Beiyuan looked down at the giant snake below. Chakra was continuously compressed and condensed into a black and white Tailed Beast Ball. Judging from the density of chakra within it, perhaps it could no longer be called just a Tailed Beast Ball...
Uchiha Itachi was still fleeing... but the summoned beast and its master were no longer in sync. The snake had found a new target.
Manda kept relocating, searching for safety. With its perception, forget the super-condensed Tailed Beast Ball—even the smaller one Beiyuan had casually fired earlier was already something it couldn't endure.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Jiraiya finally found an opening amidst Orochimaru's attack... his taijutsu was second only to Tsunade among the Sannin.
That's right—Orochimaru ranked last in close combat.
"Summoning!"
Toad Gamabunta of Mount Myōboku appeared with a thunderous crash. The Tailed Beast Ball still compressing above immediately caught his attention, and the first thing he did was grab Jiraiya and start running.
Jiraiya clung tightly to the summoned beast. "Bunta, you—"
"Don't talk! Look at the sky!" Gamabunta snapped, eyes locked on the darkened heavens. He noticed that his old enemy, Manda, was also constantly shifting positions. "You and Orochimaru really know how to stir up trouble!"
"Hahaha, no..." Jiraiya wanted to explain Orochimaru's defection, but the oppressive aura in the sky forced his words back into his throat. "That's... what?"
"Rasengan? Tailed Beast Ball? Who the hell knows!" Gamabunta couldn't tell either, and he wasn't about to bet his life to find out.
"Whatever it is, we're better off running!"
"Hey, Bunta! My disciple's still there!" Jiraiya saw Uchiha Itachi still dragging along a group of kids.
"...Jiraiya!" Gamabunta didn't dare look back. He shouted, "It's too late! If the crow in the sky is aiming at you and Orochimaru, then he wouldn't put himself in danger…"
"Crow... crow?"
Jiraiya broke into a cold sweat. He couldn't see who was gathering chakra high above, but the vision and perception of Mount Myōboku's toads would never lie.
And the most likely culprit was... Beiyuan. That stingy, lazy, sleepy crow that you could think of ten flaws for in an instant.
The toads and Jiraiya fled as fast as they could, but on the battlefield, the remaining pair clearly didn't trust each other much.
Orochimaru hid in a dark crevice, watching his summoned beast keep moving, afraid Manda would lead the Tailed Beast Ball toward him.
But the king of snakes from Ryūchi Cave had information of its own. It believed the crow wouldn't harm Uchiha Itachi—so it followed behind him slowly. Of course, it didn't share this info with Orochimaru...
Manda was far too big. If it accidentally crushed any of the kids, the furious crow might unleash a map-wide bombardment without hesitation.
The Tailed Beast Ball in the sky had finally taken shape. Its entire surface was pitch-black, yet shockingly small—just the size of a bean, like the kind crows loved to peck at.
In fact, it looked like it could be eaten...
"Jiraiya, I think that guy failed."
Jiraiya looked up at the now-quiet sky and let out a soft sigh. The chakra buildup earlier had rivaled even that of a full Tailed Beast...
To compress and control that kind of chakra—no ordinary crow could do that. Maybe only the legendary Sage of Six Paths could...
"Jiraiya, he didn't fail!" Gamabunta said grimly. "I may not feel any threat, but... I just know if I get too close—I'll die."
From a distance, he could sense the bean-sized Tailed Beast Ball. He definitely wasn't dumb enough to mistake it for food.
Beiyuan was now locking on to Manda's position. The snake was chasing behind Uchiha Itachi. Once the Tailed Beast Ball dropped, it would hit Manda—and possibly take the cub with it.
But Beiyuan had already accounted for that. Jiraiya and Orochimaru would have to rely on their own luck. As for the cub—it had to live.
The Tailed Beast Ball finally dropped, silently—like a snowflake.
BOOM!
A searing flash brighter than the sun. A deafening roar so deep it felt almost silent. Then, a lovely little mushroom cloud began to rise...
To be honest, mushroom clouds were kind of cute.
The mountain directly beneath the blast was instantly flattened. Rubble and fire shot in all directions. Every living creature within the forest—gone.
The center of the explosion burned with heat of hundreds of millions of degrees.
The shockwave rolled outward for tens of kilometers, instantly smashing the earth-style wall Jiraiya had hastily erected. Even the mighty Gamabunta was sent flying with him by the air blast.
Though far from ground zero, Gamabunta still shielded Jiraiya with his body. His entire hide was scorched—there wasn't a single patch of intact skin. He had to cancel the summoning and return to Mount Myōboku immediately.
w(?Д?)w... This must be what it feels like to be nuked by your own teammate...
Meanwhile, Manda was smarter. As a summoning beast, he didn't need to sacrifice himself. At the moment of the explosion, he instantly released the summoning jutsu and vanished!
Now that was an unexpected move.
Beiyuan used Flying Thunder God to teleport to Itachi's side. His body cloaked in chakra, it resembled a Tailed Beast Mode, shielding both himself and the boy. While this protection wasn't as refined as Chiyo's chakra shield, sheer chakra volume made up for it.
As long as he kept pouring chakra in, it would hold.
The crow and his cub gathered the dazed children. Surrounded by the protective chakra shell, they quietly watched as the giant snake vanished from sight.
"Gah?"
"It looks like the summoning was released..." Uchiha Itachi said weakly.
Beiyuan: "…"
Yes, what kind of master summons what kind of beast... Manda had always been selfish. Abandoning Orochimaru to save himself was perfectly normal.
Besides, Orochimaru wasn't a good person. He didn't tell Manda where he had hidden, either.
The place Orochimaru chose was technically "safe"—far from the Tailed Beast Ball's epicenter and protected by a natural boulder.
Even so, he was struck hard by flying debris and had to shed his skin again, slithering away as a white snake... completely silent.
He didn't dare linger. Not here.