The Two-Tails' body began to show signs of separating from Yugito.
It was visibly starting to disperse.
Then chakra surged up from deep within the seal, beginning to repair Yugito's injuries.
If Yugito died, then the Two-Tails would die as well.
Of course, a tailed beast would eventually revive, but no one could predict when.
And even then, its chakra would need time to recover before it could return to its former strength.
"Don't waste chakra healing me yet. I'm going to fire a Tailed Beast Bomb."
Once the bleeding had slowed, Yugito had the Two-Tails spring away like a nimble wildcat, racing through the mountains and retreating deeper into the distance.
"The Two-Tails is running away?"
Kurenai looked at Yugito fleeing into the mountains, confused.
"No. She's probably trying to fire a Tailed Beast Bomb."
Shizune shook her head.
As she casually flicked a poisoned senbon into a Kumogakure shinobi blocking her way, she added,
"She tried to use it just now, but Kiyohara interrupted her."
Kurenai immediately remembered it. Kiyohara really had cut her off before she could release it.
Clearly, the Kumogakure shinobi had realized the same thing.
A bolt of lightning shot straight at Kiyohara, thick as a man's body.
The Eight-Headed Serpent Kiyohara had become lost a few scales where the strike landed, but the damage visibly began to heal the next second.
"He heals so fast!"
The one who had attacked was Toyotomi Osamu of Kumogakure, an old veteran Lightning Release user who specialized in drawing down natural thunder from storm clouds overhead.
Because the power of real lightning far surpassed the lightning a normal shinobi could create with chakra.
Boom!
Only after it struck Kiyohara did the thunder crash ring out.
"So he's drawing down natural lightning…"
Kiyohara glanced back.
Just as he had been about to pursue Yugito, a bolt of lightning had struck him.
Lightning itself wasn't as fast as light, but it still moved at ten thousand to a hundred thousand kilometers per second.
Thunder, meanwhile, only traveled at about three kilometers per second.
"Interesting."
The three tomoe in Kiyohara's Sharingan turned.
This technique was very similar to Lightning Release: Kirin, but he was curious how this man had managed to set up the jutsu in the sky so quietly.
After a moment's thought, Kiyohara chose not to chase Yugito immediately.
At worst, she was just trying to release a Tailed Beast Bomb.
And during their exchange, Kiyohara had already placed a Flying Thunder God mark on her.
He could teleport to her at any time.
With that in mind, Kiyohara released the Eight-Branches Technique and used Lightning Release: Lightning Body Flicker to appear directly in front of Toyotomi Osamu.
Just as the man tried to form hand seals, Kiyohara trapped him with genjutsu.
Then Kiyohara sealed him up with a fuinjutsu technique, intending to keep him as a prisoner and study him later.
Kumogakure, being the home of the ninja world's greatest concentration of Lightning Release users, naturally possessed more advanced Lightning Release techniques than any other village.
Kiyohara fully intended to learn from them.
"Now then. Back to Yugito."
Kiyohara looked back, already prepared to teleport.
Meanwhile, Yugito had reached a much greater distance.
"This is too dangerous."
Inside Yugito's mindscape, the Two-Tails shook its head.
"This is the only way."
Ignoring Matatabi's objections, Yugito directly diverted the recovering tailed beast chakra toward forming a Tailed Beast Bomb.
To prevent Kiyohara from interrupting again, she condensed part of it and swallowed it straight into her mouth.
"That's…"
Uchiha Fugaku saw what was happening and immediately shouted,
"It's a Tailed Beast Bomb! Take cover!"
At the same time, he hesitated inwardly—should he reveal the power of his Mangekyo too?
"Everyone, be careful!"
Natsu Hyuga could clearly see, through her Byakugan, that the chakra inside that Tailed Beast Bomb held enough destructive force to flatten the entire battlefield.
The Konoha shinobi began retreating.
"Lady Katsuyu!"
Tsunade's voice rang out.
She stood at the edge of the battlefield, both hands locked in a seal. The Strength of a Hundred Seal on her forehead was fully released, its branching markings spread across her entire body.
Poof!
A massive burst of white smoke exploded outward.
A gigantic slug appeared on the battlefield.
