Gacha System in Naruto
105 – Bakayarō! Konoyarō!

---Third POV---

"Cough, cough." Yugito coughed as she was carried over A's shoulder, seemingly compressed in a way that pressed against her lungs. "He can reflect all chakra-based attacks. That Tailed Beast Ball earlier was probably sent back by him."

A had suspected as much, which was why during the earlier battle he relied solely on Lightning Release Chakra Mode to boost his speed, dispersing the chakra from his arms whenever he attacked, relying purely on physical taijutsu for offense.

But he knew this couldn't go on forever.

His current attack strategy was like dancing on the edge of a blade, if any part of his body without Lightning Chakra Mode got hit, with the power of the opponent's blaze attack, it could easily burn through his body in one strike.

And now, he had to protect Yugito on his shoulder as well.

Whoosh, whoosh—

Two more curved blades of blaze fire slashed through the air.

He had no time to think, he barely dodged them.

"You sure can run. Shukaku, full power attack."

"Got it, partner!"

Shukaku let out a strange cry. It had been a long time since it had cooperated with Ryouma in battle, this fight was exhilarating.

Its two claws quickly formed hand seals.

The ground between the cliffs began to shift rapidly, with a massive amount of sand surging forth. Within seconds, the huge crater left by the Rasenshuriken was nearly filled.

"He's changing the terrain?"

As he darted through the miles of flowing sand, A couldn't even find a stable foothold to fully use his strength, and carrying Yugito on his shoulder greatly hindered his speed.

Even worse, countless sand tentacles rose around him like reapers chasing a soul, trying to bind him tightly.

Boom, boom, boom—

His high-speed dash through the sand stirred up towering sand waves. Every step he took was a gamble with death. If he failed to leap within a fraction of a second, the sand beneath would mercilessly snatch him with its tentacles.

After narrowly dodging several more blaze sword strikes, his eyes locked onto a stretch of solid ground less than 100 meters ahead.

Almost there!

At this distance, he should be able to escape the sea of sand before exhausting his last bit of strength. But Ryouma wouldn't give him the chance. Forming a one-handed seal, chakra surged rapidly.

At the edge of the sand sea, countless grains of sand surged skyward, forming two giant hands, each tens of meters tall, closing in on A as he neared the border.

It was only a few dozen meters away, yet it felt like an uncrossable chasm.

Watching the giant hands close in, Ryouma said, "You have nowhere left to run."

A knew he couldn't outrun the giant hands with his current speed. Glancing at Yugito on his shoulder, his gaze sharpened.

"Forgive me."

The next moment, a deafening impact rang out.

The two giant sand hands slammed together, sending a powerful shockwave rippling outward, stirring the sand sea like crashing waves on an ocean.

Several black, tadpole-like sealing techniques rapidly spread across the surface of the two massive sand hands.

CLANG—

Two black, lock-shaped patterns interlocked with each other. The sealing jutsu fully activated, completely suppressing the crackling blue lightning that tried to break through the sand.

Riding a cloud of sand, Ryouma soared over the sand sea and immediately spotted Yugito, who had been hurled out of the sand at the last second by A. She now lay helplessly on the hard rocky ground, her chest rising faintly, blood slowly trickling from her lips. She couldn't even move.

Ryouma flipped lightly in the air and landed.

"As expected of a jinchūriki. She's still alive after that?"

To make sure Yugito escaped the sand, A's throw certainly hadn't held back much. Just like Darui earlier, Yugito probably had several broken ribs at minimum.

Ryouma suddenly realized, after unleashing so many powerful techniques, none of them seemed to cause as much damage as A's friendly fire.

Ridiculous!

"Please…"

"Hm?" Ryouma didn't expect Yugito, lying by his feet, to still be conscious enough to speak.

She struggled to move her fading gaze toward the distant sand hands, which had just sealed shut. She could still sense that A was alive.

Blood still trickled from her lips as they parted slightly, her trembling voice weak but firm.

"Please… don't kill him..."

Ryouma raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do I look like some kind of villain to you?"

Ok, he killed Pakura.

Ok, he killed Rasa.

Ok, he killed Bunpuku.

