White Yaksha's Advent (5)

The precision and destructive power of certain techniques went without saying. In short, Hagoromo had beaten the other side's national-level strategic deterrent weapon flat right in front of them.

The sight of a tailed beast being brutally beaten was incredibly shocking. It made Hagoromo seem absurdly powerful, but in truth, more than half the credit belonged to Kushina.

Shukaku had just been sealed by her Adamantine Sealing Chains. Under the suppression of Uzumaki Chakra, the tailed beast had been reduced to a super-sized living target—unable to move, evade, defend, attack, or recover.

So Hagoromo had gotten lucky.

Otherwise, if Shukaku had fired something like a Tailed Beast Ball at him, he would have been finished for sure.

On the battlefield between Konoha and Sunagakure, Shukaku, their strongest combat force, would not be able to recover anytime soon. Worse still, the Sand Ninja now even faced the danger of losing Shukaku altogether.

As long as they had suitable equipment, a sealing expert like Kushina, now free to act, could seal away a tailed beast.

Thus, the seasoned Granny Chiyo immediately issued two orders to the Sunagakure ninja. First, retrieve Shukaku at once. Second, eliminate the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

On this battlefield, she was the Sand Ninja's supreme commander.

Now that Konoha's ninja were returning in large numbers, the forces on both sides were gradually reaching parity. In fact, the Sand Ninja's momentum had already been completely checked, and before long, they might find themselves at a disadvantage.

After all, what had just happened was immensely encouraging to Konoha's ninja.

At this point, their primary strategic objective—killing Tsunade and destroying Konoha's command headquarters—was no longer achievable. Granny Chiyo decisively changed their objectives: retrieving Shukaku became the top priority, while killing Kushina became the secondary priority.

Of course, capturing Kushina Uzumaki alive would have been even better, but that was clearly extremely difficult.

"Does Sunagakure not have a clear objective at all?" Tsunade mocked Granny Chiyo through dozens of puppets.

Tsunade's face was deathly pale. It was not merely because of the brutal battle; more importantly, she was still desperately suppressing her hemophobia.

Suppressing it with all her strength.

But by now, she could finally breathe a little easier. Heavy casualties among the command headquarters' combatants and noncombatants after the Sand Ninja's surprise attack had been unavoidable, but once the frontline ninja returned, the headquarters would certainly be preserved. As long as the command structure remained intact, Konoha's overall war strategy would not suffer crippling damage.

Still, no one had expected that the person who played the key role at this moment would be that kid following Kushina. What Hagoromo had accomplished on the battlefield in that single minute might not have turned the tide, but he had at least held his own as a force on one front.

Tsunade was shocked by Hagoromo's strength, but it was ultimately a good thing. This was no time to dwell on it; every additional bit of combat power on their side increased their hope of victory.

After Shukaku lost his combat ability, the Sand Ninja had already become somewhat disorganized. Upon receiving Granny Chiyo's order, they almost instinctively charged toward Kushina.

In their rush to kill the Jinchuriki, the Sand Ninja focused only on charging forward, leaving their backs practically undefended.

The general layout of the battlefield was this: Hagoromo, Kushina, and some Konoha ninja were at the center. The Sand Ninja in the next ring were attacking them, while Konoha's reinforcements in the outermost ring could easily harvest the lives of those Sand Ninja with their backs turned toward them.

Thus, after Granny Chiyo's order, the casualty exchange ratio between the two sides was completely reversed.

Granny Chiyo naturally held her arms out before her, invisible chakra threads stretching from her fingertips to Chikamatsu's Ten Puppets positioned between herself and Tsunade.

Her gaze first swept over Shukaku, who was slowly recovering. After confirming that Konoha was not making any moves against him for the moment, she turned back to Tsunade. "Your young man is quite impressive. The situation on a battlefield is always changing. It seems our first objective will be difficult to achieve now, but if we can eliminate the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, its strategic significance may be even greater than destroying this command headquarters."

Sunagakure's original plan had been to calmly retrieve Shukaku after wiping out Konoha's command headquarters, then turn around and deal with Konoha's main force after it had lost command. But their plan had gone awry; Konoha's forward forces had already turned back before they could succeed.

Granny Chiyo herself had actually opposed deploying Shukaku on the battlefield, but the Fourth Kazekage had insisted. After he made such an all-or-nothing decision, advisers like Granny Chiyo had no choice but to agree for the sake of the new Kazekage's authority.

Looking at it now, bringing Shukaku here had indeed been a mistake.

Fortunately, Sunagakure had made a strategic error, and Konoha had made one as well.

Besides destroying the command headquarters, a simpler target had now appeared—one that was even more strategically significant: the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

That kid who had rushed out to save the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had somehow scattered Shukaku with an unknown technique. His strength was unquestionably formidable, and he reminded her of the White Fang of Konoha from the Second Ninja World War.

Such a threatening target absolutely could not be allowed to grow successfully. Now, let him perish alongside the Jinchuriki.

"I have to say, placing the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki here was both clever enough to deserve praise and foolish enough to deserve scorn."

Kushina had indeed played a crucial role since the start of this battle. Her presence was precisely why Shukaku's large-scale destruction had been prevented. But as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, she herself was a target worth destroying. Placing a Jinchuriki right beneath the enemy's nose was, fundamentally speaking, still an unwise decision.

Sunagakure had carefully planned this attack on Konoha's command headquarters. It had not failed yet, and it could not be allowed to fail, because they had paid far too great a price for this operation.

The Sand Ninja now had two choices. First, preserve what strength they still had and retreat swiftly. Second, go all in.

They chose the second, because the Sand Ninja were like gamblers who had already lost half their chips. Yet the game still offered an obvious chance of winning, so naturally, they pushed all their remaining chips onto the table.

"No matter what, you're about to lose," Tsunade said. But in truth, she was deeply worried about Kushina's situation, and defeating Granny Chiyo in a short time was nearly impossible.

So she gave an order as well.

It consisted of only five words.

"Sealing Squad!"

"Shukaku!"