The shock wave from the Tailed Beast Bomb's explosion swept across a ten-li radius in an instant. Sasuke, Hinata, and Pakkun were closest to the battlefield, and they took the brunt of it.
Sasuke clung tightly to a thick tree branch to keep from being blown away.
"Hey, Sasuke, Hinata! We need to get farther away! The fighting's getting worse-this place isn't safe anymore!" Pakkun shouted, staring fearfully toward the heart of the battle.
"Sasuke... let's get out of here!" Hinata was disheveled and filthy. Seeing that her temporary teammate was unharmed, she spoke with lingering fear.
Sasuke took a long look at the toad, whose body was covered in churning crimson chakra, then immediately retreated, his pearly teeth pressing against his red lips.
Sasuke, Hinata, and Pakkun weren't the only ones falling back. Temari and Kankuro were retreating too. That last attack had truly terrified them.
Meanwhile, seeing that the Tailed Beast Bomb he had painstakingly prepared had missed, Shukaku let out a furious shriek.
"Hahaha... idiot! A chakra ball that heavy must take a lot of chakra to use, huh?" Gamabunta laughed, mocking Shukaku's fury.
"Damn it..."
Although Shukaku's consciousness was now in control, his strength hadn't fully recovered. After all, his medium was still subconsciously suppressing him.
"If my medium weren't suppressing me, how could I possibly lose to a mere toad like you?!!"
Seeing Shukaku's state, Gamabunta hurriedly told Naruto the truth.
"Naruto, you need to hurry. I've used too much chakra. I'm almost at my summoning time limit."
Naruto was startled. "What? There's a time limit on summoning you? Can't you stay here indefinitely as long as the Summoning Technique isn't released?"
"Has Jiraiya taught you nothing?" Gamabunta explained irritably. "How long we can stay summoned depends on our own chakra. If we have enough,