Back when he cut off one of the Eight-Tails' horns, he and Orochimaru had already begun researching tailed beasts. They discovered that although a tailed beast's consciousness depends on the massive chakra condensed into an energy body, that energy body can actually exist independently from its consciousness.
In other words, as long as there's an energy body capable of carrying the tailed beast's consciousness, in theory it's possible to separate the consciousness from the energy body.
Of course, once the consciousness and energy are separated, the tailed beast's strength decreases, and its energy recovers more slowly. However, there are no lasting side effects, whenever needed, the consciousness and body can simply be fused back together.
There are many examples of this. For instance, after Kinkaku and Ginkaku swallowed the Nine-Tails' flesh, they unexpectedly gained the ability to partially transform into a tailed beast. Later, the former Eight-Tails' jinchūriki, Blue B, revived through Edo Tensei, sealed eight unconscious Eight-Tails clones inside himself, allowing him to display jinchūriki-level power.
There are also special cases, such as in the original timeline when the Nine-Tails was split into two halves, one sealed inside Minato, and the other inside Naruto. Both the energy and the consciousness were divided.
And these are only the well-known cases. Given that the tailed beasts have existed in each village for so many years, changing jinchūriki many times, there have been countless secrets unknown to the public.
What might seem like a lucky, one-time success to others was, in the eyes of Shin and Orochimaru, something that could be replicated through science, and even improved upon.
By now, their research on separating a tailed beast's consciousness has long been successful. Once they find a suitable vessel, Kurama could openly appear before the world without causing any destruction.
Meanwhile, the unconscious chakra left in Kushina's body could be perfectly controlled by her.
---
After resting for a full three hours, the group got up. Shin then instantly transported them to directly above the direction in which Hanma was fleeing.
As a familiar yet terrifying burst of chakra erupted, the just-emerging-from-underground Hanma broke out in a cold sweat. Without caring about anything else, he desperately rushed toward his target destination.
He was indeed elusive, but in truth, his ability was neither teleportation nor space-time ninjutsu. Rather, it was more like Black Zetsu's phasing technique, allowing him to merge into and travel through all things, moving no slower than a ninja running on the surface.
Moreover, after awakening his Mangekyō Sharingan, he could manipulate the surrounding space to conceal his own presence, making him exceptionally hard to track.
Relying on these abilities, Hanma had been unstoppable in gathering information over the past year.
But now, he was like a dog that had lost its home, like a fish that had slipped through a net, none of his tricks worked against that man.
"Isn't this direction toward Kusa?" While running, Minato glanced at the map and asked Shin beside him.
"Yes," Shin replied with a slight smile, confirming it.
"Uh..." Minato was speechless for a moment, silently offering condolences for Kusa in his heart.
His brother had blocked every possible path for Hanma to reach any of the major hidden villages, but deliberately left the route to Kusa open, clearly setting a trap for him.
The reason was obvious, Shin must have some scheme involving Kusa.
Minato, with his deep knowledge of Konoha's affairs, instantly understood the situation.
As a small hidden village struggling to survive between larger powers, Kusa lacked the strength of Ame, yet possessed an ambition far greater than theirs.
Perhaps because their ancestors were once "prosperous" according to scattered records, they had never been content with the current balance of power in the ninja world. They were always scheming, hoping to leap to the top and become the dominant force.
Thus, relying on their advantageous geographic location, they constantly played both sides, extracting benefits from all parties, seeking every opportunity to grow their own strength, and secretly cultivating hidden forces.
But they had forgotten this, when your strength does not match your ambition, you must never reveal that ambition. Otherwise, you'll either become a laughingstock or walk yourself straight to your death.
During Hiruzen's time in office, Kusa openly demanded benefits from Konoha.
Whenever their demands were not met, they would side with Iwa or Suna at the drop of a hat, acting as their outpost and intelligence hub. If Kumo and Kiri hadn't been so far away, Kusa would likely have tried to profit from them as well.
But Hiruzen's philosophy was "pacify internal affairs before dealing with external threats." On top of that, the assistance provided to Kusa gave the Konoha Council members plenty of room for hefty kickbacks. So Konoha kept aiding them without asking for anything in return, sometimes even at great cost.
After Konoha was caught up in war, and once the war ended, Shin became completely absorbed in his research, leaving him with no time to deal with this small-time clown act that was Kusa.
But now that he had come here, new grudges and old would be settled all at once. Everything Kusa had taken over the years, it was time to make them cough it back up.
Once Minato pieced together all the details, he couldn't help but marvel, only Shin could weave careful schemes even into revenge.
---
An hour later, the utterly exhausted Hanma finally slipped into Kusa and hid directly beneath the leader's building.
Sensing that his target's aura was finally settling down, Shin was very satisfied.
After all, this Hanma's so-called "cleverness" over the past few days had really tested his patience. He had deliberately left Hanma a path, but the guy had run around for days before finally falling into the trap.
In this way, sometimes being too stupid isn't all bad, you might at least live a few days longer.
As for whether Kusa could protect Hanma?
Shin's attitude was: You've got to be kidding me.
Their whole purpose in coming today was to use Hanma as an excuse to openly attack Kusa.
Back then, when his strength was lacking, of course he had to keep a low profile and work in the shadows.
But now?
Who cares about plots and schemes, he would crush them with sheer force. And if the other great villages had a problem with that, they were welcome to come together.
Outside Kusa, six imposing figures appeared, instantly throwing the village into chaos. The Kusa leader, Kusanosuke, broke into a cold sweat, unable to guess their sudden purpose.
Who were the six?
Tsunade, the Hokage.
Shin, someone who could Susanoo at the slightest provocation and had once suppressed the Nine-Tails with one hand.
Minato, who on the battlefield would cut down enemies seemingly effortlessly. He and Sakumo alone had made Suna tremble in fear, and now his two teammates were equally famous.
Kushina, though not widely known, records suggested she was Konoha's new Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
Fugaku, wielder of the Sharingan.
Hizashi, wielder of the Byakugan.
The sudden visit of these six, was this the prelude to the destruction of Kusa?
Thinking back to his past deeds, Kusanosuke felt a coldness seep through his entire body, his heart sinking into an icy pit.
"What should we do?" a Kusa elder asked nervously.
Kusanosuke shot him an annoyed look, You think I know?
But as leader, he had to make a decision now, so he forced himself to stay calm and said, "Let's go out and take a look. Maybe things aren't as bad as they seem."
The moment he finished speaking, an explosion shook the entire village, followed by a surge of violent chakra and the sounds of fighting, screams, and cries for mercy from all directions.
His body began to tremble uncontrollably. His mouth opened and closed, but not a single word came out.
They really were here to attack Kusa.
But hadn't Konoha always claimed to champion peace? How could they do this? Were they not afraid of offending the other great villages?