A group of Konoha ninja standing amidst the Cloud forces without attacking—it was a glaring flaw.
Yugito was struck with a sudden, sharp realization. She was convinced this was some foul trick of the enemy, making her allies look like foes and masking the real enemies as her comrades, only this time, their disguise had slipped.
She gritted her teeth, her voice a low snarl. "Matatabi, can you see them clearly?"
"Yes... no doubt about it. Those are Konoha ninja!" Matatabi's voice echoed back with grim certainty.
Within the Great Cat's maw, a sphere of near-solid energy began to condense. The air hummed; everyone on the battlefield could feel the terrifying weight of the power gathering there.
To Yugito, the world had gone silent. She saw the "Konoha ninja" ahead beckoning to her mockingly. Others were stumbling away in a blind panic—she couldn't hear their screams, so she assumed they were enemies begging for mercy.
Then, Matatabi swallowed the Tailed Beast Bomb. When she opened her mouth again, a blinding pillar of light erupted, a scorched-earth beam that sought to erase everything in its path.
The Tailed Beast Bomb tore a massive, jagged trench into the earth, nearly cleaving the cliffside in two. Not a single corpse remained in its wake—only sprawling fires and drifting ash.
"Yugito, have you lost your mind?!" Tutai's voice finally shattered the silence in her ears.
She spun around. On the battlefield, only a handful of Konoha ninja remained, staring at her in shock. But on the Hidden Cloud's side... there were barely a hundred men left. Those who survived were looking at her with eyes full of pure, unadulterated horror.
"It's over."
Hiruko's voice drifted down from above. He was suspended in the air, looking down at Yugito with a gaze of cold disdain. Yugito caught a glimpse of the air rippling in front of him, making her vision blur for a moment before snapping back to reality.
It was over. The field was a charnel house, rivers of blood soaking the dry earth. The Cloud commander, Tutai, lay nearby—half of his torso had been vaporized by her attack. Yugito's pupils dilated in shock.
In an instant, her mind was flooded with a crushing confusion. What happened? Didn't I just wipe out a massive wave of enemies?
Suddenly, a piercing, heart-wrenching scream tore through the air: "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Under the blistering sun, the Hidden Cloud had suffered a catastrophic blow. A deathly silence fell over the cratered landscape as everyone processed the impossible: Yugito Nii, the pride of the Cloud, had turned into a demon and slaughtered her own vanguard, ending with a Tailed Beast Bomb that erased her own commander.
Hiruko descended slowly, looking like a god looking down upon a broken mortal. With a casual wave of his hand, hundreds of sealing formula ribbons surged forward, pinning Yugito to the ground and suppressing her chakra entirely.
The remaining Cloud survivors looked at the approaching Konoha ranks and realized they were staring at their own graves. The Konoha ninja swarmed forward; those who resisted were cut down instantly, while the rest were taken captive.
Yugito stared blankly at Hiruko, her mind fractured. "Ah... ah..." was the only sound she could make.
Proud as she was, how could she live with the knowledge of what she had done? The weight of murdering her own brothers-in-arms was a burden her psyche couldn't bear. She was on the verge of a total mental collapse.
"Lord Hiruko."
Nara Shikaku, Uchiha Fugaku, and Jiraiya stepped forward, their eyes lingering on the neutralized Two-Tails host with a mixture of awe and fear.
"Lord Hiruko... was that a genjutsu?" Fugaku couldn't help but ask. As an Uchiha, he had never heard of a genjutsu capable of so thoroughly deceiving a Jinchuriki.
"Hmph." Hiruko had no intention of explaining his trump card.
His technique was derived from the Kurama clan's bloodline—the ability to manipulate the five senses. By mimicking the "hair gel" master from his memories (Aizen), he had developed a skill that the people of this world couldn't possibly decode.
It wasn't just a sensory genjutsu. Hiruko used natural energy to manipulate air density and the path of light itself. Just as heat haze makes the air shimmer and warp, Hiruko used the principles of mirages. By vibrating his chakra to alter the state of natural energy, he created a physical optical illusion.
Most people rely entirely on sight. When their eyes deceive them—and they aren't "under a genjutsu" in the traditional sense—they fall into a trap of their own making. Combined with his flawless manipulation of sound and smell, the deception was absolute. He could refract light, or vibrate the air to deafen his targets. For sensory ninja, he simply used natural energy to jam their "radar."
"Hiruko, we owe this victory to you. You've earned the top merit for this battle," Shikaku said seriously. "Taking down a Jinchuriki is a feat beyond measure."
Hiruko replied flatly, "Clean up the field. There are still enemy scouts nearby who will return soon. There's no need for a pointless slugfest."
"Lord Hiruko is right," Shikaku nodded. No one disagreed.
Yugito, bound by Hiruko's restrictive seals, was as docile as a doll. He slung her over his shoulder and began walking toward the rear. As he did, Yugito's eyes finally focused, staring at him with a loathing so deep it felt like she wanted to swallow him whole. She clearly blamed him for everything that had just transpired.
Hiruko didn't care. To him, she was just meat on the chopping block.
When he returned to his quarters, he imprisoned Yugito in a secure area, leaving her to keep Pakura company.
With the loss of the Two-Tails, the Stone and Cloud villages fell into a state of total, desperate frenzy. Konoha's casualties began to mount as the enemy grew more reckless, making every subsequent operation a struggle.
But for now, there was no better way. Hiruko alone couldn't end a world war unless he achieved the power of the Sage of the Six Paths. All they could do was endure.
In this war of attrition, whoever made the fewest mistakes would emerge victorious. Hiruko was confident; he knew the enemy would break long before he did. After all, a war on this scale is always, at its heart, a war of coins.
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