Feeling his chakra rapidly recover, Yuu's confidence immediately rose.
Samehada really was the best.
Anyone who used it would say the same.
Just the fact that it could restore its wielder's chakra already made its value among the Seven Ninja Swords absurdly high.
Compared with something like the Executioner's Blade, it was on an entirely different level.
At once,
Yuu sat down on the spot.
With one hand, he continued maintaining Thousand-Thread Ensnarement.
With the other, he gripped the Sword of the Thunder God and traced a circle through the air.
Clear water followed the blade's path and appeared in midair, forming something like a perfectly round mirror.
Tiny arcs of lightning crackled around its edges.
"Water Release: Water Mirror Technique!"
The instant the technique formed,
a short figure holding a staff-like weapon leapt out from the circular mirror.
It was a copy of Yagura Karatachi.
Without expression, the copy immediately charged toward the real Yagura.
"What?!"
Yagura was stunned.
Disbelief flooded his face.
"Water Mirror Technique?!
"H-How is that possible?!"
This technique was his personal secret art.
He had developed it only after attaining an extremely deep understanding of Water Release nature transformation.
No second person in the entirety of Kirigakure could use it.
And yet now…
how could this white-haired brat suddenly perform it?
Had Konoha also developed a similar secret technique?
Was it connected to that white-haired Hokage who had specialized in Water Release?
Or…
had this white-haired brat copied it from him?
When?!
He didn't even have the Sharingan!
Countless questions flooded Yagura's mind, leaving him completely confused.
But at a time like this, he had no choice but to stop his charge.
After defeating the Four Kamaitachi one after another, he was immediately forced to fight his own copy instead.
Strictly speaking, the copy created by Yuu was much weaker than the real Yagura.
After all, Yuu had only NTR'd the Water Mirror Technique away from Yagura moments ago.
From the galgame system's perspective, he hadn't even completed the "corruption" phase yet…
so both affection and proficiency were still limited.
But that didn't matter.
As long as the copy could hold Yagura off for a while, that was enough.
And even if it couldn't, Yuu wasn't some fragile glass cannon who would instantly die if someone reached close range.
He naturally had other ways to deal with Yagura.
Afterward,
Yuu pressed one hand against the ground and summoned Katsuyu.
To maintain the suppression on the Six-Tails, Yuu himself needed to remain here for the moment and couldn't move around freely.
So he could only ask Katsuyu to head toward Shakuka Town, check on the Konoha ninja there, and help restore their injuries and chakra along the way.
Katsuyu quickly understood.
Her body split into twenty or thirty tiny individuals that rapidly crawled toward the stronghold.
They climbed up the trouser legs of individual Konoha ninja one after another.
After Shisui and Kakashi's consecutive bursts of strength, Kirigakure's fierce offensive had already been largely halted.
And now, with Katsuyu attaching herself to them, many Konoha ninja who had fought bitterly for so long and were nearing the limits of both injury and exhaustion began regaining their vigor.
They didn't instantly refill their red and blue bars,
but releasing another one or two ninjutsu, or swinging a kunai and exchanging a few more blows with Kiri ninja, was still entirely possible.
Soon,
the momentum of the battlefield began to reverse.
Kirigakure started retreating step by step.
Yagura saw everything and became increasingly anxious.
"Damn it…"
"We clearly had such a massive advantage!
"We should have been able to flatten the Konoha stronghold in one push and completely destroy the southeastern defensive line of the Land of Fire…
"And yet this brat ruined everything!"
Under the current circumstances, even if Yagura wanted to order a retreat, it would be difficult.
The Six-Tails was still being suppressed by Yuu.
If they couldn't recover it from his hands, then even if Yagura annihilated every Konoha ninja inside Shakuka Town, Kirigakure would still have suffered a catastrophic defeat.
Fight?
They couldn't win.
Retreat?
They couldn't retreat.
Yagura found himself trapped in an impossible dilemma where every choice seemed wrong.
At that moment—
"CAW—!"
A sharp bird cry tore through the night sky.
Yagura froze slightly and didn't react immediately.
But Yuu's eyelid twitched.
He abruptly raised his head and looked toward the sky.
High above,
a gigantic bird with an azure-blue body and a golden beak was spreading its wings as it swept toward them from the distance.
Its size was simply enormous.
When its wings fully extended, its wingspan exceeded thirty meters.
Its shadow briefly covered the moonlight.
