It's a peace-loving Tailed Beast, unwilling to attack humans.

Kokuō's appearance was truly magnificent.

With a body of pure white, resembling both a dog and a horse, its form was slender and agile; it could easily rank in the top three for looks among all the Tailed Beasts.

Standing 65 meters tall, it towered over every building in Konoha.

Uchiha Ruohuo stood atop Kokuō's head, looking down at Orochimaru as they spoke.

Orochimaru tilted his head back.

He stared from afar at the student he had sentenced to "death" just two minutes ago, who was now standing full of life atop the Five-Tails, holding the former Five-Tails Jinchuriki in his hand...

So, what on earth had happened?

This question occupied every corner of Orochimaru's mind.

The boy could fly, and quite fast at that; he had crossed mountains, bypassed defensive lines, penetrated deep into the heart of Iwagakure, and then, looking back...

How did he come riding out on the Five-Tails??

And why was he carrying the corpse of the Five-Tails Jinchuriki??

Could this child have defeated the Five-Tails Jinchuriki?

How did he manage it... was the intelligence on the Five-Tails Jinchuriki flawed, and was he actually some terminally ill old man?

It couldn't have been that the man committed suicide in front of this child!

Besides, if a Jinchuriki dies, shouldn't the Tailed Beast also...

"Ruohuo-kun..." Orochimaru had too much shock and too many questions.

But he had only just begun to speak.

"ROAR!!!!!!!!"

The Five-Tails Kokuō unleashed a roar at Orochimaru that was powerful enough to shake the very mountains!

Puff—

Manda immediately dispelled the Summoning Jutsu, turning into a puff of white smoke and fleeing back to Ryūchi Cave!

Bang!!!

Orochimaru was struck by the tangible force of the sonic blast, sent flying backward, and slammed into a rock ten meters behind him!

Puff—

A mouthful of blood sprayed from Orochimaru's mouth, and trails of blood began to leak from his nostrils and ears.

Taking the full force of the Five-Tails Kokuō's roar head-on, the unprepared Orochimaru had sustained significant injuries!

"Alright, alright, it's impolite to keep roaring..."

Ruohuo used his thoughts to call a halt to Kokuō, and the roaring finally ceased.

"Teacher, my new partner has just finished a long, dark time of being sealed, so it's still a bit unaccustomed to things."

Ruohuo said to Orochimaru, "Don't worry, the Five-Tails has no ill intent; it's just a little panicked..."

"Teacher, hurry and say hello to my new partner. It won't roar at you anymore."

"..."

Orochimaru stood up shakily, leaning against the rock, and looked at Ruohuo from afar with a complex expression.

He hadn't heard what Ruohuo said... the distance was already great, and his ears were ringing; his eardrums had surely been ruptured.

But Orochimaru had been the top student at the Ninja Academy; his theoretical foundation was rock-solid, including the skill of lip-reading.

Even though he couldn't hear, Orochimaru understood exactly what Ruohuo was expressing.

"Ruohuo-kun..." Orochimaru spat out another mouthful of blood, feeling a tightness in his chest.

"This new partner of yours... is very strong."

Orochimaru leaned against the rock with one hand and gave a thumbs-up with the other.

He lowered his head for a moment to catch his breath, slowly steadying himself.

When he looked up again, he had managed to recover half of his elegance and composure, offering a smile toward the Five-Tails.

"Hello, Five-Tails."

Orochimaru smiled stiffly, "I am this child's teacher, Orochimaru. I am very pleased that you could become his partner."

The Five-Tails Kokuō snorted through its nostrils, acknowledging the greeting.

"Indra... why have you changed your name?"

The Five-Tails Kokuō's voice echoed in Ruohuo's mind, "And this human... he is very hypocritical. I do not like him."

"He has the potential to become the only wise man of this era, and he is very important to my plans... The development of every era requires intelligent people, Kokuō."

Ruohuo responded through his thoughts, "Also, I did not change my name; I have awakened a portion of the memories from my cycle of reincarnation..."

"The Indra of the past was me, and the Uchiha Ruohuo of the present is also me. Do not dwell on it too much, Kokuō."

"..." The Five-Tails Kokuō was silent for a moment, "It seems the long cycle of reincarnation has changed you greatly, Indra."

This was absolute trust.

Having established a certain chakra connection with Ruohuo, the Five-Tails had completely recognized the Indra imprint within Ruohuo's chakra.

Therefore, although Ruohuo differed from the Indra in the Five-Tails' memories, it could subjectively accept him.

It was like a childhood friend.

No matter how much they changed after growing up, once their identity was confirmed, it all felt perfectly normal.

"Ruohuo-kun..." Orochimaru interrupted the exchange between the man and the Tailed Beast, pointing toward the dark, dense crowd of figures on the other side of the mountain.

"It seems we must leave. The ninjas of Iwagakure... probably won't be very welcoming to us."

After saying this, he looked at Ruohuo and smiled, "Could you have your companion fire another Tailed Beast Bomb? I think it would be quite happy to do so..."

Hearing this, Ruohuo was actually a bit tempted.

Looking at those swarming Iwagakure ninjas... if a Tailed Beast Bomb landed there, how many troops would be wiped out?

Wouldn't his battle merits skyrocket?

"That won't work, Teacher."

Ruohuo suppressed the urge to clear the field, frowned, and shook his head, "My companion is a peace-loving Tailed Beast; it isn't very willing to attack humans."

"The Land of Earth was also its former habitat, so it doesn't really want to destroy the environment..."

Battle merits, frankly speaking, were just performance metrics for the village.

Iwagakure was Konoha's enemy, not his Uchiha clan's, so what did it have to do with him?

The Ninja World War would last for several years, and Ruohuo had no intention of making Iwagakure surrender.

Wouldn't that just benefit Konoha?

"..." Orochimaru fell silent.

Then what was the deal with that Tailed Beast Bomb from just a moment ago?

However, as soon as this question arose, it was blocked by Ruohuo.

"Besides, it was just rescued by me, so it's still a bit weak."

"I saw that you were in danger, Teacher, so as a favor to me, it reluctantly used a Tailed Beast Bomb at minimum power to help you out of a tight spot."

"This has left it even weaker, and it's not in very good shape right now..."

"..." Orochimaru fell into silence once again.

Weak?

He certainly didn't think so.

A single roar had made his internal organs churn and left him temporarily deaf—you call that weak?

However, Orochimaru had indeed noticed earlier that the Tailed Beast Bomb had landed squarely on the Iwagakure position...

"Then we cannot stay here for long, Ruohuo-kun."

Orochimaru didn't dwell on it, and the smile on his face regained eight parts of its composure.

"Fine, then Teacher, hurry up and call out your companion as well."

Ruohuo said, "It didn't catch up to me earlier, so I can give it another chance."

"..."

The composure on Orochimaru's face vanished once again.