Three of the four sound shinobi that Yuna and Naruto beat were still unconscious while Tayuya was currently glaring daggers at what was happening in front of her.
“What kind of bullshit is this?”
Despite her chakra being sealed, she managed to gather some materials to start a small campfire and was currently trying to thaw her frozen flute, but even after putting it directly into the fire, the ice was only melting very slowly.
“What is with this shitty ice? Why isn’t it melting?”
“Oh? You dare to call my ice shitty?”
“HIAGA!!!”
A weird sound escaped Tayuya when someone started talking directly behind her. She turned around and was just about to start cursing at whoever sneaked up on her when she saw Yuna standing behind her with a “kind” smile on her face. Although Tayuya wasn’t sure why she felt quite a bit of pressure from Yuna’s smile.
“You better stop cursing my ice or I might have to give you a spanking. In fact, you shouldn’t be cursing so much in general.”
Tayuya scoffed at that…
“As if…”
…, however, she realized that the moment she started talking, the pressure on her increased, while Yuna’s smile grew even “kinder”. She could feel cold sweat flow down her back, and noticed that Naruto was discreetly stepping away from Yuna.
“… A-As if I-I would dare to do that.”
At first, Tayuya wanted to be headstrong, but when she remembered Yuna’s rather rampant personality, she quickly decided to backpedal. As soon as she did so, the pressure on her was lifted and she heaved a sigh of relief.
“Haha, it’s good that you understand. Gather your people and let’s go back to Konoha. As long as you cooperate, I promise that you will not be harmed.”
“Although I am not exactly in a position to make demands, could I get that promise from someone else, as well?”
While saying that, Tayuya was not so subtly glancing at Jiraiya and Tsunade. Tayuya had no idea how much sway Yuna had over Konoha, but she didn’t think it was that much, so she would rather have the word of someone like Jiraiya or Tsunade.
Jiraiya shrugged his shoulder and lifted the unconscious Kabuto by the scruff of his neck and showed him to Tayuya.
“Sure, why not. You have my word. We already got a much bigger fish, after all.”
Tayuya’s eyes widened when she saw the unconscious Kabuto, but a moment later, she started laughing about Kabuto’s fate.
“Hahaha! You managed to capture the shitty four-eyes!? Serves that bastard right, haha…”
A hand was gently placed on her shoulder, which caused her laughter to be stuck in her throat. At the same time, she felt the previous pressure return, while the air around her got colder. Yuna was currently smiling at her with a “motherly” smile, that sent chills down Tayuya’s spine. Despite Yuna putting her hand on Tayuya’s shoulder very delicately, it felt like a mountain smashed into her and she couldn’t move a single muscle.
“Tayuya-chan~ I would really appreciate it if you could stop cursing all the time, okay~? Good children shouldn’t curse so much, okay?”
Although there were tons of things Tayuya would like to say to Yuna right now, she only managed to squeeze out two words.
“Y-Yes, Yuna.”
“Haha, good girl!”
Yet again, all kinds of curses appeared in Tayuya’s mind, but she didn’t dare to speak a single one of them out loud and only obediently nodded her head.
While that was happening, Jirobo was the first to wake up. As soon as he woke up, he wanted to use his chakra to stand up as fast as possible and get ready to defend himself, but he noticed too late that his chakra was sealed, which resulted in him flopping on the ground and drawing everyone’s attention on him.
“Ohh, fatas…*cough*…Jirobo, you’re awake.”
Although he felt slightly weird being called “Jirobo” instead of “fatass” by Tayuya, right now he had other priorities. He looked around and when he saw that all of his team members were present and didn’t seem to be dead, he heaved a sigh of relief. When he saw Jiraiya and Tsunade, however, he froze up.
“T-Tayuya, what is going on?”
“Orochimaru abandoned us, but as long we cooperate with Konoha, no harm will befall us.”
Although it took Jirobo a while to register what Tayuya just told him, in the end, he only nodded his head in understanding. He was never especially loyal to Orochimaru and only followed his orders because he wouldn’t survive if he didn’t.
Since there was no point in waiting any longer, the whole group started to travel towards Konoha, while piling up the unconscious people on Jirobo, who didn’t seem to be fazed at all despite having to carry four people without using any chakra.
