"Tsunade, I need an opening! That thing regenerates faster than Bunta can cut!"
Jiraiya's voice boomed across the devastated clearing. Beneath him, Gamabunta grunted, the deep vibration shaking the earth as he struggled to keep his enormous tanto blade pinned to the abomination's neck. The beast's flesh bubbled around the blade, writhing to push it out.
"The blade is getting stuck!" the toad roared. "If we don't do something, it's going to swallow it whole!"
"I see it!" Tsunade shouted back, her analytical gaze scanning every inch of the monster. "Have Bunta aim for the joint where the necks meet the torso! You, prepare your strongest jutsu! We're ending this in a single blow! On my mark!"
Jiraiya smiled, a tense but genuine grin. This was the Tsunade he remembered from the war. "Just like old times, Hime! Bunta, you heard her!"
"You don't have to tell me, brat! I know my job!" the giant toad roared, adjusting his grip on the tanto.
Tsunade took a deep breath, her eyes fixed on the writhing mass of flesh before them. She raised a hand.
"NOW!"
The word was thunder.
Katsuyu acted first. The larger part of her body rippled and launched a volley of acid projectiles. It wasn't a stream, but a shower of white, viscous globs that fell upon the abomination's torso with a hiss that drowned out its own roars. Acrid smoke filled the air as the creature's flesh dissolved, visibly fighting against the acid. The flesh melted, but new flesh grew underneath in a grotesque cycle. It wasn't a fatal wound, but it was the opening they needed.
Gamabunta didn't waste it. With a roar that rivaled his opponent's, he used the softened flesh as a foothold. He leaped, a feat of incredible agility for his size, twisting in the air. His tanto, freed from the neck, traced a descending arc of gleaming steel. The blade slammed into the creature's "shoulder," where three of the thickest necks joined the torso. With a massive, wet tearing sound, the toad chief severed all three appendages in a single strike.
The severed heads fell to the ground, still writhing, before dissolving into pools of black mud.
But the attack wasn't over. As Gamabunta landed heavily, Jiraiya, standing on his head, completed his part.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
A torrent of thick oil spewed from his mouth, coating the beast's open wound. Before it could begin to regenerate the lost necks, Jiraiya wove another seal.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!"
A second stream, this time of pure fire, followed the oil. The result was a cataclysmic explosion. The abomination's shriek of pain was so sharp it seemed to tear the air itself.
The shockwave forced them all back. When the smoke cleared, the scene was grim. A huge portion of the creature's torso had been carbonized. The stench of burnt flesh and corrupted chakra was unbearable.
Anko, feeling the warmth of Katsuyu's chakra mending her ribs, coughed and stared at the scene in disbelief. "They… they did it…"
Ibiki, a chakra splint solidifying his broken leg, just shook his head, his eyes wide. "No… look."
Through the smoke, they saw it. The charred tissue was flaking off like dry scabs. Underneath, new, red, and pulsating flesh was forming at a visible rate. The wound, large enough to swallow a house, was closing.
Suddenly, the nine remaining heads stopped roaring. They all inhaled in unison, their throats swelling unnaturally.
"Oh, shit!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "Bunta, shield!"
Gamabunta crouched down and covered his head with his enormous arms. At the same time, the nine heads unleashed a concentrated sonic scream, a shockwave of pure sound that swept across the clearing. It wasn't a physical attack; it was an invisible force that pulverized everything in its path. Rocks turned to dust, and the remaining trees splintered into thousands of pieces.
The attack slammed into Gamabunta, pushing him back several meters. Katsuyu, being softer in consistency, absorbed most of the impact, rippling violently.
When the attack ceased, the clearing was a desolate wasteland.
"Well… that was… harder than I expected," Jiraiya admitted, dusting himself off.
"Shut up and think of something!" Gamabunta growled. "Its breath stinks worse than yours after a night of sake! And my ears will be ringing for a week!"
Tsunade landed next to Jiraiya on the toad's head, her face grim. "It's not working. Attacking the surface is useless. The regeneration is too fast. It has to have a core, a chakra source somewhere that's fueling all of this."
"I agree!" Jiraiya concurred, rubbing his chin. "But it's buried under tons of ugly snake flesh! How are we supposed to expose it?"
