---Third POV---
"Get out of here quickly!" Minato urgently shouted at Chitake.
At this moment, Chitake was using a kunai, trying to scrape away the sealing technique inscribed on the tree trunk.
Although the idea seemed creative at first, cutting the tree and taking it away would have been wiser. Anyway, once a sealing technique is activated, even destroying the entire tree wouldn't undo it.
"Goodbye."
Chiyo's eyes were cold. Seizing such an opportunity to corner a speed-type elite like Minato was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
The blue chakra light spear reached him in an instant, and the next second, the spear was about to pierce through Minato's body.
Countless grains of sand rose from beneath the feet of Minato and Chitake, completely enveloping them.
The spear struck the sand-formed sphere, causing intense vibrations. Waves of air rippled out from the point of contact between the spear and the shield.
The spear slowly pierced into the sand sphere!
But that was all. The Mechanical Light Spear Assault Assault was not a continuous ninjutsu. After a few seconds of stalemate, the light spear flickered a few times weakly and then dissipated entirely.
In the end, the showdown between spear and shield was won by Shukaku's personally-crafted sand shield.
"This… could it be?"
Chiyo's pupils shrank. She was all too familiar with what this sand shield represented.
"The Great Tanuki is back, you Suna fools!"
Shukaku emerged from the ground with its massive body, loudly announcing its arrival to everyone nearby.
Ryouma jumped from its palm onto its head.
"First, undo that sealing technique and save Captain Minato."
Hearing Ryouma's command, Shukaku quickly dispersed the sand shield from before, revealing the immobilized Minato trapped by the sealing technique.
With hand seals completed, the sand on the ground swiftly extended to the seal binding Minato. Black sealing marks emerged, completely overwriting and destroying the original seals that belonged to Chiyo.
Seeing the Lion Closing Roar about to be undone, Chiyo had no time to ponder why the One-Tail would appear here, let alone why it was siding with Konoha. She waved her hands, commanding her six puppets to launch a full-scale attack on Minato.
Some fired countless projectiles, while others unleashed flames and wind blades from their mechanisms. She didn't care whether these attacks would succeed; this was the only chance to kill Minato.
At this moment, her face turned extremely grim.
"Damn you!"
Unlike before, this time she was genuinely enraged.
Seeing such chaotic attacks, Shukaku swiped its tail, blocking all the assaults. This was why tailed beasts are considered the ultimate weapons of the ninja villages.
The ninjutsu that struck its tail didn't even leave a sound, let alone an impact. As for the barrage of poison-coated projectiles, which would be lethal for most ninja, they were laughably ineffective against a tailed beast.
"It's done!"
True to its reputation as the smartest of the tailed beasts, Shukaku had undone the sealing technique binding Minato in mere seconds.
With the seals dispelled, the mechanism became utterly useless.
Chitake used all his strength and directly ripped the lion-shaped head off the tree.
"Ryouma! " The first thing Minato shouted after being freed was Ryouma's name.
"Don't worry, the enemies at the camp have been dealt with, and Lady Tsunade and Rin are safe."
Ryouma deliberately spoke loudly, not just for Minato to hear but also to inform the surrounding ninjas on both sides. This boosted Konoha's morale while crushing the spirit of the Suna forces.
And indeed, under his sharp observation, he saw Chiyo's face turn pale from a distance. Standing atop Shukaku's head and observing the entire battlefield, Ryouma thought, Time to clean up.
Buzz… Buzz… Buzz…
A violent hum sounded again.
Just hearing it was enough to make enemies feel physically uncomfortable.
Having extreme precision in chakra control, Ryouma compressed the raging wind chakra into two massive chakra shuriken, one in each hand.
Ryouma swung both arms forcefully, throwing the two Rasenshuriken one after the other.
The familiar technique, the familiar sound... The Suna ninjas were practically developing collective PTSD from this jutsu.
From his perspective, with his Rikugan active, the battlefield resembled a strategy game map with full visibility.
Under his control, the two Rasenshuriken raced across the battlefield like two blue race cars, eliminating every unit marked as an enemy in his field of vision.
---
"Die!"
A Suna ninja was about to stab a kunai into a Konoha ninja.
The Konoha ninja had just dealt with another Suna ninja and hadn't expected an attack from behind.
