Jonin

Although the Third Raikage was furious at the Eight-Tails' cunning, he also felt somewhat relieved. Fortunately, the alliance treaty with Konoha had already been signed.

If the Eight-Tails had gone berserk during the standoff with Konoha, he could not imagine the consequences.

"Alas, Killer B was still lacking. I shouldn't have listened to that child A and brought Killer B out so early." The Third Raikage felt some regret.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The battle between the two was immensely spectacular. Compared to the Eight-Tails, the Third Raikage looked tiny, but his strength made the Eight-Tails extremely wary.

What surprised Chiba Shun was that the Kumogakure shinobi seemed to have rehearsed how to handle a Tailed Beast going berserk.

Under the direction of one Elite Jonin after another, everyone watched the Third Raikage engage the Eight-Tails in close combat while gathering into formations of varying sizes.

They even tacitly refrained from launching powerful attacks at the Eight-Tails before their formations had taken shape, lest they draw its attention.

Soon, the battle formations were in place. Just as the Kumo shinobi were about to attack, the Third Raikage stopped them with a gesture.

Since the Eight-Tails had not yet shifted its attention, he intended to wear it down a little longer.

That would also minimize the army's casualties as much as possible.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Every strike from the Third Raikage made the Eight-Tails cry out in pain, while the Eight-Tails could not land a single blow on him.

The Third Raikage was immensely powerful. He had not suffered the slightest injury even while fighting the Fully Mature Eight-Tails.

If not for the fact that the Third Raikage's chakra would eventually run out, while the Eight-Tails possessed an enormous amount of chakra, Chiba Shun felt that no one else would need to join the fight.

Finally, after one man and one Tailed Beast had fought for half the night, the Third Raikage signaled everyone.

The ninjutsu shinobi in each battle formation swiftly launched attacks at the Eight-Tails.

At this point, taijutsu shinobi had very little to do.

Even the Third Raikage's attacks could only temporarily hold back the Eight-Tails, much less those of other shinobi.

At this time, the taijutsu shinobi's role was to protect the ninjutsu shinobi.

Nearly all of the ninjutsu shinobi among the Kumogakure shinobi were Lightning Release users.

Waves of Lightning Release ninjutsu blasted into the Eight-Tails from every direction.

From where he stood, Chiba Shun alone saw twenty or thirty Lightning Release ninjutsu of at least A-rank.

Struck by such a wide range of Lightning Release ninjutsu, the Eight-Tails let out a pained roar, and its movements slowed by a beat.

The Third Raikage seized the chance and drove a One-Finger Nukite straight at the Eight-Tails' head.

The Eight-Tails only had time to tilt its head slightly.

As a result, one of the horns on its head was severed directly by the Third Raikage.

The Third Raikage frowned. He had not expected that killing blow to miss.

Moreover, this time, the Eight-Tails was truly enraged.

It simply abandoned the Third Raikage and turned its target toward the nearby shinobi.

A mass of tentacles rose high into the air and smashed down in every direction.

The Third Raikage moved swiftly, but he only managed to knock back two of them.

Seeing many tentacles about to crash down on a large number of Kumo shinobi, the Third Raikage grew even more anxious.

But at that moment, the ground beneath the Eight-Tails suddenly sank, and its body lost balance.

No, it had not sunk. The ground on one side had risen slightly.

The Eight-Tails nearly toppled over to one side.

It hurriedly used the tentacles that had been prepared to attack the surrounding shinobi army to support its body.

Following the chakra, it looked toward its side and saw a shinobi who had not formed a battle formation with the others.

Chiba Shun stiffened completely.

That was right. He had caused the change in terrain just now.

He had used every ounce of his strength to perform Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique.

However, this use of Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique differed from when he had dealt with Akira Hyuga and the others.

Normally, Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique raised two hemispherical rocks from the ground, which then closed together and crushed every enemy inside to death.

But because the Eight-Tails was too large, Chiba Shun had no way of trapping it between them.