"Then… we'll have to make our own way," Tsunade said, her eyes glinting with a dangerous idea.
****
Meanwhile, in the relative calm of the stadium, the aftermath of a smaller battle was leaving its own mark. The team had regrouped on one of the less damaged upper stands. Civilians had been evacuated from their sector, and only the bodies of the invading ninja remained, neutralized and ready to be collected.
Shizune was kneeling in front of Karin. The red-haired girl was still sitting on the ground, staring at her own hands as if they belonged to someone else. Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata stood a short distance away, forming a protective semicircle.
"Karin," Shizune said, her voice soft, like a doctor speaking to a patient in shock. "Can you feel it? The chakra?"
Karin nodded slowly. "It's never felt like that. ."
"Can you do it again?" Shizune asked, her professional curiosity mixed with concern.
Karin shook her head, frustrated. "No… I don't know. I don't know how I did it. It just… came out. He… that man was going to hurt Naruto and I just… wanted to stop him."
Sakura knelt on her other side. "Did you feel anything before? Any different chakra pulse? Sometimes a kekkei genkai manifests under extreme stress."
"I didn't feel anything," Karin whispered, clenching her hands into fists. "Just anger. And fear. Fear for Naruto."
Naruto came closer, crouching to be at Karin's level. He gave her one of his smiles, not the usual wide, loud one, but a smaller, more genuine one.
"Well, whatever it was, it was amazing, Karin. Seriously! You sent him flying like it was nothing! We always knew the Uzumaki were special, but I've never seen those chains before."
Hinata nodded, her voice soft but firm. "It was… astonishing, Karin-chan. They appeared from nowhere to protect Naruto-kun."
Karin looked up, her red eyes meeting Naruto's blue ones. "My mother told me about them once. She said they were the power of the Uzumaki, but that very few could use them. That they required either perfect chakra control or a very strong will." Her voice broke. "I don't have either of those things."
"Don't say that," Naruto said instantly.
"It's the truth," Karin insisted, her gaze falling back to her hands. "I don't know anything about being an Uzumaki. My mother never talked about it much. Just… that our hair was a sign. And that our vitality made us… useful." She spat the last word out as if it were poison.
"The people in my old village… they didn't care about the name," she continued quietly, almost ashamed. "They only cared that I could heal. They used me… they'd bite me to heal their wounds after their missions. It didn't matter if I was tired or hurt. I was… a tool."
A fleeting memory crossed her mind: a burly shinobi, his arm bleeding, grabbing her by the hair. "Hurry, girl!" he had shouted, and she, with tears in her eyes, had offered her own arm for him to bite and heal, feeling her energy leave her.
The silence that followed was heavy. Sakura and Hinata exchanged a sad glance. Shizune pressed her lips together, her expression hardening at the thought of such cruelty.
Naruto, however, didn't feel pity. He felt a connection. He sat down next to her on the dusty ground.
"I get it," he said, his voice quiet. "Being wanted only for something you have inside you. Something you don't even fully understand."
"My whole life," Naruto continued, "people looked at me and only saw the fox. They were scared of me or hated me for something I didn't choose, for something that was sealed inside me." He looked at his own hands. "I felt like a weapon everyone was afraid would go off. And you... they just saw you as a tool to heal them, using you until you were empty."
Karin let out a small, choked sob but didn't look away.
"But your mother was right," Naruto said, meeting her eyes again. "We are special. And not just because of chakra chains or having a lot of energy. We're special because we don't give up. Ever. And because we protect our own." He held out a hand to her. "You're not a tool, Karin. You're one of us. You're my friend. You're my family."
Sakura placed a hand on Karin's shoulder. "He's right. You're part of this team. And no one will ever use you like that again. I promise."
Karin looked at Naruto's outstretched hand. For a moment, she hesitated, a lifetime of mistrust fighting against the simple gesture. Then, slowly, her lower lip trembling, she took his hand. His skin was warm. Solid. Real.
A single tear rolled down her cheek and splashed onto the back of his hand. And for the first time in a long time, Karin didn't feel alone.
*****
"Tsunade, that's insane!"
Jiraiya's protest was drowned out by another roar from the beast, which had already recovered and was beginning to charge again, the earth trembling under its weight.
