Just like the battered and exhausted Yugito standing before him, Utakata wasn't in much better shape.
As two evenly matched Jinchuriki, their fight had been absolutely brutal. When Yugito went completely berserk—desperate to back up the Fourth Raikage and willing to trade blow for blow—she had caught Utakata off guard and dealt him a serious wound.
The massive drain on his chakra had forced Utakata to drop out of his Tailed Beast State.
Now, he was bogged down by a swarm of Cloud ninja who had surrounded him specifically to give Yugito the opening she needed to rush to the Raikage's aid.
"C, take Lord Raikage and fall back immediately! I'll handle things here!" Yugito screamed.
Her desperate intervention had narrowly blocked Menma's killing blow, buying them precious seconds.
Whoosh! Whoosh! On the other side of the battlefield, C and a handful of Cloud ninja finally reached the Fourth Raikage. Seeing their leader covered in gashes and hovering near death, C's heart seized.
If the Raikage died here, the Hidden Cloud Village would tear itself apart. C immediately dropped to his knees, his hands glowing with medical ninjutsu as he fought to stabilize his dying leader.
Up ahead, Yugito continued her aggressive assault on Menma, screaming her orders over her shoulder.
Hearing her roar, C instinctively glanced up at her. As a sensory ninja, he could clearly feel the catastrophic state of the Two-Tails Jinchuriki's chakra.
Let alone facing a monster like Menma, even a regular Jonin could probably put Yugito down right now. Hell, Utakata was currently pinned down by a dozen Cloud Chunin and Jonin, completely unable to break free.
Tailed Beasts were absolute powerhouses, but their human hosts had limits. C knew with certainty that staying behind to stall Menma was a suicide mission for Yugito. No, "suicide mission" was putting it lightly—it was a guaranteed death sentence.
But C didn't say a word. He couldn't stop her. This was the only way their Raikage was getting out of here alive.
"We're moving!" C grit his teeth. Having done just enough to keep the Raikage breathing, he hoisted the massive man up and ordered a rapid retreat in the opposite direction.
How much time would she buy them? C had no idea. Maybe a few minutes, maybe just a split second. They had to put as much distance between themselves and Menma as physically possible.
The Hidden Cloud had suffered a catastrophic defeat today. Now, it was all about damage control.
Watching C and his squad rapidly fade into the distance, Menma's eyes narrowed. He shifted his weight, preparing to give chase.
"You're not getting past me!" Yugito had already closed the gap, stepping squarely into his path. She was pushing her latent potential past its absolute breaking point.
Rumble! Despite running on absolute fumes, Yugito violently forced out the last dregs of the Two-Tails' chakra. Blistering blue flames erupted around her.
"Mouse Hairball!"
Under her command, the flaming, rat-shaped projectiles fanned out into a semi-circle, swarming toward Menma at breakneck speed. The volley cut off his angles of pursuit, forcibly driving him back.
Clap! Menma landed after a forced evasion. Seeing Yugito relentlessly pressing the attack, a chilling, murderous aura darkened his brow.
"If you've got a death wish, I'm happy to oblige!"
Realizing he wasn't going to just sidestep her, Menma let out a cold snort. He slapped his hands together and launched a vicious, head-on counterattack.
Even in her prime, Yugito wouldn't stand a chance against Menma in his current state. Running on empty, it wasn't even a fight. The gap in power was dimensional. As they clashed, Menma effortlessly and brutally overwhelmed her.
However, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki fought with the reckless abandon of someone who had already accepted death. Trading her life for seconds, she completely ignored Menma's strikes to maximize her own. Her suicidal offensive actually worked—it bought her a little more time.
Bang! Finally, Menma landed a crippling blow. He conjured his Adamantine Sealing Chains, binding Yugito tightly. The Two-Tails Jinchuriki completely lost the ability to fight back.
Her stamina was gone. Her mental energy was tapped. Riddled with severe wounds, Yugito was barely clinging to life. Only a Jinchuriki's unnatural vitality was keeping her heart beating. A normal ninja would have died ten times over.
But her psychotic rearguard action had done its job. She bought C and the Fourth Raikage the precious time they needed. By the time Menma subdued Yugito, C had carried the Raikage far out of Menma's sensory range.
Menma's face flickered with disappointment. Still let that damn Raikage slip away... With the Raikage's successful escape, a fraction of the Cloud ninja on the main battlefield also managed to break contact and flee. However, compared to those who escaped, the vast majority were left behind.
Just scanning the field, there were roughly a thousand bodies, not to mention the surviving Cloud ninja who had been taken prisoner. The exact numbers wouldn't be clear until the cleanup was finished.
At a glance, less than a thousand Cloud ninja had made it out alive. And even that estimate might be too generous, considering the Waterfall ninja had held an absolute tactical advantage.
Furthermore, to cover the retreat, the Cloud had to throw bodies at powerhouses like Fu, Utakata, and Shibuki just to slow them down. The disparity in sheer power was immense, and the body count reflected that grim reality.
"We won! Menma, we actually won! We beat the Hidden Cloud, and an army led by the Fourth Raikage himself!!!"
As Menma surveyed the carnage, Shibuki sprinted over, his face split into a massive, triumphant grin. He knew this war wouldn't end with a single battle, but it was an undeniably perfect start!
Over three thousand elite Cloud ninja, commanded by the Fourth Raikage, had fallen to the Hidden Waterfall. This was monumental news—cause for wild celebration!
This victory alone was enough to completely eradicate the deep-seated fear Shibuki and his ninja held toward the Five Great Ninja Villages. True confidence was forged right here, on this blood-soaked ground.