So, he had merely raised the two hemispherical rocks from beneath one side of the Eight-Tails' body.

The rocks had not risen very high, but they had still thrown the Eight-Tails off balance.

Chiba Shun's attack had not harmed the Eight-Tails in the slightest, but his goal had been to interrupt its attack.

Without question, Chiba Shun had succeeded.

He had exhausted all the chakra he had recovered over the past few days. He had not even managed to complete a single ninjutsu, and the result was merely making the Eight-Tails stagger.

But the timing of that strike was far too crucial. The Eight-Tails' furious attack had been directly interrupted!

Now the Eight-Tails had turned its angry gaze toward Chiba Shun, while Chiba Shun no longer had the strength to resist.

At this moment, a light sweep from the Eight-Tails would have finished Chiba Shun.

Fortunately, Chiba Shun was not alone.

Taking advantage of the opening, another wave of powerful Lightning Release struck the Eight-Tails.

Most importantly, this time the Third Raikage did not waste the opportunity. He landed a direct strike on the Eight-Tails' vital point.

The Eight-Tails let out repeated cries of pain and had no time to target Chiba Shun.

Sakai Yushi was also a taijutsu shinobi, and he was helpless in this situation. He carried the injured A and Chiba Shun, who had exhausted all his chakra, far away.

The rest of the battle had nothing to do with the three of them.

After a long while, the Eight-Tails was sealed again by the Third Raikage and the others.

However, before being sealed, it still managed to kill several hundred Kumo shinobi.

Fortunately, those several hundred Kumo shinobi were mainly Genin and Chunin. There were not many Jonin or Elite Jonin among them.

The Jonin reacted quickly and managed to evade the Eight-Tails' final frenzy in time.

In addition, many taijutsu shinobi, like Sakai Yushi, rescued quite a few ninjutsu shinobi at critical moments.

Thus, the losses among the Kumogakure shinobi remained within an acceptable range.

However, the combat strength of this Kumo army had dropped by more than half in a short time!

If Hiruzen Sarutobi had led people here to attack now, the Kumogakure shinobi would have been finished.

The Third Raikage had expended a great deal and was likely no match for Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Not only had the Kumo army lost several hundred people, but the remaining ninjutsu shinobi, like Chiba Shun, had nearly exhausted their chakra.

The Konoha army would probably only need a single charge to rout the Kumo army.

The Third Raikage heightened the army's vigilance, and everyone spent their weakest night trembling with fear.

The next day, the Third Raikage finished tallying the losses from this incident.

Although the loss of over three hundred people pained him, it was already far fewer than during past Tailed Beast rampages.

Most importantly, the Eight-Tails had gone berserk in the wilderness this time. It had not damaged the village, and there were no barriers to set up again, so the economic losses were not great.

The army rested in place for several more days before the Third Raikage gathered all the Jonin for a meeting.

At the meeting, the Third Raikage rewarded the shinobi who had performed well during the sealing of the Eight-Tails.

Among them, Chiba Shun received special praise.

According to the analysis afterward, if not for Chiba Shun's Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique at that moment, the Eight-Tails' attack would have killed at least a hundred shinobi.

More importantly, the rhythm of the many ninjutsu-type shinobi's attacks would have been disrupted, and the Third Raikage would not have found an opportunity to grievously wound the Eight-Tails so quickly.

Perhaps the Kumo army's losses that night would have exceeded a thousand.

Many Jonin and Elite Jonin among them would likely have had to risk their lives, and the final losses would certainly have been severe.

In front of the many Jonin and Special Jonin, the Third Raikage directly announced Chiba Shun's official promotion to Jonin.

He also gave Chiba Shun an S-rank Mission Record.

Besides Chiba Shun, many others were promoted as well. After all, the Kumogakure shinobi had lost many Jonin this time and urgently needed new Jonin to replenish their ranks.

After rewarding the shinobi who had made great contributions this time, the Third Raikage led everyone back to Kumogakure.

