Malphegor
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GSiN: Ch. 101
🕑 Added 2025-05-22 16:30:05 +0000 UTC---Ryouma's POV---
Regarding what Minato was about to say next, I had already anticipated it on my way here.
"It's about the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, right?"
Minato was briefly surprised, then seemed to understand something and nodded. "Kakashi and the others told you, didn't they? Lately, the battles here have been seriously troubled by the long-range Tailed Beast Ball attacks."
At this point, he paused, then leaned in close to my ear and asked in a low voice, "Can your technique to reflect a Tailed Beast Ball?"
Don't be surprise.
Having partnered with me for so long, he naturally knew about Full Counter.
"I can do it." I gave a confident smile.
"That's great news. This is a huge help."
Minato couldn't hide his excitement.
"Then this time, we'll go on the offensive!"
He didn't bother to ask whether I had enough chakra to sustain it. Well, he had a deep understanding of my chakra reserves, especially now, with Shukaku helping me.
"Next, we'll talk about the plan of action."
He turned his gaze to the large map on the round table.
Oh, please god, no... a meeting.
---
The strategy meeting lasted into the afternoon. By the time I left the command center looking completely exhausted, the sun was already halfway sunk below the horizon.
"Ugh~" Whether in my past life or this one, I had always hated meetings, especially the kind where you couldn't even zone out for a moment.
"You'll have to get used to this. The village's upper brass sees you as the future Fifth Hokage." Minato patted me on the shoulder from behind as he spoke.
Upon hearing that, I drooped my head and said, "Give me a break, will you?"
"Haha." He chuckled lightly. "Don't look so glum. Once we win against Kumo, how about I take you, Kakashi, and Obito to the hot springs?"
"Now that I'm in for!"
I could also leave a Flying Thunder God mark there and bring Rin and Tsunade later to relax.
"Minato-sensei! Ryouma!" Obito's voice called out from ahead. He and Kakashi were waiting to have dinner with us.
As they waved over, I suddenly felt like I was back on the battlefield in the Land of Rivers, doing missions with Minato, Kakashi, and the others.
Once the Third Great Ninja War ended completely, I thought it would be nice to bring everyone along on some overseas missions, consider it a vacation.
When the four of us regrouped, Kakashi, with both hands behind his head, asked, "Do we have any missions coming up?"
Obito, on the other hand, couldn't hide his excitement, his eyes wide and expectant. "You guys were in that strategy meeting for so long, it has to mean we're about to launch a counterattack, right?"
Looking at their eager expressions, I grew a bit curious just how much they had improved on the battlefield. Given our relationship, I asked them directly.
"Captain Minato, how have Kakashi and Obito been performing on the battlefield? Their strength must have improved a lot by now, right?"
Minato naturally cared a great deal about his students' growth. His assessment of Kakashi and Obito's abilities was probably more accurate than their own, so I had asked the right person.
"They've both been very active on the battlefield and have completed quite a few high-level missions. Kakashi, for instance, is already capable of defeating an adult Kumo jonin by himself."
"I'm not as outstanding as Minato-sensei says. I just got lucky, the Kumo ninja I ran into wasn't that strong," Kakashi replied, tugging at his mask.
Oh, was he slightly embarrassed by Minato's praise?
"What about me? What about me?" Obito chimed in, clearly eager to hear what Minato would say about his progress.
Minato reached out and patted his head, then said, "Obito has improved a lot as well. When he teams up with Kakashi, their coordination is excellent. He's also very brave, he's already a fine genin."
"Hehe~ Of course! I'm going to be the Sixth Hokage, after all. Progress like this is just natural!" Obito wiped his nose with a smug grin. Unlike Kakashi, he didn't bother being humble and took Minato's praise in full stride.
I understood what Minato was implying, Kakashi already had the strength of a true jonin, while Obito, though improved, was still a bit reckless.
