The night wind howled, wild grass swayed, and air currents rushed between the scattered rocks with a whistling roar.
Gamabunta was enormous, with tattoos across his chest and a scar over one eye. He gripped the short sword at his waist, a long-stemmed pipe clenched in his mouth, and smoked with a swaggering, domineering air.
Above the clouds, Jiraiya and Naruto stood back to back, fists raised and legs braced in a pose as exaggerated as actors onstage—the older one lecherous, the younger one unruly.
The sinister, tense atmosphere came to an abrupt halt.
Orochimaru's woman still wore a strange smile on her round face, but her oppressive presence couldn't cross the chasm formed by one toad and two men. Not a trace of it reached Tsunade or Shizune.
Naruto looked down at Orochimaru. "Hey, old man, good news! This beast turned into a woman. Do you like her?"
Jiraiya gave her a once-over. "Ugly. Flat."
Naruto asked, "Wanna do it?"
"With a sword, hahaha!"
Orochimaru was a cultured man, and it wouldn't be wrong to call his speech refined. His stiff face twitched. "Vulgar. Boring."
Jiraiya scoffed and formed Hand Seals. "You won't be bored when I'm doing you in! Bunta! Oil Bomb!"
Gamabunta croaked and puffed out his belly.
At that moment, Tsunade stomped the ground, cracking nearly ten meters of earth, and roared, "Jiraiya! This has nothing to do with you!"
"It has everything to do with me! How could it not?" Jiraiya finished his Hand Seals, raised his head, and opened his mouth. "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Gamabunta opened his enormous mouth at the same time and spewed out a vast torrent of sulfur-colored Toad Oil.
Jiraiya breathed out a blaze, which expanded into three frenzied fire dragons. With precise Chakra control, they spiraled in from the left, right, and center, converging on Orochimaru.
The fire dragons swept through the Oil Bomb, igniting a tremendous blaze. The night sky lit up, stained with billowing red clouds.
Facing the swift attack that sealed off every direction, Orochimaru slapped both hands against the ground. "Summoning Jutsu: Manda!"
White smoke exploded, and a massive dark-purple figure rose to block the fire dragons.
The burning oil fell into the wild grass, scorching countless pits into the soil.
When the fire dragons finally died out and the smoke dispersed, all that remained was a shed snakeskin, more than fifty meters long.
Beneath Gamabunta's feet, the earth split open as the enormous head of a purple-scaled serpent emerged, two backward-curving horns growing from either side. Its fanged maw lunged viciously at him.
Clang!
A flash of steel. Flames rippled across the blade as Gamabunta drew his sword and slashed across the serpent's mouth.
But Manda was no pushover. It twisted its head nimbly and clamped its jaws around the short sword.
The two giant Summoning Beasts were locked in a stalemate of strength.
Orochimaru and the white-haired boy stood atop the serpent's head, facing Jiraiya and Naruto on Gamabunta's back.
Manda said, "You summoned me only to face such a troublesome opponent? A hundred live sacrifices aren't enough! Make it a hundred and fifty!"
"Two hundred," Orochimaru said. "Eat the toad."
Manda's slit pupils narrowed. Its thick, striped body shifted and pressed into the earth, unleashing even greater force.
Gamabunta wasn't about to back down either. Smoke poured from his pipe faster and thicker.
Naruto's battlefield wasn't here. He leaped onto Gamabunta's back, his blue shirt marked with the character for "shrimp," then sprang down and charged toward Yakushi Kabuto at the edge of the ring of fire, his glasses reflecting the flames.
Seeing Naruto move, Orochimaru said, "Kimimaro, it's your turn."
"As you command, Lord Orochimaru." The white-haired boy, whose face looked thoroughly world-weary, answered and leaped off the serpent to give chase.
"I only wanted to take Tsunade with me. You chose to fight." Orochimaru turned to Jiraiya, his face dark. "That Nine-Tails brat will die at the hands of Kimimaro, the last heir of the Kaguya Clan."
Jiraiya laughed heartily. "Naruto's life is one endless battle!"
Two legendary ninja, with their Summoning Beasts, faced off at the height of their power.
Inside the ring of fire, grass burned to ash, and the temperature soared.
Shizune hurried ahead, leading Tsunade toward the outside.
Tsunade had been overruled. Whether it was Shizune, Jiraiya, or Naruto, not one of them was listening to her now.
