"Let's seal it with a sealing technique."
Kagetsu quickly pulled a scroll from his waist pouch, unsealing it and spreading it out on the ground.
The scroll was filled with dense Seals, with a large "seal" character in the center. As Kagetsu pressed his palm, charged with chakra, onto it, the Seals on the scroll began to glow, and a powerful suction force emanated from the unsealed scroll.
At that moment, the character in the center of the scroll changed from "seal" to "absorb."
The disoriented little Five-Tails, without much resistance, were pulled into the scroll by the overwhelming suction.
In the end, only three fragmented bodies, with some awareness, were left behind.
Looking at the three Five-Tails' fragmented bodies, which clearly showed fear, Kagetsu couldn't help but lament his lack of skill.
But it was understandable, given this was his first time performing such a technique.
Kagetsu rolled up the sealing scroll and carefully placed it back into his waist pouch.
Strictly speaking, he hadn't killed the Five-Tails. He had only split away most of its power that it had previously contributed.
After the jinchuriki was severely injured, and with most of the Five-Tails' power split away, it was now in a weakened state. But unlike the permanent loss of the Two-Tails, the Five-Tails could still recover its power with time.
Though the recovery might take a long time.
For now, it could avoid falling into a deep sleep and maintain the jinchuriki's life, which was already quite an accomplishment. There was no need to worry about any accidents caused by its power.
Of course, the three clearly conscious Five-Tails' fragments could also be considered a form of permanent loss.
However, it was likely that the Five-Tails didn't care much about this loss.
The sky was faintly light.
Orochimaru, who had withdrawn from the battlefield, looked at the Five-Tails Jinchūriki, sealed by the sealing technique. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
Anko and Shisui were standing by, reporting last night's battle to Orochimaru.
When they heard that the Five-Tails Jinchūriki had been taken down by Kagetsu alone, even though they had suspected something, their feelings at that moment were still complicated.
The Five-Tails Jinchūriki was no ordinary new Jinchūriki. As a ninja active on the battlefield, Han's combat style and strength were enough to make any enemy ninja cautious.
Even Orochimaru himself would try to avoid close combat with Han under normal circumstances.
There was no other reason—the opponent's strength and Boil Release, much like Tsunade's, were troublesome.
Orochimaru was tough and could endure, but that didn't mean he was willing to be used as a punching bag.
"He's truly a troublesome character."
Looking at Han, who was still unconscious, Orochimaru felt a bit of a dilemma. If Kagetsu had completely dealt with him earlier, the situation would have been simpler.
During a time of war and hostile relations, if a Jinchūriki dies on a mission, the most that would happen is that the Five-Tails would be revived, and the Iwagakure ninja would try to capture him again.
But now the Five-Tails was still alive, and this news would likely not be hidden from Iwagakure.
No matter what, Iwagakure would never want the Five-Tails to fall into Konoha's hands. After all, Konoha had not only grown stronger for decades but also had the most powerful Nine-Tails.
The key was that Orochimaru didn't believe Kagetsu didn't know all of this, yet he still spared the Five-Tails' life.
"Do you want to study the Tailed Beast?"
Orochimaru thought to himself.
"Where is Kagetsu?" Orochimaru looked at Anko beside him, planning to meet Kagetsu and ask his thoughts.
"At the base." Anko glanced around and quietly replied.
"Orochimaru."
The tent flap was lifted, and Tsunade walked in, greeting Orochimaru. The injured and their placement had taken up a lot of her time.
Although Iwagakure's assassination team only had ten people, their jutsu and strength inevitably affected the injured in the camp during the fight with Tsunade.
Along with the heavily wounded members carried back from the battlefield, Tsunade, after retreating to the camp, actively treated the more severely injured without the need to hide her own condition.
The summoned slug was working hard under her orders, splitting its body and crawling onto each wounded person in the camp. It used its soft body to press against their skin, acting as a healing tool.
"How do you plan to deal with him?" Tsunade was also a bit troubled. The Jinchuriki was like a ticking time bomb. Even if he didn't explode himself, Iwagakure would surely continue to infiltrate and harass.
Tsunade didn't want to keep him in the area used for the critically wounded and the camp.
Orochimaru realized Tsunade wanted to get rid of this problem. He didn't immediately respond but instead asked, "What about Kagetsu? The Five-Tails is his spoils. What does he think?"
"Chakra." Tsunade rubbed her forehead, slightly troubled. "He wants to have the Five-Tails Jinchuriki enter the Technology Development Department... well, as a research subject!"
Tsunade added the last part.
"That's probably very difficult." Orochimaru wasn't surprised, but he vaguely felt that Kagetsu must have other intentions.
"The information about the Five-Tails Jinchuriki's capture will likely soon be known by Hiruzen-sensei and the others. As for Hiruzen-sensei now..."
Orochimaru didn't continue, but Tsunade understood what he hadn't said.
However, Tsunade didn't plan to get involved in Orochimaru's conflict with the Third Hokage and the higher-ups. She had returned with the purpose of reviving her brother and lover, not to become Hokage!
So, Tsunade didn't respond to Orochimaru's question. Instead, she pulled a fruit out of her waist pouch and threw it to him.
"Here, this is for you."
"What is this?" Orochimaru asked, surprised as he caught the fruit Tsunade tossed.
"Boil Release. Kagetsu used his Hogyoku Mode to extract this Kekkei Genkai fruit from the Five-Tails Jinchuriki. Anyone whose chakra nature matches can quickly awaken the Boil Release Kekkei Genkai after consuming it."
Tsunade repeated what Kagetsu had explained to her earlier, now telling Orochimaru about it.
"Extracting a Kekkei Genkai, huh? His research and abilities have developed to this extent already? Looks like that wooden stake helped him a lot."
Orochimaru licked his lips while looking at the fruit in his hand. He didn't intend to consume it but was eager to meet Kagetsu again to continue their discussion about the "wooden stake" research.
Suddenly, a figure flashed into view, and Minato Namikaze landed lightly, holding a blood-soaked young boy in his arms.
"Tsunade-sama, please save this child!" Minato said urgently, carefully laying the boy on the ground and looking up at Tsunade.
"Let me take a look." Tsunade immediately crouched down and began inspecting the boy's injuries.
"It's Obito!" Anko saw the boy's face and instinctively glanced at Shisui beside her.
****
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