The next person to wake up was Kidomaru, who started making a fuss as soon as he realized that Tayuya and Jirobo had betrayed Orochimaru, but calmed down rather quickly when he was told that Orochimaru left them behind without a second thought. Although he had been genuinely loyal to Orochimaru and wanted to serve him, that didn’t mean he was blindly loyal to him. If Orochimaru abandoned him this easily, then he saw no point in being loyal to him.
After Kidomaru, the Sakon and Ukon duo woke up, but after spending around one minute screaming at the other three, calling them traitors and insulting them, without listening to a single word that was said, Yuna quickly knocked them out again.
And finally, it was Kabuto’s turn to wake up. Yuna actually considered keeping him unconscious, but she was rather interested in how he would react when he realized that 3 of Orochimaru’s so-called guards betrayed him this easily.
As soon as Kabuto woke up, he started warily looking around and after he understood the situation, a plan started forming in his mind. A sneer appeared on his face as he looked at the three people who betrayed Orochimaru.
“You actually dared to betray Orochimaru-sama, huh? Did you really think that the seal he gave you only increases your power? The moment Orochimaru-sama realizes that you have betrayed him, he can kill all three of you remotely with a single hand seal.”
This, of course, was total bullshit, but Kabuto needed a distraction to free himself, and causing a panic should work out somehow. Although those three people did start to panic, Yuna’s eerie chuckle made them calm down instantly.
“Hehe, I don’t think the little snake will be using any hand seals for a while. After all, I crushed both of his arms before he ran away.”
Tayuya, Jirobo, and Kidomaru were looking at Yuna in disbelief when she said that. Since Jiraiya and Tsunade were here, they assumed that these two were the ones who repelled Orochimaru. They certainly didn’t expect that Yuna was the reason for Orochimaru’s retreat.
Kabuto, however, only sneered at Yuna. He had seen how Yuna shattered Orochimaru’s arms but wasn’t bothered by it.
“Do you really think that an injury like that would bother Orochimaru-sama? He probably already has his arms back by now and is plotting his revenge.”
“Hehe, I do not doubt that he already has his arms back. After all, I already know about that weird self-birth jutsu he uses. However, when I want something frozen, it stays frozen. Until he manages to push my intent out, his arms will stay frozen, even if he grows new ones.”
Tayuya’s eyes widened when she heard that. She rummaged through one of her pockets for a moment and pulled out her flute that was still inside a layer of ice.
“Is that why this shi…*cough*…ice won’t melt? I put it inside a campfire for like 10 minutes, but nothing happened to it.”
Yuna nodded her head, and moments later, the ice encasing Tayuya’s flute melted at a visible rate, resulting in everyone looking at it in disbelief. Even Jiraiya and Tsunade weren’t sure what to make out of the situation, after all, stopping your own jutsu just because you wanted it to stop should be impossible. If you set something on fire with a fire jutsu, you can’t just “will” the fire to disappear, but that was exactly what Yuna just did.
“Oh, and by the way, Kabuto. I saw through your bluff. That seal can’t be activated remotely. You shouldn’t bother with little tricks like that. I can easily see through them. Especially if it involves seals.”
Instead of answering, Kabuto only gritted his teeth and glared at Yuna, which she completely ignored. Tayuya, however, started laughing out loud when she saw Kabuto being suppressed by Yuna this easily.
“HAHAHA, serves you right, shitty four-eyes! Too bad, huh? Seems like that piece of shit snake bastard won’t be coming after us any time soon, HAHAHAGIA!!!OWOWOW!!!”
The atmosphere turned cold, as Yuna grabbed Tayuya’s shoulder with her hand, causing Tayuya to panic. She wanted to free herself, but Yuna’s hand didn’t budge at all.
“Well, Tayuya-chan, did you remember what I asked of you~?”
Tayuya’s whole body shuddered in fear when she saw Yuna’s “motherly” and “kind” smile.
“Y-You told me not to swear so much.”
“Correct~ And what did you just do?”
“I-I-I swore a lot.”
“Correct, again~ Please come with me there is something I would like to discuss in private~”
Although Tayuya wanted to run away, she couldn’t resist Yuna’s grip at all and was unceremoniously dragged into the nearby forest.
While everyone was looking at the scene completely dumbfounded, Naruto clapped his hands together and lowered his head for a silent prayer.
‘Rest in Peace, Tayuya.’