In the moment when his pupils widened in shock, and his mind filled with images of his life flashing before his eyes... A blue streak of light flashed past, accompanied by a sharp buzzing sound that filled his ears.
The Suna ninja, who had just been raising his kunai, was now lying on the ground, bisected at the waist and convulsing. Scenes like this kept repeating across the battlefield where Konoha and the Suna were clashing.
Although Ryouma had only unleashed two Rasenshuriken, their efficiency in reaping the lives of ordinary ninjas was unmatched.
Chiyo's six puppets, or even a full squadron of elite puppets, couldn't hope to compare.
If any Suna ninja managed to survive this war and return to their village, they would likely never forget the terror of the Rasenshuriken.
---
On the other side of the battlefield, Jiraiya was engaging Ebizō in taijutsu combat while simultaneously taunting him with trash talk to disrupt his focus.
"Hahaha, why don't you just surrender? If you keep this up, all the men in Suna will be wiped out! Don't blame me, Jiraiya the Gallant, when that happens. Hahaha!"
Ebizō had spent most of his life with a calm and disciplined demeanor, priding himself on his stable temperament. But today, Jiraiya's antics had pushed him to the brink.
Adding to his frustration was the sight of Shukaku seemingly under Ryouma's control. This meant that Rasa's ambush had likely failed, compounding his agitation with a string of losses.
Now, hearing Jiraiya's relentless trash talk, he was so enraged that he nearly choked.
"Wild Lion's Mane!"
Seeing that his trash talk had finally worked, Jiraiya shouted gleefully and instantly performed a jutsu, sending his hair flying towards Ebizō in a series of attacks.
Ebizō was encountering such a bizarre technique for the first time… so bizarre that he couldn't even find the words to describe it.
He dodged Jiraiya's attacks repeatedly, finding himself in increasingly dangerous situations.
Despite his confident demeanor, Jiraiya had actually been terrified moments ago when he saw what was happening on Minato's side. Thankfully, Ryouma had shown up in time to save him.
If Minato had been seriously injured there, Jiraiya didn't dare imagine how many pieces Kushina would break him into.
Speaking of Ryouma, that kid was unbelievably strong. In such a short time, how many Suna ninjas had he already killed? He couldn't even begin to estimate how much Ryouma's future bounty would be on the black market.
And even a tailed beast was willing to listen to him.
For a moment, Jiraiya started doubting whether the "Child of Prophecy" he'd been searching for was actually Nagato… or Ryouma.
---
Chiyo's migraine was acting up again.
She absolutely couldn't let Ryouma continue any further. If he kept killing, there wouldn't be enough Suna ninjas left for him to slaughter.
She quickly divided her attention, controlling three puppets with each hand to chase after the two spiraling Rasenshurikens wreaking havoc on the battlefield.
"Three Jewels Suction Crushing!"
Two sets of puppets formed a human pyramid-like formation, positioning themselves to draw the two Rasenshurikens into the vortexes they generated in front of them.
But Ryouma had anticipated this move.
"Shukaku, fill it with sand!"
"Got it, partner!"
Following Ryouma's command, Shukaku manipulated the sand as if pouring water, flooding the wind zones created by Chiyo's technique.
Simultaneously, several black sealing inscriptions appeared on the sand, counteracting the sealing formula of the Three Jewels Suction Crushing.
This prevented Chiyo from promptly dealing with the pile of sand using her own sealing techniques.
Buzz-buzz-buzz~
Ryouma immediately controlled the two spiraling Rasenshurikens to bypass the wind zones that had previously caught him off guard.
They struck directly at several puppets immobilized by their own internal mechanisms. Two beams of blue light erupted, with howling winds and blade-like tornadoes shredding the remaining six members of the Chikamatsu Puppets.
Under the relentless blades formed by high-density wind-nature chakra, Chiyo's chakra strings were all severed.
The shinobi world was often unpredictable. Individual power could sometimes sway the outcome of large-scale wars.
Clearly, once Ryouma returned to the battlefield like a divine force alongside Shukaku, the tide had turned overwhelmingly in Konoha's favor.
And disaster never struck alone.
Boom!
"Ebizō-sama!"
Chiyo turned to see her brother sent flying by a strike from Jiraiya's hair. He crashed through several large trees before landing heavily on the ground.
