— — — — — —
"Anyway, Minato-nii, I just sent all the info to you via Red Queen." Renzo chuckled and shook his head before turning to Minato.
"You better get a few tough negotiators ready to come with me. We don't want to look too soft. I think Nara Shikaku-senpai would be perfect—smart and steady. You pick two more."
"Got it. I'll have the ANBU gather them right away," Minato responded without hesitation.
A few minutes later, Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and—unexpectedly—Tsunade showed up.
"Minato, seriously? You called me out here in the middle of all this chaos?" Tsunade stormed in, clearly annoyed. "The hospital's packed to the brim with wounded—I haven't even had time to grab a drink or gamble lately! Have some respect for your seniors, will you?!"
But then she spotted Renzo and blinked in surprise. "Wait, what are you doing here? Weren't you deployed to the frontlines?"
Her cheeks flushed slightly—not out of embarrassment, but because it reminded her of Renzo's recent bold advances on her. Honestly, it was kind of humiliating.
"Yep," Renzo said with a grin. "But the fighting's basically over. I just came back to grab a few people for peace talks."
"Huh?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Already? It's only been a few days. Don't tell me the fighting ended right after you got there? Was it all for nothing?"
"No way," Renzo shrugged. "Do you seriously think Jiraiya could handle guys like Ay and the Eight-Tails on his own?"
"…Fair point," Tsunade muttered with a nod. She knew Jiraiya's limits well enough.
"Enough talking. Just watch the footage—I already pulled it up," Kushina cut in, tapping a few commands on her communicator and having Red Queen project the battlefield recordings into the room.
The group turned their attention to the projection.
The footage started from that morning's battle—Jiraiya's team getting pushed into a corner, and then Renzo's dramatic entrance.
They watched him crush Ay in one blow, then manhandle the Eight-Tails like it was a toy, capturing it with a full-body Susanoo before sealing it away with massive adamantine chains.
As for Two-Tails and other Kumo ninjas? They all escaped.
---
Back in Kushina's seal
"Pfft—HAHAHAHA! Oh man, look at Gyūki now! Absolutely wrecked!"
"HAHAHAHA~"
Kurama was howling with laughter as he watched the whole thing through Kushina's senses.
The moment he saw the Eight-Tails get snatched up like a sack of potatoes by Susanoo, he couldn't help it—he was rolling on the floor, laughing like a maniac.
Kushina winced as she felt the reaction through their connection.
"…This fox is falling apart," she muttered to herself. "Where's your big scary energy now, huh? You're turning into a damn husky."
"Nine-Tails? Nah, just a cute puppy~"
Maybe Kurama picked up on her thoughts, because he suddenly snorted and tried to tone it down a bit—but he was still grinning from ear to ear.
"You know," Kurama said, a mix of smugness and nostalgia in his voice, "back when Hashirama used Wood Release to pin me down with that giant wooden avatar… yeah, I looked just like that."
"We hadn't been split up yet, so I still remember Gyūki acting all tough, dragging the rest of us into that fight with Hashirama. And who ended up suffering the most? Me."
"Hashirama… that guy was just trying to talk to us, seemed like he was negotiating, but in the end, my damn brothers attacked for no reason."
"Look at him now—same treatment. Why shouldn't I laugh?"
"In fact, not only am I gonna laugh—I'll roast him sooohard when I see him again!"
Then he paused and added slyly, "Hey, Kushina. Why don't you come to the frontlines this time? Let me get a look at that oversized cow myself."
Kushina hesitated. "Me? Go to the frontlines? Isn't that… kinda risky? I'm a Jinchūriki, you know."
Her voice said "no," but she was clearly tempted. It'd been years since she left the village.
"Tch. That's just a load of crap Hiruzen and Danzo fed you to keep you locked up."
Kurama scoffed. "You've got your husband sitting in the Hokage seat now. And he can't even give you this much freedom? Please. If that's the case, you should dump his sorry ass."
"Besides… with that freak Renzo tagging along, I doubt even I could go on a rampage if I wanted to."
Just thinking about those ridiculously thick adamantine chains Renzo conjured—way thicker than the ones Kushina used—made Kurama want to lie low.
And that perfect Susanoo that looked suspiciously like Madara's? Yeah, he still had nightmares about that thing.
