Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 137 The Battle Situation Has Changed

A loud crash was heard as an enormous toad covered in bumps slammed into Shukaku with the force of a mountain crushing an egg. The power of this attack was astonishing, and it actually interrupted Shukaku's originally aggressive offensive!

Shukaku never expected that something would suddenly appear above its head, especially such an ugly and disgusting toad! As a proud tailed beast, how could it tolerate such humiliation? So Shukaku was furious and roared to the sky, causing the surrounding wind to howl.

Immediately afterward, Shukaku's massive, thick, and powerful tail, as hard as steel, lashed out at the toad, clearly intending to send this arrogant fellow flying. However, at this moment, how could Jiraiya, standing atop the toad's head, stand idly by?

In the blink of an eye, Jiraiya swiftly formed hand seals and uttered a low shout: "Lion's Mane Technique!" Before the words were even finished, the surging chakra within his body rushed to his head like a burst dam, instantly transforming his long hair into an extremely long and hardened form, turning into a ferocious lion's head in the blink of an eye. The sharp, cold-looking fur on the head, like serrated teeth, tightly wrapped around Shukaku's attacking tail.

This ninjutsu, called "Lion's Mane Technique," is incredibly powerful, capable of easily shattering even the hardest rocks. However, it still falls short against the terrifying power of the massive tailed beast—despite his best efforts, Jiraiya couldn't completely stop Shukaku's rampaging tail. In the end, not only was he flung away, but the toad that had been pressing down on Shukaku's head was also thrown far away.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and slowly withdrew the ninjutsu he had just unleashed. His body floated lightly to the ground a short distance away, as silently as a falling leaf. At the same time, the enormous toad vanished without a trace as the ninjutsu dissipated, as if it had never existed.

This was the first time Jiraiya had faced a Tailed Beast so closely, face-to-face. At this moment, he finally understood why all the ninja villages regarded the Tailed Beasts as an insurmountable natural disaster. The surging, violent, and chaotic chakra swept over like a raging torrent, inspiring fear; the immense power it contained was beyond imagination, and could not be easily resisted by ordinary ninjas.

Faced with such a formidable foe, Jiraiya pondered his next move. After careful consideration, he realized that conventional methods would likely be insufficient to subdue this tailed beast. To achieve victory, he might only be able to hope for the right moment to unleash a powerful sealing technique, thus gaining firm control over it.

Despite his own injuries, Uchiha Kiyogen, who was not far away, rushed to Jiraiya's side as quickly as possible. Although severely wounded, he resolutely declared that he would fight Jiraiya to the very end. The pride of the Uchiha clan would never allow them to retreat on the battlefield; they would face death without fear.

Jiraiya stared at Uchiha Kiyogen beside him and asked with concern, "Does your Sharingan have the ability to temporarily control tailed beasts?" Uchiha Kiyogen gritted his teeth and nodded, indicating that although he could control tailed beasts for a short time, it required extremely powerful genjutsu as support and could not guarantee 100% success.

However, casting such an illusion technique that can control a tailed beast for a short time is by no means easy. Not only does it require close combat with the tailed beast, but it also takes a certain amount of time to complete the casting. But the enemy's current fierce and violent offensive gives them no chance to catch their breath, let alone calmly cast an illusion technique.

After a brief silence, Jiraiya slowly nodded, indicating that he understood the current situation. He knew that Uchiha Kiyomoto was skilled in genjutsu, but it required sufficient time and space to unleash its full power. Therefore, Jiraiya decided to take on the responsibility of restricting the enemy's movements and creating favorable conditions for Uchiha Kiyomoto.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Kiyogen." Jiraiya looked at Uchiha Kiyogen with eyes full of trust and determination, while secretly resolving to ensure that he could provide Kiyogen with the best possible environment for casting genjutsu, no matter what difficulties he encountered.

Sensing Jiraiya's trust, Uchiha Kiyogen nodded slightly in response. Then, he took a deep breath, adjusted his mindset, and focused intently on preparing the genjutsu he was about to unleash. Just then, Shukaku realized Jiraiya and Uchiha Kiyogen's plan. It became extremely angry, letting out a deafening roar, preparing to launch another ferocious attack.

However, the experienced Jiraiya had already anticipated this. He swiftly used ninjutsu to instantly create several earth clones. These clones, like well-trained warriors, charged towards Shukaku without hesitation, engaging in a thrilling and fierce battle. For a moment, dust flew, fists clashed, and the scene was truly spectacular.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Jiraiya silently circled behind Shukaku. He carefully kept a low profile to avoid alerting Shukaku, while secretly gathering chakra in preparation for unleashing a powerful, large-scale control ninjutsu.

