As the two soared through the air, Seisuke called out, "Mei, your Mizukage has gone mad!"
"Shut up!" Mei Terumī tugged at Seisuke's face, her voice filled with emotion. "The Mizukage chose to sacrifice himself to drive you Konoha ninjas away! It's all because of you! You're the invaders!"
"You were the ones who first attacked the Land of Fire!"
"But now you're the ones attacking the Land of Water!"
"Hey, can you be reasonable? If you hadn't attacked first, why would Konoha fight you? Never mind, get ready—we're about to land."
"What? Ahh!!"
Mei screamed as Seisuke tossed her into the air. He himself accelerated downward due to the reaction force. When he hit the ground, he exploded into a pile of flames, which quickly condensed back into his form. He reached out and caught Mei, smiling. "Aren't you going to thank me?"
"Hmph! Th-thank you..."
Although she knew she shouldn't, she had to thank Seisuke. After all, if he hadn't saved her, she might have been seriously injured, at least breaking several bones.
Stepping out of Seisuke's embrace, her face slightly red, she looked at the rampaging giant beast and her face gradually paled again. "We must stop the Mizukage, or he will..."
"He will definitely die," Seisuke said. "Even if the tailed beast hadn't gone berserk, he wouldn't have lived much longer."
"He didn't have to join the war," Mei whispered, biting her lower lip.
"It was his own choice," Seisuke replied. "He could have died peacefully in bed, but he chose to die in battle. That was his decision."
The Third Mizukage had once been a formidable figure. After the Second Mizukage and Second Tsuchikage killed each other in the First Shinobi World War, he took over as Mizukage. An old man who had experienced three wars and fought all his life, dying in bed would have been worse than death for him. So he chose to fight.
"I just didn't expect he would choose to become the Three-Tails jinchūriki. Even though his body was failing, he still wanted to deal a heavy blow to Konoha, and in a way, he succeeded," Seisuke said, looking at the rampaging beast.
With the Three-Tails running wild, attacking indiscriminately, both Konoha and Kirigakure were under its assault, and it showed no sign of stopping. Orochimaru began ordering Konoha forces to retreat. Let the Kirigakure ninjas deal with the rampaging Three-Tails; Konoha would stay out of it and make a quick exit.
Glancing in Orochimaru's direction, Seisuke said, "I'm leaving. You... be careful."
"Mn."
Mei nodded, looking at the rampaging Three-Tails. "Seisuke, is it okay if I call you that?"
"Mn."
"Goodbye."
After speaking, she charged toward the Kirigakure side without looking back.
"Tsk," Seisuke clicked his tongue in displeasure as he watched the young woman's retreating back, but he still ran toward Orochimaru.
Looking at the sage face pattern on his face, Orochimaru inspected him and asked, "So this is sage mode?"
"Yes, Ryūchi Cave's sage mode, in its perfect state," Seisuke clenched his fists.
"Are we retreating?" he asked.
"No, you and I will stay here and wait to see how things develop," Orochimaru didn't want to retreat; he wanted to get a close look at the tailed beast's power.
"I understand."
Seisuke didn't exit sage mode. After all, the tailed beast was not far away, and if it went on another rampage, he could escape more quickly.
On the Kirigakure side, they began preparing to suppress and seal the Three-Tails.
"Hurry! Ninjas who know sealing jutsu get ready! Lord Yagura! Lord Kisame! Please suppress the Three-Tails so the sealing team can seal it!!"
"Medical team! Medical team! Be ready to rescue the Mizukage at any moment!!"
"Mizuki clan, prepare to use your Kekkei Genkai to freeze the Three-Tails' water release!"
Kirigakure ninjas started suppressing the Three-Tails and rescuing the Third Mizukage. Now, they had to suppress the Three-Tails no matter what.
They had originally thought the Third Mizukage could use the Three-Tails' power to destroy Konoha, but they never expected his body could no longer suppress the Three-Tails, leading to its rampage and indiscriminate attacks.
Now, they were in a state of chaos.
"Hehe, one can't toy with a tailed beast's power," Orochimaru laughed, eyeing the Three-Tails' power with great covetousness.
Although Konoha had the Nine-Tails, it was tightly suppressed by its jinchūriki, Kushina, so it was impossible for it to go on a rampage. Not to mention, he had no chance to take samples for research. This was a good opportunity for him to understand the unique nature of tailed beast chakra.
"A tailed beast is a village-level weapon. The Third Mizukage was really bold to use it," Seisuke commented.
Back then, the First Hokage divided the tailed beasts among the villages, making them their weapons. Each tailed beast was basically sealed within a jinchūriki, who would be unleashed onto the battlefield as a weapon in times of crisis for the village.
Generally, this was only done as a last resort, but Kirigakure hadn't yet reached such a desperate state.
The Third Mizukage had wanted to use the tailed beast's power to annihilate the invading ninjas in one fell swoop, but instead, it backfired, costing them dearly.
The Three-Tails lifted a leg and stomped on the ground, unleashing a towering wave.
"Water Release: Isonade Great Waterfall!"
"Ice Release!!"
The Mizuki ninjas shouted in unison.
They formed hand seals, and a chill surged forth. The Three-Tails' attack was instantly frozen, and even the surrounding forest turned white.
Thud!
The Three-Tails stomped the ground again, the earth rumbled, and the ice cracked, instantly melting back into water.
The Three-Tails also possessed ice release power, making it easy for it to turn the Mizuki clan's ice back into water.
"Roar—"
After another roar, a large amount of chakra condensed. Seeing this, Kisame Hoshigaki said, "Even Samehada can't absorb chakra of this level."
Samehada let out a yearning sound, but since it felt it couldn't swallow such a huge amount, it whimpered sadly.
"Retreat quickly!" Yagura Kajiki shouted, ordering the ninjas to retreat.
The Tailed Beast Bomb flew straight out, knocking away several ninjas who couldn't retreat in time, and finally crashed into a mountain, exploding with a loud boom.
"We can't let this go on. We must lead it away to another place, or one of its attacks might hit the village," Yagura thought, then said to Kisame Hoshigaki, "Kisame, find a way to lead the Three-Tails away. We can't let it attack the village."
Kisame Hoshigaki also knew this and replied, "Understood."
Looking at the Three-Tails, he only felt extremely troubled. For a moment, he couldn't think of a good way to lead the Three-Tails away. It seemed he could only attack to draw its attention.