With a splash,
Yagura Karatachi's body dissolved into a pool of clear water that hugged the ground and rapidly fled into the distance.
Yuu immediately activated the Substitution Technique, flashing dozens of meters ahead.
Then he raised the Sword of the Thunder God high before driving it into the ground.
"Lightning Run!"
Crackle—!
Amid a piercing explosion, blue-white electricity erupted from the Sword of the Thunder God and raced outward along the stream of water!
Although Yagura reacted quickly and immediately changed direction, the pursuing lightning still caught up to him.
Scorching electricity surged through the water, forcing him to cancel the Water Body Flicker Technique.
He leapt from the ground in an extremely miserable state and, without pausing for even a moment, continued fleeing toward the distant forest.
During this process,
he still remembered to throw a signal flare into the sky, warning the remaining Kiri ninja to retreat as quickly as possible.
Yuu ignored the signal flare and continued pursuing him.
One fled while the other chased.
Before long, the two had completely left the central battlefield and entered a vast primeval forest several kilometers away.
Just as Yuu took a deep breath and prepared to activate the Nerve Activation Technique again, intending to capture Yagura in one burst—
suddenly,
a somewhat familiar chakra presence appeared at the edge of Yuu's sensory range.
Someone seemed to be approaching this area from the opposite side of the forest.
And they were moving extremely fast.
"This is…"
Yuu paused slightly as a strange thought surfaced in his mind.
He abruptly flashed upward, rising above the sea of trees.
Then he focused his eyesight and looked toward the other end of the forest.
At the limits of his vision,
a brilliant streak of gold could vaguely be seen at the edge of the woods.
Its direction of travel happened to be directly opposite Yagura's escape route.
A dark-green Konoha jōnin vest flickered between the lush trees like camouflage, making the figure somewhat difficult to see clearly.
Yagura had clearly sensed something wrong as well.
After all, he was running in front and was closer to that golden figure.
At once, Yagura instinctively prepared to defend himself while quickly glancing to both sides, trying to find another route of escape.
Soon,
the golden figure entered both their fields of vision.
The newcomer froze briefly, then immediately understood what was happening.
She adjusted her direction and charged straight toward Yagura, joining Yuu from behind to form a pincer attack.
"Water Release: Water Mirr—"
Yagura attempted to repeat his old trick.
He wanted to create a copy to delay the enemy while he escaped.
However—
"So you're a brat from Kirigakure's Karatachi clan, huh?
"You look young, but your strength isn't bad.
"Unfortunately, in front of me, that little bit of ability isn't nearly enough!!"
As she spoke, the blond woman wearing a Konoha jōnin vest suddenly stomped the ground.
Her body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
At the same time, she clenched her right fist and pulled it backward, adopting a posture almost like drawing a bowstring—
then punched forward!
No complicated hand seals.
Just one simple punch.
But—
Splash—!!!
The copy that hadn't fully formed yet was struck directly in the chest.
After a brief instant of resistance, cracks spread outward from the point of impact like a spiderweb.
Then—
Bang!
It exploded apart!
And the fist didn't stop there.
Carrying the remaining force, it continued straight toward Yagura behind the shattered Water Mirror!
"?!"
Yagura's pupils contracted violently.
He swallowed the explanation he had been about to give—
that he only looked young and was actually much older.
Instead, he immediately raised his staff-like weapon horizontally in front of himself.
At the same time, he concentrated chakra into both arms and his chest, attempting to withstand the incoming punch.
Boom—!!!
At that instant,
Yagura could almost hear his sternum cracking.
Then—
the Kirigakure elite jōnin was launched backward like a boulder fired from a catapult.
He flew several dozen meters, smashing through no fewer than four or five enormous trees thick enough for several people to wrap their arms around.
Finally, he crashed heavily into a ravine, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
"Puh!"
Still holding the staff weapon that had already been smashed apart, Yagura opened his mouth and spat out several mouthfuls of blood.
Then his vision went black.
He completely lost consciousness.
Only afterward did the sound of collapsing trees arrive.
Rumble—!
The thunderous noise mixed with towering dust, creating an astonishing spectacle.
At this moment,
the golden figure turned around and looked toward Yuu.
Moonlight illuminated a bright, beautiful face.
A bold smile hung at the corners of her lips.
"Am I late?"
"…"
Are you cosplaying the Yellow Flash now or something?