"You got a better idea?" Tsunade retorted, dodging a piece of rubble the size of a horse. "We can't keep trading blows with this thing all night! My sensei is fighting alone while we're playing piñata with this monster!"
"She's got a point, Jiraiya!" Gamabunta grumbled, crushing one of the smaller heads with a punch from his massive hand. "My chakra reserves aren't endless! But if I do what she's suggesting, it'll leave me wide open! Those things will tear my back to shreds!"
"That's why I'll cover you!" Jiraiya interjected. "I'll slow down the ones you can't hold!" He turned to Tsunade. "Alright, Hime, we'll do it your way! But if this goes wrong, you'll owe me sake for the rest of my life!"
"If this goes wrong, we'll be dead and it won't matter!" she yelled. "Now, get ready!"
The plan was simple, insane, and utterly worthy of the Sannin.
"Bunta, grab it! Don't let go no matter what!" Jiraiya ordered.
The toad chief nodded, flexing the muscles in his arms. "Get ready for the bumpiest ride of your lives!"
He lunged forward, ignoring the whipping heads, and wrapped his enormous arms around the abomination's main torso in a titanic bear hug. The beast shrieked and writhed, its multiple necks biting and striking Gamabunta's back, but the toad held on, his muscles trembling from the monumental effort.
"Katsuyu, now! A single point! Straight to the center!" Tsunade commanded.
The slug queen focused her attack. A concentrated, continuous stream of acid shot out, hitting the center of the monster's mass, right against the chest of Gamabunta's hold. This time, the acid didn't disperse. A smoking, hissing tunnel began to form in the creature's flesh, melting layer after layer of tissue.
"It's working!" Tsunade shouted. "Jiraiya!"
"On it! Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"
Jiraiya slammed his palm on Gamabunta's head. The ground beneath the abomination turned into a thick, black mud. The heads that weren't attacking Gamabunta sank into the swamp, their movements becoming slow and sluggish. It was the cover they needed.
And then, it was Tsunade's turn.
The Strength of a Hundred Seal on her forehead expanded, and black markings spread across her face. Creation Rebirth: Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu. A reserve of chakra from years, released in an instant. A brilliant green aura enveloped her.
She ran.
She ran across the battlefield, her speed a blur. She jumped onto Gamabunta's back, using the toad as a springboard. She launched herself into the air, straight toward the smoking tunnel Katsuyu's acid was creating in the beast's heart.
Hiruzen! Hold on!
That was her only thought.
She dove into the tunnel of molten flesh. The heat and stench were overwhelming, enough to make a lesser ninja vomit. In the darkness inside, she saw it. A pulsing orb of black and red chakra, the size of a person, beating like a sick heart. The core.
She focused all the power of the Strength of a Hundred Seal into her right fist.
And she punched.
There was no sound of impact. There was no explosion.
Only a blinding white light that emanated from within the creature, expanding outward.
Outside, the abomination froze completely still. Its heads were frozen mid-roar. The struggling ceased.
Then, with a long, silent sigh, it began to fall apart. It simply turned to dust. The flesh, the scales, the bones… everything disintegrated into a shower of black ash that was carried away by the wind. In ten seconds, the monstrosity that had threatened to destroy Konoha simply ceased to exist.
Gamabunta let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and collapsed to his knees, exhausted. Jiraiya's swamp turned back into solid ground. Katsuyu stopped producing acid.
Tsunade landed softly in the center of the now-empty crater, the markings from her seal slowly receding. The silence in the clearing was absolute, broken only by the sound of her own ragged breathing.
Jiraiya leaped from Gamabunta's head, landing beside her. They stood there for a moment, two legendary figures in the middle of a landscape of total devastation. They had won.
"Well…" Jiraiya said, breaking the silence, his voice sounding oddly tired. "Are you okay? Using that seal always leaves you wiped out."
Tsunade nodded, not taking her eyes off the smoke rising in the distance. "I'll be fine. But we've wasted too much time here."
With a grim expression, she turned and fixed her gaze on the distance, toward the stadium.
"It's not over yet," she said, her voice a low whisper filled with a new urgency. "There's still one more snake."
***"
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