Ok, he killed all the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Ok, he killed the Third Mizukage.

Ah, damn...

But still, whether it was Konoha or any other faction, capturing an important enemy alive was always more beneficial than killing them. It had its pros and cons, live captives provided more leverage, but were harder to secure.

As long as they surrendered quickly, he usually didn't go for the kill, except for people from Kiri.

Once A was brought back to Konoha, they might be able to research the training methods for his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

That was a real treasure. Though Ryouma still worried a bit that A might try something dramatic, like Hitler in his bunker, choosing death over capture.

Aside from A, Yugito was also a valuable prize, not to be misunderstood, but as the Two-Tails jinchūriki, she held great strategic value for Konoha.

Upon hearing Ryouma's words, Yugito felt a bit of relief. It seemed he wasn't as ruthless as the rumors claimed.

Even if being captured meant harsh experiments and suffering, at least this defeat wouldn't be her end. Kumo could still negotiate prisoner exchanges with Konoha. After all, they'd captured quite a few secret-clan Konoha ninjas too.

As for herself… honestly, she felt like she might not make it.

Her back was severely burned, internal injuries and bleeding everywhere, and even just speaking that one sentence almost caused her heart to stop.

If a jinchūriki died, the tailed beast inside died too.

Ryouma definitely didn't want the prize he worked so hard to capture to just vanish into thin air.

He crouched down, sheathed his sword, and formed hand seals to use Mystical Palm Technique to patch up her injuries enough to stabilize her.

For a jinchūriki, this level of treatment was enough, the rest she'd recover on her own.

"Thank you… Shukaku's jinchūriki." A deep voice echoed from within Yugito.

It was the Two-Tails, Matatabi, speaking.

Ryouma exchanged a glance with Shukaku, then said, "You two seem to have a pretty close bond."

"She's a good kid," Matatabi replied. "But I'm more surprised by your relationship with Shukaku. To be honest, his temper is far worse than mine."

"Hey, don't lump me in with you lot, okay?" Shukaku chimed in smugly. "My relationship with him is nothing like your shallow stuff."

"He's not your jinchūriki? Shukaku, don't tell me—" Yugito's voice was filled with disbelief.

Not being in a sealed state, yet being able to understand each other and become friends, this held a special meaning for the tailed beasts.

"I already know what true power is. Want to know what it is?" Shukaku's slightly excited tone stirred something inside Matatabi.

"Alright," Ryouma spoke up pragmatically. "You can talk all you want on the way back to Konoha. For now, let's handle the important stuff."

He controlled a cloud of sand to wrap around Yugito, formed a hand seal with both hands, and slapped his palm onto the sand cocoon.

The Four Symbols Seal was an advanced sealing technique from the Uzumaki clan appeared on the surface, sealing all of the chakra within Yugito's body.

Unlike the version used to seal the Nine-Tails, his Four Symbols Seal didn't leave any channels for chakra to flow, it was locked down completely.

After dealing with Yugito, he conjured another sand cloud for himself and flew it up to the top of the giant sand palm.

Forming hand seals again, he used the same method to seal A.

"What the hell are you trying to do?"

The moment A was pulled out from sand, he started yelling profanities.

Ryouma rubbed his ears, annoyed. He snapped his fingers, and a wisp of sand rose up and sealed A's foul mouth.

Silence returned to the world.

---

Meanwhile, on another front of the battlefield, Minato slit the throat of a Kumo ninja with a kunai. The enemy's eyes widened in his final moment as death arrived faster than his nervous system could process. Turning to ask Shisui beside him, he asked, "Why are you guys over here?"

According to the original plan, Shisui and Shiori were supposed to be protecting Ryouma. This was to prevent him from being ambushed while defending against the Tailed Beast Balls.

However, Kumo had changed tactics this time, launching all the Tailed Beast Balls simultaneously. Thankfully, Ryouma still managed to block them all.

Shisui scratched his head as he answered, "Ryouma told us to come here and eliminate the Kumo ninjas. He said he would go take on the enemy commander himself."

"I see..."

A bit concerned, Minato began to move faster, intending to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to support Ryouma once this side was wrapped up.

Shisui let out a breath of relief when he saw that Minato wasn't blaming them.

