Dark clouds loomed overhead as the wind and snow intensified, though it was only early afternoon. The sky, however, looked as if night was fast approaching. Tutai reached up to touch his face—it was cold as iron. He raised his head to gaze at the second towering Susanoo standing like a mountain between heaven and earth, and fury surged through his body like a fire. It felt as though he had swallowed gunpowder, his emotions ready to explode.
"What is this? What is going on?"
One Susanoo had already kept the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki occupied, and now a second one had appeared. How was anyone supposed to fight this battle? It was impossible!
With the situation hopeless, Tutai quickly assessed the situation. Konoha had gained the upper hand. The appearance of two Susanoos had shattered the balance of power. The Cloud ninja forces had only brought the Eight-Tails jinchūriki to this fight, leaving the Two-Tails jinchūriki behind.
While it wasn't impossible for regular shinobi to fight against something like Susanoo—otherwise, various countries wouldn't have successfully sealed tailed beasts and created jinchūrikis repeatedly—those past experiences also taught Tutai a harsh reality. Without top-tier leaders like the Third Raikage to guide them, going up against such behemoths, whether tailed beasts or Susanoos, often meant severe casualties.
Moreover, unlike their experience in battling tailed beasts, the Cloud ninjas had very little knowledge about how to fight Susanoo.
Tutai had reviewed ancient documents while researching the Uchiha Clan, some of which were notes left by the First and Second Raikages from over sixty years ago. They recorded their encounters with, or observations of, Konoha's cruel and cold-blooded Asura.
But these were just reflections.
There wasn't any useful advice on how to combat Susanoo. Well, there was one suggestion: "Run as far as possible if you see Susanoo or the Wood-Style Buddha. If you can't escape, surrender. And if surrendering isn't an option… fight to the death with everything you've got!"
A simple piece of advice, but one that gave Tutai a headache.
However, it also made him deeply understand just how terrifying the legendary figures, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, truly were.
And now, they were facing two Susanoos.
"Give the order! Full retreat!" Tutai roared, issuing the command that left the Cloud ninjas around him in shock.
"Retreat? But… Raikage-sama is still over there…"
"Shut up! Organize the retreat immediately. If anyone delays, I'll kill them myself!" The usually calm, reliable, and soft-spoken Tutai had completely abandoned his composed demeanor. "Raikage-sama's situation is none of your concern right now. Your only job is to organize the army and retreat."
His spittle mixed with the snow, splattering across the faces of the jonin. Seeing the fiery anger burning in Tutai's single eye, the ninjas quickly suppressed their doubts. None dared argue over something as small as getting spit on.
Some of the older, more experienced jonin, who were around Tutai's age, remembered the last time they saw him show such an expression—when they received the news of the Third Raikage's death.
Back then, they had lost the Third Raikage.
What had they lost this time? Or more terrifyingly, what were they about to lose?
The ninjas quickly divided their tasks and spread out, organizing the army into smaller groups for a gradual, orderly retreat. These battle-hardened veterans from the Third Great Ninja War knew well that retreating wasn't just about speed—order was crucial.
And Tutai wasn't idle either. While the jonin ensured the army of 6,000 moved efficiently, he was the nerve center, overseeing the entire retreat. His steady control prevented any potential chaos.
As for Raikage-sama, there was nothing Tutai could do.
No matter how much the younger ninjas respected him, Tutai remained fully aware that he was not the brilliant strategist they imagined him to be. If he truly were, the Cloud forces wouldn't have lost the Third Raikage during the Third Great Ninja War.
His only goal now was to save as many of his 6,000 troops as possible. A force made up mostly of lower- and mid-tier ninja was no match for something as overwhelming as Susanoo. They couldn't even buy time, let alone fight back.
Staying behind would only be useless, and worse, it might cause more problems for Raikage-sama.
In contrast, without the burden of these 6,000 troops, Raikage-sama—along with the elite jonin accompanying him—might have a chance to escape. Clinging to this small hope, Tutai maintained his composure as he directed the retreat.
At the same time, the Fourth Raikage, A, was on the verge of a breakdown. The appearance of the second Susanoo left his mind completely blank for a moment. Fortunately, his reflexes kicked in, allowing him to dodge an attack from Uchiha Fugaku and the berserk Troy by transforming into lightning and flashing away.
At this point, he had no desire to fight.
Under such dire circumstances, even a pyrrhic victory seemed impossible. As he darted through the battlefield, A prayed silently that Tutai would be clever enough not to let this battle end in a devastating defeat.
"Everyone! Plan B!" A shouted as he darted through the battlefield, avoiding attacks and calling out the command to all the Cloud ninjas.
Plan B was a signal for retreat.
But openly calling for retreat might demoralize the troops and prompt enemy pursuit, so it was disguised as "Plan B." Though it would look like they were retreating, the term hinted at the possibility of an ambush, hopefully causing the enemy to hesitate before chasing.
In practice, it worked.
Cloud ninjas began to break away from the battle in groups, while Konoha's shinobi regrouped with their comrades, using their numerical advantage to press the Cloud ninjas on localized fronts. Oddly, both sides seemed to reach a mutual, unspoken understanding.
Konoha's forces knew they didn't have enough high-ranking jonin to completely wipe out the Cloud ninja. Meanwhile, the Cloud ninja understood they couldn't escape without some losses; there would be a price to pay to withdraw from the jaws of the Konoha shinobi.
Then, the Cloud ninja left behind a small group to cover their retreat.
The Konoha ninjas didn't hesitate to completely surround and wipe out this small group of Cloud ninjas!
