Victory Arrives, Time to Reap the Rewards

Jiraiya watched the massive back of the Eight-Tails fleeing into the distance, his eyes blazing with unwillingness!

What enormous price had Konoha paid to secure today's winning situation? The Fourth Raikage, who was about to have Cloud Village's backbone broken—how could they possibly let him go so easily?!

He wanted to pursue! He still had Sage Chakra left; perhaps he could still...

As if sensing Jiraiya's killing intent and resolve, the Eight-Tails, which had been sprinting away, suddenly twisted its enormous body around!

Its ferocious maw opened, and an immense mass of chakra, enough to make everyone on the battlefield tremble and suffocate, began gathering and compressing wildly!

A high-density black sphere of energy rapidly formed in its mouth, radiating destructive gravitational waves that warped even the light around it!

Tailed Beast Bomb!

That black, abyss-like orb of destruction was not aimed at Jiraiya himself, but at the direction where Konoha's main force and the remaining Cloud Village troops were locked in fierce battle!

A silent warning clashed violently between their minds!

Pursue? The price would be hundreds, perhaps thousands, of their own ninja lives, forced to endure a Tailed Beast Bomb detonating at close range! That would not be victory, but mutual destruction!

Jiraiya's pupils contracted sharply, his hands clenching with a crackling sound.

The flames of rage burned fiercely in his chest, yet were ultimately forced down by reason.

He saw the crazed determination in Killer B's beast eyes—the glare of a trapped beast driven into a corner, willing to pay any price to protect what it cherished.

He had a chance to detonate the Tailed Beast Bomb before it struck the battlefield, but doing so would be extremely risky. At the same time, he would no longer be able to continue the pursuit. It was not worth