Kang had always been respectful and submissive to him before. Seeing him suddenly transform into this state didn't just make Gisei uncomfortable; it genuinely worried him.
Is this guy going to betray me one day?
"Don't worry, this is just a normal reaction," Shiro explained calmly. "If this condition persists for more than two years, we can basically judge the fusion as a failure. We'd have to lock him up then."
Gisei nodded to show he understood, then turned to Kang. "Kang, use Tailed Beast Bombs here to attack the village below."
An unnatural twitch appeared on Kang's face, but two minutes later, he returned to a mask of calm.
He immediately entered "Version 2"—the half-tailed beast transformation—and began to gather chakra for a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Gisei turned to the ninja butterflies who had brought Kang here. "Once he releases three Tailed Beast Bombs, take him back to Butterfly Valley immediately."
After giving the orders, Gisei spread his butterfly wings and took to the sky.
The current Tsuchikage, Onoki, was one of the few ninjas who could fly. Gisei had to clear the area in advance. If that old man spotted him, things would get ugly fast.
By the time he reached an altitude of a thousand meters, the first Tailed Beast Bomb had already been fired.
The dark purple sphere of destruction shot straight toward Iwagakure with unstoppable momentum.
In the Tsuchikage's office, Onoki, currently in the prime of his life, suddenly felt a palpitation in his chest. At the same instant, he sensed the massive, sinister chakra fluctuations of a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Without a second thought, he flew straight out the window.
The moment he cleared the building, Onoki saw it—a dark purple Tailed Beast Bomb hurtling toward the west side of the village.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!" (Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu!)
A beam of white light collided with the dark purple sphere. Boom!
Dust Release—a Kekkei Tota that surpassed even Kekkei Genkai—could decompose matter into atomic dust. The beam blasted the lower half of the Tailed Beast Bomb into nothingness, causing the remaining energy to detonate prematurely.
An irregularly shaped, blinding light seared the sky above Iwagakure.
Accompanying the deafening roar was a frantic shockwave that slammed recklessly into the hearts of everyone in the village.
Onoki's face was ashen. In his desperation, he hadn't charged the Dust Release to its maximum power; otherwise, he could have erased the entire bomb.
Fortunately, he had deliberately aimed at the lower half, confining the explosion to the sky. If that thing had hit the ground, half the village would be gone.
Even so, the terrifying power of the explosion brought indelible pain to Iwagakure.
The houses directly below the blast zone were instantly flattened by the shockwave. Ordinary villagers had no power to resist, left struggling and wailing in the aftermath.
Iwagakure instantly entered a state of maximum alert.
Countless ninjas rushed from all directions toward the blast zone to save people.
Onoki clenched his fists tightly and glared up at the high mountain from which the attack had come.
"Over there... Unforgivable!"
Onoki flew rapidly toward Kang's location. But just a few seconds later, a second Tailed Beast Bomb was launched!
Seeing the second sphere of death, Onoki's eyes widened, and he flew directly to meet it head-on.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
A translucent white cube expanded, completely enveloping the Tailed Beast Bomb.
Against a prepared Onoki, the bomb had no chance. It was instantly decomposed into atoms, vanishing without a trace.
Just as he was about to continue his flight, a third Tailed Beast Bomb appeared.
Onoki stared fixedly at it, gritting his teeth as he prepared to use Dust Release again.
At the same time, huge chakra fluctuations erupted from within Iwagakure itself.
Two dark red figures stood on high ground in the village, gathering their own Tailed Beast Bombs.
It was Roshi, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, and Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki.
Five seconds later, two Tailed Beast Bombs shot straight from different directions toward the mountain where Kang was positioned.
The ninja butterflies didn't hesitate. They immediately used space-time ninjutsu to transport Kang back to Butterfly Valley.
Under the terrifying power of the two incoming Tailed Beast Bombs, the mountain was blasted into powder.
Seeing this, Onoki was so angry his eyebrow began to twitch uncontrollably.
He had wanted to capture the attacker alive, but these two idiots had actually fired Tailed Beast Bombs directly at the target.
Great. Just great. Under that kind of firepower, not even a cockroach could have survived.
Angry as he was, he understood that the two Jinchuriki were trying to protect the village. The damage was done; dwelling on it was useless. Onoki flew to the ruined mountain and began to investigate carefully.
After a while, Iwa ninjas arrived one after another to join the search.
An hour later, after receiving the report that nothing had been found, Onoki was furious. "Send every ninja in the village out! I don't believe we can't find a single clue!"
Someone whispered, "Lord Tsuchikage, what if the enemy attacks the village again?"
Onoki gasped for breath, his rage boiling over. "With me here, no one can attack the village!"
Iwagakure had undoubtedly been attacked by another major ninja village. Only the Five Great Nations and Takigakure possessed Tailed Beasts.
Takigakure didn't have the guts for this, so it had to be one of the other great powers.
But now, not only had no trace of the enemy been found, he didn't even know which country had attacked them.
How was he supposed to explain this to the people?
No matter what, he had to find the mastermind behind this. Even if it meant war... no, this was already war!
Using a Tailed Beast to attack another village without provocation—there was no doubt the war had already begun.
...
Gisei settled down in a small town in the Land of Earth.
He found an inn and stayed there leisurely, waiting for Iwagakure's reaction.
He had left after seeing only the first explosion, so he knew almost nothing about what happened afterward.
Fortunately, the ninja butterflies had already reported that they were safe, so his heart finally relaxed.
He had been incredibly careful using the Tailed Beast to attack Iwagakure. After all, Iwagakure was no small village.
Just Onoki and the two Jinchuriki were enough to give Gisei a headache, not to mention the ten thousand other ninjas at their disposal.
If he were discovered, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Luckily, it was a near miss. Now, everything depended on who this enraged mad dog, Iwagakure, decided to bite.
After staying in the inn for two days, turmoil erupted in the small town.
A large number of ninjas entered and began interrogating people from house to house.
Gisei laughed as he watched the scene from his inn window.
The Iwa ninjas, unable to find any clues, could no longer sit still.
Through intelligence reports, he knew that public grievances were boiling within Iwagakure. The call for war—from both the high officials and the common people—was rising day by day.
Onoki was sitting on pins and needles. He wanted to start a war, but he didn't know who to declare war on. He couldn't very well declare war on every village with a Tailed Beast simultaneously. All he could do was send out swarms of ninjas to collect intelligence, hoping to find a thread that led to the culprit.
After Gisei dealt with the interrogation, he sat in his room and began to plan his next move.
He couldn't leave the Land of Earth just yet. He was waiting for his spies to provide the location of the Steel Release and Explosion Release ninjas.
Once he caught them, he would head straight for Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning.