The two Tailed Beasts in their full forms stood side by side. Just standing there, they exuded a suffocating pressure.
The Kessoku Band's members, originally placed at the rear of the army by Makoto to harvest kills, saw the two giants and their eyes lit up.
Ryo took a Poké Ball from her belt, spun it in her palm a couple of times, and said curiously:
"Do you think... that cat and octopus could be caught?"
As soon as she said this, her three teammates also became somewhat interested.
The Pokémon following the four... Marill, Pikachu, Delphox, and the others... all looked completely bewildered.
They wondered if their owners weren't thinking of sending them to fight those two monsters.
Makoto, sitting on the high rock, also became interested upon hearing this. He leaped down from the high rock and landed steadily beside the Kessoku Band four, asking:
"Do you have any extra Poké Balls?"
The four were slightly stunned.
Ryo, who had already been intimate with Makoto, was the first to react.
She took two empty Poké Balls from her belt and handed them over, saying expressionlessly:
"One million ryo each."
To be clear, when they received their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak, they also received a Pokédex and five Poké Balls for catching wild Pokémon.
That meant, these empty Poké Balls cost Ryo nothing, yet she was selling them to Makoto for a million ryo each.
Even selling drugs wouldn't make her money faster.
Makoto took the Poké Balls and said with a grin:
"Didn't I give you a few hundred million last night?"
As soon as he said this, Bocchi had a question mark.
"What do you mean?"
Nijika and Ikuyo, however, blushed deeply and looked at Ryo in disbelief.
"Ryo, you—?!"
"Ryo-senpai, y-you guys—?!"
Their mouths gaped wide enough to fit a fist, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
A crack finally appeared in Ryo's poker face. She glared at Makoto in frustration. "Weren't we supposed to keep it a secret?"
Makoto smiled and reached out to pinch her cheek.
On the battlefield, since both the Ninja World Government and Kumogakure possessed two Jinchuriki, the four Jinchuriki naturally confronted each other.
Gaara's body rapidly expanded in the Tailed Beast Chakra. Sand rushed in from all directions, converging into a giant silhouette.
Violet patterns spread and intertwined on that silhouette, finally outlining a rotund, raccoon-tailed giant beast.
The One-Tail, Shukaku.
Shukaku's feet stomped on the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of sand dust. He tilted back his enormous head, opened his massive mouth, and let out an ear-splitting roar:
"Hahahaha—! I'm finally out!"
The voice echoed through the canyon, shaking loose gravel from the rock walls on both sides, which came tumbling down.
Shukaku was extremely excited, his two thick arms flailing wildly in the air like a husky finally let out of its cage.
The Eight-Tails, Gyuki, facing him, looked at this rotund raccoon and couldn't help but complain:
"You're still so noisy, aren't you?"
The Two-Tails, Matatabi, flicked her two blue-flame-burning tails and spoke in a distinctly female voice:
"I never thought Shukaku would obey human orders."
Among the nine Tailed Beasts, besides Kurama, Shukaku was the most unruly.
Yet here he was, obediently participating in a war started by humans.
Shukaku instantly became enraged.
"Who's obeying?!"
"I just... just..."
Shukaku 'just' for a long time, but couldn't come up with a reason.
Because he had indeed submitted to that man.
That man named Makoto.
"Sh-Shut up! Take this!"
Shukaku fiercely shook his head, expelled the fear from his mind, clapped his hands together, and slammed them onto the ground.
"Desert Layered Imperial Funeral Seal!"
The earth shook violently.
Countless amounts of sand surged from the ground, sweeping towards the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails like a tsunami. The sand condensed, compressed, and deformed in mid-air, finally forming a massive pyramid that sealed both Tailed Beasts inside.
The surface of the pyramid was covered with dense cursed seal writing, each character emitting a purple-black light.
Boom—!!!
But the next second, the pyramid exploded from the inside.
The Eight-Tails' eight tentacles exerted force simultaneously, tearing the pyramid's walls to shreds.
