"Ultimately, Tailed Beasts aren't enemies that can be easily dealt with. As for completely destroying a Tailed Beast, that's even more of a chore."
"'Killing a Tailed Beast' isn't an actual option. Even if we killed it, the most we'd achieve is making it temporarily disappear, and the incident would end with the Hidden Cloud losing ownership of the Two-Tails. In reality, given the danger a free-roaming Tailed Beast poses to the entire ninja world, I personally don't agree with this approach. But unfortunately, war only gives us this choice."
Minato's words were a bit redundant, making it sound as if they had actually just finished off the Two-Tails, when in reality that wasn't the case at all.
"Although Tailed Beasts have physical bodies, and even breathe and possess intelligence, it's difficult to classify them as ordinary lifeforms. Fundamentally, they are aggregates of chakra. After being destroyed, it only takes months to a few years for the chakra that dissipated upon their 'death' to re-aggregate, and the Tailed Beast will resurrect. This immortality is one of the reasons they are perpetually viewed as weapons."
Due to the commotion caused by the Jinchuriki's Tailed Beast Transformation, the Minato squad could only temporarily retreat, slowing down the progress of their mission.
As for the large squad of Hidden Cloud ninjas rushing over, if they wanted to subdue the enraged Tailed Beast, they would inevitably have to pay a substantial price. Konoha was undoubtedly happy to see such a situation unfold.
"I disagree. It's not that Tailed Beasts can't be killed, but rather that they haven't truly been killed. There's nothing wrong with viewing them as ordinary lifeforms. Being able to resurrect is just an anomaly. As long as the right method is used, there will always be a way to thoroughly kill anything that can be killed."
Hagoromo's viewpoint clearly differed from Minato's understanding. If there is a beginning, there must be an end. Not killing a Tailed Beast simply meant they hadn't found the correct method yet.
"...Perhaps what you say is correct, but an undiscovered method is the same as none."
"The existence of Tailed Beasts has accompanied nearly the entire history of the ninja world. Unfortunately, while there are clear historical records of Tailed Beasts being killed a few times, up until now, their number has consistently remained at nine without the slightest decrease."
"Therefore, ninjas began using sealing jutsu to deal with Tailed Beasts... This didn't mean 'settling for the next best thing.' On the contrary, the continuous development and refinement of sealing jutsu made it possible to utilize their massive and terrifying power. From a certain point in time, Jinchuriki emerged..."
"Tailed Beasts have always been viewed as disasters, even after methods were developed to seal them inside ninjas. But power is just like that: the more it makes some people fear and dread it, the more it makes others envy and desire it. So after Jinchuriki appeared, ninjas began fighting over the Tailed Beasts. It wasn't until the Ninja Village system was established that they had clear ownership."
"So Hagoromo, if there really was a method to kill a Tailed Beast, that would be a good thing for everyone."
Likely thinking about Kushina, Minato's tone carried a different kind of emotion.
"Perhaps..." a certain phrase reached the tip of Hagoromo's tongue, but feeling he didn't know where to begin, he swallowed it back down and changed his tune, saying, "No, never mind. I mean, such a method will be found sooner or later."
People always need to hold onto hope for certain things, even ninjas.
Moving forward, the Minato squad's mission would continue. They were only retreating temporarily; after all, their mission parameters didn't require them to engage the enemy's main force.
And after this mission passed, as time went on, the Minato squad would face countless other missions.
The overall situation and state of the war were somewhat worse than Konoha's upper echelons had initially anticipated.
Konoha and the Hidden Sand had ended their war two or three years ago, stemming from a resolute, all-out strike led by the Hokage. Ending the war early with the Hidden Mist was an unexpected bonus.
As for the Hidden Stone, both sides remained in an unspoken state of ceasefire. Although such an unspoken agreement always left people uneasy, as long as both sides maintained silence, this was peace.
However, the war between Konoha and the Hidden Cloud continued, and it would keep going.
Although Konoha's proactive retreat had opened up some distance between the two frontlines, the small-scale skirmishes that erupted from time to time were still extremely fierce.
The good news was that over this continuing year, the overall frequency of engagements between the two sides showed a declining trend. The bad news was that this reduction was limited.
In other words, while the intensity of the actual battles hadn't changed much, the macro-level war situation was heading in a positive direction.
But no matter how one looked at it, Konoha's plan to end the battle with the Hidden Cloud within a year had completely failed. They hadn't even managed to secure a minimum, temporary ceasefire.
By now, this war destined to have no victor had long since lost any meaning. But for the Hidden Cloud, one could say the act of waging war itself held meaning. Therefore, they would prolong this war, even if it left them covered in bruises and wounds.
With the Minato squad's combat configuration, their missions could certainly be considered frequent. Yet, bizarrely enough, they had never once encountered the Hidden Cloud's strongest duo.
Based on the intelligence Konoha had gathered, and the rumored personalities of those two brothers, it was hard to imagine them deliberately avoiding a confrontation out of fear of the Yellow Flash's reputation.
A more convincing piece of evidence was that during this final phase of the war, the Hidden Cloud's AB Combo was also exceptionally active. They inflicted massive losses on Konoha; after all, ordinary ninjas simply had no way to resist such enemies.
Encounters on the battlefield could be attributed to chance, and the lack thereof could similarly be attributed to chance. This was the only way to explain the facts.
Currently on this battlefield, the number of Konoha ninjas confronting and fighting the Hidden Cloud was around 6,000, which was one and a half times that of the Hidden Cloud.
Even in this state, the Hidden Cloud still maintained multi-front warfare. When it came to war, they refused to yield not only to Konoha, but to anyone.
One day, for a certain reason, Jiraiya sought out Minato again. However, this time it had nothing to do with combat missions. He simply had something to inform Minato about.
"Jiraiya-sensei, is there a new situation with the Hidden Cloud?" Seeing that Jiraiya's expression was a bit different from usual, Minato asked.
"No."
Jiraiya gave a negative answer. "This matter has nothing to do with the Hidden Cloud. It concerns Konoha's internal situation. I've received intelligence that Danzo is making new moves."
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