Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

BOOM—

Gamabunta landed with a massive crash at the edge of the battlefield, right beside Minato Namikaze.

"Minato, kid—what's your plan now?"

Gamabunta asked, his eyes locked warily on Rōshi in the distance. There was rare seriousness in his tone, clearly apprehensive about Rōshi's current state.

Minato thought for a moment, then replied,

"The Four-Tails uses Lava Release. If I try to fight him head-on, it's going to be difficult to even get close. So..."

"So...?"

Gamabunta turned to look at Minato.

Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. He had a bad feeling—like something extremely troublesome was about to land on his back.

Sure enough, Minato's next words confirmed his fears:

"So I'll need Boss Toad to distract him while I look for an opening to strike."

"No! Absolutely not!"

Gamabunta shook his head like a drum. There was no way he'd agree.

"One hundred pounds."

Minato held up a finger and smiled.

"What?"

Gamabunta looked confused.

Minato elaborated,

"One hundred pounds of premium tobacco leaves from the Land of Birds."

"Gulp..."

Gamabunta swallowed hard. He hesitated.

"Two hundred pounds," Minato raised a second finger.

"Wait, I—"

Before Gamabunta could finish, Minato lifted a third finger.

"Three hundred pounds. Not a leaf more."

"Alright, three hundred it is."

Gamabunta's attitude changed in a flash. From reluctant and indignant, he now sounded righteously heroic.

"Tobacco leaves and such—trivial matters! We're bound by contract. If you need help, of course I'll step up. Minato, just watch what I do next!"

With that, Gamabunta drew the short sword from his waist, then launched himself into the air with great force, heading straight for Rōshi—now fully cloaked in chakra, with two tails already visible.

Watching Gamabunta's enthusiastic charge, Minato chuckled lightly and activated his Body Flicker Technique to stealthily follow behind.

Clearly, their earlier negotiation had been more of a playful back-and-forth.

Meanwhile...

At the edge of the battlefield, Uchiha Haruki heard Gamabunta shout:

"Hrah! Take this—Toad Short Blade Slash!"

Then he watched as the giant toad swung his blade from the sky down toward Rōshi.

Well... calling it a "short" blade was misleading.

Because while it was short for Gamabunta, for normal humans like Haruki or Rōshi, it was a massive three-meter-long broadsword.

As the enormous weapon came slicing down, a flicker of brutality flashed in Rōshi's beast-like eyes.

Instead of dodging, he raised his hands and caught the blade barehanded—just like that, he stopped the swing cold.

BOOM!

The ground beneath Rōshi shattered from the force, and his body sank waist-deep into the earth.

Even with the protection of the Tailed Beast Cloak, Rōshi let out a pained roar.

Enraged, he swung both of his tails straight at Gamabunta.

Sensing danger in the air from those two tails, Gamabunta quickly withdrew his sword and leapt backward to avoid them.

CRACK—CRACK—

The two tails slammed into the ground, carving deep fissures and causing the earth to shake.

Seeing his attack miss, Rōshi wasted no time. He raised his hands and aimed at Gamabunta in mid-air.

Haruki recognized the motion instantly—he was going to use the same attack he'd previously unleashed on him.

Sure enough, dark red chakra surged from Rōshi's hands and extended outward, forming two massive Tailed Beast Claws, which shot straight toward Gamabunta.

At that moment, Gamabunta was airborne, with nowhere to dodge. It was an extremely dangerous position.

But his combat experience kicked in.

He rapidly formed hand seals and in a flash, used:

Water Style: Liquid Bullet!

Two water spheres burst from his mouth, slamming into the claws and pushing them off course, disrupting their trajectory.

Gamabunta just barely scraped past the claws and landed safely.

Then, with a short hop, he dodged the claws' sweeping return strike.

Rōshi, seeing this, growled in frustration and moved to pursue.

But suddenly, he sensed immense danger behind him.

Almost instinctively, he whipped his tails behind his back to shield his spine.

Sliiiiice—

A kunai wrapped in Wind-style chakra tore through one of his tails and stabbed into his back—only to be stopped by the protective layer of his Tailed Beast Cloak.

A chill crept up Rōshi's back.

If he hadn't reacted in time, that kunai would have pierced through his cloak. At best, he'd be gravely injured; at worst, dead.

And the attacker?

None other than Minato Namikaze.

He had seized the moment, hoping to use the sharpness of Wind Chakra to deliver a fatal strike.

Unfortunately, Rōshi—or perhaps the Four-Tails' survival instincts—were too sharp. He blocked it just in time.

Minato cursed silently at the missed opportunity, then activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and vanished on the spot.

WHACK!

Rōshi's tails struck the ground.

Enraged by Minato's escape, Rōshi grew even more agitated.

He opened his mouth and launched magma balls at Gamabunta, clearly using him as a punching bag for his frustration.

To protect himself, Rōshi activated Lava Release Chakra Mode once more, forming a fresh suit of lava armor.

This time, however, the armor didn't just cover his humanoid form—it also extended to his tails, which now looked like twin rivers of molten rock dragging behind him.

It was an incredibly intimidating sight.

Compared to the Five-Tails' Boil Release, the Four-Tails' Lava Release was clearly much harder to deal with.

For someone like Minato—a speed-type shinobi—fighting the Five-Tails' jinchūriki Han was manageable. By maintaining rhythm and tempo, he could outmaneuver and force Han to retreat.

But Rōshi?

Minato couldn't even get close to him because of that searing lava armor.

A few days ago, in the main battlefield, Rōshi had refrained from using this due to too many allied shinobi around. That allowed Minato to control the situation easily.

But now—with no allies nearby to restrict him—Rōshi's difficulty level had skyrocketed.

"Good thing I have Gamabunta helping me... Otherwise, this would be a real headache."

Minato muttered under his breath, watching Gamabunta prepare another Water Style jutsu to counter Rōshi.