Its body was so enormous that it covered nearly half the battlefield. It raised its head, and its soft body immediately split into countless smaller slugs that rushed toward every Konoha shinobi nearby.
"Quick!"
"Let the slugs cover you!"
Tsunade shouted.
The Konoha shinobi had no time to think. They immediately allowed the small slugs to crawl onto them.
Katsuyu's soft bodies wrapped tightly around them, layer upon layer, forming protective coverings.
But just as Yugito, controlling the Two-Tails, was about to fire the Tailed Beast Bomb, the Two-Tails suddenly vanished.
And in the distant mountain range behind them, a mushroom cloud erupted.
The shockwave swept across dozens of miles, smoke boiling up into the sky.
"Kiyohara used Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder."
To outsiders, it looked like a miracle. But to those who truly understood it, the mechanics were obvious.
This was another derivative application originally developed by Tobirama Senju.
That was why both Kiyohara and Minato knew the technique.
Its essence was simple: use Flying Thunder God to take the enemy's attack somewhere else along with you.
"Hmph."
The Fourth Raikage saw Minato's attention momentarily shift toward Kiyohara and instantly seized the opportunity, trying to crash a punch into him.
But Minato's body flickered and dodged it.
While those two were still clashing, the massive body of the Two-Tails came crashing down into the enormous crater below.
She had been trying to spit out the Tailed Beast Bomb from her mouth, but Kiyohara had stopped her, causing it to explode there instead.
Rumble.
Mountains collapsed, rocks tumbled, and dust rose into the air.
Yugito could no longer maintain full tailed beast transformation.
The giant cat's body broke apart like collapsing sand, turning into countless dark blue points of light and vanishing into the air.
Yugito lay on the scorched black earth.
Most of her tight combat outfit had been torn apart, exposing broad stretches of pale skin.
The cloth over her chest had been reduced to a few ragged strips, barely hiding the full curve beneath them, while the torn edges revealed deeper lines below.
The bloody hole in her torso was already being repaired by tailed beast chakra, leaving behind only a wounded mark.
"You look pretty rough."
Kiyohara looked down at her from above.
Yugito's legs lay weakly spread apart. Her shinobi sandals had already been flung away somewhere, leaving her bare feet exposed, their soles stained with black ash.
Then Kiyohara crouched down in front of her and lifted her chin with a finger.
Yugito's face was forced upward to meet those crimson Sharingan eyes.
Her face was soaked in sweat, blond hair stuck to her forehead.
Her complexion was pale as paper from chakra exhaustion and pain, her lips drained of color.
But even so, she still refused to yield. She held onto the last of her pride.
In the next moment, Kiyohara began treating her wounds himself, making sure she didn't actually die.
His hand settled against her stomach.
Even through the cloth soaked with blood, he could feel the tight muscle and the warmth of her body.
Yugito could feel it too—a warm flow of chakra continuously entering her.
What surprised her most, though, was that Kiyohara still had this much chakra left.
The amount he poured in was more than enough to heal her, so much so that her lower abdomen felt almost full from the excess.
"Yugito!"
Mabui's cry came from the distance.
Samui bit down on her lip, her usually cold eyes now full of worry for her comrade.
Not just them—many Kumogakure shinobi tried to rush over, and the battlefield was thrown into even greater chaos.
Konoha shinobi were already closing in from every direction, locking blades with Kumogakure's remaining forces.
The Fourth Raikage was tied down by Minato. Every time he tried to break through, that golden flash would appear in front of him again.
"Lord Raikage, your opponent is me."
Minato said.
The Fourth Raikage gritted his teeth.
He could already tell that Minato's speed exceeded his own by too much.
Every time he tried to reach Yugito, Minato predicted it and intercepted him.
Elsewhere, the roar of the Eight-Tails shook the battlefield.
Killer B had fully transformed, and the gigantic form of Gyūki was lashing around with all eight of its tentacle-like tails, attacking the Konoha shinobi in a frenzy.
Shisui's Susanoo was still standing. The half-bodied skeleton held two of the Eight-Tails' tails firmly in its hands while green chakra arrows fired from its chest and lodged in Gyūki's flesh.