Ebizō had never been Jiraiya's match. Moreover, Jiraiya's cunning use of psychological attacks had caught Ebizō off guard, leaving him vulnerable to a decisive blow. Had Ebizō not managed to block with a kunai at the last moment, he wouldn't have just been sent flying—he would have been pinned to the ground, impaled by Jiraiya's hair.
This was the final straw that broke Chiyo. Her lips trembled, her face full of unwillingness.
How? Why was it always Konoha? First Sakumo, then Minato, and now Ryouma.
Why did Konoha always get all the talent?
Not far away, Ryouma stood atop the One-Tail Shukaku, already gathering chakra for another attack. At this point, Chiyo could no longer use her Three Jewels Suction Crushing to block his techniques.
Though Chiyo didn't understand why Shukaku obeyed him, the fact was that with Shukaku's protection, every attack directed at Ryouma was intercepted by the One-Tail's sand.
The Suna ninjas couldn't even get close to Ryouma.
In contrast, every swing of Shukaku's massive claws or swipe of its tail claimed the lives of several Suna ninja.
After forming another Rasenshuriken, Ryouma didn't immediately throw it.
The spiraling shuriken, emitting a deafening noise, exerted immense psychological pressure on the Suna ninja.
Chiyo looked around.
The surviving Suna ninjas either glared with hatred or gazed in numb despair. But one thing was certain: they were all terrified—terrified of a single person, or rather, of a single technique. No one wanted to suddenly be bisected by spiraling wind blades that seemed to appear out of nowhere during a battle.
Ryouma's earlier, brutally efficient slaughter had left a deep psychological scar on the surviving Suna ninjas on the battlefield.
Chiyo closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her expression was resolute. "Send the order: all forces, retreat!"
Calling it a "retreat" was simply a way to make it sound better. Both the higher-ups and the rank-and-file ninja understood that it essentially meant surrender.
Ryouma noticed her sudden shift in demeanor, briefly worrying that she might insist on fighting to the death. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.
For Konoha, leaving the Suna ninjas defeated but alive was far more advantageous than wiping them out. A crippled Suna could help alleviate the pressure Konoha faced from Iwa.
The order was swiftly conveyed. Before long, both Konoha and Suna forces ceased fighting and retreated to their respective sides of the battlefield. At the center of the battlefield, now strewn with the remains of shattered ninja tools and body parts, only the leaders of both sides remained.
It was hard to imagine that just moments ago, these same individuals had been locked in deadly combat. Now, they stood face-to-face, starting a dialogue.
Ebizō, supported by a Suna jonin, stood beside Chiyo. During the withdrawal of their forces, Chiyo had quickly treated Ebizō's injuries, allowing him to barely regain mobility.
At this point, only they could hold the semblance of leadership for Suna.
On the other side, Konoha's lineup was far more impressive: Shikaku, Jiraiya, Minato, and Ryouma himself.
As the greatest contributor to this war's outcome, Ryouma couldn't avoid being present. Along the way, several Konoha ninjas had already started addressing him as "Ryouma-sama." The shinobi world respected strength above all else. Despite his youth, his accomplishments were undeniable.
Chiyo looked at Ryouma with a complicated expression. This previously unknown prodigy had completely overturned what had been an advantageous situation for Suna.
The most frustrating part? He had white hair. Why white?!
Chiyo had a deep-seated dislike for two types of people: Konoha's White Fang, and that pipe-smoking old man from the Land of Rain.
Now, there was a third: Ryouma.
"Is Rasa still alive?" Chiyo asked directly, getting straight to the point of her concern. Her question wasn't born out of personal affection for Rasa. Rather, Suna desperately needed leadership now.
As for the One-Tails' jinchūriki, it was obvious. With the Shukaku standing before them, the jinchūriki's fate was clear. Perhaps they could later negotiate with Konoha to retrieve the body, as the jinchūriki still bore Suna's sealing formulas.
Both Jiraiya and Shikaku turned their eyes to Ryouma, curious about the outcome. They had heard that Minato had used the Flying Thunder God Technique to send Ryouma to reinforce the camp, but the details were unknown.
Under everyone's gaze, Ryouma spoke.
"He's dead."