Of the 1.4 billion ryo he had originally extorted from Hiruzen Sarutobi, quite a bit had been spent in this incident, and the Third Raikage felt some heartache.

Chiba Shun, on the other hand, was thrilled. He had finally been promoted to Jonin, and he had even received an S-rank Mission. He had struck it rich!

The Kumogakure shinobi withdrew their entire army and returned to Kumogakure, dismissing most of their shinobi while leaving behind only a small portion to guard against the possible outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War.

On Konoha's side, Hiruzen Sarutobi returned to Konoha, but he divided the remaining shinobi into three groups. One group stayed behind to guard against the Kumogakure shinobi returning, one went to support Danzo, and the last went to the Land of Whirlpools to join Orochimaru's command.

The sudden treaty between Kumogakure and Konoha nearly threw out Ōnoki's old back.

He had thought the Kumogakure shinobi were going to wage war against Konoha!

Had they mobilized their entire army just to add leverage at the negotiating table?

Since when had the Third Raikage grown a brain?

But now Ōnoki felt that he was the one without a brain. The Kumogakure shinobi had used him as a weapon, and now he was stuck between advancing and retreating.

He was unwilling to withdraw just like that. Mobilizing so many shinobi had already cost too much.

Yet if he continued the standoff, it seemed he would gain nothing.

After thinking it over, he also sent an envoy to the Konoha army's camp, hoping to imitate the Kumogakure shinobi and squeeze a sum out of Konoha.

However, the person facing him was Danzo, one of the hardliners.

Danzo had just berated Hiruzen Sarutobi's cowardice before the upper ranks of this Konoha army. How could he possibly compromise with Ōnoki now?

When he heard that the envoy he had sent had been killed by Danzo, Ōnoki was so furious he stamped his feet. But he was not an impulsive man. After hesitating for a day, he still withdrew his troops.

Ōnoki remained rational. The Kumogakure shinobi had not merely pulled back; they had formed an alliance with Konoha.

What if the Kumogakure shinobi attacked the Land of Earth at this time?

Seeing Ōnoki withdraw his troops, Danzo was overjoyed and immediately spread the word that he had frightened off the Iwa Shinobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had needed to sign a humiliating treaty to make the enemy withdraw, while Danzo had frightened off a powerful enemy without giving up anything.

The difference between them was obvious at a glance.

Thus, Danzo gained a group of not particularly bright followers among the ordinary shinobi.

But more shinobi with working brains did not see it that way.

They also knew that Hiruzen Sarutobi must have sold out the village's interests by signing an alliance with the Kumogakure shinobi at this time.

But they knew even better that without an alliance, the two sides would have gone to war, and the losses would have been even greater.

Moreover, even without war, merely maintaining the standoff would likely have cost Konoha more than the rewards for the several hundred S-rank Missions Hiruzen Sarutobi had paid.

And Danzo's so-called victory had actually been built upon Hiruzen Sarutobi's alliance treaty.

Without the Kumogakure shinobi's withdrawal, the Iwa Shinobi certainly would not have withdrawn so easily either.

But Danzo did not think so. He felt that if he had been given more time, he could have won over even more shinobi.

Unfortunately, after Hiruzen Sarutobi heard that the Iwa Shinobi had withdrawn, he immediately sent Tsunade to convey his orders.

Thus, Danzo's army was disbanded as well.

In this war that had nearly broken out, only the front in the Land of Rivers looked somewhat like a real war. The army led by Jiraiya fought a battle against the army led by the Third Kazekage.

Although neither side suffered many losses, making it only a probing engagement, and neither side's Kage Level fighters personally entered the battle, it looked slightly more like a war than the other two fronts.

But that was all. After hearing that the Iwa Shinobi had also withdrawn, the Third Kazekage sighed and led his army back to the Land of Wind.

Jiraiya did not pursue them. He had originally been teaching three disciples in the Land of Rain, but he had suddenly left. He did not know how the three children were doing now and needed to go check on them.