chapter 96 part 2
Minato felt utterly helpless. He had clearly worked extremely hard, and his talent was stunning, yet when facing a Jinchuriki, he was restricted, with no good solutions at all.
To put it bluntly, if he had mastered a Sealing Jutsu that could be instantly activated, with his Flying Raijin Jutsu, he could get close enough to touch the enemy. Once he touched them, he could perform the Sealing Jutsu. Even if it only stunned the enemy for a moment, for a Ninja of his type, there were too many ways to exploit that.
Which brought them back to the point: Minato hadn't won over Kushina and thus couldn't learn those formidable and efficient Sealing Jutsu.
Let alone combining the Flying Raijin Jutsu with Sealing Jutsu.
On the original timeline, during the Nine-Tails attack, facing the massive Tailed Beast Bomb spat out by the Perfect Form Nine-Tails, Minato simply stood on the Hokage Rock, outstretched his hand, and used "Flying Thunder God Transfer." A colossal circular Rune Jutsu Formula spread from his palm, gradually absorbing the Tailed Beast Bomb and transferring it to an extremely distant location.
At that time, Minato, aside from the special Sealing Jutsu like Adamantine Chains—which Mito Uzumaki, Kushina, and Karin could all master, and was suspected to be a Kekkei Genkai—had practically learned all the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu. He could perfectly integrate them with the Flying Raijin Jutsu, building a systematic fighting style.
Even when facing the Perfect Form Nine-Tails, if not for the need to protect the Village and minimize casualties, Minato Namikaze at that time could have fought with complete ease, simply in terms of trading blows.
Now, at 15 years old, he couldn't. Minato scratched his head.
Dekai hesitated for a moment, then asked, "So, the people in the Village most skilled at dealing with Jinchuriki are still Orochimaru-sama, Kato Dan-sama, and the three Great Clans with Kekkei Genkai… or more precisely, Fugaku-sama of the Uchiha Clan?"
"Wrong," Jiraiya stated, a flicker of complexity in his eyes quickly concealed, his voice deep. "Currently, the one in the Village with the most experience dealing with Tailed Beasts should be Tsukasa Kaede."
"Eh?"
"The Devourer? He is powerful, that's true, but isn't he more of an auxiliary type, not one to directly face Tailed Beasts? Didn't he only assist Kato Dan-sama in severely injuring the Four-Tails Jinchuriki?"
"Kato Dan-sama must have used the Spirit Transformation Secret Technique to knock the Four-Tails Jinchuriki unconscious. Tsukasa Kaede-sama played an auxiliary role, for example, helping Kato Dan-sama precisely strike the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, but why would Jiraiya-sensei say that?"
"It's fine to tell you now; I assume none of you would betray the Village… Do you know why the Hidden Cloud Village initially sent hundreds of invading troops into the Land of Fire? Do you know why Tsukasa Kaede accurately predicted the Hidden Cloud Village's movements, ambushed them in advance, and single-handedly wiped out hundreds of Hidden Cloud Ninja elites?"
Jiraiya carefully chose his words, slowly saying, "Because before that, Tsukasa Kaede and Orochimaru secretly did something, something that caused the Hidden Cloud Village heavy losses… They assassinated the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Burubi, and they accomplished it while Burubi was in Full Tailed Beast Transformation, with the Eight-Tails completely rampaging."
"What? There's an inside story like that?"
Even Minato was stunned; he had never heard of such a thing!
The crucial point was the sheer volume of information. That was the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Burubi, who, despite not having participated in the Great Ninja War, was supposed to be the partner of A, the future Fourth Raikage. And he was taken out so quietly?
"I learned from the Third Hokage that Tsukasa Kaede was primarily responsible for the attack. Orochimaru only cleared out some Hidden Cloud Ninja on guard at the beginning and barely participated in the subsequent battle. In other words, Tsukasa Kaede alone took down the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki."
Jiraiya gave a wry smile. "To be honest, my reaction when I heard this news was the same as yours. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how Tsukasa Kaede did it… He isn't proficient in Genjutsu, nor does he possess a powerful Kekkei Genkai. I racked my brain but couldn't imagine how he dealt with a rampaging Eight-Tails."
Though he said this, deep down, Jiraiya vaguely suspected that Burubi might not have been killed by sheer force, but by some other method.
But Burubi was undoubtedly dead. According to intel brought back by spies embedded in the Hidden Cloud Village, the Hidden Cloud Village had once again begun a struggle with the Eight-Tails, which regularly broke free, with very significant fighting.
The Hidden Cloud Village sending a three-hundred-man invasion force to prioritize kidnapping Kushina now made perfect sense; they urgently needed a more reliable Vessel.
By extension, Tsukasa Kaede single-handedly challenging the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki and successfully killing him could, in accordance with the Shinobi World's consistent logic, be privately acknowledged as such.
"Really? To think he could defeat the Eight-Tails… Tsukasa Kaede-sama's capabilities far exceeded everyone's expectations. So, will Tsukasa Kaede-sama be the one to support us this time?"
Dekai eagerly asked, "If it's him, he'd certainly be able to stabilize the situation here, right?"
"Hard to say. It depends on the Village's arrangements. The enemies we need to deal with aren't just the Hidden Stone Village; right now, their actions are simply the most sudden and aggressive."
Jiraiya also thought of Orochimaru. That guy was always secretive and nowhere to be seen. From what the Third Hokage implied, Tsukasa Kaede and Orochimaru seemed to be quite close. These two had filled the void left by Danzo and were actively engaged in research involving cell experiments.
The Village needed people like them. Even if their research was highly sensitive and walked the line between right and wrong, Jiraiya understood perfectly that every Faction required exceptional individuals in that field.
"Corpse Release combined with that Orochimaru guy's mind… who knows what dangerous things those two are cooking up? I just hope the Third Hokage can keep a close eye on them. I have a feeling if they're not properly supervised, they'll create something huge."
Jiraiya shook his head, clearing that thought, and sharply turned his gaze to the west.
"Get ready, I feel powerful Chakra approaching!"
In fact, Jiraiya didn't even need to say it. The enemy made no attempt to conceal themselves, and the immense Chakra they generated naturally created violent air currents, stirring up the surrounding air, dust, and branches.
Two figures landed in front of the four, one after the other.
"That white long hair, that 'Oil' Kanji on your Forehead Protector—are you Jiraiya, one of the Sannin? Be careful, Han, this guy isn't a weakling you can just take down easily."
"Got it. If he can't be easily taken down, then I'll just get a little serious and kill him quickly. Finally, someone who lets me cut loose has appeared. Killing him would surely pain the Hidden Leaf Village, wouldn't it?"
The Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han, was a massive man wearing a Red Straw Hat, Red Armor, and carrying a Smoking Gourd on his back.
The Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi, was a short man, one meter forty-nine centimeters tall, while the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han, was a giant standing two meters thirty centimeters.
"Two… two of them? No one told us the enemy had two Jinchuriki operating as a team!"
"Calm down. It's come to this, and there's no other good solution. We have to do everything we can to stop them."
Jiraiya's squad fell into brief agitation.