Less than a minute after Sougen and his team arrived on the battlefield, the situation had already turned completely upside down. Under the command of Raikage's assistant, Tutai, the main forces of the Cloud ninja began to retreat. The elite unit led by the Fourth Raikage, Ay, also started to pull back... Sougen took all of this in with his eyes.
Seeing this scene, Sougen made a decision.
After slashing the Eight-Tails twice, two tentacle-like tails were cut off and flopped around on the ground. The crimson-colored Susanoo sheathed its sword and didn't continue attacking the Eight-Tails with Shisui. Instead, it opened its left hand, and several crimson magatama beads appeared in its palm. The three magatama circled around like fish chasing each other's tails, endlessly looping in his hand.
This was the Yasaka Magatama.
It's a long-range throwing technique that all Susanoo can use, with its power adjustable based on the number of magatama. It's definitely a highly practical and useful divine technique.
With a single thought, Sougen had Susanoo raise its left arm, ready to throw the three crimson magatama at the retreating formation of nearly six thousand Cloud ninjas.
The deafening roar of the Eight-Tails rang out as it took a direct hit from the spiraling sword of the green Susanoo. Like an enraged bull, it charged forward, crashing into the crimson Susanoo. The left hand that was about to throw the magatama trembled slightly, and as the saying goes, "A slight misstep leads to a huge mistake." The magatama missed its mark, falling into a snow-covered forest and causing a massive explosion.
Sougen muttered, though he didn't feel any sense of mockery.
A decision , choosing to protect comrades in the village even at the cost of personal injury, might seem foolish, but Sougen didn't dislike enemies with this kind of spirit. It only hastened the conclusion of the war.
The green Susanoo, wielding its spiraling sword, launched a series of fierce attacks at the Eight-Tails.
Still adjusting from its collision with the crimson Susanoo, the Eight-Tails couldn't even mount a counterattack. Dodging was also difficult. In just five or six seconds, it endured three more strikes from the spiraling sword before finally regaining its footing.
A massive broadsword, wrapped in blazing flames, slashed down again.
Two more tentacle-like tails were severed from the Eight-Tails. The intense heat from the flames made the Eight-Tails' massive body tremble. Seizing the momentum, Sougen didn't relent. Susanoo swung its fiery broadsword, launching a series of slashes. The sword's incredible heat vaporized the falling snow long before it even reached the blade! Read full story at ɴovelfire.net
Sougen's fire-style techniques had long since transcended the norm.
Though it was his first time combining fire-style jutsu with Susanoo, it was so smooth and practiced that no one would have thought it was his first attempt. The two techniques complemented each other perfectly, making Sougen's attacks even more terrifying and impossible to defend against.
Not to be outdone, Shisui endured the pain in his eyes, his spiraling sword wrapped in a whirlwind, as he launched a flurry of lightning-fast thrusts at the Eight-Tails!
"B, we can't hold out much longer!"
"No, we can't give up now. Big brother and the others haven't gotten far yet! At the very least, we need to hold out until they retreat..."
"B, we're almost out of chakra. Even I need time to recover. At most, we have half a minute left. If you don't retreat now, you won't be able to maintain this form, and you know what will happen then!"
"Half a minute, huh? Thank you, Eight-Tails!"
"No need to thank me. Honestly, I'd rather die than fall into the hands of the Uchiha!"
In the spiritual world of the Eight-Tails, it grumbled. Being killed by a human was like taking a nap, but falling under the control of the Uchiha's Sharingan? After experiencing that once, there was no way the Eight-Tails would willingly go through it again. The nauseating feeling was unbearable!
Killer B couldn't spare the thought for what the Eight-Tails was saying.
Ninety-nine percent of his focus was on defending against the combined assault of Sougen and Shisui. His severed tails consumed large amounts of chakra to regenerate quickly, and the wounds on his body were also rapidly healing, filled with chakra, good as new.
That's just how tailed beasts are.
As beings made purely of chakra, they have no vital points or fatal weaknesses.
Wild tailed beasts are notoriously difficult to kill. In the past, most deaths of tailed beasts occurred when they were sealed, dying along with their jinchuriki. There are no recorded cases of wild tailed beasts being killed. When a wild tailed beast is discovered, the first instinct is to seal it, not kill it—that would be a waste.
As a perfect jinchuriki, Killer B fully harnessed the Eight-Tails' power.
In full tailed-beast form, he inherited all the characteristics of the tailed beast, including its incredible difficulty to kill. At this moment, Killer B was showing that to the fullest, turning the massive body of the Eight-Tails into an unstoppable tank. His indomitable resilience allowed him to withstand the combined onslaught of two Susanoo.
Rather than Killer B holding off Sougen and Shisui, it was more accurate to say that Sougen was stalling the Eight-Tails!
From the start, Sougen's true target was the Eight-Tails. His earlier use of Yasaka Magatama was a mere feint to force Killer B into choosing between retreating or staying to cover his comrades' escape.
Killer B ultimately chose to stay and engage Sougen and Shisui.
This was exactly what Sougen had anticipated.
Taking out a few thousand Cloud ninja, most of whom were mid to low-ranking, would only give the King of Hell more paperwork to do. To Sougen, that held little significance compared to the value of capturing a perfect jinchuriki like Killer B. For both Sougen and Konoha, the value of a perfect jinchuriki was immeasurable.
"Since you've chosen to protect your comrades, then just obediently stay here!"
The fiery broadsword slashed down again.
The Eight-Tails roared in pain, its charred wounds writhing but failing to heal as quickly as before. Instead, the wounds showed signs of collapse. In the next second, the collapse became a reality—the Eight-Tails disintegrated completely!
In a blink of an eye, its massive, tattered body vanished without a trace.
All that remained was the unconscious Killer B, bleeding from his nose and mouth!
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