From afar, the Kumogakure guards noticed their Raikage stumbling toward them, his body dyed a horrifying crimson.
By the time the Fourth Raikage reached the perimeter of the Kumogakure camp, he staggered and collapsed. Knowing he had finally made it back to safety, he looked up with a pale, weakened face.
"Quickly... bring the medical ninjas," he wheezed.
Immediately, one of the guards broke from the ranks and sprinted into the camp toward the medical tents.
The remaining guards rushed forward, only to freeze in shock. The bloodied, mangled figure cradled in the Fourth Raikage arms was his own brother—the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B. The corpse-like kunoichi slung over his shoulder was Kumogakure's Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii.
A Kage and two jinchuriki, returning in such a sorry state? 'Did the Third Hokage personally lead Konoha's forces this time, accompanied by the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?' the guards wondered. But even the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki shouldn't possess such heaven-defying strength.
"His arm... Lord Raikage's arm is missing!" a guard suddenly screamed in horror.
The crowd stared. They finally realized why the Fourth Raikage had carried Yugito on his shoulder: his right arm was completely gone. The stump was severed so cleanly that, amidst the blood and chaos, the Kumogakure shinobi hadn't noticed it at first glance.
They soon realized the Raikage wasn't the only one missing a limb. Killer B's left arm had also been severed. The massive hemorrhage from his amputated shoulder was the main source of the blood soaking his clothes, far surpassing the bleeding from his countless other wounds.
What was supposed to be a simple ambush had resulted in devastating injuries for the Raikage and their two ultimate weapons. In an instant, a dark cloud seemed to settle over the Kumogakure camp. All confidence in the war effort evaporated.
After a flurry of chaotic shouting, the three battered shinobi were rushed to the camp's wartime hospital. Ever since Konoha's Tsunade proved the vital importance of medical ninjas on the battlefield, all Five Great Shinobi Villages had established their own dedicated medical corps.
However, upon examining the Fourth Raikage, every medic in the tent fell into a stunned, dreadful silence.
"Right arm missing. Severe damage to the chakra pathways in the left arm," one medic read out.
"Two heavily fractured ribs, and every other bone in his body has varying degrees of micro-fractures," another added quietly.
"Did Lord Raikage get into a fistfight with the Nine-Tails?" an elderly medical ninja muttered in disbelief.
He was a veteran of the Kumogakure hospital, having worked there since before the Fourth Raikage took office. In all his years, he had never seen the Raikage so terribly broken. Even back when the Eight-Tails rampaged and the Fourth subdued the beast in brutal hand-to-hand combat, his injuries hadn't been a fraction of this...
Not to mention, the Raikage had lost an entire arm. To this veteran medic, there was only one logical explanation: the only thing capable of inflicting such damage was the Nine-Tails, a legendary beast known for being stronger than the Eight-Tails.
'Or... could it be that crimson-gold giant that appeared earlier?' A hint of doubt flashed in the medic's eyes, but he quickly shook his head, dismissing the terrifying thought.
While the medics treating the Raikage were silent, the ones examining Killer B were in utter despair.
Left arm amputated. Countless fractures spanning his entire skeleton. Not a single inch of intact skin remained on his body. A deeper examination revealed ruptured internal organs, and less than a tenth of his chakra pathways remained intact.
If not for a peculiar, dense chakra wrapping around Killer B's heart that had forcefully kept it beating, the medics would have declared him dead on arrival. This sheer level of trauma gave the staff a massive headache. Had they not known that the jinchurikis' possessed extraordinary regenerative abilities, they would have abandoned treatment entirely. Even so, they couldn't be sure when Killer B would recover—or if he would survive the night.
As for the medics attending to Yugito Nii, they were completely helpless for an entirely different reason.
On the surface, apart from a few minor scrapes, she had no injuries whatsoever. No severed limbs, no broken bones, and absolutely no internal trauma. Physically, she was a healthy shinobi in peak condition. The strange thing was, no matter what stimuli the medics applied to her, Yugito showed no reaction beyond basic, involuntary bodily reflexes.
"It must be severe mental trauma caused by a genjutsu," a medic frowned, attempting to diagnosis her.
"But what kind of genjutsu could leave such devastating psychological damage that her core consciousness has fallen completely silent?" another medic asked, bewildered.
"It was a Sharingan visual jutsu," Yugito suddenly said, her eyes snapping open. Her voice was terrifyingly flat.
"You—?" The medic was about to ask a question when he suddenly realized the cold, alien presence radiating from the woman in front of him did not belong to Yugito Nii.
"Lord Matatabi?"
The woman nodded slowly. "Yugito's original consciousness was completely destroyed by the visual jutsu of a Konoha Uchiha," the Tailed Beast continued through her host's lips. "Her mental landscape is now a realm of absolute, dead silence. In other words... Yugito is dead."
"What?!" The medical ninjas gasped in horror. They never expected that the one with no physical injuries had suffered the most fatal blow.
Having one's spirit completely obliterated was no different from death. But what kind of monstrous Sharingan genjutsu could achieve such an absolute effect?
Matatabi, however, was in no mood to answer their questions. With Yugito's spirit erased, only the Tailed Beast's Will remained inside the shell. It wasn't an exaggeration to say Yugito's body was now Matatabi's permanent vessel. Controlling a human body so intimately was a novel experience for the Two-Tails, and she intended to take her time getting a feel for it.
While Jie Uchiha didn't know the exact details of the panic unfolding in the Kumogakure hospital, he could easily foresee the outcome.
Not that he cared.
Upon returning to the Konoha camp, Jie politely but firmly declined the eager medical ninjas and surrounding shinobi who rushed to greet him. He walked straight to his own tent, pulling the flap shut behind him to ensure his privacy.
Defeating the Fourth Raikage and utterly crippling two perfect jinchuriki were heaven-shaking feats. Such achievements would undoubtedly yield massive rewards from the System.
Sitting in the quiet of his tent, a rare surge of anticipation swelled in Jie's chest.
"System, calculate my rewards!"
[Ding!]
[Host has severely injured the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B. Host has severely injured the Fourth Raikage. Host has obliterated the core consciousness of the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii.]
[Calculating... Rewards obtained...]
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