At this moment, atop the highest stone pillar on the northern side of the Valley of Hell, an old man sat in isolation. Clad in a deep blue robe with withered white hair, he rested his cheek lightly on one hand.
His eyes swept with disdain over the battlefield below—a landscape devastated beyond recognition, where two gargantuan calamities now stood in a tense standoff.
Having witnessed the entire battle from start to finish, he seemed utterly unimpressed by the Tailed Beast forms that commoners viewed as insurmountable peaks of power. He didn't even bother to grant them a direct look until his gaze finally settled on the young boy perched atop the Two-Tails' head.
The old man let out a soft chuckle. His vision blurred slightly as the scene evoked fragments of old memories.
"Decisive in judgment, though... still a bit too merciful," he remarked daintily, shaking his head.
"At the moment of unsealing, he should have directly forced a summoning contract, then used ocular power to manipulate it—draining its power, driving its body, enslaving its spirit, and forcing it into a bloody struggle. That is the correct way to handle a beast."
"Still, considering the target is the Two-Tails, it's not entirely incomprehensible..."
Shaking his head with a touch of boredom, the old man prepared to stand and leave. The battle ahead promised to be quite dull. However, at that moment, he felt a sensation and looked up toward the northern night sky.
In this moonless hour, where only a sea of stars filled the sky without the brilliance of the moon, he sensed an abnormal fluctuation.
Soon, a trail of light—resembling a meteor with a trailing tail and flickering lightning, produced by an electronic leap at near-light speed through the atmosphere—reflected in the old man's crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
"Oh?"
"Chakra even more powerful than the First Raikage." The old man narrowed his eyes, his brow arching slightly as his lips curled into a smirk. "Things seem to be getting interesting."
"Ren Uchiha... now that you've exhausted your tricks to deal with the Two-Tails, what will you do against a formidable enemy of this caliber?"
The old man propped up his chin, his eyes flashing with anticipation. "Come then. Dance for me."
The Valley of Hell was wedged right on the border between the Land of Hot Springs and the Land of Frost.
To take a shortcut from the Land of Frost through the Valley of Hell to reach the Land of Hot Springs, one had to descend from the valley floor through stone peaks and cliffs with a drop of over a thousand meters. Then, one had to navigate the perpetual white mist, boiling pools of toxic miasma, and a distorted magnetic field that made direction-finding impossible. Only then could one scale the mirror-like encircling cliffs to face the Uchiha clan, who stood there like a natural moat.
Of course, terrain was never a true obstacle for shinobi who could walk on walls. The critical issue was the inability to discern direction once inside the valley—that was fatal. Without the Chinoike clan as guides, the Kumogakure army could not cross the Valley of Hell.
They would be forced to take a much more tedious route, lengthening their supply lines and passing through multiple Konoha border patrols, eventually reaching the Land of Rice and then the Land of Fire.
Killer B and Yugito Nii had taken this long path to enter the Land of Fire, then slipped into the Land of Hot Springs to reach the valley. The route was that troublesome.
Therefore, although the straight-line distance between them and the Kumo army was barely five kilometers, those five kilometers—without a Chinoike guide—completely severed the possibility of mutual reinforcement.
From this, one could see how vital the Chinoike clan was to Kumogakure's plan. And without their cooperation, the strike force of B and Yugito became an isolated unit.
From the very beginning, Ren Uchiha had realized this. Based on top-secret intel known only to him, he had planned the entire engagement around it. The Chinoike clan was being dealt with by En Oyashiro. While "hellish," it wasn't a joke; for the Uchiha, it was a favorable condition.
Furthermore, Ren had called for backup from the start. Minato Namikaze was likely racing toward them at top speed. Though, Ren didn't know if this backup was reliable—flying for half an hour across a thousand miles... would Minato be so exhausted his legs would give out upon arrival? That remained to be seen.
That was why Ren had performed such a life-threatening, risky move. If the operation succeeded, the longer the war dragged on, the higher the winning odds for him, the Uchiha, and Konoha.
Meanwhile...
"B, don't you think it's a bit too quiet right now?"
Inside his mental world, hearing the Eight-Tails' words, Killer B's expression tightened. Though he desperately wanted to kill the Uchiha brat atop the Two-Tails' head, B regained his composure. Under the Eight-Tails' reminder, he realized something was wrong.
It was too quiet.
The Chinoike clan, integral to the original plan, had only made noise for a brief moment when the signal was first sent. Since then, there had been total silence.
"Could it be that because I didn't successfully destroy the Uchiha's defenses as agreed, they refuse to act?" B thought, looking toward the cliffs with a grimace.
If so, Kumo's mission was a total failure. They had even lost the Two-Tails for nothing! Their task was to destroy the camp from a distance to buy time for the Chinoike to lead the Kumo army through the valley.
But now, forget the army... he hadn't seen a single member of the Chinoike clan! What was happening?!
"Regardless of the reason!" the Eight-Tails said gravely. "B, you must put aside your hatred and think about how to leave this place!"
"The Amber Purifying Pot intended for that Uchiha brat was sent to the white-haired girl to prevent its loss. Since they can't get through, you are in extreme danger here."
"Don't forget, there is still that very troublesome Uchiha old man in this place..."
B froze, involuntarily recalling the one-eyed old man he had encountered previously. That man hadn't shown anything particularly special, relying only on seasoned swordsmanship, yet he gave off a profoundly dangerous aura.
But the thought of Yugito dying at that brat's hands felt like a needle stabbing his heart. He gritted his teeth to suppress his fury. After a moment of hesitation, his fists clenching and unclenching, B let out a heavy breath, as if drained of all strength.
"You're right, Hachi. It's time to go!"
As the thought synced with the outside world, the Eight-Tails Gyūki, which had been facing off against the Two-Tails, suddenly turned and leaped toward the southern exit of the valley, shrinking its body in the process. A full Tailed Beast body was a massive target for the Uchiha; if they were blocked and hit with Genjutsu, withdrawal would be impossible.
In the camp:
"They're trying to run!?"
Uchiha Setsuna, who had already gathered a group of elite Jōnin and rushed out of the camp, immediately spotted the movement. He narrowed his eyes and ordered without hesitation:
"Demolition squad, blow the southern exit! Everyone else, follow me!"
On the other side:
"You think you can leave!?"
Matatabi bared its teeth, its eyes turning fierce. If Hashirama Senju hadn't caught it and handed it over to Kumo for sealing, how could those Kumo barbarians have ever kept it? Today, it had to cooperate with these Uchiha to take down B and Gyūki. Then, it could fake its death to escape the shackles of Kumogakure.
Though the truth would eventually come out when the Eight-Tails reformed, the years required for its rebirth would be enough for Matatabi to find a hiding spot in the current ninja world.
In an instant, the once-mighty "terrorist" Killer B became the rat in a trap, pursued and blocked by the various personnel stationed in the valley!
However, just as the Two-Tails prepared to give chase, Ren Uchiha—who was perched on its forehead desperately refining chakra—suddenly snapped his crimson Sharingan open.
After a moment of thought, he stared with deep intensity at the severed Eight-Tails tentacle that Matatabi had sliced off during the battle.
"Wait, Matatabi!"
"Fire a Tailed Beast Bomb at that tentacle on the ground first!"
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