At the cave entrance.
Blood. Everywhere.
The star-nin who had entered the cave earlier—controlled by the Mangekyō—had already carved out a brutal path of slaughter, forcing the other star-nin outside to retreat.
Uchiha Yu and Tsunade looked out into the pitch-black, rain-soaked night. Neither of them spoke.
Tsunade didn't even have the mood to tease him.
Suddenly, Uchiha Yu said:
"You asked me why I insist on unifying the shinobi world. After unification… situations like this might happen a little less often."
Tsunade froze for a moment, then casually replied,
"Not necessarily."
Uchiha Yu said nothing more.
Indeed—nothing in this world is absolute. Even absolute peace demands its price.
Five minutes slipped by quickly, so fast it was almost unnoticeable. The battle on the mountain peak had not yet ended. The downpour outside continued unabated.
The quiet voices inside the cave gradually stopped.
Then, the crying of a woman and a child echoed out.
Uchiha Yu and Tsunade did not return to the cave—they stepped outside.
In the storm.
The bald star-nin drove a kunai with great effort into the heart of a controlled star-nin, then kicked the man off the cliff.
Breathing heavily, he surveyed the surroundings. All the rampaging star-nin had finally been dealt with.
Only then did he exhale in relief, spat out blood-tinged saliva, and cursed:
"Damn it… what the hell happened inside that cave!!"
He had never heard anything before about that woman—Natsuhi—being able to control star-nin through training in the Peacock Method.
This was beyond terrifying.
"Lord Night Hawk, what should we do now?"
A star-nin asked, still shaken.
Just moments ago, he had personally killed several of his mind-controlled comrades…
The remaining star-nin were all the same—emotionally battered. As shinobi, killing never bothered them.
But tonight… the ones they killed were comrades who had grown up with them, trained with them, completed missions with them.
Night Hawk wiped the rain from his bald head and glared coldly at the one who had spoken. Then he pointed at a random pair of star-nin.
"You. And you. Go inside the cave and take a look."
"W-what?"
The star-nin froze—until he saw Night Hawk's expression. Cold. Unyielding. Not accepting negotiation.
He swallowed hard, forced down his terror, gripped his kunai, and entered the cave with his companion.
Night Hawk watched sharply as the two men stepped inside. But the moment they entered—
"Ahhhh——!"
Terrified screams burst from their throats.
Night Hawk's expression tightened. He clenched his kunai, ready to throw at any moment.
The two star-nin who had gone inside were suddenly hurled out of the cave—impaled through the abdomen by two star-nin whose pupils glowed a blood-red scarlet.
"Damn it! There are still controlled trash hiding inside the cave!"
Night Hawk didn't hesitate. He pulled out two more kunai from his pouch and hurled them instantly.
Whoosh—
Kunai cut through the night sky, piercing cleanly into the brows of the two controlled Star-nin and killing them on the spot.
Moments later, Night Hawk suddenly noticed—
the Star-nin around him had collapsed one after another without him realizing it.
"It's Uchiha Yu! Lord is dead—run, run!!"
In the heavy rain, a grievously wounded Star-nin forced out a hoarse scream.
Boom—
Thunder cracked across the heavens.
A streak of violet lightning tore open the night.
"Lord… is dead? Uchiha Yu? How could that monster possibly be here?"
Night Hawk's pupils widened little by little, his whole body trembling, his breath nearly stopping.
And as he muttered in disbelief, a flash of lightning illuminated a silhouette cutting through the rain straight toward him.
The figure held a black blade, face cold and emotionless, striding forward with unbelievable speed—
even the raindrops seemed unwilling to touch him.
Shff—
One strike.
In the eyes of the remaining Star-nin, Night Hawk's head spun through the air, while his body toppled backward down the narrow mountain path and dropped off the cliff.
The next moment—
The mountain ground quivered.
Countless vines surged up from the earth, twisting like snakes around the necks of the fallen Star-nin, then tightening sharply.
Tsunade stood in the rain, watching this scene with exasperation.
"And what about me?"
She had followed Yu out of the cave precisely because she wanted to help clean up the stragglers.
But the moment she stepped out, Yu had already finished them all by himself.
Leaving her to stand there doing nothing.
Uchiha Yu glanced at the rain-soaked Tsunade and said, "There's one still alive at your feet."
"One isn't enough…"
Tsunade muttered. She crouched down, eyes sharp, staring at the Star-nin pretending to be dead at her feet. She clenched her right fist and brought it down.
"…"
The Star-nin sensed the overwhelming killing intent, eyes flying open—
only to be met by a monstrous punch.
Boom—
The earth split apart.
The man's chest caved inward by twenty centimeters, forming a gaping fist-shaped crater.
Crack—
Half the steep mountain path collapsed, rocks tumbling wildly downward.
"You planning to fight ten next?" Yu asked dryly.
He didn't even glance at the Star-nin Tsunade had reduced to a grotesque mess.
Instead, he walked past her and headed back to the cave.
Rain beat against Tsunade's face, sliding down her neck and soaking her clothes yet again.
Water washed the blood clean from her right fist. She clicked her tongue and murmured:
"It's not like I can't fight ten."
With that, she followed after Yu.
Soon, the surroundings fell into complete silence—
only the roar of the storm remained.
Rumble—
Massive rocks and corpses tumbled into the valley.
The reanimated Uchiha nearby pressed themselves tighter against the boulders, retreating quickly.
They felt no pain and could not die, but none of them wanted to be crushed into pieces.
Watching the bodies rolling endlessly off the cliff, the Edo Uchiha all glanced toward their captain, each secretly thinking:
We definitely overestimated the danger earlier.
Back in the cave—
Yu and Tsunade found Summer Star and her child collapsed beside Firefly Star.
Tsunade raised a brow and immediately stepped forward to examine them.
After a moment, she sighed.
"Overwhelmed by grief—they've just fainted."
Yu nodded, then continued adding dry branches and vines to the dying fire.
Tsunade looked at Yu's profile, trying to guess what this man was thinking, completely forgetting that her clothes had once again been soaked through by the rain.
As the fire strengthened, two sets of Uchiha clan robes appeared in Yu's right hand. He handed them to her.
"Change. Right here is fine. I've already seen everything anyway."
Tsunade: "…"
°°°
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