Even Black Wing, whose wingspan exceeded twenty meters, looked one or two sizes smaller beside it.
"That is…"
Yuu's pupils contracted as he recognized the species.
A Yatagarasu!
That was right.
This creature was one of the summons controlled by Pain's Six Paths using black chakra receivers.
It had once been summoned by the Animal Path—the loli Path—to fight Jiraiya and later during the invasion of Konoha.
At this point in time, there was probably only one person capable of summoning this thing and deploying it onto this battlefield…
In an instant,
the Yatagarasu swept past Black Wing.
It took only the brief moment when the two crossed paths.
Black Wing suddenly released a piercing cry as though its wings had been broken.
Its enormous body began tumbling uncontrollably through the air and plunged straight toward the ground!
"!"
Yuu's heart tightened.
The Water Formation Wall seemed to sense his intention and activated automatically.
A surging wave of water swept toward Black Wing's falling body and caught it.
With that cushioning layer, the giant eagle managed to land more or less safely.
However…
of the three people who had been riding on its back,
only two remained.
Uchiha Inabi and Uchiha Tekka lay unconscious.
Rin was nowhere to be seen.
Yuu confirmed this from the corner of his eye.
Then he stared fixedly at the Yatagarasu hovering high above.
The giant bird deliberately paused in midair.
The person on its back turned around.
Across a distance of several hundred meters, beneath the night sky,
his gaze met Yuu's.
It was a thin figure wearing a Kirigakure ANBU mask.
The mask concealed his eyes, making it impossible to tell whether black tomoe were hidden beneath it.
But Yuu could clearly feel that gaze.
Cold.
Indifferent.
As though a human were looking down upon an ant.
It carried an arrogance that regarded everything beneath heaven as insignificant.
It was him!
Definitely him!
A certain name surfaced in Yuu's mind, almost bursting from his lips.
Their gazes met for only an instant.
Then the Yatagarasu beat its enormous wings, changed direction, and shot southeast.
Within moments, it had become nothing more than a blurry black dot.
"Uchiha Madara…"
Yuu whispered the name.
His gaze completely darkened.
He had been guarding against Madara making a move for a long time.
He had prepared extensively for it.
For example, whenever he went out, he kept Rin beside himself rather than leaving her with Obito.
And earlier during the battle, he had deliberately left her safely on Black Wing's back…
He had thought the sky was the safest place.
No one could reach her there.
He hadn't expected Madara to appear at precisely this moment and in precisely this way—
disable Black Wing with a single glance,
then abduct Rin directly from the sky.
At present,
Black Wing still hadn't escaped the effects of the genjutsu and remained dazed.
It would be difficult for it to fly again in the short term.
Yuu did possess Transformation Technique: Lifelike Transformation, which could turn him personally into a hawk and allow him to pursue.
But he might not be able to match the Yatagarasu's speed.
And even if he caught up,
getting past Uchiha Madara would be extremely difficult.
However…
looked at from another perspective,
Madara had not killed Rin immediately.
He had only taken her away.
That meant his intention wasn't simply murder.
He probably still intended to carry out the Three-Tails Plan from the original story!
If that was the case,
then Rin shouldn't be in immediate mortal danger.
There was still time to think and formulate a rescue plan.
Yuu took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
Then he sensed Rin's approximate location.
Earlier, Yuu had planted a Seed of Vitality inside Rin.
Besides healing injuries, the seed had another secondary effect—
it allowed Yuu to roughly sense the direction and life status of the person carrying it.
It was essentially an imprecise tracking beacon.
With that,
locking onto Rin's destination wouldn't be difficult.
And even taking one step back—
if Madara really intended to carry out the Three-Tails Plan,
he would probably deliberately reveal Rin's trail anyway in order to lure Yuu into rescuing her.
So…
for now, the only thing Yuu could do was wait,
and take the opportunity to clean up the battlefield in front of him.
"Haa…"
Yuu exhaled.
He formed the hand seal for the Shadow Clone Technique and once again split his chakra in half.
He ordered the clone to temporarily maintain the suppression over the Six-Tails and prevent it from breaking free.
His original body drew the Sword of the Thunder God from his back and looked toward Yagura.
The blade hummed.
Lightning rose once again.
It was time to settle the account between Kirigakure and Konoha.
…
At the same time,
high in the sky.
Uchiha Madara sat cross-legged on the broad back of the Yatagarasu.
The white Kirigakure ANBU mask had been tossed aside.