Yuu complained internally.
On the surface, however, he showed genuine surprise and delight.
"Teacher Tsunade? Why are you here?"
That was right.
The blond woman who had suddenly appeared and punched Yagura into an uncertain state between life and death—
was Tsunade.
Yuu was genuinely surprised by her arrival.
After all, the documents Konoha had previously sent had never mentioned Tsunade's name.
They had only said that Yūhi Shinku and several veteran jōnin from the Hyūga clan would lead the reinforcements.
He hadn't expected there to be one extra person.
"Hmph. It's because of you, brat."
Tsunade spoke while walking toward Yuu.
"Kirigakure is stronger than Sunagakure no matter how you look at it.
"Neither the old man nor I felt completely comfortable leaving you here.
"I didn't have much to do in Konoha lately anyway, so I came along with the reinforcements…"
She lifted her chin.
"See? If I hadn't been here, that guy would've gotten away just now."
"Yes, yes. It's all thanks to Teacher Tsunade's unrivaled wisdom and martial prowess that we managed to keep him here."
Yuu shamelessly flattered her.
In truth, even without Tsunade, Yagura probably wouldn't have escaped.
But there was no need to fight over the credit.
The actual result was that Tsunade had nearly exploded Yagura with one punch.
She could describe it however she liked.
As long as she was happy.
By now,
Tsunade had reached Yuu.
She looked him up and down several times, then even grabbed his shoulders and inspected him carefully.
Only then did she nod slightly.
"Mm. You look alright.
"No serious injuries…"
She glanced around.
"Where is everyone else?"
"Over there. They haven't caught up yet."
Yuu lifted his chin toward the direction he had come from.
Then he looked behind Tsunade and asked,
"What about the reinforcements from the village?"
"Oh, they'll arrive a little later.
"I was worried about your situation, so I came ahead with a small squad.
"Then, while passing nearby earlier, I happened to see that signal flare, so I came over…"
While Tsunade was explaining,
several faint noises suddenly came from the nearby forest.
A few Konoha ninja emerged one after another.
Among them were members of the Hyūga clan, an Inuzuka ninja leading a dog, and an Aburame ninja wearing sunglasses.
They were clearly the elite squad Tsunade had mentioned.
The Inuzuka ninja showed excellent situational awareness.
Still riding his dog, he immediately ran over to Yagura, picked up the unconscious man, and threw him across the dog's back.
Tsunade lifted her chin.
"Let's go.
"We'll help the others."
…
Before long,
Yuu's group returned to the previous battlefield.
The moment she arrived, Tsunade noticed the suppressed Six-Tails Saiken.
After all, it was enormous.
It would've been difficult not to notice it.
Furthermore, because Tsunade suffered from hemophobia, she didn't particularly dare look at places filled with blood and torn flesh.
So she naturally focused her attention on areas that were less bloody.
And when she did—
even one of the battle-hardened Sannin couldn't help widening her eyes in disbelief.
"Holy…
"You actually captured Kirigakure's tailed beast?!"
Wasn't this a little ridiculous?
"No. They delivered it to us themselves.
"And I've only temporarily suppressed it.
"If you hadn't arrived to help, it might already have escaped."
Yuu replied casually.
Tsunade looked at him doubtfully.
The Konoha ninja behind her exchanged glances as well.
Although the ninja world had already gone through three great wars, capturing another village's tailed beast was still an extremely rare occurrence.
However…
when they remembered that Yuu was the one who had done it, somehow it became believable.
After all, ever since entering the Sunagakure battlefield, Yuu had constantly refreshed their understanding of what was possible.
Compared with capturing a Kazekage alive,
capturing a tailed beast suddenly didn't seem that shocking…
On the other side,
the Kiri ninja who had yet to retreat also noticed Yuu returning.
"What's going on? Why is that Konoha brat the one who came back first? Could Lord Yagura have…"
"Wait, who's that blond woman? She seems really close to the Konoha brat."
"Holy shit… It's her!!"
Tsunade's reputation was still extremely famous.
Some veteran Kirigakure ninja immediately recognized the woman who had once dominated battlefields alongside Jiraiya and Orochimaru as one of the Sannin.
At once,
everyone panicked.
Yuu alone, combined with people like Shisui and Kakashi, had already given them more than enough trouble.
Now Tsunade had arrived too—
while Yagura's condition was unknown.
