Chapter 379: Yachihoko
Naruto's evaluation of the Raikage was that he was fast, durable, and possessed immense destructive power.
Naruto hadn't held back at all during that last attack.
The Fourth Raikage acted as if it were nothing; he propped himself up with his hands, shook his head, spat out the dust and a bit of bloody foam from his mouth, and stood back up.
Although his Lightning Release Armor had dimmed slightly, it was still crackling; aside from some dust and minor abrasions on his bronze muscles, he didn't seem to have suffered any serious damage. Even the spot on his abdomen where he had been kicked only showed a shallow, shoe-shaped indentation.
"Tch, what a tough nut to crack," Naruto muttered to himself.
Naruto thought, but a look of even greater interest appeared on his face.
An opponent like this made the fight worthwhile and served as a better test for the current limits of his taijutsu.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield...
After her "Fire Rat Ball" was easily blocked by Hikari, Yugito moved like a true, agile cat demon. Dropping to all fours, she erupted with staggering speed and lunged at Uchiha Hikari once more.
Infused with Tailed Beast Chakra, the already sharp nails on her fingers grew longer and sharper, transforming into ten slender claws that glinted with an eerie blue light.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Yugito's attacks were like a torrential storm, a blur of claws accompanied by sharp whistling sounds as they struck at Hikari's vital points from every angle!
Uchiha Hikari remained as calm and indifferent as ever.
The Yaso Magatsukiri in her hand traced elegant yet lethal arcs.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
A series of metallic clashing sounds rang out!
Hikari used the blade to precisely parry Yugito's incoming right claw.
However, Yugito's assault didn't stop; her left claw followed immediately, striking toward Hikari's ribs from an extremely tricky angle.
This time, Hikari didn't even use her sword to block.
A layer of blood-red energy, resembling burning flames, suddenly erupted from around Hikari's body.
This energy rapidly condensed and took shape, instantly forming a translucent Susanoo consisting only of an upper-body ribcage and arm bones to block the strike.
"Bang!"
Yugito's full-force claw, imbued with Tailed Beast Chakra, slammed hard against the red Susanoo skeleton, but it only produced a dull thud and a few sparks of crimson energy!
Four scratches appeared on the Susanoo skeleton.
Yugito felt as if her claws had struck the hardest alloy in existence; a massive recoil surged back, numbing her arm!
Now's the chance!
At the very moment Yugito's body stiffened because her attack was blocked...
"Tsukuyomi!"
Hikari's crimson lips parted slightly as she silently breathed the name of the technique.
There was no earth-shattering display, nor any violent Chakra fluctuations.
But the moment her Mangekyo pattern spun, Yugito's cat-like eyes—which had turned into vertical slits from drawing on the Tailed Beast's power—suddenly lost their focus.
The ferocious expression on her face froze instantly, as if her Soul had been ripped from her body at that very second.
In Yugito's perception, her surroundings spun wildly and changed completely.
This was no longer the battlefield at the gates of the Hidden Cloud Village.
The bright sun in the sky had somehow turned into a massive blood moon emitting an ominous red light.
Etched upon that blood moon was the exact same Mangekyo pattern found in Uchiha Hikari's eyes.
The black-haired girl who had been fighting her just moments ago was now floating quietly in mid-air, looking down at her with disdain.
Hikari's gaze was still indifferent, but within that indifference was a sense of absolute control and detachment, as if a god were looking down upon an ant.
No, that's not right...
A strong sense of unease suddenly welled up in Yugito's heart.
That gaze didn't seem to be directed at her?
It was as if she were looking behind her?
Or perhaps waiting for something?
Was there something behind her?
Yugito struggled to turn her neck to look behind her.
Then, she saw a scene that made her skin crawl!
Not far behind her, the massive Two-Tails Matatabi, its entire body wreathed in blue flames, was crouching low. Its front claws gripped the ground tightly, its hindquarters were raised high, and its tails lashed restlessly like steel whips. Its flaming cat eyes were fixed intently on Uchiha Hikari in the sky.
Why was the Two-Tails here?
No, its eyes were wrong!
There was none of the usual rapport they shared when fighting side-by-side; instead, they were filled with a strange hollowness—the blankness of being completely dominated!
Yugito could even see Matatabi's massive frame swaying slightly and its muscles tensing, but the range of its movements was slowing down.
What on earth was going on? Where was this? Why was the Two-Tails like this?
Was it genjutsu?
Terror, confusion, bewilderment...
All sorts of emotions flooded over Yugito like a tide.
And at that moment...
Uchiha Hikari, suspended in mid-air, finally spoke again.
Her voice was still flat, without a hint of emotion, yet it seemed to possess a magic that reached the depths of the Soul, echoing clearly within this eerie Tsukuyomi Space:
"Become our strength."
"Yachihoko."
As those words fell like an incantation...
Yugito felt her consciousness being thrown into a massive, warm, and viscous vortex, beginning to sink and dissipate uncontrollably.
It was as if there were an endless black abyss at the bottom, with countless black hands tearing at her sanity.
The scene before her eyes began to blur—the blood-red moon, the floating Hikari, the Matatabi behind her...
Everything became distorted and distant.
She tried to struggle, tried to mobilize her Chakra and Matatabi's power, but she found her connection to her Chakra rapidly weakening. It was as if countless invisible hands were reaching out from the blood moon and Uchiha Hikari's eyes, wrapping around her Soul and dragging her inch by inch into the abyss.
Yugito looked at Matatabi and saw the last trace of the Tailed Beast's wildness and defiance rapidly fading from its eyes, replaced by the same hollowness and blankness.
In her perception, countless black hands were pulling at her.
Yugito struggled desperately, but it was to no avail.
When a black hand covered Yugito's mouth, she found she had lost her speech; when black hands covered her ears, she lost her hearing; and when two black hands covered her eyes, she lost her vision.
Before her consciousness completely succumbed, Yugito's hands were raised high above her head, twitching in a constant struggle.
When a black hand grabbed her hand and lowered it, Yugito completely lost consciousness.
Hikari watched coldly as Yugito stood motionless, her eyes gradually becoming hollow, but a surge of excitement rose in her heart.
Excellent, she had finally caught another person to mark with the Yachihoko.
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