Looking at the grinning Obito in front of me, I felt like a parent bringing their mischievous child to a teacher, only to hear: "Your child is very smart, but just doesn't study properly."
Shaking my head slightly to dispel the odd thought, I made up my mind, after the war with Kumo was over and we returned to the village, I would personally give him some intensive training.
After all, most of Minato's jutsu weren't particularly well-suited for Obito.
Though he had a much simpler path to becoming stronger, unlocking the Mangekyō Sharingan.
With Kamui, he could instantly ascend into the top tier of the shinobi world. But honestly, I didn't want him to awaken those eyes. The price of unlocking the Mangekyō was too steep.
In my previous life, I had even wondered: Could a strong enough genjutsu be used to trigger the awakening of the Mangekyō, without the loss of a loved one?
Perhaps something on par with the Kurama clan's bloodline limit might work.
But reality and imagination were two different things. Even if what happened in a genjutsu was fake, the psychological trauma it caused was very real. In comparison, I would much rather choose a more troublesome, yet safer way to help a friend grow stronger.
"Obito," I called out softly.
He paused, stopping his attempt to peel off Minato's big hand from his head, and looked at me with a puzzled expression. "What's up?"
I gave a slight smile. "You want to be Hokage, right? How can you do that without knowing some powerful Fire Release techniques? When we get back to the village, I'll teach you a few."
"Huh? But the First and Second Hokage didn't use Fire Style!"
"Are you learning it or not?"
"Count me in!"
---Third POV---
The Valley of Clouds and Lightning, this was the highest point in the shinobi world and one of the few plateau regions.
Naturally, the stronghold of Kumo was established atop these high mountains.
"Who told you to come here?!"
With a loud "Bang—!", the future Fourth Raikage, A, smashed yet another table in the Kumo command center.
This display made Darui, standing nearby, twitch his eyelids, but in the end, he didn't dare say a word.
♪Yo, you smash tables with thunderous might!
Look at me, my rhymes take flight,
they're dynamite!
Yeah!♪
Beside them, Killer B remained entirely unaffected, dancing and rapping as usual.
"It was Dodai who told me to come." A crisp and pleasant voice came from the person standing across from A. She had beautiful golden hair and was none other than the Two-Tails jinchūriki, Yugito.
A scratched his head in confusion and shouted, "What else did he say?"
Yugito, well-acquainted with A's temper, didn't get upset. Instead, she calmly and clearly relayed Dodai's message. "He said the Konoha reinforcements include the Leaf's Gale. He's an extremely troublesome opponent."
At this, A's temper flared again. He wanted to slam the table, only to realize it was already smashed, so he simply plopped down in a chair behind him.
"If he knows it's that guy who came, then there's all the more reason not to let you come here!" In A's eyes, Ryouma was only a moderate threat on the frontlines, but an S-rank threat to the rear, especially Kumo itself.
The intel about him destroying Kiri couldn't be kept secret, at least not from the intelligence systems of the other great ninja villages.
Yugito understood that A was worried about security back in the village.
"Don't worry. Dodai has already ordered the Barrier Team to activate a village-wide barrier that can monitor space-time fluctuations."
Among all the villages in the shinobi world, only Konoha and Kumo had the means to counter space-time ninjutsu.
A snorted through his nose. "He better be right."
"A-sama!" A Kumo ninja rushed in, flustered. "Konoha has made a move!"
"What?!"
A didn't expect to be the one attacked first, his temper exploded as he jumped from his seat in a rage. "Prepare to intercept! Minato and Ryouma are mine! The rest of you, kill every Konoha ninja you see!"
"Yes!"
The reporting Kumo ninja received his orders and rushed out to deliver them.
Seeing A about to head into battle, Killer B started shadow-boxing and rapping, testing the waters.
♪I am heading to the battlefield,
burning with pride,
tailed beast power by my side,
no enemy can hide!