He didn't know Minato personally, but had heard he was upright, gentle, and cheerful. Now he could see that the rumors were true. If such a man becomes the Fourth Hokage, maybe the Uchiha clan could finally find true acceptance in Konoha.

Whoosh—

A blade infused with highly condensed lightning chakra shot toward Minato from behind.

Shfft—

With a small spatial distortion, Minato vanished using the Flying Thunder God Technique, dodging the ferocious sneak attack. Thanks to his excellent sensory abilities, he instantly located the attacker's position and turned his head.

It was none other than Killer B.

♪Yo, yo! Our side's takin' a hit,

the pressure's legit,

I step up, showin' I'm lit!

Bakayarō! Konoyarō!♪

After his opening attack failed, Killer B realized Kumo was probably doomed this time, Konoha had clearly come prepared.

Whenever he thought about the rumors in the shinobi world about the Leaf Gale's brutal and violent nature, he couldn't help but worry about A's safety.

So, after recovering his chakra, he completely ignored A's order forbidding him from participating in the battle and sprinted all the way to the battlefield. But instead of finding A, he ran into Minato.

Picking up the ninja blade he had just thrown, he asked in his usual rapping tone.

♪Yo, yo, yo!

Seen my bro?

Bakayarō! Konoyarō!♪

Facing Killer B's question, Minato pulled out two kunai, holding them firmly as he gave a serious answer. "Sorry, I don't know where he is. And I have no intention of letting you go find him."

Seeing that the conversation had broken down, Killer B's sense of urgency grew heavier.

Right now, Minato was the only one on this part of the battlefield. That meant A was fighting Ryouma.

That was terrifying.

That Leaf's Gale was the kind of cold-blooded monster who could blow up an entire hidden village over a disagreement. And A was fighting that kind of monster right now!

Thinking of this, he shuddered, imagining horrific scenes in his mind. He immediately turned and dashed toward the other side of the battlefield.

But Minato wasn't about to let him interfere with Ryouma's battle.

A Flying Thunder God kunai infused with wind chakra was thrown out, instantly multiplying into thousands. Like a barrage of missiles, they surrounded Killer B.

"Don't get in my way!" Killer B shouted, spinning around and instantly activating his tailed beast chakra cloak.

Eight red chakra tails swung out, swatting away all the incoming shuriken clones. Explosions erupted one after another, blooming across the battlefield and blasting countless craters into the ground around them.

In the smoke, Shisui formed hand seals, using his signature Body Flicker Technique to split into over a dozen afterimages, attacking Killer B from multiple angles.

Killer B continued swinging his eight tails in a tight, leaving Shisui no opening to get close.

However, in the very next second, hesuddenly felt himself pulled into a dark space, where only a pair of crimson eyes slowly spun in the void. Taking advantage of the opening, multiple Shisui clones closed in with ninja blades, thrusting at Killer B's body.

B! It's a genjutsu!

Thanks to a warning from the Eight-Tails, he snapped out of the illusion.

Thanks, partner. These guys don't mess around.

He immediately used his tails to repel the incoming clones once again, forcing them back before they could land killing strikes.

But Shisui wasn't the only enemy.

With his unbeatable reflexes and tactical mind processing the battle in real-time, Minato capitalized on the split second when Killer B was caught in the genjutsu and threw a Flying Thunder God kunai straight at B's head.

At the same time, he charged from the front, his right hand forming a glowing Rasengan, aiming directly for for Killer B.

Killer B reacted just as fast. While fending off Shisui's clones with his tails, he tilted his head just enough for the kunai to graze his cheek. Then he formed a chakra tail shield in front of him, if Minato got close, he was ready to trap him instantly with the tailed beast cloak.

But just as Minato's Rasengan was about to make contact with the shield, a ripple in space appeared.

Swish—

In a flash, he reappeared behind Killer B, grabbing the Flying Thunder God kunai that B had dodged earlier with his left hand.

With his right hand, he slammed the Rasengan directly into Killer B's back.

Boom—!

The Rasengan exploded violently on Killer B's back, and the sheer force of the blast caved in the rocky ground beneath them.

30 advance chapters!

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