He glanced at the unconscious Rin beside him and snorted coldly.
"These Kirigakure are truly useless."
"They couldn't even complete such a simple task.
"To think I had to personally come out of retirement…
"Heh. Ridiculous."
Fortunately, Madara had prepared for this possibility to some extent.
He had created a false identity for himself in advance—
a secret ANBU operative directly subordinate to the Mizukage.
And when he acted earlier, he had deliberately avoided using obvious Sharingan dōjutsu, relying instead on ordinary genjutsu.
That way, no one should suspect his true identity.
After all, in the eyes of the world,
the "Ghost of the Uchiha," Uchiha Madara, had died long ago.
After a brief silence,
Madara exhaled.
"Still, it's fine.
"Although there were some unexpected deviations, the plan is generally progressing along the route I envisioned."
"Next, I only need to seal the Three-Tails inside this girl.
"Then, at the appropriate moment, leak that information to Konoha, lure Mikami Yuu and Obito into rescuing her, and deliberately allow Rin to escape…"
Then—
comrades would turn against each other.
The Three-Tails would run wild.
How pleasant it sounded.
Obito would personally witness his beloved die at the hands of his own companion.
He would experience bottomless despair and agony—
then willingly throw himself into Madara's magnificent Eye of the Moon Plan…
Madara mentally ran through the entire plan once.
Everything seemed perfectly under control.
He even began admiring his own brilliance.
If his younger self had possessed this level of wisdom,
he would surely have suppressed a certain white-haired bastard and become Konoha's Second Hokage.
"Hmph. Damn you, Tobirama…"
Madara cursed Senju Tobirama in his heart for the Nth time.
Then he opened his eyes.
The Yatagarasu flew across the sea toward a secret base prepared in advance for sealing the Three-Tails.
The night wind howled.
Its chill cut to the bone.
…
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
Yagura rapidly formed hand seals.
A water dragon rose from the ground and roared toward Yuu.
But Yuu merely waved one hand.
Another dragon composed entirely of flames immediately appeared.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
The blazing white fire dragon collided with the water dragon, creating a massive cloud of white steam.
Then Yuu, long sword in hand, burst through the layers of mist and appeared before Yagura.
The two immediately clashed.
For Kirigakure,
the current situation had already completely spiraled out of control.
The Six-Tails had been suppressed.
Kushimaru Kuriarare, Jinpachi Munashi, Jinin Akebino, and a large group of other elite jōnin had all died.
The plan to storm Shakuka Town had also failed after Shisui suddenly unleashed his hidden power…
Every part of Kirigakure's plan had collapsed.
The only thing that could barely be considered good news was the mysterious figure who had passed by riding a Yatagarasu and abducted Rin.
Judging from the situation,
that person really did seem to be helping Kirigakure.
But…
why the hell did he capture Rin?!
Why not come down and help them kill Yuu and the others?!
Even if he couldn't do that, couldn't he have captured Kakashi or Shisui instead?
What use was grabbing that girl?!
Yagura had no energy left to complain.
But one thing was clear.
He needed to retreat.
If he waited much longer, forget recovering the Six-Tails—
there was a high chance that every remaining Kiri ninja here, including himself, would die.
"You offended Konoha and still think you can leave?"
Yuu's cold voice sounded from behind him.
Yagura spun around.
A streak of lightning tore through the air and stabbed directly toward his face!
Clang!
Yagura hurriedly raised his staff-like weapon to block.
But because the attack had been sudden and Yuu had struck from a prepared position against an unprepared target,
the violent metallic collision sent Yagura sliding backward seven or eight meters.
His feet carved two deep trenches into the ground.
Before he could decide whether to use the opportunity to turn around and flee,
he sensed a flash of light behind him.
Yagura immediately threw himself forward.
Only then did he narrowly avoid a sweeping slash from the Sword of the Thunder God.
Whoosh!
The blade skimmed across his back and carried away a line of blood.
What a fast sword!
Yagura was horrified.
What followed was a relentless assault.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Yuu's attacks became ferocious.
Because his chakra reserves were limited, he couldn't unleash his full strength in terms of raw power.
But his speed and technique were both first-rate.
Even after giving everything he had, Yagura still couldn't overcome him.
Instead, he began repeatedly finding himself in mortal danger.
Finally—
Yagura gritted his teeth.
Determination flashed through his eyes.
Using the momentum from their latest clash, he abruptly leapt backward and rapidly formed hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Body Flicker!"
~~~
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