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Chapter 576: Conclusion and Surprises
Chapter 576: Conclusion and Surprises
When Lao Zi opened his eyes again, he could distinctly feel a surge of power welling up within him.
And that power, though it was the chakra of the Four-Tails, seemed somewhat different.
However, for Lao Zi at this moment, he had no time to ponder the nuances of this difference. He found himself in the midst of a battlefield, facing an formidable opponent who had the upper hand against him.
"Hmm? Your chakra has increased," Mu Yue remarked with a hint of surprise as he maintained his Byakugan.
There were only nine jinchuriki in the ninja world, and Mu Yue had encountered three of them, killing one. He had gained some insights into the power of these vessels.
Even jinchuriki who could achieve full tailed beast transformation couldn't harness the full extent of their beast's chakra.
For example, both Lao Zi and Han, at their peak, could muster around five million chakra.
But the last time Mu Yue had assessed the Three-Tails on the eastern battlefield, its chakra levels had reached a staggering eighteen million.
According to Mu Yue's recollection of the original story, the Three-Tails was not particularly exceptional in terms of performance, and it didn't feel as strong as the Four-Tails.
Hence, the vast discrepancy in the assessment results couldn't be attributed to the difference in strength between the tailed beasts.
Based on the varying circumstances during the appraisals, Mu Yue quickly drew a conclusion through comparison.
The Three-Tails had been in a rampaging state during the previous assessment, and it was the tailed beast, not the jinchuriki, who was in control of the body.
In the case of Han and Lao Zi, despite their complete tailed beast transformations resembling their beasts, the jinchuriki were still the ones in control of their bodies.
Mu Yue believed that a critical factor might lie in the harmony of minds between the jinchuriki and their tailed beasts. If they could achieve a relationship akin to the later stages of Naruto and Kurama's bond, perhaps they would be able to fully harness the tailed beast's chakra.
"Is this one of the butterfly effects I've caused?" Mu Yue appraised Lao Zi once more.
In the original story, Lao Zi certainly hadn't reached a state of mutual understanding with the Four-Tails, and his name was only called once during the Impure World Reincarnation.
Name: Lao Zi
Chakra: 6,120,000
At this moment, Lao Zi's chakra levels had surpassed six million and continued to rise.
However, Mu Yue remained unflustered. This wasn't a game where leveling up restored one's health. Even with the increased chakra, Lao Zi was still injured.
Mu Yue didn't need to employ additional strategies; the ninjutsu he had already used would be sufficient to defeat Lao Zi.
While Lao Zi had indeed broken through in strength, the elite jonin hand-picked to protect him had all been dealt with by Mu Yue.
Without those skilled jonin supporting him in battle, the outcome of Lao Zi's confrontation with Mu Yue might not fare any better than before.
"Lava Release: Flower Fruit Mountain!"
Upon emerging from his consciousness space, Lao Zi immediately channeled his newfound power into a ninjutsu.
Flower Fruit Mountain was a powerful Lava Release technique that required an immense amount of the Four-Tails' chakra for Lao Zi to execute.
While Lao Zi had mastered Lava Release himself, his own chakra and Lava Release proficiency fell short of the demands of this technique.
In the world of Naruto, each individual's chakra possessed subtle distinctions.
And the tailed beasts, being pure chakra entities, had exceptionally unique chakra.
The Four-Tails' chakra inherently contained Lava Release power, allowing Lao Zi to wield a powerful Lava Release technique that he normally wouldn't be able to use.
Lao Zi braced himself with his hands on the ground, channeling a massive amount of Lava Release chakra into the earth.
The ordinary ground gradually transformed into lava, rapidly spreading outwards, even turning the small lake that Mu Yue had created earlier into a lava lake.
As most of the Iwa ninja in their vicinity had already been slain by Mu Yue, Lao Zi unleashed this technique without any reservations.
Confronted by the rapidly spreading lava, Mu Yue attempted to halt its advance with Water Release techniques.
However, he soon abandoned this effort. They were close to the river, but not directly on its banks, and engaging in a direct contest of water jutsu put him at a disadvantage since Lao Zi had the Four-Tails as a chakra source.
Boom!!
Under Lao Zi's control, the flowing lava continued to coalesce and surge towards Mu Yue, but he nimbly evaded each attack.
"As expected, he's not easy to deal with," Lao Zi remarked, undeterred by the failed assault.
After all, if Mu Yue had been easy to handle, he wouldn't have been injured by him earlier.
It would be fantastic if Flower Fruit Mountain could injure Mu Yue, but if it didn't, it would at least create an opportunity for him to use the Tailed Beast Ball.
Lao Zi swiftly opened his mouth wide, and an immense amount of tailed beast chakra gathered, forming a small black-violet sphere in front of his mouth.
