The border between the Land of Hot Springs and the Land of Fire had turned into a slaughterhouse.
Unlike the southern front, where small teams slipped through the lines and fought quick, dirty battles, the northern front was all about raw power. Cloud was leaning hard into their biggest advantage—the destructive force of a perfect jinchuriki.
Killer B led the charge in full tailed-beast form. Cloud shinobi followed behind in tight, coordinated waves, using the Eight-Tails to smash openings and then flooding through. It was like watching tanks and infantry working together.
Orochimaru's giant snakes had been the only thing keeping the line from collapsing, but even they were dying fast. Five of them were already gone. The rest were too small to slow the massive beast down anymore.
In the end, it took every Leaf jonin working together just to pin the Eight-Tails in place.
That was the scene Taiichi walked into when he arrived at the northern front. Compared to the south, where Jiraiya had Sand on the ropes, here Cloud was the one dictating the pace. For the first time, Taiichi saw what a perfect jinchuriki could really do on a battlefield.
Cloud wasn't even trying to be subtle. They let Killer B break the front, then poured regular shinobi through the gaps. Taiichi didn't waste time. He flicked a Flying Thunder God kunai high toward the Eight-Tails' head, using the chaos of flying weapons to hide it, then vanished.
Killer B had been having the time of his life.
Ever since Minato and Taiichi beat him and A, he'd been itching for payback. Getting sent to the Leaf front instead had been frustrating, but he made the best of it. He turned every fight into a chance to crush Leaf ninja and take out his anger on them.
The more Leaf shinobi he smashed, the better he felt. Even his rapping had gotten sharper.
"Yo, Leaf bastards, better run fast! Stand in my way and you're getting smashed!"
Inside his mind, Killer B was dancing on the Eight-Tails' nose, lost in the rush.
"Yo, B… something feels off today," the Eight-Tails rumbled. "I've got a bad feeling."
Killer B froze mid-move. "You too? Thought it was just me, you big dumb octopus."
That was when the Eight-Tails roared a warning.
The marked kunai slipped through the storm of weapons and embedded itself right on top of the beast's head. Taiichi appeared a second later.
"Killer B! Long time no see. Thought I'd say hi!"
His voice boomed across the battlefield, boosted by chakra. Every head turned.
Golden flames exploded along his short blade, stretching into a three-meter burning sword. Taiichi swung down with everything he had. The blade sank deep into the Eight-Tails' skull.
The beast's scream shook the sky.
Eight tentacles whipped back toward its own head, trying to crush the tiny attacker. Taiichi didn't teleport away this time. He yanked the blade free, poured more chakra into it, and the flames surged even longer—five meters now.
He spun in a full 360-degree arc. A massive ring of golden fire sliced outward, carving through the incoming tentacles. He only managed to cut a third of the way through before the fire burned out, but it was enough to make the beast roar again.
Taiichi clicked his tongue. Still not strong enough.
Chakra wings burst from his back—solid, glowing constructs he'd figured out while studying the Adamantine Sealing Chains. He shot upward, hovering safely above the Eight-Tails' head.
The entire battlefield went dead silent.
Nobody on either side had ever seen a human tear into a Tailed Beast like that. Not even standing still and letting you hit it would most people break its defense. Taiichi had done it in three moves.
" Matsushita Taiichi! You again! I'm gonna kill you, you bastard!" Killer B howled. Three of his tentacles hung limp and useless.
"Oh hey, Killer B. Heard you've been picking on our chunin and genin while I was gone. Why not come fight me instead? We can go another three hundred rounds."
Taiichi's voice carried easily. He sounded almost cheerful.
The Leaf forces finally snapped out of their shock. Morale exploded. For days they had been getting pushed back, forced to watch their comrades get crushed by a Tailed Beast they couldn't stop. Now someone had just carved into that monster like it was nothing.
One Leaf shinobi screamed first.
"Kill them! Kill every last Cloud bastard!"
The shout spread like wildfire.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
Leaf forces surged forward for the first time in weeks, riding the wave of Taiichi's dominance.
High above, Taiichi flapped his new wings and watched the fighting below. Even with the morale boost, Leaf was still struggling. The earlier losses had been too heavy.
He stopped hesitating. He released the Yin Seal on his forehead. Chakra flooded back to full. Six shadow clones appeared around him, each carrying his peak reserves.
They dove.
Six glowing figures with burning blades tore through the Cloud ranks like reapers. They ignored the strong fighters and went straight for the chunin and genin, dropping them in single passes. It was brutal and efficient.
"You hypocritical bastard!" Killer B roared. "You're doing the exact same thing you accused me of!"
He charged, all eight tentacles swinging again. The beast's insane regeneration had already fixed the damaged ones.
"We're both doing it, so why can you and I can't?" Taiichi shot back, dodging the massive limbs. He wasn't about to let one of those hit him. Even his Fire Body might not save him from that kind of impact.
Three signal flares shot up from the Cloud rear—retreat order.
A moment later, three more rose from the Leaf side.
Taiichi pulled back, wings flaring. Killer B stopped chasing. The two sides separated and began pulling away from each other.
Two figures raced toward the battlefield from opposite directions—Orochimaru and A.
Killer B dropped out of tailed-beast form the second he saw them. Taiichi landed and let his chakra wings dissolve into sparks.
"Orochimaru-sama. Hope I'm not too late," Taiichi said with a grin.
Orochimaru gave him that signature crooked smile. "Right on time."
They turned to face A and Killer B.
"Matsushita Taiichi. We meet again," A said. His voice was calm. No rage. Just cold focus.
"Yeah. Funny how every time we run into each other, Cloud's the one using a Tailed Beast to attack us. What, Cloud run out of real shinobi?"
Taiichi's tone was pure poison. A's next words died in his throat.
"Konoha's got jinchuriki too. You just don't use them because you're weak, you bastard!" Killer B snapped back.
Taiichi opened his mouth, but Orochimaru raised a hand. Taiichi shut up immediately. He still respected the chain of command.
Orochimaru studied the two Cloud leaders. "Since you already signaled retreat, why are you still standing here? Afraid we'll actually keep you?"
A snorted. "Don't flatter yourself, Orochimaru. Even if Namikaze Minato was here with you two, you still couldn't stop us."
Then he looked at Taiichi. "Don't get cocky just because you landed a cheap shot. This is a battlefield, not your personal playground. Next time we fight, I'm taking your head."
"Why wait? Stick around. Let's settle it right now. First one to run is a coward."
Taiichi grinned, enjoying every second of their frustration.
A and Killer B looked ready to explode, but three more flares shot up behind them—urgent retreat signals. Most of their forces had already pulled back.
Orochimaru's voice turned cold. "A. Killer B. Your people are gone. If you two don't leave now, Taiichi and I will make sure you stay here permanently."
A's eyes flicked to the distant Cloud forces, then back to the three Leaf shinobi in front of him. Even he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could take Orochimaru, Taiichi, and a possible Minato at once.
"B. We're leaving."
Lightning exploded around him. He blurred backward at full speed. Killer B followed instantly, cloak flaring.
In seconds they were gone.
Taiichi burst out laughing. "Look at them run the second they think Minato-senpai showed up! Big talk for people who got their asses kicked last time."
Orochimaru glanced at the dissipating smoke where the "Minato" clone had been. He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.
"Let's head back," he said instead. For once there was real fatigue in his voice. "Your early arrival saved us a lot of lives today. The camp's been under heavy pressure."
Taiichi's smile softened. "It's what I'm supposed to do."
Orochimaru looked at him for a long moment, something almost like envy flickering behind his eyes. Tsunade and Jiraiya really had gotten lucky with this one.