- Ginkaku-dono, who was that? - The jonin asked respectfully, gesturing for the iryonin to help.
- Or-r-rochimaru and Nar-r-ra," the pseudo-jinchuriki turned around and growled angrily, shoving the pseudo-jinchuriki aside and flashing his extended pupil, "you're too late, you little brat, the operation has been canceled and we're retreating.
Without waiting for a reply, Ginkaku picked up his groaning, one-legged brother in his arms and, releasing a first-level chakra shield, raced toward Kumogakure's main camp faster than any of the jonins present, quickly disappearing from sight.
- Commander?
- Help those of the first squad who are still alive," the jonin ordered through gritted teeth, "and then retreat - the mission is a failure.
But just before the subordinates had no time to begin the task, as in the distance rumbled a powerful explosion and everything turned.
Jumping out to a deep crater, the forest around which almost disappeared, replaced by a homogeneous plain of sintered earth, jonin grimaced, finding a figure slowly swarming at the bottom. If it weren't for the familiar biju chakra on the man's body, the man would have been compared to a well-fried corpse that had nothing to do with the living.
Yes, even the strongest fighters with such injuries should be lying in death, not trying to get up. The jinchuriki was horrible to look at, with his face burned to the skull, his eyes bulging out, his nose missing, his bones sticking out through the charred flesh, and yet he was alive and even with the right number of limbs.
Kinkaku's remains, on the other side of the crater, were not, as the upper torso and head that had survived the explosion had been almost completely burned to a charred skeleton, making identification difficult.
- I'm going to be eaten to death," the commander of the second cover squad whispered in a low whisper, well aware of the reaction of the headquarters to the future report.
The subordinates rushed to the very seriously injured Ginkaku's aid without further orders, and Imasha thought aloofly that the recent explosion might well have taken out the entire main camp of the Kumogakure forces, had the Kingin Kyodai been able to reach it in time. The only good thing about the situation.
***
Amane Hyuga had a lot of combat experience from various missions and the last World War, but this was the first time she'd seen the jinchuriki's fighting power in person, rather than listening to the accounts of rare witnesses.
Ordinary ninja facing the living weapons of the Great Villages could only expect a quick and painful death if there was no fighter of equal strength to fight back and cover the weaker comrades. The bitter truth of life.
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