Perhaps due to the assistance of the Four-Tails, Lao Zi felt that this time, he was able to form the Tailed Beast Ball faster than ever before.
"Do you think you've won? Don't celebrate too soon!" Lao Zi roared, the black sphere growing larger with each passing moment.
He appeared ready to unleash indiscriminate destruction.
Whoosh!
Mu Yue utilized the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport instantly to his disciples' sides, swiftly eliminating the Iwa ninja surrounding them.
"Don't get caught up in the fight. Let's create some distance first," Mu Yue commanded.
If Lao Zi resorted to a desperate, all-out attack, Mu Yue was inclined to retreat.
With the commander of the Iwa forces dead and many of their elite jonin killed, this Iwa force was already in a severely weakened state.
It wouldn't be worth sacrificing this force of over a thousand Konoha ninja to completely annihilate the battered Iwa forces.
"Let's withdraw and create some distance!" thought the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, in agreement with Mu Yue.
If the unit suffered heavy casualties from Lao Zi's last-ditch effort, the encirclement and annihilation plan wouldn't be as profitable.
It would be better to fall back a bit, observe if Lao Zi was truly willing to go all out, and disrupt the Iwa forces' retreat if he was. If not, they could still capture a significant number of Iwa ninja with this distance.
After the Tailed Beast Ball fully formed, Lao Zi hesitated for a fraction of a second before finally launching it towards the nearest group of ninja.
With Mu Yue's mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique, it would be exceedingly difficult to hit him with the Tailed Beast Ball. Since he couldn't kill Mu Yue, it hardly mattered who else got caught in the crossfire.
As the black-violet chakra sphere, radiating a terrifying aura, bore down on them, both Konoha and Iwa ninja alike wished they could sprout extra legs to escape faster.
"Jinchuriki are all mad! Using the Tailed Beast Ball like this," an Iwa ninja muttered, unable to hold back his curses against Lao Zi.
Boom!!
The instant the Tailed Beast Ball hit the ground, a blinding flash of white light bathed the entire battlefield, and a relentless surge of energy consumed the ninja who hadn't managed to escape the blast radius.
In that moment, there was no distinction between the Iwa and Konoha ninja—they were all equally fragile in the face of the Tailed Beast Ball.
Without hesitation, Lao Zi immediately began gathering chakra for another Tailed Beast Ball, a small black sphere rapidly forming at the front of his mouth once more.
This time, no one would doubt that Lao Zi was bluffing.
With Mu Yue and Minato Namikaze's orders, the Konoha ninjas didn't hesitate to flee, putting distance between themselves and Lao Zi.
If even the commanders were ordering a retreat, there was no point in staying and risking death from the Tailed Beast Balls.
BOOM!!!
Another Tailed Beast Ball exploded near the Iwa and Konoha ninjas, sending a massive shockwave through the area.
Right after, Lao Zi swiftly formed a third Tailed Beast Ball, but this time, he didn't choose to attack the ninja forces. Instead, he turned his attention to Jiraiya, who was battling Han.
Han's fully transformed state, which was initially pure white, was now covered in large patches of charred black, making him look utterly disheveled.
It was easier for a jinchuriki to withstand the Tailed Beast Ball's damage compared to a regular ninja, so Lao Zi didn't have to worry about accidentally killing Han.
SWISH!
Minato appeared beside Jiraiya and teleported him away just before the Tailed Beast Ball landed.
BOOM!!
Another deafening explosion echoed as the injured Han, struck by the Tailed Beast Ball, was blasted and knocked out of his complete tailed beast transformation, reverting to his regular human form.
"So, you were also barely holding on," Lao Zi exclaimed as he suddenly leaped towards Han, grabbing him and continuing to gather chakra for another Tailed Beast Ball.
Normally, Han shouldn't have been this fragile; it was evident that he was severely injured, which was why he couldn't maintain his tailed beast form.
After the fourth Tailed Beast Ball detonated, what was once a picturesque forest had now become a scene of devastation, with no Konoha or Iwa ninjas left standing in the immediate area.
"This Four-Tails jinchuriki has gone crazy this time. I reckon he's killed several hundred Iwa ninjas with his Tailed Beast Balls," Jiraiya remarked, unable to hide his astonishment as he gazed at the distant explosion's white flash.
The first Tailed Beast Ball launched by Lao Zi had taken the most lives, with nearly two hundred Iwa ninjas perishing from that single attack.
Fortunately, Mu Yue had given the order early on, and the Konoha forces had scattered quickly, minimizing their losses compared to the Iwa forces. Even with the first Tailed Beast Ball, only a few dozen Konoha ninjas had died.