But the Eight-Tails' strength was simply too overwhelming.
It thrashed its body and used its remaining six tails to repeatedly smash against the green skeleton.
Every blow sent cracks spidering across the surface of the Susanoo.
Shisui's face grew paler and paler, blood tears streaming from his eyes.
The Mangekyo Sharingan spun frantically in his sockets, ocular power being burned away at a terrifying pace, and still he could barely contain the Eight-Tails' violence.
"Shisui!"
Tekka Uchiha's voice rang out from below.
He stood together with several other Uchiha shinobi, hands already forming seals, ready to launch Fire Release techniques in support.
But Shisui gave the faintest shake of his head.
"Don't come over…"
His voice was weak.
The moment those words left his mouth, one of the Eight-Tails' massive tails slammed directly into the Susanoo's chest.
Crack.
The fractures instantly spread, running from the chest throughout the entire construct.
The green skeleton shuddered violently, then shattered completely.
The power of the Mangekyo was tremendous, but for a Shisui still this young, the burden was simply too great.
He was flung backward and crashed heavily to the ground.
Blood poured from the corner of his mouth, and the Mangekyo in his eyes shut down automatically, fading back to ordinary black pupils.
"Shisui!"
Fugaku's voice came from the side.
He stood not far away, hands still held in a half-finished seal.
He looked at Shisui collapsed in a pool of blood, at the broken remnants of Susanoo dissolving into the air, at the enormous form of the Eight-Tails pressing forward…
And his fists slowly clenched.
Inside his eye sockets, the three tomoe of his Sharingan began spinning faster and faster.
Mangekyo…
If he awakened the Mangekyo, he could stop the Eight-Tails.
If he awakened it, he could save Shisui.
If he just—
His eyes swept across the battlefield.
The Uchiha clan members were all fighting desperately. Konoha shinobi were throwing themselves in front of the Eight-Tails. In the distance, Kiyohara was dealing with the Two-Tails' jinchuriki…
And he himself was the head of the Uchiha clan.
He should step forward.
He had to step forward.
But…
Fugaku still didn't know whether he should reveal that power.
His thinking was the exact opposite of Shisui's.
Too much power only invited fear and suspicion.
That was Fugaku's belief.
Because if neither he nor Kiyohara ended up becoming Hokage, then the clan might very well turn against him, force his hand, and demand that he use such power to launch a coup.
And the rest of the village would become even more wary as well.
After all, he was the head of the Uchiha clan—not like Kiyohara, who belonged to the Hokage faction and had grown up outside the clan.
"Fugaku-sama!"
A voice came running from the side.
Fugaku turned and saw Yashiro Uchiha hurrying toward him, panic on his face.
"Fugaku-sama, Shisui needs treatment! Lady Tsunade has already sent someone over!"
Fugaku looked toward Shisui.
Sure enough, a large slug was already moving toward him, green medical chakra flowing into his wounds.
Tsunade stood not far away with her eyes closed, hands still locked in a seal, chakra pouring through Katsuyu into the wounded.
Her face was a little pale, fine sweat beading on her brow.
Fugaku drew in a deep breath and forced down the turmoil in his chest.
"I understand."
"Keep fighting."
…
At the bottom of the huge circular crater—
"Why are you saving me?"
Yugito had recovered a bit of strength and stared at Kiyohara.
"If you died, I wouldn't have a prisoner anymore."
Kiyohara smiled faintly.
He wanted to learn how to use that blue fire from her.
Just like the black Lightning Release developed by the Third Raikage, Yugito's blue Fire Release was special too.
It was probably an ability she had learned from the Two-Tails.
"I'm not telling you anything."
"Then tell it to my Sharingan later."
Kiyohara's response left Yugito with nothing to say.
As a method of interrogation, genjutsu really was terrifying.
Thinking about that, even proud Yugito felt some of the strength drain out of her.
The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became.
She had worked so hard for so long, only to be defeated by Kiyohara anyway.
And now, at best, she was probably going to end up a prisoner.
Yugito looked at him.
Maybe she would never get another chance to take revenge.
So suddenly, she bit down on the hand Kiyohara was using to hold her chin.
