"Now's the time."
Tōshirō thought to himself. The phantom behind him fused into his body, and he placed his hands on the frozen Five-Tails, drawing blue chakra from it. As long as the upcoming "tug of war" went smoothly, this would mark the official defeat of the Five-Tails.
Hmm…
Tōshirō furrowed his brows.
Chakra can form a spiritual connection between beings. Without realizing it, Tōshirō—while extracting the Five-Tails' chakra—started to hear the inner voice of the beast.
So painful…I'm so full of hate.It hurts so much.I'll kill you all…
A deep, echoing voice repeated again and again inside his mind.
Then came a sudden mental image—twisted, surreal, indescribable horrors.
What the hell is this?
Tōshirō was startled.
As he was trying to make sense of it, the ice sculpture before him began emitting thick white steam. A loud crack followed as fissures appeared on the frozen surface, and the ice shattered and disintegrated…
Tōshirō's face darkened, and he muttered, "Boil Release."
Judging from the steam rising from the Five-Tails, it must have slowly melted its icy prison using its own steam.
The Five-Tails broke free from Tōshirō's jutsu, but didn't mock him. Instead, it said with a tone of slight admiration:"This is the first time I've encountered such powerful freezing energy. If this move had been used on some of the other tailed beasts, you might have succeeded. But on me… you simply chose the wrong opponent."
The Five-Tails' Boil Release was, to a certain extent, a natural counter to Tōshirō's Ice Release.
Tōshirō gave a wry smile, as if he ever had a choice in picking his opponents.
The Five-Tails gave him a meaningful glance and then suddenly said,"Fine. I'll acknowledge you."
Happiness came too suddenly—Tōshirō froze, visibly stunned.
The Five-Tails continued,"In terms of being a jinchūriki, I doubt I'll ever find someone more suitable than you."
"Then—"
Before Tōshirō could even finish smiling, the Five-Tails' next action left him utterly dumbfounded.
The Five-Tails raised its head, and a sphere of blue and black chakra began to form near its mouth.
Tōshirō's lips twitched uncontrollably. What kind of 'acknowledgement' is this?!
The Five-Tails swallowed the Tailed Beast Ball, preparing to fire.
Tōshirō quickly raised his arm in surrender—no hesitation at all.
That last move had drained him too much. He could probably still keep fighting a little longer, but there was no point.
The Five-Tails hadn't expected Tōshirō to surrender so quickly and cleanly. A bit annoyed, it fired the Tailed Beast Ball anyway. The resulting explosion sent waves crashing across the sea, venting its dissatisfaction.
Tōshirō glanced back at the explosion site with lingering fear. Fortunately, despite its irritation, the Five-Tails still had some sense of reason.
The beast lay back down on the ground.
Tōshirō asked,"Didn't you just say you acknowledged me? Why are you still fighting me?"
The Five-Tails replied,"Those are two different things."
Tōshirō didn't press further. He shrugged and helplessly accepted the current situation.
Still, the battle wasn't without gains. His relationship with the Five-Tails had taken a step forward. Maybe all it would take now was the right moment for him to become a perfect jinchūriki.
Back in the real world, Tōshirō opened his eyes. After using such a powerful move, he was feeling weak. He decided to go lie down inside the house for a bit.
Lying in bed, he stared at the ceiling, pondering how to continue growing stronger.
Although he really wanted the power of the Five-Tails, for now, he had to put that goal on hold.
The Five-Tails' abilities were a natural counter to Tōshirō's Ice Release.
If it were just a matter of elemental disadvantage, that'd be one thing—but the Five-Tails' chakra was on an entirely different level, which gave Tōshirō a serious headache.
"Sigh… I still don't have enough chakra."
Tōshirō sighed. That last technique—Ice Release: Ice Age—was far from perfect. It even needed support from Chains of Ice to activate. If it were truly perfected, the Five-Tails wouldn't have broken free so easily.
The core issue? The jutsu consumed too much chakra.
Chakra is a mix of physical and spiritual energy. Use too much of it, and fatigue sets in—too much more, and it becomes life-threatening.
That's why using the jutsu once left Tōshirō feeling like he had just finished working nonstop—exhausted and worn down. Its development had always been rough and slow.
After going through this ordeal, Tōshirō finally understood why there were so few S-rank offensive jutsu.
Besides the sheer difficulty of creating them, they often just weren't practical. It sounded absurd, but it was true.
As the saying goes: "Using a cannon to kill a mosquito."
Most shinobi were fragile—one kunai could kill them. High-damage S-rank jutsu were often overkill.
And beyond that, they consumed massive amounts of chakra. Even a well-trained ninja couldn't cast them in a full state, let alone during prolonged combat.
Even someone like Tōshirō—who had relatively high chakra reserves—would be drained to near-empty from just one full-power use. If it missed, he'd be in serious trouble afterward.
