Regardless of how the Tailed Beasts were being controlled however, the task of Han and the Third Mizukage was clear.
Pin down and, if possible, recover the stolen Tailed Beasts.
Han, in Kokuo's form, started a supersized cat and mouse game with the controlled Matatabi.
His intentions were simple, draw the Tailed Beast away from the battlefield where he could use his full power to battle her without causing massive collateral damage.
If possible, the Third Mizukage wanted to do something similar but considering Isobu was among the slowest of the Tailed Beasts on land, combined with his preference for defensive tactics, the man already knew there was no hope in moving the battle.
As such, he merely did his utmost to hold the beast in place while ordering his subordinates to prepare a sealing formation to capture it.
However, while Han should have had a decent chance to execute his plan, especially considering Matatabi's preference for agile combat based on her high mobility, things were not going well.
You see, while Han could use the full power of the Five Tails, his relationship with Kokuo as her Jinchuriki was not that good.
As a result, the Iwa shinobi failed to notice many subtleties in the Two Tails's controlled state that Kokuo did not miss while the Five Tails failed to mention these to her Jinchuriki.
So while the Tailed Beast within him knew Matatabi was acting with full intelligence despite being under control, Han believed that the Two Tails was merely following simple directives and could thus be manipulated into chasing him as he was the most threatening enemy to the beast.
He was wrong.
Matabi nimbly jumped around, flames bursting from her paws to boost her speed as she dodged Kokou's charging attacks.
However, the Two Tailed Cat proved nearly impossible to lure or funnel away from the main battlefield.
After a bit of agile maneuvering, she always repositioned herself to remain close despite Han's best efforts.
Worse, while the Iwa Jinchuriki kept up with his attempts to trick her into following him, Matatabi was devising a plan to execute the orders given to her without letting him interfere.
She just needed an opening to cast her jutsu without suffering a brutal counter.
Firing jutsu at Han posed no issue since he would rather defend himself than exchange injury for injury like a barbarian.
Unfortunately, he was not the target Matabi wanted to aim for.
'If Kokuo's Jinchuriki does not give me an opening . . . I'll just make one myself.' The Two Tailed Cat thought to herself.
Fighting Maiko had been an infuriating experience filled to the brim with helplessness, even brainwashed by Maiko herself, Matatabi still had those experiences and was raring to take out all or frustration on a more conventional opponent.
'Cat Flame Roaring Fire'
In an instant, the flaming Tailed Beast released a massive fireball, less destructive but faster to use than a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Its incandescent glow obscured Matatabi's figure as it roared towards Kokuo.
Truthfully, that level of attack was not very threatening to a fellow Tailed Beast however . . .
"Coincedentally" the Three Village Coalition forces that did not join the charge happened to be behind Kokuo, a fair distance away.
If Han controlled his transformed body to dodge, the fireball would blaze forth and explode on his village's forces and their allies.
'Steam Release: Pressure Armor'
The Five Tails' chakra boiled and was released with incredible pressure as an armor of steam.
With this protection, Han controlled Kokuo to charge straight through Matatabi's Cat Flame Roaring Fire, blasting it apart while not even having her fur singed.
However, the expected figure of the Two Tails on the other side, was nowhere to be seen.
*crash*
The earth shaking sound of a massive object crashing down from the sky, came directly from behind.
Kokuo's body turned with the utmost haste, only to see Matatabi rush towards the panicking Coalition forces.
Han prepared to fire a Tailed Beast Bomb at the exposed Two Tails who had her back to him but immediately dismissed the idea.
The consequences of a miss were far too disastrous to contemplate.
Chasing the cat down was the only option.
'Steam Release: Jet Speed'
A counterpart to Steam Release: Unrivalled Strength, the jutsu expelled high pressure steam for a massive burst in speed instead of strength.
However, even if Kokuo's straight line speed when using that jutsu was far faster than Matatabi's it was far too late to stop the Two Tailed Cat.
'Fire Release: Mouse Hairball'
A veritable storm of small yet blindingly fast blue fireballs were released from Matatabi's blue flaming body as the Tailed Beast ran.
A single powerful attack like Cat Flame Roaring Fire might be blocked with low to no casualties using a combined water jutsu but a storm of thousands of agile attacks that chased down their targets? Now that guaranteed kills.
Screams erupted as the smell of charred flesh spread along the chain of explosions.
The Elite Jonin were managing fine but the regular Jonin forces were suffering under the indiscriminate assault.
'Horn Breaking'
Enhanced by Steam Release: Jet Speed, Kokuo's charge threatened to heavily injure Matatabi in a single decisive strike.
Alas, with her goal of attacking the regular troops accomplished, the Two Tails' attention had already locked back onto her charging Tailed Beast sister.
'Fire Release: Flame Boost'
Releasing a huge amount of flames directly beneath her, Matatabi leapt high into the air with incredible speed.
But that was her mistake.
'Steam Release: Unrivalled Strength'
Kokuo's hooves smashed into the ground with tremendous brute force, shattering the earth as the beast made a great leap herself to intercept her sister's dodging action.
'Fire Release: Flame Boost'
Matatabi once again released her flames to maneuver but without a solid surface to bounce from, the boost was not just not enough.
Kokuo's horned charge smashed into the flaming blue cat's side, making her release a shrill roar of pain.
As the Two Tails was sent crashing into the ground, Han, still in Kokuo's form, was already loading up for his next attack.
'Steam Release: Jet Speed'
Releasing high pressure steam to accelerate his descent and guide the trajectory, he intended to crash Kokuo's body into the downed Matabi.
'Damn! Can't . . . move . . .' The Two Tailed Cat struggled to get up.
Everything seemed lost, the impact was imminent and Matatabi would be defeated.
But at that exact moment . . .
'Summoning Jutsu: Release'
With a massive but harmless explosion of smoke, the Two Tails' summoning was cancelled and as such, the beast vanished into thin air.
Unfortunately, Han in Kokuo's form, was already far beyond the point of stopping.
And without a body to impact, he crashed head first into the earth with such tremendous force that he actually hurt himself.
The impact was literally earth shaking as tremors spread across the battlefield and beyond directly bringing about injury and even death to many shinobi who lost their balance at critical moments, such was the unforgiving nature of the battlefield.
Of course, a Tailed Beast would never be seriously injured like this.
While it definitely hurt, Kokuo was still mostly fine.
However, since he did not have the cooperation of the Tailed Beast inside him, while he mastered her power, Han could ultimately only draw out a limited amount of chakra which he had already exhausted in the battle.
And so, he had no choice but to release his Tailed Beast transformation.
Han could keep fighting without issues, he was not even injured, but he would have to do so without any of his Jinchuriki powers to assist him.
*
Back on Isobu's side of the battlefield . . .
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -