The cold voice suddenly rang in Yagura's ear, and the weight on his shoulder made him realize someone had appeared behind him.
However, when the enemy suddenly appeared at his back, Yagura's expression didn't change at all. He merely tilted his head slightly as chakra rapidly surged from within his body.
Yagura was the Three-Tails Jinchūriki; although not a perfect Jinchūriki, he could still use the Three-Tails' chakra to a certain extent.
Tailed Beasts were the products of the Sage of the Six Paths splitting the Ten-Tails, and in creating these new life forms, individual differences inevitably appeared.
Each Tailed Beast inherited a portion of the Ten-Tails' power, giving each beast its own unique abilities and characteristics.
The common point among Tailed Beasts was that their chakra was incomparably vast compared to ordinary humans, but even so, there were power gaps between them.
For example, the Sand's One-Tails, Shukaku, possessed powerful chakra while also being able to use potent Wind Style.
The Five-Tails could even perfectly fuse Fire and Earth styles to form the unique Lava Style. As for the Three-Tails inside Yagura, besides having strong Water Style abilities, it also mastered a mutated form of Earth Style.
As chakra surged within Yagura, a thick layer of Stony Coral quickly climbed onto the hand resting on his shoulder.
Behind him, Hyuga Shinichi looked calm, allowing the heavy stony coral to rapidly cover his palm, then spread to his forearm, elbow, and even up to his shoulder.
In just a few moments, Shinichi's arm had turned into a man-sized hill of stone, which then slammed heavily onto the ground, connecting tightly with the soil and making it difficult to move.
Only then did Yagura slowly turn around, casting his gaze upon the calm-faced Hyuga Shinichi. He looked Shinichi up and down; while the puppet Yagura showed no emotional change, Uchiha Obito, hidden among the crowd of Mist ninjas, had a sudden change in expression.
Simultaneously, the Mist ninjas, startled by the sudden appearance of an enemy, turned their gazes toward Shinichi. This man, who had abruptly appeared on the battlefield, captured everyone's attention.
"Brother!"
Hyuga Hinata cried out in surprise. She hadn't expected to see Hyuga Shinichi here. Seeing Shinichi's arm covered in coral and restrained on the spot, a rare look of terror appeared on Hinata's face.
Her eyes were full of worry, and she wanted to rush forward, but she was stopped by the calm Kakashi.
"Don't go over there!"
"Don't be impulsive yet!"
Kakashi was exceptionally calm. In fact, from the moment he recognized Hyuga Shinichi, a strong desire for survival had surged in his previously death-bound heart.
He didn't actually care if he died under the Mist's encirclement; he had originally only hoped his students could leave safely, and for that goal, he had been mentally prepared to die.
But Shinichi's arrival changed his mind. We can live... there's a chance to live!
While secretly feeling lucky about the chance to escape, Kakashi was also determined to send his three subordinates to a safe place.
Hinata worried about her brother's safety, but Kakashi, knowing Shinichi's strength, knew that now was the time not to cause trouble for him.
Shinichi had mastered the Flying Thunder God Jutsu; in Kakashi's view, there were very few people in the entire ninja world who could pose a threat to him.
As long as they had a chance to flee, it would be a matter of minutes for Shinichi to leave. Therefore, the more critical the moment, the more one must remain calm.
Stopping Hinata, Kakashi also cautiously observed the surrounding Mist ninjas. Noticing that their attention was now entirely on Shinichi, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Meanwhile, Kakashi's muscles tensed, ready to break through at any moment.
"Your name is... Hyuga Shinichi, right?!"
Whether out of some psychological motivation or because Obito was very confident in his hiding and escape abilities, after seeing Shinichi, Obito's first choice wasn't to flee, but to control Yagura to start a dialogue. This guy, possessing another characteristic of Kamui, was simply fearless.
In Obito's understanding, his space-time ninjutsu allowed him to escape leisurely from even the most dangerous situations. Although he had once suffered a loss at Shinichi's hands, Uchiha Obito didn't think the other could kill him.
His perception of Shinichi was still stuck at him being just a Hyuga ninja who knew the Flying Thunder God Jutsu.
However, in reality, during the time Shinichi and Obito hadn't crossed paths, Shinichi had already been to the Moon and completely awakened the Tenseigan. Before these eyes, all of Obito's schemes and tricks were worthless.
At this moment, with his arm firmly sealed by the coral stone, Shinichi had already found Obito with his Byakugan. If the Sharingan genjutsu were used on Shinichi, it might cause him some trouble. But unfortunately, Obito's genjutsu target was Yagura.
Even though the chakra connection between the two was almost too small to detect, Shinichi still found the commonality and locked onto Uchiha Obito in the crowd.
His gaze seemingly looked toward the Mist ninja Obito was disguised as, without meaning, silently leaving a Flying Thunder God mark on the hem of Obito's clothes.
Nowadays, for Hyuga Shinichi, wherever his ocular power reached, he could carve a Flying Thunder God mark and easily complete a teleportation within such a short distance.
Uchiha Obito had unknowingly entered Shinichi's "must-kill" list.
"Hoh?"
"I didn't expect the busy Mizukage-sama to actually know me?"
Shinichi acted as if he hadn't noticed, his gaze never leaving Yagura, no longer looking toward Obito. Obito was a guy with a very strong competitive spirit, but also a cowardly and cautious person.
He had been a boisterous person since his youth, but after encountering a huge setback, his personality underwent a 180-degree change.
Because of that experience, Obito's entire aura had become much deeper. Furthermore, he had been "playing" Uchiha Madara; sometimes he would immerse himself in the role, and now he truly resembled Madara in some aspects, making it hard to tell truth from fiction.
That "despair" and "pain" from the heart after the Uchiha clan's great upheaval, as well as the dissatisfaction and anger at the status quo, were very hard to "act."
Shinichi wouldn't easily alert the enemy. Having luckily found Obito's location this time, he was determined to keep him here forever. As for Yagura...
This Three-Tails Jinchūriki was the Mizukage. It was somewhat necessary to let the Mist maintain relative stability. More importantly, this could be used as a link to allow Konoha and the Mist to reach complete peace.
Setting aside political influence, keeping Yagura might provide decent combat power for his future self.
However... how to curb the Mist's ambition?
Talk-no-jutsu probably wouldn't work. Should he just kill them all? If that happened, the two great nations would likely have a complete falling out, becoming sworn enemies.
After a slight deliberation, Shinichi said genially:
"It's truly an honor! Mizukage-sama. Being remembered by a great person like you is my luck."
The Tenseigan shone brilliantly. While Shinichi was speaking, his ocular power instantly surged into Yagura's body. The previously dull-eyed, steady-faced Yagura suddenly fell heavily to the ground.
"Boom!!!"
Without warning, Yagura just fell in front of Shinichi like that, which immediately shocked everyone present. Only Uchiha Obito felt a momentary blur as his genjutsu was broken and he suffered the backlash of his ocular power, but he returned to normal shortly after. Silently blending into the crowd, Obito realized a variable had appeared.
"Lord Yagura!!!"
The Mist's reaction was a bit slow; it wasn't until several seconds after Yagura fell that they reacted. Several elites quickly moved toward Yagura, while others decisively shifted the focus of the encirclement onto Shinichi. With Yagura down, everyone's nerves were taut at this moment.
"What did you do!!!"
A Mist ninja quickly arrived by Yagura's side, and several people went to support the young Mizukage. An ANBU pointed at Shinichi and shouted sternly.
Hmm... it's a female ninja?
The Tenseigan pierced through the female ninja's mask. Shinichi actually knew this woman, tightly wrapped in Mist attire; her name was Terumī Mei. This woman was the head of the ANBU during Yagura's era, the person closest to Yagura, and a familiar friend.
Seeing their boss suddenly taken down, all the Mist ninjas felt the same as Mei at this moment—worrying about the boss's safety while wishing they could skin Shinichi alive. However, at this moment, no one dared to act rashly.
Even the Mist realized that this young man, who suddenly appeared in the battle, possessed terrifying strength.
No one wanted to be the one to stick their head out, except Terumī Mei.
Being pointed at by someone was quite annoying. Shinichi frowned slightly, not liking Mei's rude gesture.
"Vroom—"
Shinichi suddenly pointed a finger at Terumī Mei. A Small-scale Tailed Beast Bomb flew past, almost grazing the top of Mei's head. It didn't fire toward the distant lake but instead went diagonally upward, quickly exploding in the sky over ten miles away.
A low humming sound rang in the sky, and the firelight from the exploding small Tailed Beast Bomb completely illuminated the gloomy sky.
The chakra rolled back, forming a violent hurricane that made the forest rustle loudly. The Mist ninjas present all instinctively lowered their heads and crouched, resisting the terrifying hurricane.
Behind Shinichi, his long hair flew in the wind. He retracted his hand with a cold expression and reminded her softly:
"Don't speak to me in that manner. I don't like it."
The sky brightened suddenly, and an indescribable pressure loomed over Terumī Mei. Cold sweat flowed down from her temples. That kind of attack just now... if it had landed on her, or if it had landed in the current battle formation, what would the consequences have been?!
Death... they would definitely die! Everyone would die! Just who... is this man!!!
Hyuga Shinichi wasn't famous throughout the entire ninja world. Although he had become the actual controller of the Hyuga family, outside of Konoha, the world's understanding of him was limited, especially for the somewhat closed-off Mist Village.
While they were being intimidated by Shinichi's terrifying strength, the fallen Yagura suddenly took a deep breath. After a bout of violent coughing, Yagura slowly looked up, his gaze having become clear.
"Lord Mizukage?!"
Seeing Yagura wake up, the Mist ninjas asked after him with concern. Gently shaking off the hands of the Mist ninjas supporting him, Yagura slowly stood up and looked around, his eyes sharp.
Although he had been controlled, it didn't mean Yagura himself was completely unconscious in that state. His consciousness was merely suppressed by genjutsu; essentially, his main consciousness was completely awake during the time he was controlled.
Yagura saw everything that happened around his body while he was under the genjutsu... He knew why they came to the Land of Waves, why they mobilized in full force—he had memories of everything that occurred.
This was the same as the Nine-Tails when controlled by Obito; the Nine-Tails wouldn't completely lose perception of external things under the control of the Sharingan.
Therefore, the first thing after waking up was for Yagura to find the guy who controlled him. With his perception, he couldn't detect any abnormality in Obito's disguise. Of course, at this moment, his attention was more focused on Hyuga Shinichi.
Failing to find the enemy, Yagura's gaze landed on Shinichi. Meanwhile, Shinichi was leisurely pulling his arm out of the coral stone; the Mizukage's previous attack had no effect on him at all. This was the second warning Shinichi gave the Mist.
He thought the Mizukage and these Mist ninjas would know to back off. Although he didn't expect them to be grateful for his help, he hoped they wouldn't force him to kill and would leave sensibly; that would be good for everyone.
But the temptation of the Byakugan's power perhaps exceeded Shinichi's expectations?! Or... Yagura had misunderstood something...
"Has that person left?"
"Was the purpose of controlling me just to make our Mist and Konoha clash?"
"Even though we were used as tools, if we can obtain the Byakugan, this trip won't be in vain."
"Is this man named Hyuga Shinichi a Jinchūriki?!"
The small Tailed Beast Bomb Shinichi fired didn't make Yagura retreat. He was full of confidence in himself—he was the Mizukage, after all; how could he lose to a man without a Kage title?! On the contrary, looking at Shinichi's brilliant Tenseigan, Yagura's eyes became somewhat feverish.
"Kill!"
"Seize the Byakugan!"
There was no thanks, no revealing the truth of being controlled. Even the time Yagura hesitated after regaining consciousness was very short—he made a decision instantly! Everything else could wait until he secured the Byakugan.
For the Mist, its strategic value was too great, leaving Yagura no room for detailed thought.
Hearing Yagura's sudden order, Terumī Mei and the others were a bit stunned, but they acted quickly. With a seal made and mouth opened, a mouthful of "passionate" Lava Style was released, acid mud lunging toward Shinichi.
Yagura also cooperated by swinging his staff to hook Shinichi's ankle, attempting to secure victory in one blow.
The Mist ninjas' sudden attack also surprised Shinichi. His face instantly turned gloomy, and a surging killing intent blossomed in his eyes.
"Throwing kindness back in my face! You're looking for death!"
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed. Claim early access on Patreon: Patreon.com/kazama677
🔓 You hold the keys to bonus chapters:💬 10 reviews ignite 1 bonus chapter🔷 60 Power Stones summon another
🔥 Your power determines how fast the tale unfolds.