The image of Menma crushing the Fourth Raikage in single combat and nearly taking his head was burned permanently into the minds of Shibuki and his men.
As the dust settled, the surrounding Waterfall ninja gathered. They looked at Menma with varying degrees of respect, awe, and outright reverence.
His age? The fact that he was an outsider? None of that mattered now.
Humans are incredibly pragmatic creatures, and ninja are practically hardwired to follow strength. The law of the jungle. Might makes right. That was the only rule that truly governed this world.
Menma had led the Hidden Waterfall to victory against the mighty Hidden Cloud, breaking the Fourth Raikage in a head-on clash. That was all the proof they needed!
The Hidden Waterfall had been a quiet, fading backwater for far too long. They desperately needed a powerhouse like this to drag them back into the spotlight.
"Yeah, we won," Menma replied with a bold smile. "This victory announces the Hidden Waterfall's return to power to the entire ninja world. Nobody will look down on us now. Anyone stupid enough to invade us will share the Cloud's fate today!"
Before today, even Menma had been carrying a knot of anxiety in his gut.
This was an elite Cloud force led by the Fourth Raikage himself. One minor slip-up, and over a year of meticulous planning and effort would have gone up in smoke. He had contingency plans, sure, but they were far from ideal.
Now, having executed the plan and secured the win, the massive weight lifted off Menma's shoulders.
It was too early to declare ultimate victory in this war, but the momentum was undeniably in their hands.
Unless the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud completely threw away decades of bad blood and launched a perfectly coordinated, all-out joint assault, Menma's forces were in total control of the board.
But could the Leaf and Cloud actually pull that off? Even if Tsunade had the guts and the vision for it, would the rest of the Leaf high command play along? And what about the Cloud?
The Cloud had just suffered a crippling blow. Their Raikage was in a coma. Forming a true alliance with the Leaf now? That would be like making a deal with the devil.
It was practically impossible. Knowing that, Menma allowed himself to relax and enjoy the moment.
"So this is the Hidden Cloud's Two-Tails Jinchuriki? You actually captured her, Menma," Shibuki said softly, his voice full of awe as he stared at the unconscious, heavily bound Yugito.
Even during this cleanup phase, Shibuki felt like he was walking through a dream.
Had the Hidden Waterfall truly crushed the mighty Hidden Cloud? And captured their Jinchuriki to boot? It was an outcome Shibuki never would have dared to imagine.
Historically, even at its absolute peak during its founding, the Hidden Waterfall only barely qualified as a potential "Sixth Great Ninja Village"—and strictly as a distant runner-up to the main Five.
Just holding their ground against an invasion would have been an accomplishment. Actually defeating them? Before today, that was pure fantasy.
"Yeah, she stayed behind to cover the Raikage's retreat. Plus, Utakata dealt her some heavy damage earlier. If it weren't for that, taking her alive wouldn't have been this easy," Menma chuckled, shaking his head.
He turned to Utakata, who was slowly walking over. "You did a hell of a job out there, Utakata."
"No, I failed my assignment. I couldn't pin her down. If I had, the Fourth Raikage wouldn't have escaped," Utakata said, his face deathly pale, his voice incredibly weak.
Among the nine Tailed Beasts, there wasn't a massive gap in raw power between the One-Tail and the Seven-Tails. But a lack of disparity between the beasts didn't mean there wasn't a gap between their hosts. As a veteran weapon of the Hidden Cloud, Yugito's combat experience and sheer technical skill outclassed Utakata's.
In a standard fight, Yugito held a slight edge. Activating their Tailed Beast States usually leveled the playing field, making the gap negligible. But when Yugito decided to throw her life away in a suicidal frenzy, that gap in raw combat tenacity flared up again. The fact that Utakata couldn't hold back a berserk Yugito proved it.
The Cloud ninja were bred for war. That wasn't an exaggeration; the thirst for battle was etched into their very bones. And Yugito, despite her gender, was no exception.
"Let him run. It's a shame, sure, but we accomplished every single tactical objective we set out to achieve. Not to mention, we bagged a massive bargaining chip," Menma said, shaking his head dismissively. "We're holding all the cards now."
"Menma's right. We won. That's the only thing that matters. Don't beat yourself up over it, Utakata. You can't control every variable on the battlefield," Shibuki agreed with a firm nod.
Over two thousand Cloud ninja dead or captured, plus a Two-Tails Jinchuriki secured. This was an unbelievably savage haul.
The Waterfall ninja had paid a steep price, naturally. Hundreds dead or wounded was a tough pill for the village to swallow, shaking them to their core. But compared to the ultimate spoils of war, those losses were a worthwhile investment.
"Exactly," Menma smiled. "We wouldn't have pulled this off without you, Utakata. Shake it off and get some rest. We're going to need you for the next phase."
"Yeah," Utakata murmured. Hearing Menma and Shibuki's reassurance, the tight knot of guilt in his chest finally loosened. He nodded quietly.
"So, what's our next move? Do we push the front line and hunt down the Raikage's stragglers? Menma!" Shibuki asked after a brief pause, his eyes shining with eagerness.
Up to this point, nobody actually knew the full extent of Menma's master plan.
Shibuki didn't even realize that he was asking Menma for orders like a subordinate. And even if he had noticed, he wouldn't have cared. He had made his choice days ago.
Today's victory only cemented that decision in his mind.
Without a doubt, in Shibuki's eyes, Menma was the one—the destined leader who would march the Hidden Waterfall to glory.
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