Reborn in the Shinobi World with an Arceus Inside

Both sides understood clearly that if this was a difficult request, it would be tantamount to tearing up their fragile agreement. In the world of ninja, promises were the cheapest commodity; only betrayal and deception were eternal.

And so, having reached a consensus, the two of them gave a slight nod and, one after the other, sprinted toward the Cloud ninja's position.

Along the way, Orochimaru bit his thumb, wiped the blood on his hand, and formed the hand seals to summon a massive poisonous snake with purple and black stripes. Four horns protruded from its head. When it reared up, it was over fifty meters tall—the height of a ten-story building—and it immediately caught the attention of the Cloud ninja.

"What is that thing? A summoning animal? How can it be so big?!"

"It's not friendly! Prepare to engage!"

The great snake paid no mind to the clamoring humans below. Its pupils glanced upward, and its peripheral vision caught sight of the two figures standing on its head. One of them was very familiar. The other human, however, emitted an incredibly sweet scent, which made the snake instinctively flick its tongue.

"Oh, it's you, little Orochimaru. You summoned me, so you must have prepared a sacrifice. You haven't forgotten, have you?"

"Of course not," Orochimaru said quietly. "Manda, those people up ahead are your sacrifice."

"They must be your enemies. You want to use me as your muscle? Fine! As long as you offer the one next to you to me, I will clear away all those humans for you!" Manda said eagerly.

"?" Kaito hadn't expected Manda to have ideas about him. Could it be that, having been infused with Arceus's energy, his flesh was now comparable to Tang Sanzang's—a single bite would grant enlightenment and ascension? Heh, what a joke. This wasn't some fantasy epic.

"..." Orochimaru glanced at Kaito, apparently not expecting Manda's request either. After weighing the pros and cons, he shook his head. "No. He is on our side." It wasn't that their bond was particularly deep, but rather that Orochimaru knew that even with Manda's help, they couldn't possibly capture Kaito. It would just be a waste of effort.

"Orochimaru, you've gotten arrogant, daring to defy me!"

"He's not an option. You'll have to pick another target. The taste of those ninja is far superior to that of ordinary people, enough to be worth a hundred live humans. A few of them won't take much of your energy, will they? Or would you rather go back to eating frogs?"

As they spoke, the Cloud ninja hadn't been idly waiting. One after another, they unleashed their ninjutsu, which rained down on Manda. Despite Manda's thick and tough hide, it couldn't withstand the force of a group assault, and it writhed in pain.

"Orochimaru, I'll deal with these annoying ants first, then I'll settle the score with you!"

"Fine," Orochimaru said flatly, leaving one thought unspoken: If you're still alive and kicking by then.

Manda had clearly underestimated the Cloud ninja. He didn't know that they were the elite of the Cloud Village, not comparable to ordinary ninja. Under their fierce, concentrated barrage of ninjutsu, Manda hissed in continuous pain. But he was no pushover. With a savage charge, he plowed into the group of Cloud ninja and spewed a cloud of poison mist, instantly breaking their formation.

To avoid being caught in the crossfire, Kaito and Orochimaru had long since slipped away from Manda's head.

Standing on the sidelines, Kaito glanced at Orochimaru with a teasing smile. "Your summoning doesn't seem to listen to you very well, does it?"

"It's a common problem with powerful summons. In their eyes, we're just little bugs who have lived for a few dozen years," Orochimaru said, shaking his head. "We should make our move too. Otherwise, he won't be able to hold on and will just run away."

"Alright."

The two exchanged a look and split up, entering the battlefield from either side and picking off the isolated Cloud ninja. With Manda as a large target drawing all the aggro, the Cloud ninja couldn't spare many people to surround Kaito and Orochimaru, allowing them to succeed repeatedly.

However, the Cloud ninja soon recognized Orochimaru as the summoner and began to target him specifically. Kaito, on the other hand, leisurely wielded his Clear Spring and Autumn's Feeling, and with flashes of golden light, he reaped the lives of the Cloud ninja.

"I'll start by taking out my grudge from two years ago on you all."

On the other side of the battlefield, when Tsunade saw Manda's massive form, she knew that Orochimaru and Kaito had arrived. Her expression relaxed slightly. At least now she didn't have to worry about the Cloud ninja interfering, and she could focus on rescuing Nawaki.

Speaking of Nawaki, Tsunade sighed. She stopped healing herself and looked at the four-tailed monster wreaking havoc ahead of her, gritting her teeth. The skilled Root members were being brutally beaten, unable to even inflict any effective damage before they were on the verge of being wiped out.

Danzo, his face grim, shouted, "Tsunade, how long are you going to wait?!"

Tsunade: "..."

His shout caught the attention of the four-tailed Nawaki. Without a word, the tips of its four tails pointed to a single spot, and a black ball of energy began to form.

"What is that?" A bad premonition suddenly arose in Danzo's heart.

Before he could react, the four-tailed Nawaki swallowed the energy ball, its abdomen swelling to a massive size. Just as it was about to open its mouth, a fist suddenly appeared at its side, slamming into its jaw from below.

BOOM!

The four-tailed Nawaki tilted its head back and shot a powerful beam of energy into the sky, blasting through the clouds. The powerful recoil threw its body off balance.

Seizing this opportunity, Tsunade grabbed its neck, ignoring the burning pain from the Nine-Tails' chakra, and slammed it to the ground.

"Nawaki, how long are you going to keep this up?! Wake up, now!"

With a sharp cry, her delicate fist came crashing down.

BANG!

The ground shattered on impact. The four-tailed Nawaki lay in a deep crater, its four tails no longer as agile as before, apparently severely injured by this iron fist of love.

In his inner world, Nawaki, who was entangled by the Nine-Tails' chakra, furrowed his brow and murmured, "Sis..."

In the cage beside him, the Nine-Tails snorted. "This fist is a far cry from that man's. Why would I give up this chance to gain my freedom?"

More red chakra seeped out of the cage, wrapping around Nawaki and covering the faint green glow on his chest. It increased its chakra output, once again dragging the nearly-awakened Nawaki into the abyss of a nightmare.

"Stupid kid, accept more of my power! Let everyone see your strength!"

"Strength... Hokage... Sis..." Nawaki clutched his head and let out a pained howl.

Outside, the four-tailed Nawaki roared, its power surging, and sent Tsunade, who had been pressing down on it, flying. A Tailed Beast chakra arm materialized from its body, shot after her, and slammed into her chest, leaving three deep, bloody gashes.

Tsunade rolled several times and lay face down on the ground, for a moment unable to even get up, looking utterly defeated.

The four-tailed Nawaki roared at the sky. Behind it, a fifth tail slowly extended, and small pieces of bone began to form on its body.

"Even Tsunade failed? And it grew a fifth tail! This is no good. We can't defeat this monster on our own!" Danzo couldn't help but take a step back, wanting to preserve his forces and retreat until reinforcements arrived.

Unfortunately, the five-tailed Nawaki had no intention of letting him go.

A sky full of red hands extended from its body, covering all directions and crashing down on both Danzo and Tsunade.

BOOM!

Another patch of earth was ravaged.

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