Kazuyama slept for two days.
Although he was a perfect Jinchūriki, this was the first time he had activated all five tails while also using the Flying Thunder God Technique for an extended period.
Even with Chōmei's chakra support, his body had reached its limit.
After all, the Seven-Tails' chakra didn't provide self-healing like the Nine-Tails'.
This meant he actually needed sleep to recover.
Chōmei had been closely monitoring Kazuyama's condition for the past two days. When he was finally sure that his Jinchūriki was just exhausted, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Hurry up! Transfer him to the rear!"
"Everyone else, move all the wounded back as well!"
Kazuyama, sound asleep, was suddenly awakened by a loud commotion.
His bleary eyes opened to find the scenery around him moving rapidly. It took him a moment to realize—he was on a stretcher, being carried away.
That scared the hell out of him.
"Hey, hey, hey! Stop! What are you doing?"
"Why are you carrying me away?"
The ninja carrying him froze, staring at him in shock.
"Shit! He's come back to life!"
The two Genin assigned to move him were left speechless.
They had assumed they were transferring a critically injured, comatose patient—only for him to wake up mid-transport.
"Get out of the way, I'm not dead, okay?"
"I was just sleeping."
"Hey, I told you to carry me sideways. What the hell are you doing, running around with me?"
Kazuyama stood up from the stretcher and stretched his stiff body, bones cracking in response. He let out a long breath.
"Sunagakure is attacking! There are so many of them!"
"Lord Orochimaru has led the counterattack, but this time, the enemy has sent a massive force. The pressure on the front line is intense."
"So Lord Orochimaru ordered us Genin to evacuate the wounded."
"Our captain saw that you'd been sleeping for a long time and told us to transfer you as well."
They've attacked? And in such numbers?
Is Sunagakure in complete turmoil?
Kazuyama frowned slightly.
It seemed the Kazekage's disappearance had already been discovered.
Chiyo and the others had likely launched an all-out assault to temporarily suppress the news.
Damn it, I only slept for a moment, and everything's already turned upside down.
"That's enough. You guys help the others evacuate."
"I'll go check out the front line."
Kazuyama turned toward the battlefield, preparing to activate the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Unexpectedly, before he could move, one of the Genin who had been carrying him grabbed his arm.
"Young man, don't be reckless! That's a battlefield, and with Lord Orochimaru and the others there, you don't want to go messing things up."
Kazuyama smiled faintly, then patted the ninja on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'm a Jōnin from our village."
"Sunagakure is just a small village. It's no match for Konoha."
With that, he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and vanished before their eyes.
"Jōnin? Him?"
"My goodness, these days even kids are becoming Jōnin?"
The two Genin exchanged incredulous looks.
Konoha's strength as the most powerful of the five great ninja villages lay in both the quantity and quality of its shinobi. With over 10,000 ninja in the village, it wasn't surprising that they hadn't recognized Kazuyama. He wasn't the type to seek the limelight.
—---
In an instant, he arrived at the front line.
Just as the Genin had reported, war had erupted between Sunagakure and Konoha.
Thousands of Sunagakure ninja had mobilized.
Although Konoha's numbers were lower, their support forces consisted of elite troops.
For the time being, they had managed to hold back the Sunagakure forces.
"Gee… there are a lot of them…"
On the battlefield, five massive snakes slithered through the chaos—a clear sign of Orochimaru's handiwork.
However, they were being firmly held back by ten puppets.
It was the work of Chiyo, Sunagakure's strongest puppeteer and one of the village elders.
High-end combat power clashing against high-end combat power.
The rest of the battlefield was equally fierce.
The elite Hyūga and Uchiha ninja flanked the left and right sides, serving as Konoha's sharp blades.
The remaining forces, led by the great clans such as the Nara, were pushing back, trying to turn the tide.
Even someone like Kazuyama, who wasn't particularly fond of combat, couldn't help but feel a little excited.
"Hey… Since we're here, we might as well do something."
"Chōmei, lend me some chakra."
"We'll be relying on the Flying Thunder God Technique next."
Although his chakra reserves were full, the battlefield's instability made him opt for additional support.
Chōmei immediately agreed, and the Seven-Tails' chakra slowly flowed into Kazuyama's body.
"Hehe… then let's get started."
Kazuyama pulled six kunai from the backpack behind him, then hurled them violently toward the battlefield.
At the same time, he bit his finger and quickly formed hand seals.
"Summoning Technique!"
A massive cloud of smoke erupted at the forefront of Konoha's defensive line, instantly drawing the attention of both sides.
"Summoning Technique?"
"Is it the enemy's? Or one of our own?"
Even Orochimaru noticed the disturbance, but soon, he let out a chuckle.
As the smoke dispersed, a massive snake appeared—over 50 meters long, with golden markings running across its body and two horns on its head.
Though he had never seen this particular snake before, the fact that it was a serpent meant only one thing—this was definitely his disciple's doing.
Meanwhile, Kazuyama stared at the giant snake in front of him, eyes wide in shock.
He didn't recognize this snake either. Golden markings all over its body? Wasn't this basically a giant golden snake?
"Huh? Where am I? Did you summon me?"
A confused female voice suddenly echoed through the battlefield.
Oh, so it's a female snake?
For a moment, man and snake simply stared at each other.
Kazuyama was surprised—he had intended to summon Manda. Yet here was someone else.
The golden snake, on the other hand, seemed intrigued by the one who had summoned her.
"Where's Manda? I was trying to summon him."
"Manda? His den has been taken over by my friends and me. Since you were able to summon me, you must be the practitioner from Ryūchi Cave that Sister Tagorihime mentioned… Kazuyama, right?"
Kazuyama was dumbfounded. Wasn't Manda supposed to be insanely powerful? How the hell did someone else take over his den?
"Is this a battlefield? I can smell blood."
"So you summoned me to fight?"
She flicked her tongue, her snake eyes gleaming with battle lust.
Seeing that look, Kazuyama thought to himself, Great… another warmonger.
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