If Gyūki got ragdolled like that, Kurama figured he probably wouldn't fare much better himself.
Sure, he liked to talk tough, but deep down, Kurama knew the Eight-Tails wasn't weak—it was just that Renzo had reached a whole other level.
"Hehehe, true!" Kushina laughed softly, then turned to scold him. "But hey! Don't you dare badmouth my sweet sunshine! My Minato's nothing like that, you smug fox!"
"If you keep talking trash, I'll have Renzo come over and teach you a lesson!"
Only she was allowed to tease Minato—no one else, not even the Nine-Tails!
Kurama just curled its lip in disdain and chose not to argue with a woman blinded by love.
— — —
Meanwhile, the projected footage had already advanced to the part where Renzo summoned his Complete Body Susanoo and started mowing down wave after wave of Kumo ninjas like some kind of divine force.
Then suddenly, the Third Raikage appeared to save the day.
"Huh? That's Kumo's 'Heavenly Transfer Jutsu,' right?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Yeah," Minato nodded. "But from what I've heard, that jutsu's a rough imitation of Flying Thunder God. It's really only meant for transporting supplies. If a living person wants to use it, they need to have an insane level of physical toughness and durability."
"The fact that the Third Raikage can pull it off without a scratch just proves how monstrous he really is."
But just as Minato finished talking, they all saw the Raikage try to block Susanoo's chakra blade with his "Hell Stab: One-Fingered Thrust"... only to get punched straight into the ground by Renzo a second later.
Minato: "..."
Yeah, no doubt about it. Renzo's way scarier.
"Hold up... that punch looks weirdly familiar. Don't tell me you copied my super-strength technique? Chakra Enhanced Strength?" Tsunade squinted at Renzo suspiciously.
"Kind of!" Renzo smiled. "I call it the 'Impact Punch.' I combined Senjutsu with another power to crank up the force behind my hits."
"But yeah, the idea's the same. Use raw impact to boost the punch's destructive power."
"Actually, I've been thinking—if I could merge it with your Chakra Enhanced Strength technique, it'd be even more devastating."
He had his eye on more than just her punches, though. All of Tsunade's skills were tempting—medical ninjutsu, her Yin Seal, all of it.
And of course, if he could win over Tsunade herself… wouldn't those come with the package?
"You know Senjutsu too?!" Kushina blinked, startled. The mention of "Impact Punch" was instantly forgotten.
As for Shikaku and Inoichi?
Their heads were spinning. Senjutsu? Impact Punch? What even were those?
Even Minato was staring at Renzo in shock.
He hadn't known Renzo had already mastered Senjutsu too.
He had only just barely grasped it himself recently, and even that was thanks to the special Uzumaki Sage Body serum Renzo had created.
Without that, Minato's chakra reserves would've been way too low to maintain Sage Mode at all—he'd be lucky to hold it for a few seconds.
Only after boosting his chakra levels significantly had he finally managed to stabilize the mode.
And now? Renzo was already this far ahead?
"Haha, yeah! I learned it at Ryūchi Cave! Orochimaru sent me there!" Renzo grinned.
"Orochimaru, huh?" Minato nodded knowingly. "That makes sense. All three of the legendary summoning lands pass down Senjutsu."
"But wait…" he suddenly frowned and pointed to the footage, confused. "Then why doesn't your face change when you enter Sage Mode?"
"When Jiraiya-sensei and I use it, we get those toad-like features—his even more so because he never perfected it. His face practically turns into a frog!"
"Even Hashirama, the First Hokage, had markings and eye patterns when he used Sage Mode. But you—"
"—look completely normal? Like I'm not even using it?" Renzo finished the thought with a grin. "That's because I've completely mastered it. I went beyond the Snake Sage Mode."
"I created an entirely new Sage Mode, one that's based on the human body instead of animal traits. That's why I don't have any markings or weird features—it's a human Sage Mode."
"And even beyond that—my chakra is now 100% Sage chakra. I don't even use regular chakra anymore. I've reached a level of return-to-origin purity. That's why it looks so... natural."
He wasn't bluffing either.
He'd experimented with different elemental Sage Modes—water, fire, lightning...
Each one gave him a different pattern or eye color. Blue for water, crimson red for fire, deep indigo for lightning...
But now, his current state had transcended all of that.
More simple—More powerful.
.
.
.