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!" As Jiraiya whispered this command, the ground beneath Shukaku suddenly changed. The once solid earth gradually softened, eventually forming a muddy, bottomless swamp. Caught off guard, Shukaku slowly sank into it, struggling desperately, but the harder it struggled, the deeper it sank.

Seeing his plan succeed, Jiraiya felt a slight sense of relief. However, he dared not let his guard down and continued to maintain the effectiveness of his ninjutsu, giving Shukaku no chance to escape. Meanwhile, Uchiha Kiyogen closely observed the situation, waiting for the right moment to strike and deliver a fatal blow to Shukaku.

Shukaku's tail and limbs were already stuck in the mud, and it was struggling, splashing mud everywhere. But now it was basically confined in the mud. Jiraiya increased his chakra output to the swamp and nodded to Uchiha Kiyogen not far away, indicating that they could move.

Uchiha Kiyogen flashed to the head of Shukaku, gathering all his chakra towards the crimson Sharingan. Facing Shukaku's coin-like eyes, the three tomoe in his Sharingan began to spin wildly.

It took nearly three minutes for Shukaku's eyes to finally transform into the shape of a three-tomoe Sharingan, and at the same time, it stopped struggling and became quiet.

Seeing this, Jiraiya knew that Uchiha Kiyogen had succeeded, but he was still far from being able to defeat Shukaku. Uchiha Kiyogen had just stated that he could only control the genjutsu for a short time before the violent chakra attack would break the spell. Therefore, Jiraiya dared not waste any time and began rapidly forming hand seals, continuously channeling chakra around Shukaku.

"Five Elements Seal!"

As Shukaku began to struggle again and slowly regained consciousness, Jiraiya slapped the ground in front of Shukaku. Countless runes appeared around him and converged on Shukaku's body, gradually enveloping his entire body.

Shukaku finally regained full consciousness and immediately noticed the runes on his body, which were clearly patterns from sealing techniques. He revealed an expression of extreme resentment and let out an angry roar.

The sealing runes continued to shrink, and Shukaku's figure also began to shrink along with the seal. The enormous figure continued to shrink until it reached the size of an adult before it stopped shrinking, finally transforming into an old monk who lay unconscious there.

Jiraiya's chest heaved violently, clearly indicating that he had expended a great deal of chakra and stamina to subdue Shukaku, and now he felt completely drained.

But now is not the time to rest. He stepped forward, grabbed the monk, nodded to Uchiha Kiyogen who had completely lost the ability to move, indicating that the other party should wait here for the Konoha ninja to come to the rescue, while he himself was going to end this war.

The situation on the battlefield is currently very favorable for Konoha. The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, was injured and forced to retreat, and his injuries will not heal in a short time. Now that the Sand Village's weapon of war, the One-Tailed Jinchuriki, has fallen into Jiraiya's hands, it is believed that Chiyo, a high-ranking member of the Sand Village, will make the right choice.

Having lost its Tailed Beasts as weapons of war, and with the Kazekage severely weakened, the Sand Village's strength is now at a low ebb. Even if it continues to fight to the death against Konoha and wins this battle, the other ninja villages in the ninja world are not so benevolent. After discovering that the Sand Village has suffered such a great loss, the Land of Wind will likely soon become a lucrative dish on their menu.

With this in mind, Jiraiya moved even faster. The sooner the Sand Ninja withdrew from the war, the fewer Konoha ninjas would be killed.

At this time, Chiyo was entangled with an elite Jonin of the Hyuga clan.

Chiyo was clearly stronger than many of the Hyuga clan ninjas, but her Byakugan's observational abilities allowed her to anticipate her puppet's movements and dodge them, leaving Chiyo with no chance to defeat her in a short time. Furthermore, the Hyuga clan ninjas were incredibly agile, able to evade even direct attacks.

The Hyuga clan has been continuously training in the legacy left by Hyuga Kanan, resulting in rapid advancements in the strength of many members. Most importantly, their Byakugan has been strengthened, significantly enhancing their observational abilities. As an elite Jonin of the Hyuga clan and among the first to receive this training, his strength has now been comprehensively improved. While he hasn't yet reached Kage-level strength, he is very close.

Furthermore, since practicing the Taoist Subduing Demon Fist left behind by Hyuga Kanan, his physical abilities have noticeably improved, his agility has increased significantly, and even his chakra reserves have seen a substantial increase. It's believed that with continued training for a period of time, advancing to Kage-level strength will be no problem at all.

He was very confident that he could hold out for a very long time against Chiyo, and even if he was eventually defeated, he could retreat calmly.

When Jiraiya arrived with the One-Tailed Jinchuriki, Chiyo still hadn't settled the score with the elite Jonin of the Hyuga clan, only slightly suppressing him, and was trying to take him down.