinary," Minato murmured as he observed the scene.
Setting aside their chakra quantity and control, just their sheer size and strength alone rivaled that of Gamabunta.
Minato quickly concluded that Hagoromo's advantage lay in one thing:
These were merely beasts.
They possessed the raw power of high-level summoning creatures, but lacked the intelligence that usually accompanied such strength.
Generally speaking, among summoning beasts, strength and intelligence tended to scale together. Powerful summons were usually highly intelligent. Of course, there were exceptions—creatures that were clever but not particularly strong.
But creatures like these—strong yet stupid—were extremely rare.
While Minato was calmly analyzing the situation…
Kushina, on the other hand, was so angry she started laughing.
Not at Minato.
At her own ridiculous disciple.
Her focus was completely different.
She had been worrying about Hagoromo nonstop these past few days—yet what was he doing now?
She understood it instantly.
After regaining consciousness in this strange place and becoming able to move freely, Hagoromo hadn't prioritized leaving as quickly as possible, nor had he tried to find her.
Instead, while his own safety wasn't even guaranteed—
What was he doing?
He was busy capturing summoning beasts.
A world war was raging outside. Every village was fighting tooth and nail to crush their enemies—
And you, you little brat, were hiding out here trying to get yourself a new ride?!
What are you doing?!
Can't you be a little more serious during a world war?!
Yes—Kushina wasn't wrong.
At this very moment, Hagoromo was indeed enthusiastically working on capturing summoning beasts.
For a brief instant, Kushina felt a powerful urge to beat him senseless.
That said, she also misunderstood him a little.
This part was genuinely unfair to Hagoromo.
He hadn't gone looking for these monsters—they had come to him. He was the passive party here. While Hagoromo enjoyed messing around and was admittedly good at courting disaster, he didn't actually like dying.
At first, his injuries and blood loss dulled his reactions. But after being chased around for a while by the splitting hound, he suddenly realized something:
A chakra-infused creature like this…
Wasn't it perfect as a summoning beast?
Once such a beautiful idea occurred to someone like Hagoromo, there was no stopping him.
So he changed his escape strategy.
Fully embracing his subjective initiative, he turned the tables—switching from passive逃亡 to active engagement. With absolutely no sense of moral restraint, he began a series of traps, tricks, and beatdowns against these instinct-driven, intelligence-deficient rare beasts.
He had already succeeded more than halfway—three beasts were secured.
But he himself wasn't in good shape at all.
Ever since the night of the battlefield—aside from the brief period when he was unconscious—he had been fighting continuously without rest.
He was at his absolute limit.
If not for his excellent positioning, he would have had only three choices:
Honestly accept his fate and go from Kamishiro Hagoromo to "Hagoromo on the Menu."
Risk aggravating his injuries by electrifying himself—except he wanted to capture the target, not blow it to pieces.
Flee outright and try reverse summoning again—though where he'd end up next would be anyone's guess.
Fortunately—
This was when Kushina and Minato arrived.
Reinforcements.
The moment Hagoromo noticed them, his high-alert state instantly picked them out. Without hesitation or politeness, he shouted:
"Kushina-sensei! Don't just stand there—help me already!"
Kushina immediately covered her eyes.
What kind of expression was she supposed to wear right now?
Better not to look. Out of sight, out of mind.
"Minato," she said flatly, "help him."
Minato was also at a loss for words, but he nodded nonetheless. He could tell Hagoromo was barely holding on, so he decisively stepped in.
Seeing Minato approach, Hagoromo finally relaxed. Then he quickly added a warning:
"Minato-senpai, be careful! Those six dogs are actually one dog. After taking enough damage, it splits. It already split into six, and it doesn't seem to split further—but I can't be sure it can't."
Was he worried about Minato's safety?
Nope.
"Also, Minato-senpai—I kind of like this dog. Please don't accidentally kill it."
"And one more thing—try to herd them together. Since it can split, I'm pretty sure it can fuse back together too."
Annoying. Just unbelievably annoying.
The Splitting Hound naturally possessed the ability to divide itself. After splitting into six, it wouldn't divide further on its own—heavy damage would simply kill it.
However…
If enhanced by the Rinnegan, and supplied with limitless chakra—
It could theoretically split endlessly.
Of course, that was purely hypothetical.
Hagoromo didn't have the Rinnegan.
And even someone who did wouldn't have infinite chakra.
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