She truly wanted to see Dan Katō and her younger brother, Nawaki. Even just once. Even just to exchange a few words.
Orochimaru wasn't one to make empty claims. If he said he could bring them back to life, he must have been sure of it. Besides, Naruto had seen the First and Second with his own eyes.
"Shizune, I want to accept Orochimaru's offer. I don't care if I die."
"Lord Tsunade! Stop thinking like that! Lord Jiraiya came to save us. We just need to leave!"
Shizune had spent every day with Tsunade and knew she'd always lived in pain, numbing herself with gambling. But Shizune had stayed by her side, always hoping to save her. She would never let Tsunade throw her life away.
But the loyal Yakushi Kabuto wasn't about to let them leave.
Bucket after bucket of fresh blood splashed across the ground. One bloody corpse after another, their abdomens split open, were tossed out from behind the boulders.
Crimson organs scattered, filling the air with a thick, rancid stench. The wind stirred the jelly-like flesh, adding a rusty, greasy tang.
Most people wouldn't dare look for long. Tsunade, who suffered from a severe fear of blood, was no exception.
Her whole body trembled. At a glance, her knees buckled inward, and she sank to the grass, head bowed, gripping her long hair.
Her unparalleled Super Strength and mastery of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu were useless here.
Shizune shouted, "Coward!"
She spat out a Senbon, aiming for Yakushi Kabuto's throat, while gripping a poisoned Kunai in reverse and rushing in to strike.
Yakushi Kabuto calmly popped a soldier pill into his mouth and twisted his shoulders from side to side, easily evading Shizune's attacks.
Shizune swung her Kunai again and again, but not a single strike landed. Her opponent's gaze remained calm and precise.
In a fleeting moment as they crossed paths, Yakushi Kabuto's palm swept across her left arm. It went limp and numb, and her Kunai fell.
She leaped back and reached for another weapon with her right hand, but Yakushi Kabuto stuck to her like a burr.
An invisible Chakra Scalpel sliced through her. This time, her left leg went numb.
Shizune rolled aside and tried to stand on one leg, only to see Yakushi Kabuto lift his foot and kick straight at her chest.
Was this it? Who would protect Lord Tsunade?
But Yakushi Kabuto didn't land the kick. Instead, he suddenly pushed off the ground and sprang backward.
A sword—Kubikiribōchō, massive and razor-sharp—had cleaved into the earth between him and Shizune, cutting through it like tofu.
If he hadn't pulled back, his leg would have been severed.
Bang!
The moment the sword struck the ground, it was swung back in a slanting slash toward Kimimaro, whose chest seemed to split open as savage bone spikes bristled from it.
But Naruto was a step too slow to save Shizune.
The pale bone sword in Kimimaro's hand was harder than steel. It pierced Naruto's coat and pressed against his skin, grinding with a shrill metallic squeal.
The piercing sound took Kimimaro by surprise.
He'd thought he'd landed the blow, but he hadn't expected Naruto to be wearing protective gear his bone sword couldn't pierce.
With the massive sword already swinging down, Kimimaro's skin and bones, patterned with the Earth's Cursed Seal, burst out like a thicket to block it.
Bones cracked and snapped one after another, but they managed to hold the blade back.
Kimimaro used the force of the blow to slide over to Yakushi Kabuto. "Teacher Kabuto, I'll need to enter State Two."
Fire reflected in Naruto's eyes as he held his sword at an angle in front of Shizune. "Shizune, take Grandma Tsunade and go. I'll handle things here."
Watching the boy, whose height didn't even reach hers, standing there in his fluttering coat, Shizune was overcome with emotion. For the first time, she felt at ease.
"Thank you, Naruto."
One arm and one leg were useless, but she still got up and dragged Tsunade, who remained dazed and unresponsive, toward the edge of the ring of fire, hopping on one leg.
Yakushi Kabuto stepped forward to pursue them, then abruptly stopped. A blue Rasengan slammed into the ground in his path.
"Looks like I'll have to deal with you first."
If he could subdue Naruto quickly, he could go after them. Tsunade and Shizune were injured and crippled; they couldn't have gone far.
Naruto laughed as if he'd just heard a joke, wild and unrestrained. "Come on! Fight! I don't care if you're the last heir of the Kaguya Clan or an elite jonin who can match Kakashi—you're all gonna fall beneath my blade!"
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