A normal ninja wouldn't just go all out and use their ultimate move while at full strength for no reason. Usually, both sides clash with standard jutsu first, and only resort to higher-level techniques when they're out of options. But by that time, they've already burned through a lot of chakra, and with what's left, it's simply impossible to use jutsu of that scale.
This is also one of the main reasons why offensive S-rank jutsu aren't developed much—only someone like Naruto, who's said to have chakra on the level of a Tailed Beast, can afford to treat that kind of jutsu as a regular attack.
Looks like I need to become a perfect jinchūriki as soon as possible. That way, aside from the massive boost in strength, the more important benefit is that chakra won't be a bottleneck when developing new jutsu.
But before that, I should focus on developing more practical jutsu first.
These past three years, Tōshirō has mainly been honing his fundamentals and working on developing Boil Release as a kekkei genkai. He hasn't spent much time on jutsu research.
As he thought about this, Tōshirō slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Tōshirō received a message. He left the Forest of Death and entered a circular building, heading straight to the Hokage's office.
Inside the room, Hiruzen Sarutobi was reading some documents. Sensing someone approach, he looked up and smiled kindly when he saw it was Tōshirō. "Perfect timing."
Tōshirō asked, "Lord Hokage, you called for me?"
Sarutobi didn't beat around the bush: "You've probably already guessed why I called you here."
Tōshirō looked hopeful. "Can I move freely now?"
Sarutobi closed the document in front of him. "Out of caution, and to prevent the Tailed Beast inside you from going berserk, I originally didn't intend to release your restrictions so soon. But someone personally vouched for you, so starting today, I've decided to officially lift your limitations."
Someone vouched for me?
Without thinking, Tōshirō said, "Was it Granny Mito?"
The way he referred to her wasn't casual—he was deliberately signaling his special relationship with Mito.
I've basically married into her family now.
So, Hiruzen, if you ever try to mess with me again, think twice. Look behind me—do you think your actions will sit well with my powerful backer?
Hearing the way Tōshirō affectionately referred to Mito, Hiruzen wasn't particularly surprised.
Over the past three years, Tsunade had often snuck away to see Tōshirō after returning from missions. There was no way Mito, who was tasked with monitoring Tōshirō, wouldn't know about their relationship.
If Tōshirō was calling her "Granny," then Mito had clearly acknowledged their special bond.
"Looks like you've earned Lady Mito's trust," Sarutobi said with a smile. "From now on, make sure to contribute more to the village. Don't let her down."
Tōshirō patted his chest and solemnly promised, "Don't worry, Lord Hokage. I'll do everything I can to help build up Konoha. I won't slack off."
Sarutobi smiled gently. "Hearing that puts my mind at ease."
Tōshirō casually added, "By the way, when will Tsunade be back from her mission?"
Sarutobi teased, "You miss your little girlfriend already? It hasn't even been that long."
Tōshirō didn't deny it and laughed heartily.
Sarutobi chuckled. "I can't say exactly when the mission will end, but she should be back soon."
Tōshirō nodded. "Got it. Lord Hokage, about upcoming missions—can I make a small request?"
Sarutobi narrowed his eyes slightly. "Let's hear it."
"If possible, I'd like to be assigned to missions with Tsunade from now on. Setting aside our personal relationship, I believe we're the perfect team—whether in terms of power or coordination. That would significantly improve mission success rates."
"And more importantly…"Tōshirō paused, then continued with a serious expression, "I don't want to lose her."
"War is like a heartless meat grinder. Everywhere it touches brings new casualties each day.
"I lost my mother when I was young. I've known what it's like to lose someone dear. I've finally found someone I treasure—I don't want to go through that pain again."
He deliberately added that last part to play the emotional card—to block any potential rejection from Sarutobi.
Look how tragic I am. Can you really say no?
You won't let me team up with Tsunade?
And beyond that, Tōshirō subtly hinted at something else:
Lord Hokage, you wouldn't want me to awaken the Sharingan—or worse, the Mangekyō Sharingan—because of grief, would you?
As the Second Hokage's student, Sarutobi undoubtedly knew a thing or two about the Sharingan and the conditions for awakening the Mangekyō.
After careful consideration, Sarutobi finally said, "Very well."
With everything Tōshirō had said, it didn't seem like there was a valid reason to refuse.
Hearing that, Tōshirō gave a sincere "thank you," then shamelessly showered Sarutobi with praise: "Lord Hokage, you really are a good man."
Tōshirō's trust made Sarutobi smile warmly.
Having said everything he needed to, Tōshirō figured he had no reason to stick around. He got ready to take his leave: "Lord Hokage, if there's nothing else, I'll go focus on training. I'll develop powerful new jutsu and work hard to bring this war to an end."
Sarutobi nodded with a satisfied expression. "That'll be all for now."
"In that case, I'll take my leave."
Sarutobi watched Tōshirō's back as he walked away, squinting slightly and muttering under his breath,"The power of the Tailed Beasts, huh…"
(End of Chapter)
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