A Hyuga clan ninja stepped forward angrily.
"Kumogakure has no right to say that! If it weren't for your sudden attack, Hizashi-sama wouldn't have died!"
"What did you say? I've had enough of your attitude—want to test that out right now?"
"Test it? Sure, let's test it! Who do you think you are, huh?"
As the arguments among the shinobi from each village escalated, the Five Kage on the platform could only rub their foreheads.
Years of war between the villages had bred distrust and resentment.
Trying to unite once-hostile shinobi under one banner to fight a common enemy… that would take some time to smooth out.
Ōnoki glanced toward the young Kazekage beside him. Wanting to gauge Gaara's ability, he said,
"As the commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces, shouldn't you say something right about now?"
Gaara didn't hesitate. He manipulated his sand to separate several teams that were about to clash, then spoke out in a clear, firm voice.
"I am Gaara of Sunagakure, the Fifth Kazekage!"
"Today, I stand here as the commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces. I want to say that... (five hundred words omitted)."
After Gaara's impassioned speech, the tension below gradually eased.
Among the ranks of the assembled shinobi, female ninjas began cheering.
"Gaara! He's so cool!"
"The Kazekage Gaara isn't even seventeen yet! He's got such leadership charisma! (⌯︎¤̴̶̷̀ω¤̴̶̷́)✧︎"
"My take? He's still not as good as Shinju."
"Oh, come on! You're always talking about Shinju! If he's that great, why isn't he the commander of the Allied Forces?"
"Use your head—he's the one we're supposed to protect…"
On the platform, Ōnoki's expression softened as he looked at Gaara.
As expected of a young prodigy.
To be a Kazekage at just sixteen years old—his reputation was bound to be remarkable.
But what a coincidence… that such a genius should be born in the same era as Shinju.
Ōnoki muttered, "Now I'm really curious to see what it'd be like if that guy Shinju led an army himself."
Raikage chuckled. "That guy's got insane individual power, sure. But when it comes to large-scale tactics, formation deployment, and strategy, he's still a bit behind us old-timers. ´∀`"
Mizukage frowned at his words, a little irritated.
"You're just playing the age card. ┐(´-｀)┌"
Raikage smirked. "Yeah? And what about your age, huh! Ծ ̮ Ծ"
Mizukage fell silent.
Tsunade cleared her throat to break the mood.
"Since the Allied Forces have already assembled, it's time to send out the surprise strike units. If we can't locate the Akatsuki's main base, we should at least take down their network of informants across the nations first!"
"Also, deploy sensory ninjas to locate Akatsuki's headquarters as quickly as possible!"
"I've already sent people out to look, but… we haven't received any intel back yet."
Gaara frowned. "Wouldn't that alert them?"
Raikage snorted. "The war's already begun—who cares if they're alerted? If he's declared war on us, it's only a matter of time before we clash!"
"Speaking of which, I'm really curious—what does Madara even have that gives him the guts to declare war on us?"
"You mean that weakened Akatsuki? Those scattered stragglers can't compare to our Allied Forces! ๑乛◡乛๑"
Ōnoki shook his head.
"Never underestimate Uchiha Madara's power, kid! For all we know, he might still be able to take on all five of us at once! (σ;Д)σ"
Gaara sighed. "Old man, you always exaggerate everything."
Ōnoki puffed out his chest.
"I'm serious! You young ones didn't live through that era, so you don't understand! (ー_ー)!!"
Gaara tilted his head. "Then tell me—if it were Madara in his prime versus Shinju now, who would win?"
Ōnoki drew in a sharp breath.
"Hiss~~ now that's a tricky question… (´◐∀◐`)"
...
On Island Turtle.
After a lot of work, Shinju finally healed the Giant Turtle's injuries and even crafted a crystalline shell for him using Crystal Release.
The Giant Turtle felt like his value had skyrocketed several times over and was visibly delighted.
Naruto came over curiously.
"Hey, Shinju, I've been wondering—since your Crystal Release can create insanely valuable gems, why don't you just make a bunch of them and sell them for ryo?"
Shinju waved his hand dismissively.
"I don't know… it just feels kind of meaningless to earn money that way. (´つヮ⊂︎)"
Naruto frowned. "Then how are you gonna pay back Kumogakure's money?"
Shinju fell silent. "…"
He had to admit, without using Crystal Release, he couldn't scrape together that much cash right now. Still, he felt like Kumogakure had exaggerated their "damages" when demanding compensation.
Luckily, after he repaired the Giant Turtle's shell, the Kumogakure side didn't press him for payment—given that it was wartime, the situation was… special.
Besides, there was no need to worry about Shinju running off with the debt. After all, you can run from the monk, but not from the temple. •ᴗ•
A few hours later, the tailed beast bomb training resumed.
Shinju's comprehension was outstanding. Just a few hints were enough for him to fire off a full Tailed Beast Ball, and its destructive power was terrifying. He was basically already a master at it!
So now, it was Naruto's turn.
Killer B frowned. "You can't transform into a tailed beast form, so you can't use the Tailed Beast Ball directly. And trying to fire one like Shinju while staying in human form… your body probably couldn't handle it."
"In that case, we'll have to come up with a new approach—create a different ultimate move…"
At that moment, Shinju spoke up. "Naruto, try forming a Rasengan using the Tailed Beast Chakra."
Naruto nodded and began forming the Rasengan, channeling bits of Tailed Beast Chakra into his hand.
Killer B's eyes widened in surprise.ヾ(Ő∀Ő)ﾉ
"Yo! How come I never noticed this before? That Rasengan of yours… it's kinda similar to a Tailed Beast Ball!"
Shinju nodded. "That's no coincidence. The Rasengan was actually inspired by the Tailed Beast Bomb—your father, the Fourth Hokage, based it on that concept! ୧⍢⃝୨"
Naruto froze. "Dad… so it was all destined from the start!"
Just as he said that, the Tailed Beast Chakra in his hand suddenly exploded—
"Whoosh!"
If Shinju hadn't crouched down in time, that shockwave would've blasted him straight off the rock.
Killer B wasn't so lucky—he got knocked flat and struggled back to his feet, groaning.
"Yin-Yang Chakra ratio two to eight! Looks like you've still got a lot of training to do!! (′д｀σ)σ"
Afterward, Naruto began working on combining the Tailed Beast Bomb and Rasengan.
Shinju figured that with Killer B supervising, that kind of training didn't need him hovering around.
He had something else to experiment with—whether he could fuse the Tailed Beast Chakra form with the two Sage Modes! ↖(^ω^)↗
At the edge of the Turtle's shell, atop a massive rocky outcrop,
Shinju sat cross-legged and activated Sage Mode of Mount Myōboku.
"Whoosh!"
Orange pigmentation spread across his face, and his pupils turned into toad-like horizontal slits.
Then he switched to Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode. Purple chakra erupted from his body, and while maintaining the toad's traits, horns began to grow from his forehead. Under the orange eye-shadow of Mount Myōboku, purple shadows formed beneath his eyes, and his pupils began to take on a vertical slit—
Shinju muttered, "No good… the two Sage Modes need to be perfectly balanced. If either side dominates, it'll disrupt the flow of senjutsu chakra…"
After several minutes of focus, the two Sage Modes finally reached equilibrium. Shinju's pupils overlapped horizontally and vertically, forming a cross-shaped pattern!
Finally, he released the Tailed Beast Chakra!
"Fwoosh!"
The chakra of three tailed beasts burst forth, wrapping around Shinju like a blazing red cloak!