The Thousand-Armed Kannon moved too slowly. Ryou wanted to return to Amegakure as soon as possible, so he formed hand seals to perform the Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique.
The Great Tree of Takigakure transformed again, changing from the current great buddha into a two-hundred-meter-long giant Wood Dragon, thin at both ends and thick in the middle.
It looked as if it had overeaten.
The Wood Dragon took to the sky, flying toward the direction of Amegakure.
However, before leaving, Ryou dropped a spore, which transformed into a clone upon landing.
He sent the spore to find the Kumogakure people, not for the Two-Tails or Eight-Tails, but purely to see Yugito Nii.
The Uchiha all liked cats, and Ryou was no exception; he wanted to meet this Cat-like girl.
...
The Fourth Raikage transformed into a bolt of lightning and entered the Land of Waterfalls, quickly approaching Takigakure.
From a distance, he saw a battlefield riddled with devastation.
The Fourth Raikage didn't know this was Takigakure, but seeing this battlefield completely razed to the ground, he knew this was the place Yugito Nii had mentioned.
He had heard that the Land of Waterfalls had many high mountains and waterfalls, but now those mountains and waterfalls were beaten into a tangled mess.
Looking out, for several kilometers around, the land was filled with dark, cracked earth; not a blade of grass grew, no dead wood remained, and even a hint of green or the sound of a drop of water was nowhere to be found.
Only deathly silence and desolation remained between heaven and earth, as if all life and scenery had been completely wiped away in that instant, leaving only a forgotten ruin.
The Fourth Raikage was shocked: "What on earth happened here?!"
This area was not only hit by the collision of Tailed Beast Balls but also by the attacks of the Thousand-Armed Kannon's wooden arms; a single wooden arm could easily demolish a small mountain.
With them all crashing down together, how exaggerated must this destructive power be?
Killer Bee and Yugito Nii followed behind, and seeing this scene where everything had vanished, they were too shocked to speak.
"What kind of Ninjutsu caused this? It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say a meteorite fell!"
The cruelest battlefield the Fourth Raikage had ever seen was the one where the Third Raikage fought alone against Iwagakure for three days and nights.
The Third Raikage was able to hold out for so long because of the Strongest Spear—Hell Stab, and the Strongest Shield—Lightning Release Armor.
However, that battlefield embodied slaughter, a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
In terms of destructive power, the battlefield created by the Third Raikage could not compare to the earth-shattering scene here.
This was no longer a battlefield that a Shinobi's Ninjutsu could create; this was a battle between Daluo Golden Immortals!
"Meow~ Meow~ Meow~"
Suddenly, the sound of a cat meowing appeared on the battlefield.
The three were very confused; could there still be a living thing in such a hellish place?
This weak cat meow was crisp and soft, completely out of place on this scorched and silent battlefield.
Yugito Nii was Matatabi's Jinchuriki, and her Ninjutsu had many feline characteristics; her favorite thing was cats.
She followed the meowing and found a tiny milky-white kitten among the ruins.
Its hind leg was pinned by a rock, stained with faint bloodstains, its white fur was messy and stuck to its body, and it was shivering slightly.
Its weak whimpering mixed with the wind, the sound as light as a feather, appearing exceptionally helpless and fragile.
The tiny kitten's body was curled into a ball; in this battlefield that had once been razed to the ground and where nothing grew, it became the only sign of life still trembling.
Yugito Nii's heart almost broke, her eyes surging with intense heartache and pity, and she quickly lifted the rock away.
She cautiously squatted down, preparing to pick up this sole survivor left on the battlefield.
The Fourth Raikage suddenly grabbed Yugito Nii's hand: "Wait, Yugito, don't you think this is too strange?"
"Not a single tree or human figure can be seen here, yet such a small kitten survived. Don't you have even a little suspicion?"
Killer Bee walked over, looking at the pitiful kitten and rapping about the Fourth Raikage's cruelty.
"Oh such a tiny little thing a life that can't even walk straight~ Big Bro~, where are your eyes looking~"
"Can't see the fragility~ only see the schemes~"
The Fourth Raikage punched Killer Bee: "Bee, you idiot!"
"Meow~"
The kitten meowed at Yugito Nii, its dust-covered little face looking up at her.
There was a hint of timid reliance, as if silently asking for help.
Those cat eyes were so clean they didn't have a hint of impurity, making Yugito Nii's heart tremble; in an instant, all her defenses crumbled.
She only wanted to protect it in her arms and shield it from all the wind and rain.
"Little baby, you're melting my heart, come into my arms!"
Matatabi called out to Yugito Nii: "Nii, don't. The Fourth Raikage is right, don't trust people so easily."
"The more beautiful something is, the more dangerous it is!"
Yugito Nii's movement to pick up the kitten stopped.
Ryou couldn't take it anymore and suddenly jumped up, snapping at Yugito Nii: "Are you even a member of our Cat Clan? Won't you even help a comrade when they're injured?"
Wait!
Yugito Nii, the Fourth Raikage, and Killer Bee all felt their hair stand on end; their eyes suddenly became as sharp as knives as they instantly entered battle mode.
"Heavy Violence Storm!"
The Fourth Raikage struck first, activating his Lightning Release chakra Mode, gathering chakra from his entire body into his elbow, and smashing toward where Ryou was.
An elbow strike!
With a boom, a large crater was blasted into the ground.
The range of the Fourth Raikage's Nintaijutsu was too large; Yugito Nii and Killer Bee both retreated dozens of meters to avoid the impact of the Fourth Raikage's Lightning Release Iron Elbow.
After the storm passed, only the Fourth Raikage remained alone in the deep crater; the figure of that tiny milky-white kitten was nowhere to be seen.
It was likely crushed into fragments by the Fourth Raikage's Land of Lightning Iron Elbow.
"You hateful guy!"
Yugito Nii hissed.
"No, Yugito Nii, on your shoulder!"
Killer Bee pointed at Yugito Nii's shoulder.
Yugito Nii turned her head to look; that small white cat was standing on her shoulder, looking at her with a pair of three tomoe Sharingan.
Seeing those eyes, Yugito Nii understood: "Are you Uchiha Ryou?"
Ryou nodded: "Just a clone. I stayed behind because I wanted to see the Two-Tails Jinchuriki."
Yugito Nii pulled out a Kunai and stabbed toward Ryou's position.
Ryou turned into a shadow, dodging Yugito Nii's attack and leaving her shoulder.
He said to Yugito Nii from a distance: "Yugito Nii, do you want to be my Summoned Beast? I like cats and am determined to collect all the world's famous cats as my Summoned Beasts."
Yugito Nii was also a great beauty, with an oval face and beige hair tied into a braid that reached her waist.
Her eyes were long and narrow cat-eyes, her gaze cold and haughty, carrying the natural aloofness and queenly aura of a feline.