Chapter 74: Capturing the Five-Tails Jinchuriki

After a few more confrontations without gaining any advantage, even with Jiraiya's cooperation, Tsunade was obviously frustrated. It wasn't simply because she wanted to defeat Han, but rather because, in her peripheral vision, she saw her foolish little brother appear on the battlefield.

'This boy... Does he not understand that he's not experienced enough to be in a place like this?' she thought, resigned. 'Does he not comprehend why we prevented him from joining the war?'

It was also because she was glancing toward Nawaki that she couldn't gain any advantage. Most of her mind was focused on Nawaki on the other side of the battlefield.

When she saw that he was acting cautiously, she felt relieved, but when she saw him dazed and nearly caught by an enemy, her heart tightened, and she almost rushed toward him. The only relief was that he reacted in time and managed to escape unharmed.

"Tsunade, don't get distracted, I know you…"

Before Jiraiya could finish what he was saying, he stopped in shock because he saw Nawaki pinned to the ground, with a Kiri ninja about to kill him with a sword.

"No!!!" Tsunade screamed, running in that direction.

Han, who noticed something had happened, didn't care about the reason for their distraction, especially Tsunade's. With his incredible speed, he reached them, delivering a powerful kick to Jiraiya, who barely had time to raise his guard and defend himself, while Han's hand, surrounded by some kind of vapor, attacked Tsunade's head.

"Tsunade!!!" Jiraiya felt the danger of what could happen if Tsunade were struck. Even if she didn't die immediately, there was a high chance she would be incapacitated from such a blow.

Trying to regain his balance while being sent flying back, Jiraiya cursed in pain, either from the hit he received or from the fear that the woman he loved was about to be killed: "Damn...!"

His hair shot out toward Han, but it was too slow compared to Han's speed, and it wouldn't reach him in time to stop him from hitting Tsunade.

In a calm voice, Han said coldly, "Goodbye, Princess S—"

"Whoosh!"

His words were abruptly interrupted when someone, incredibly faster, appeared in front of him and delivered a powerful kick with their left foot, striking him directly in the face and instantly deforming it, sending him flying.

"BANG!"

"Whoosh!"

The speed at which Han was thrown was so fast that within moments, his body collided with a tree—"Crack!"—breaking the tree in the process, and this repeated a few more times before his body settled into a hole in the ground that acted as a cushion.

Meanwhile, at the same time, a spinning kick hit the Kiri ninja who was about to kill Nawaki. The impact was no less powerful than the one Han received; it was even worse since the ninja didn't have Han's resilience. His body bent into a V shape, almost folding in on itself.

The sound of the impact was so intense that Nawaki, who had closed his eyes, opened them and was stunned by what he saw. Everything happened so fast that his brain short-circuited.

Soon, he noticed that the person with flaming red hair had simply vanished before his eyes.

'A shadow clone?' he thought.

Meanwhile, on Tsunade's side, the boy with the same appearance became visible as he caught Tsunade in a princess carry, jumping backward to avoid being affected by the impact.

"Who is it?" Tsunade was confused, but when she saw that Nawaki had also been saved, she sighed in relief.

In truth, it didn't matter who it was; what mattered was that she and Nawaki had just been rescued by him.

After placing her on the ground, he smiled before disappearing.

Meanwhile, high up in a tree, Tanaka, who had just sent his clones to rescue the sibling duo, shaded his eyes with his left hand as he cheerfully said, "Hey, hey, hey. Things are really heating up around here, aren't they?"

At the same time, Tanaka thought, 'Why do I feel like the typical protagonist who shows up at the last minute to save the day?' The fact that he had saved Nawaki and Tsunade was living proof of that.

Tsunade followed the voice she heard, and seeing that it was the same boy who had just saved her and Nawaki, she wanted to thank him, but it wasn't the right moment.

Han, who had gotten up, felt pain throughout his entire body. Anger was written all over his bruised face. In moments, the bijuu chakra cloak began to surround him.

