Does the Jinchuriki Matter That Much?

The next moment, the giant dragon moved.

The enormous deep blue water dragon, summoned by the Mist coalition at great cost, didn't even have time to struggle.

Its massive body, under an irresistible pull, disintegrated inch by inch, shattered, and reverted to raw water.

The dragon devoured its opponent without pausing, its colossal form carrying the momentum to crush everything.

It crashed down toward the Mist ninja defensive line below, a group frozen in shock and despair as their chakra ran dry.

A sound more terrifying than any previous collision!

The sea surface was directly crushed into a massive, bottomless bowl-shaped depression by this fearsome force!

The golden dragon, like a divine punishment hammer, slammed heavily into the Mist position.

Countless Mist ninja, unable even to scream, were torn apart by the violent currents and shockwaves.

Or they were swept directly into the destructive vortex, vanishing without a trace.

Only floating splinters, broken weapons, and rapidly spreading crimson remained on the sea surface.

Eiji's figure had somehow already stood firmly atop the dragon's head.

Looking down from above, his gaze pierced through the mist and blood haze, landing precisely on the small figure of Yagura on the sea below.

He extended a finger. "You! Come! Here!"

Yagura looked up, staring at the figure on the dragon's head radiating terrifying pressure.

His face, always as expressionless as a mask, showed clear cracks for the first time.

At the same time, an extremely evil, violent, hate-filled dark red chakra, like boiling magma, erupted uncontrollably and wildly from every pore of his body.

The dark red chakra instantly enveloped Yagura's entire form.

"This is trouble now. I almost forgot he's the Mizukage, a perfect Jinchuriki who fully controls the Three-Tails."

He knew all too well what tailed beast power meant.

"I can try using Wood Style to suppress the tailed beast's power, but only if I can touch him..."

Tenzo's expression also turned grim, his hands instinctively beginning to form seals again, preparing for the worst.

"A Jinchuriki? So what? The one in our village beats you like a kid."

The moment the words fell, Eiji's figure on the dragon's head vanished abruptly.

The next second, his form appeared like a ghost, without warning, directly in front of Yagura, who was in a half-tailed beast state with dark red chakra churning wildly.

On Yagura's face, already covered in dark red chakra and beginning to distort, there wasn't even time for a shocked expression.

On Eiji's right fist, Sage Chakra, combining his own and Natural Energy, gathered.

One punch! It landed squarely in the center of Yagura's face, covered in dark red chakra.

Yagura's body was like being hit head-on by a high-speed flying mountain.

He turned into a human cannonball, flying backward with a sharp, ear-splitting sound.

His body carved a white trench dozens of meters long across the sea surface.

Eiji's figure didn't pause. The moment Yagura flew backward, he vanished again.

Then, he appeared once more, precisely in the path of Yagura's backward trajectory.

Yagura's body was still uncontrollably flying back, and Eiji's second punch slammed down again.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Fists imbued with Sage Chakra kept hammering Yagura's hard tailed beast coat.

"Roar!"

A huge monster, like a turtle with a thick shell, finally surfaced on the water.

"That's... the Three-Tails!"

Kakashi's voice suddenly rose. Back then, Rin was implanted with the Three-Tails, forcing him to...

"Senior, are you okay?"

Kakashi shook his head, trying to shake off those painful memories.

"We need to find a way to deal with this guy. Now that Yagura is in Complete Tailed Beast Transformation, his power has greatly increased."

As he spoke, Eiji's figure suddenly appeared before them.

"Hm? Need to retreat? That's actually a good idea."

Eiji shook his head instead. "I still need to try a modified ninjutsu."

"Ninja Art: Mutual Explosion Tag Technique!"

In an instant, bursts of light appeared all over the Three-Tails' body.

That was the gift package Eiji had sent it while it was off guard.

"I'll blow you to kingdom come!"

What answered Eiji was a relentless chain of explosions.

Boom boom boom!

The sea surface instantly turned into a sea of fire.

Kakashi and Tenzo stared dumbfounded at the whole scene.

What the hell...

Eiji was dead set on killing the Mizukage, no question.

As if reading their unspoken doubts, Eiji explained, "We just came to the Land of Water for a trip, and these bastards from Kirigakure tried to steal my Sharingan and Senior Tenzo's Wood Style bloodline."

"So it's only reasonable that I fought back."

"..."

At this point, what else could they say?

Let it be.

After a long while, the explosions stopped.

Eiji watched the tailed beast slowly melt away, revealing the short figure of Yagura beneath it.

He walked up and used a sealing technique to suppress the restless Chakra inside him.

[Lord Tobirama once again protected his comrades with his own hands]

[Mission reward: Barrier Ninjutsu - Four Red Yang Formation]

Kakashi suddenly felt a headache coming on.

According to the original plan, the three of them were supposed to sneak into the village quietly, no shooting.

Who would've thought they'd end up fighting Kirigakure ninjas on the very first day?

And even beat up the Mizukage on top of that...

As for Eiji, aside from being too exhausted to stand, there was nothing particularly special.

Tenzo formed hand seals and cobbled together something that could barely be called a boat.

They sat on the boat, staring at Yagura for a long time, mulling it over.

What now?

Forget it, they'd use the Sharingan to control Yagura for now, just to keep him from ambushing them.

They'd already stirred up this much trouble, so what was one more conflict?

Kakashi's Sharingan spun rapidly, locking onto Yagura before him.

The next moment, Kakashi's pupils contracted.

"No, someone's already cast a Sharingan genjutsu on him!"

Eiji sucked in a sharp breath. "Senior Kakashi, you can't just say things like that."

Kakashi's face was dead serious. "I may not be a member of the Uchiha clan, but I've used this eye for many years. Trust me, I'm not wrong."

He dispelled the genjutsu on Mizukage Yagura, and before long, Yagura woke up.

There was no expected rage or interrogation—only Yagura's gratitude.

"Thank you for breaking the genjutsu."

The Konoha Team thought Yagura might have lost his marbles. Blame Eiji—why did he have to aim for the head?

Eiji was a bit helpless too. It was a fight—where else was he supposed to hit?

Kakashi felt awkward. "May I ask, Lord Mizukage, who cast that genjutsu on you?"

"It was a mysterious man wearing a mask. I've never seen his face; I only know he has a pair of Sharingan."

Eiji promptly pulled out a portrait of the Masked Man. "Is it him?"

"Yes."

"Is he still in Kirigakure?"

Yagura shook his head. "I'm not sure. Most of the time, I couldn't tell whether it was an illusion or the real world."

At this point, Kakashi had already begun a bold deduction.

"The Nine-Tails Incident a few years ago, the recent invasion of Konoha, and now the control of the Mizukage—this Masked Man has had a hand in all of them."

"And the Masked Man is very likely a subordinate of Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru goes to all this trouble—what is he after?"

Behind Kakashi, Eiji's expression was complicated.

Why had Orochimaru suddenly become the scapegoat?