Those lips were soft and warm, and her teeth bit down with all the force she had, trying to break his skin.
Crack.
A sharp sound rang out.
Yugito froze.
Kiyohara's fingers had turned black—hard, thick, metallic.
Steel Release.
"Y-you… your fingers…"
Her voice came out muffled, because that finger was still in her mouth.
Looking at her like that, Kiyohara couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips.
"You can't bite through them."
he said calmly.
Yugito's face flushed bright red.
She jerked her mouth away.
"Ptah, ptah!"
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glared at him.
"You… you did that on purpose!"
Her voice had almost gone shrill.
"You let me bite you just so you could break my teeth?"
Kiyohara withdrew his hand, looking at the black metallic sheen already fading from his finger.
"You're the one who bit me. I didn't do anything."
Yugito was so angry her chest rose and fell sharply, the full curve beneath her torn clothes shifting with each breath.
If Kiyohara lowered his eyes, he could already see more than enough of the lower curve of her chest.
"Kiyohara!"
she ground out through clenched teeth.
But in the next instant, Kiyohara pinched her cheeks and opened her mouth again.
Then he slid that same finger back in.
"I've still got the Sharingan active. You really thought you could sneak something past me?"
He moved the finger inside her mouth, lifting her tongue and checking carefully to make sure there wasn't any hidden poison capsule tucked between her teeth or beneath her tongue.
Some shinobi kept poison in their mouths so they could bite down and kill themselves before giving up information.
"Good."
Kiyohara withdrew his hand and casually wiped the saliva off on her clothes.
Yugito thought about what had just happened—she had tried something so undignified, and even that had been seen through and blocked by him.
This infuriating devil.
Was she really never going to escape Kiyohara's grasp for the rest of her life?
Yugito's eyes immediately reddened, tears almost spilling out.
At the end of the day, she was still only a teenage girl.
"Don't worry. Prisoners don't get treated too badly."
Kiyohara took out one of his spare combat uniforms from a sealing scroll and draped it over her, covering her up properly.
Then chakra began to flow from his fingertips again.
It spread from her shoulders, winding down along her sides and across her flat stomach, then lower.
Yugito could feel the black patterns wrapping around her body like ribbons, tightening as they went.
A curse mark.
She lowered her eyes and looked at her thighs.
The black markings had wrapped around them in loops, pressing tightly enough to leave shallow indentations in the firm flesh.
They didn't dig into her skin, but they were tight enough that she couldn't move at all.
"What… what are you doing?!"
Her voice carried a note of panic.
She struggled, but the markings didn't budge.
If anything, every attempt to resist only made them feel tighter, leaving deeper impressions over the combat uniform.
Kiyohara stood up and looked down at her.
"Making sure you behave and don't try anything again."
He was clearly referring to her suddenly biting his finger just now.
Yugito's face flushed red with anger.
She bit down hard on her lip, fury burning in her eyes, but couldn't say a word.
Because she could feel it clearly—those markings weren't only restraining her body, they were suppressing her chakra too.
Now she couldn't even move a single finger.
"Shadow Clone Technique."
Kiyohara formed a seal.
Poof.
A second figure appeared beside him.
It was identical to the original Kiyohara in every way—same face, same build.
"Keep watch over her."
Kiyohara instructed.
"If someone comes to rescue her, transfer away immediately."
The clone nodded.
"Understood."
Kiyohara gave Yugito one last look.
Those stubborn eyes still glared at him, her lips pressed tightly together, her chest rising and falling in furious breaths.
"Wait for me to get back."
he said calmly.
Then, in the next instant, he vanished.
All that remained at the bottom of the crater were Yugito and the shadow clone.
She lay there in the dust, bound tightly by the black markings, unable to move at all.
Biting her lip, Yugito stared in the direction Kiyohara had disappeared, tears of humiliation slowly gathering in her eyes.
…
Back on the battlefield—
The moment Kiyohara's chakra signature reappeared nearby, Tsunade finally let out the breath she had been holding.
If a Tailed Beast Bomb had actually gone off at full power, she didn't think anyone here could have taken it head-on.
Even with Kiyohara's hardening techniques, it wouldn't have ended well.
~~~
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