"Even if he manages to break through with some of the Iwa ninjas, I doubt he'll be welcomed as a hero back home," Minato commented, as if envisioning Lao Zi's future.
If logic prevailed, killing a fellow villager was grounds for being branded a missing-nin. And if one dared to resist capture or flee, the punishment would be even more severe.
Lao Zi, however, had just slaughtered hundreds of his fellow villagers right before everyone's eyes. Minato shuddered to think of the enormity of the charges he would face.
"If Iwa decides to execute him and replace him with a new jinchuriki, that would be the best outcome for us. It'll take a significant amount of time for a new Four-Tails jinchuriki to become a top-tier asset," Morino Ibiki added, nodding in agreement.
While it was unpleasant to consider cutting off one's metaphorical tail to escape danger, if it happened to an enemy force, Ibiki would simply smile at their misfortune.
"Let's not worry about Iwa's affairs for now. We've just scored a massive victory here!" Jiraiya declared proudly.
Although they hadn't completely annihilated the enemy forces, achieving such a decisive victory with a force of 1,200 against 2,000 was already an extraordinary feat worthy of being documented in Konoha's history books.
Not only had Iwa lost their commander and a significant number of their elite jonin, but their mid-to-lower-tier forces had also sustained heavy losses. Aside from the jinchuriki, one could say that Iwa had suffered a comprehensive defeat.
"It's a shame we couldn't kill a jinchuriki, but I'm not too concerned. It's challenging to capture a jinchuriki on the battlefield, and there are fewer jinchuriki deaths in battle than there are Kage," Jiraiya said, brushing off the minor regret.
"Mu Yue, you should be the one to write the after-action report for this mission since you were both the commander and the biggest contributor to our success," Jiraiya said, placing a hand on Mu Yue's shoulder and smiling.
Mu Yue's strategic planning had been instrumental in achieving such a resounding victory.
Despite their initial disadvantage in numbers, Mu Yue's plan had cleverly flipped the situation in their favor.
Moreover, Mu Yue's performance on the battlefield had been exceptional. Not only had he managed to restrain a jinchuriki like Jiraiya, but he had also slain countless Iwa ninjas.
Mu Yue pushed up his glasses. While Jiraiya's words were true, he had a sneaking suspicion that Jiraiya was trying to pass the tedious task of report-writing to him. Nonetheless, Mu Yue agreed, as writing reports was not a challenging task for him; he could always delegate it to his shadow clone later.
"Iwa has suffered tremendous losses this time, with so many casualties. Hopefully, they'll come to their senses and recognize their own limitations," Mu Yue commented.
"Commander Mu Yue is truly amazing. You turned the tide of the battle as soon as you arrived," a Konoha ninja praised.
Many Konoha ninjas felt that the battle had concluded, and they began to relax and clean up the battlefield.
"Is it over now?" Mu Yue asked, his Byakugan beneath his glasses still scanning the surroundings carefully.
This was no ordinary war.
To others, this war might seem like a larger-scale repetition of previous conflicts.
But Mu Yue, who knew the true identity of the White Zetsu, understood that this war was far from ordinary.
While Konoha and Iwa were the primary participants, the shadows of Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu lurked in the background.
Madara wouldn't have directly used White Zetsu as an Iwa spy without some ulterior motive, in Mu Yue's opinion.
It was unlikely that Madara had suddenly developed a soft spot for Iwa and decided to help them out of the goodness of his heart when he saw them losing. That would be too far-fetched.
In anticipation of Madara's potential interference, Mu Yue had made thorough preparations.
Knowing that he would be facing the Four-Tails, Mu Yue had modified his Yang Seal to store chakra, switching it to a version that utilized the Water Style Chakra Mode.
As a result, during the battle with the Four-Tails, Mu Yue hadn't exhausted much of his own chakra because the Water Style Chakra Mode drew from the chakra stored in the Yang Seal.
Even if unexpected additional enemies had appeared, Mu Yue would have had more than enough chakra to deal with them.
However, the anticipated unexpected enemies never materialized. Instead, Minato and Jiraiya invited Mu Yue to join them as they went to the place where they had imprisoned the White Zetsu, intending to interrogate it.
Although the White Zetsu didn't resemble a human, it could communicate, so naturally, it could also be interrogated.
But when they arrived at the designated location, they were met with an unexpected development.
With a serious expression, Minato quickly strode forward. Two Konoha ninjas responsible for guarding the White Zetsu lay unconscious on the ground, and three of the sealed White Zetsu had vanished without a trace.
PS: Still working on it. If I finish by 2:00 PM, there will be a second chapter. If not, I'll take some time tomorrow to finish it.
I've barely managed to get some time back, so I can't stay up too late.
(End of Chapter)
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