If they continued remaining on this battlefield,
they might not even know what killed them.
Immediately, the remaining Kiri ninja lost all desire to fight.
Shouting—
"We've lost!"
"Our army is defeated!"
they scattered and fled in every direction, wishing their parents had given them two more legs.
Ao glanced toward the Six-Tails from a distance.
Knowing there was no longer any possibility of recovering it, he could only grit his teeth, sigh, and call for his remaining comrades to withdraw.
Some Konoha ninja wanted to pursue.
Kakashi stopped them.
"Do not pursue a desperate enemy.
"Kirigakure has been defeated, but our casualties are also considerable.
"Chasing them recklessly could cause unnecessary losses.
"For now, we should focus on treating the wounded and repairing the defensive line."
"…Alright."
The Konoha ninja nodded in agreement.
Next,
Kakashi and Gekkō Shigure sheathed their swords and led the Konoha ninja who could still move in cleaning up the battlefield.
Kurenai and several medical ninja began emergency treatment for the wounded.
Together with Honekawa Koo and the others, they helped the more seriously injured ninja into the tents behind the stronghold for bandaging and treatment.
During the process, Tsunade also used the Summoning Technique.
She summoned a large Katsuyu, who split into many smaller bodies and distributed herself among the wounded to provide additional healing.
Those like Shisui, whose chakra was exhausted but whose injuries weren't especially serious, simply sat down and rested where they were.
Then there was Obito…
He ran out from the crowd and searched all over the battlefield.
When he still couldn't find Rin, he rushed toward Yuu in a panic.
"Yuu! Something's wrong!
"Rin! Rin is missing!
"Did you see where she went?!"
"…Shh."
Yuu was currently maintaining the suppression on the Six-Tails.
He glanced toward Obito and raised a finger to his lips.
"We'll talk later."
"Huh? Why later?!
"Why can't you tell me now?!"
Obito was frantic, practically jumping in place.
Tsunade hadn't thought anything was wrong at first.
But after seeing Obito's reaction and Yuu's behavior, she gradually sensed something unusual.
"What happened?
"Did something happen to Rin?"
"…"
Quite a few people had seen the Yatagarasu pass through the sky earlier.
But only Yuu, who understood the hidden situation, had noticed Madara's figure and realized Rin had been abducted.
Everyone else—
including Obito—
had only discovered Rin was missing after running over to Black Wing and checking.
The matter involved too much to explain in a few sentences.
So Yuu intended to hold a small meeting later and explain everything properly to Tsunade and the others.
"Let's clean up the battlefield first."
Yuu paused and looked at Obito.
"Rin is missing.
"I'm anxious too.
"But we can't rush blindly into a rescue attempt. We need to formulate a plan first.
"Later, Obito, come to the command post.
"I'll tell you everything I know about Rin's whereabouts."
"…"
Obito's face tightened.
He didn't look entirely convinced.
After all, his brain wasn't particularly good even under normal circumstances.
Now that worry had thrown him into chaos, his intelligence stat had practically fallen straight from two to one.
Still, he retained enough basic reasoning to understand that Yuu would never abandon Rin.
So he didn't continue making a scene.
"Fine…
"But you'd better hurry."
"…"
A short while later,
the battlefield had basically been cleaned up.
The corpses of Konoha and Kirigakure ninja were separately arranged on opposite sides of a large open area.
The few surviving Kiri ninja were fitted with handcuffs and ankle restraints and forced to squat in a row, awaiting unified processing later.
Only the Six-Tails was troublesome.
Among the Konoha ninja present, very few were skilled in sealing techniques.
And those who were only possessed abilities around Yuu's current level—
enough to temporarily suppress the Six-Tails, but not enough to seal it into a container or human body.
Naturally,
there was absolutely no possibility of simply releasing such an important strategic resource.
Even if Konoha didn't absorb it for itself,
they could at least sell it back to Kirigakure for an outrageous price.
"…Forget it."
Tsunade waved a hand.
"For now, I'll have to trouble those of you who know sealing techniques to manually suppress it here.
"There are several members of the sealing squad among the reinforcements the old man sent.
"They should arrive tomorrow.
"If that still isn't enough, I'll write another letter and have him send more people."
She glanced toward the Six-Tails.
"Kirigakure shouldn't come back and try to steal it again that quickly, right?"