"Bastard... I'm going to kill you." He murmured through gritted teeth as he stood up, placing both hands on the ground while steam rose from his entire body. Soon, a chakra tail appeared as well.

Running like a leopard, Han became several times faster compared to before.

Tanaka, who saw this, smiled slightly. 'Coming at me?'

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<Five-Tails Jinchuriki> 

Rank S Lv40 Han 

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'If it were a different ninja, I might feel some pressure, but... being a Jinchuriki...'

The moment Han leapt and stood before him, Tanaka's eyes changed, and soon a pair of Sharingan appeared, freezing Han in mid-air. Before Han could react, chains emerged from Tanaka's outstretched left hand, wrapping around Han's body and even canceling the bijuu transformation.

"Five-Tails captured~" he sang cheerfully, as his eyes returned to normal.

Not far away, Jiraiya, who saw this happen, swallowed hard and muttered, "W-Who is this boy?"

Even though he hadn't asked her, Tsunade, who had dragged Nawaki over to Jiraiya by the ear, said, "I'd like to know too..."

Jumping down from the tree while keeping Han chained, Tanaka appeared right in front of Tsunade and the others.

"Yo, how's it going, guys?" He smiled. "You don't mind that I took your opponent, right? Thanks, I'm sending him somewhere else now~"

Without giving them a chance to respond, he opened a scroll and placed Han in the center of the circular drawing on the scroll.

Soon, he took a piece of paper and made it disappear, and then, seconds later, Han vanished right before their eyes.

"Where was he sent?" Jiraiya finally broke the silence that had formed between them.

"To a safe place," Tanaka replied. He then thought, 'With this, I will have a future guardian of Uzushio.'

The plan to create a barrier similar to the one he was creating in Amegakure. What about the possible rebellion from Iwa? Well, wouldn't they try to destroy Uzushio along with the other villages anyway? As long as there was a means to defend and it was strong enough, he didn't think he needed to fear Iwa's potential revenge.

And, who told them to send the Five-Tails to the war?

Hearing his response, there were many other questions they would have liked to ask, but... The Iwagakure ninjas who saw what happened to Han were not happy at all.

"Damn it, Lord Han was captured by that kid!!"

"Retrieve Lord Han!!"

Shouts echoed as most of the Iwa ninjas' attention focused on Tanaka.

"Ohh, looks like I'm in trouble~" Tanaka joked.

Soon, he performed hand seals, and then 50 shadow clones were created and, in an instant, began to fly.

"Finally caught up to you!!"

The distance, Shiori's voice reached him.

Tanaka turned to her and waved: "Ohh, you're late, Shiori-san."

Shiori arrived in front of him and complained while hitting with the butt of her halberd: "Tsk, you're too fast!"

"They're flying...!" Nawaki noticed the main point, even forgetting the pain from having his ear pulled.

Tsunade, who also saw this, released Nawaki's ear while watching Tanaka's 50 shadow clones flying.

"What kind of technique is this? It doesn't seem to be the same as what old Oonoki uses..." Jiraiya pondered.

Tanaka replied: "Just a minor technique. Something that normally only works on my clones due to their low weight."

"Ohh..." Jiraiya understood and at the same time didn't. But it made sense; if the shadow clones didn't have the weight of a human body, it would indeed be easier to fly even using Wind Style.

And while many wondered why he decided to start flying, considering the war terrain was land-based and flying would make him an easy target... They saw him make stones from the ground float and then shoot them towards several ninjas, especially the Iwagakure ninjas running toward him.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang...!"

Several stone throws streaked the sky and hit their targets, around 50 stones per second were controlled and launched. It was real artillery, massacring the ninjas who, even trying to defend themselves with kunai or swords, found it ineffective as the stones were strong enough to break their ninja tools.

Worse was the humiliation of being defeated by simple thrown stones. It was as if it was said that they were not worth the effort of preparing any jutsu. It was infuriating!