NRaO Chapter 72 (Patreon)

I stood next to Tsunade as Jiraya started to snore. I kicked his leg waking him up. “Can’t sleep yet. The tailed beast isn’t sealed.” That was the thing. I’m sure Tsunade could have killed him, if she struck with slightly more power he would dissipate and become energy, but then that energy would reform into a tailed beast somewhere else.

I only had five minutes or so of sage mode stored up. Even now it was going to be a forever long process to build it up to any high degree. I’ve been expanding my poison and nature energy storages more than focused on filling them. I had the poison to make about fifteen minutes of sage mode but it would run me out of poison and I’d need to refill them. It would also take me hours to convert the poison.

My method was far more tedious than their sage modes. If I could just get drunk or patiently wait to build my sage mode I’d much rather do that but the takeaway is my method will grow to be stronger and last longer than the other two. My pseudo jinchuriki body was also the reason I built it so much. I could also use a mixture of my strengthened body, the eight inner gates, my pseudo snake form, and sage mode to not run myself out of nature energy too quickly.

The beast still attacked Jiraya first, seeing him as the wildcard threat that he was. Lunging at him, both Tsunade and I jump out of the way. We both had faith that Jiraya could avoid the attack even on the ground with his eyes closed. That would give us a chance to counterattack. I began pulling weakening seals out as I asked. “Where’s your brother?”

Tsunade tisked as she remembered how strong wood chakra was at weakening the tailed beasts. He wouldn’t need to do more than make a few trees for the beast to have done more in the fight than anyone else. “He’s off on a mission, the Hokage sent your entire ninja squad away because he was afraid they were gaining too much accolades too quickly. With most of them going for the Hokage position he had to hobble their achievements.”

I sighed as I whispered more to myself than to her. “Of course he did…” It made my assassination of the Hokage even more important. He wasn’t a good leader, at first he was trying to live up to his two sensei, but at some point, he desperately clawed to retain his leadership even though he wasn’t that great of a leader. Almost every part of the village had gotten worse, including the daimyo bullying us into their plans was his fault.

Weak and feeble men who didn’t have the guts to do what must be done couldn’t lead the strongest village. We needed people willing to solve the problems, not let them grow until our hands were tied, and doing anything would cause the destruction of the village. We lost one of our biggest allies in the hidden whirlpool village and he did nothing to stop it from happening.

I would have counterattacked, wiping out the ninja who were there to kill the Uzumaki would have gone a long way to pulling us out of the thumbs of the daimyo. Even if he just warned them beforehand they’d have been able to put up a much better fight and then he could take in the ‘refugees’ who fled to strengthen the village further. Either way, I was right about killing him, it practically secured Tsunade’s Hokage position.

The beast was only inches away from consuming Jiraya before he finally made his move. “Toad sage… Fart!” His method of escape was propelling himself… With his own farts. The escape also appeared to be an attack, the stinky gas making the tailed beast rear back in disgust. It gave us the chance we needed. “Fifth gate open!” I activated my pseudo jinchuriki form which had grown even more as my sage mode turned on as well. I was hoping this would be quick as Tsunade flew towards his stomach, he reared back onto his hind legs to escape the gas.

Pulling out two seals a hundred feet long I wait for her to strike causing the tailed beast to double over in pain before I jump and drape the two over his back. They attach and begin to roll out expanding even further, almost covering his entire back and stomach before more seals expand up and down his body. He is immediately weakened and I think we’ve won but then he begins to spin ripping the seals off his body.

Some were still attached but most had been removed. I sigh again as I realize this is going to be harder than I thought. He still looks affected. One seal focused on weakening him while the other attempted to put him to sleep. He was drowsy and far weaker, I doubt he could even use his tailed beast ball in that state now. Jiraya looked far less drunk after the attack. I could see his sage mode flickering as if it was about to give out.

“Summon Jutsu! Two toad sages.” Two small frogs appeared on his shoulders and began channeling nature energy into him to keep his sage mode active. His nose puffed up and he grew warts, he didn’t with the other oil-drinking method. It might be a less pure form of his sage mode if he’s being corrupted by it. “He should be weakened for about fifteen minutes and he’s very close to passing out. I just need one more big distraction to hit him with the sealing talismans now.”

Tsunade asked. “Why didn’t you just seal him when I punched him?” “Because he would have done the same thing to shred the very rare and valuable sealing talismans and he wouldn’t have been weakened first. I used the less expensive talismans to weaken him so I wouldn’t have to use all the sealing talismans I have on me.”

She clicked her tongue again as I retorted. “It would take an entire village weakening the tailed beast to get him to the state I did by myself and then a dozen seal masters to seal him after. The only two who could do it better than me are your grandfather and Mito working together to seal them.” I could seal the beast with my adamantium chains… But then I’d have to explain how I got them. She tisked again as she spoke. “So what’s the plan?” I respond avoiding a gout of water, even his water attacks are slower. “Keep weakening him until I get an opportunity to seal him.”

The two clashed as Jiraya handled distraction and Tsunade handled damage as I looked for my chance. I needed to either create the formation around him or place the seals on his body to seal him, if he noticed what I was doing he’d fight back even more furiously than he was struggling right now. That was why I wasn’t going to give him a chance to notice he was about to be sealed.

They did a good job distracting him but, I needed him to move to a certain area. Picking up Jiraya, I ran with the tailed beast chasing us. “W-what the heck are you doing?” The girl frog asked as they clung to Jiraya desperately so they wouldn’t fall off. The beast, still laser-focused on killing Jiraya chased after us, which was what I wanted.

The moment he stepped into the area, earthen walls sprung up around him. The pentagram shape began to channel the sealing magic that a dozen seal masters all in formation would have had to do, vials of the stored chakra being depleted as it did so. He froze like he became a picture as his body turned into white light. The energy attempted to escape but with the seals holding his energy in he couldn’t the only place he could go was into the capture scroll conveniently hidden beneath him.

It was a hard-fought battle… For them, I hadn’t used even a fraction of my time or resources in this fight. I clapped twice. “Alright, let’s get Tsunade the Hokage position and find someone to put this beast in before the energy collapses it. After that… Let’s head to Ichiraku ramen, I’ve been craving it since I couldn’t eat it.”