Bakayarō! Konoyarō!♪
He then looked at A with anticipation. Ever since the death of the Third Raikage, B hadn't fought side by side with his brother.
"You idiot." A suddenly released a powerful aura and harshly scolded B without holding back.
"You stay the hell back and launch Tailed Beast Balls from afar. No matter what happens, you are not to enter the battlefield. Got it?"
With that, he turned and left with the others from the war room, not sparing B a single glance.
Killer B's rapping gestures froze in midair for a long moment before he slowly lowered his hands, then his head. Behind his black shades, his expression was unreadable.
"…"
Just then, a deep voice echoed from within Killer B, "He's only worried about your safety."
I know.
Killer B spread his arms and slapped his cheeks hard, making a loud sound. Then, he walked out with firm steps, unshaken and full of resolve.
♪He told me to be careful, baby, but I ain't worried, oh yeah!
Tailed Beast Ball, one blast, skies fall, earth cracks,
Enemy lines? All torn to shreds!
Bakayarō! Konoyarō!♪
---
On the other side, the Konoha forces, holding the advantage of the first strike, had their formation well maintained by Minato. Coordinated group tactics allowed Konoha's diverse ninja skills to shine.
Earlier, they had been spread out in combat to minimize losses from potential Tailed Beast Ball attacks, a necessary compromise. But now that Ryouma was on the battlefield, Konoha's long-developed tactical system could finally be fully utilized.
"Third Battle Unit, immediately move at full speed toward 9 o'clock. Occupy the marked point exactly 2 kilometers from your current position."
"Minato, watch your front, A is leading a squad of Kumo ninjas charging straight toward you at high speed."
"Be alert, enemy may have deployed a second jinchūriki. The chakra fluctuations are massive."
"Second Battle Unit…"
One command after another flowed out from the Konoha rear base, through Inoichi, and was received and relayed by communication ninjas in each squad.
This was the basic command system Minato had built up during this period.
It made full use of the Mind Body Transmission Technique. In fairness, the system still had room for optimization, but for now, it was working just fine.
Knowing A's personality, he'll probably lead the Kumo's main force to face us head-on. That was something Minato had already anticipated when formulating the operation plan.
While Konoha was meticulously prepared, Kumo wasn't slacking either. Even before the two sides clashed and the battle descended into chaos, Killer B had already taken position atop a mountain several dozen kilometers away.
Click-click-click—
With the sound of gears rotating, a giant cannon was being rapidly assembled by over a dozen Kumo ninjas on-site. They were the Chakra Cannon Team, a unit specially tasked with supporting Killer B. Each of them carried high-grade storage scrolls, which contained the parts for the cannon.
To call them "parts" wasn't entirely accurate, they were actually partially pre-assembled segments, making it easier to adapt the cannon's base to different terrain.
At this point, the chakra cannon was still a prototype. Originally, it was designed to have two firing modes:
Diffuse Mode, for wide-area saturation bombardment.
Laser Mode, a focused, single-point, high-powered strike.
However, the Laser Mode was still only theoretical, it hadn't been built yet, and it was unclear whether it was even possible to realize.
Right now, to speed up the charging process, Killer B flipped into a back handspring, and his body rapidly expanded until he transformed into a giant creature with the head of an ox and the body of an octopus, Gyūki, the Eight-Tails, had entered the battlefield.
A Kumo ninja, holding a chakra-powered telescope, was observing the distant battle and constantly reporting numerical data. Other nearby Kumo ninjas recorded the data, calculated the optimal firing angle, and relayed it to the gunners controlling the cannon's aim.
"Charging at 99%... 100%! Charging complete!"
"B-sama, the cannon is ready to fire!"
Upon hearing the report, Killer B grabbed the firing lever with one of his tentacles and yanked it down. At the same time, he couldn't help but shout out in his signature rap style.
♪Yo, yo! This is Killer B, baby!
Get ready to receive,
Diffuse Tailed Beast Ball!
Oh yeah!♪