Gravel and sand dust sprayed in all directions, blotting out the sky like a volcanic eruption.
Gyuki charged out of the smoke, a magnificent sight.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth cracked under Gyuki's hooves. Before Shukaku could react, Gyuki was already upon him.
Boom!
Gyuki slammed headfirst into Shukaku's chest, his horns plunging deep into Shukaku's sandy body.
Shukaku was forced back repeatedly, his feet leaving huge craters in the ground.
Although completely outmatched in pure strength, Shukaku seized the opportunity and grabbed Gyuki's shoulders firmly with both hands.
"Naruto!"
Gaara's voice came from inside Shukaku.
"Got it!"
Naruto's figure descended from the sky, followed by hundreds of shadow clones.
In the right palm of every shadow clone, a rapidly spinning Rasengan was condensed.
Blue light bloomed above the canyon, like a sea of stars.
"Shadow Clone Technique... Rasengan Barrage!"
Hundreds of Narutos simultaneously dove from the sky, the Rasengans in their hands trailing long blue streaks, smashing towards the Eight-Tails like a meteor shower.
The sight was truly spectacular. The Kumogakure Ninjas were all stunned.
"What is that?!"
"That kid, is his Chakra bottomless?!"
Even the Fourth Raikage frowned.
Dodai's expression grew even more grave.
Among the Kumogakure ranks, a rare, fair-skinned, large-breasted beauty, Samui, couldn't help but speculate:
"Is he also a Jinchuriki?"
But just as Naruto's Rasengans were about to land on the Eight-Tails…
"Mouse Hairball!"
The Two-Tails, Matatabi, moved.
She shook her body, scattering blue flames that drifted apart, transforming in mid-air into countless mouse-like shapes.
Each flame mouse squeaked and rushed towards Naruto's shadow clones in a sky-blanketing swarm.
"What?!"
Naruto was startled.
The number of those flame mice even surpassed his shadow clones.
The moment the flame mice collided with the shadow clones, they exploded.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The explosions were continuous. Blue flames bloomed in the air like flowers of death.
Naruto's shadow clones dissipated one after another, the Rasengans vanishing along with their owners before they could even hit their target.
Within seconds, only the original Naruto remained of the hundreds of shadow clones.
Naruto landed on the ground in a sorry state, his entire body marked with burns from the flames.
"Damn it..."
He gritted his teeth, breathing heavily, and looked up at the two giant Tailed Beasts.
The gap was too great.
He and Gaara, just the two of them, could not withstand two coordinated Tailed Beasts.
Inside the mental world, Yugito communicated with Matatabi.
"Can't he use the Nine-Tails' power?"
Yugito asked.
Matatabi responded:
"Kurama has a terrible temper. No Jinchuriki has ever been able to cooperate well with him."
"Strike while the iron is hot!"
Gyuki shouted, releasing the half-dead Shukaku he had been holding down.
Shukaku collapsed on the ground, sand pouring off him in streams.
Gyuki and Matatabi looked at each other and simultaneously opened their mouths.
Two Tailed Beast Bombs formed in front of their mouths.
The two Tailed Beast Bombs grew larger and larger. The air around them twisted and deformed, emitting a low hum, as if the earth itself was groaning.
"Damn..."
Gaara's voice came from inside Shukaku, tinged with despair.
"No, we can't block it..."
Naruto stood in front of Gaara, propping himself up with his hands on the ground, panting heavily.
His Chakra was almost depleted. That wave of shadow clones and Rasengan Barrage had consumed most of it.
'What to do?'
Just then—
"Pochita! Ragnir! I choose you!"
A familiar voice came from the high platform.
Naruto's head snapped around.
He saw Makoto standing on the high platform, his left hand brushing an imaginary hat on his head, his right hand raised high, with two red-and-white spheres lying in his palm.
He threw them hard.
The Poké Balls traced two elegant arcs through the air, their red-and-white shells reflecting dazzling light in the sun.
Flying straight towards the two Tailed Beast Bombs that were still condensing.