"I understand. Go inform Captain Iwaki—our vanguard unit will move ahead to support our comrades on the front lines."
"Everyone, with me! Take down the Cloud shinobi!"
With a fierce roar, Uchiha Yuan shot forward like an arrow loose from a bow, and a wave of Konoha ninja charged after him in unison.
Moments later, Yuan and his squad appeared atop a cliff overlooking the battlefield below—the Konoha encampment at the front of the Kumo front.
The scene beneath was chaos. Shouts, explosions, and screams filled the air as Leaf and Cloud forces clashed violently within the camp.
"Damn it!" growled a bearded jōnin beside Yuan, his eyes blazing with anger. "The Cloud bastards have already broken into our camp!"
Yuan's gaze swept across the battlefield. He quickly spotted the fiercest fighting at the northeast section of the camp—there, a towering Cloud ninja was tearing through the Leaf ranks like a raging beast.
Lightning chakra crackled around the man's massive frame, forming an armor of flickering electricity. Every ninjutsu launched against him shattered on contact.
"That's Cloud's Lightning Release Body Technique…" one of the Leaf nin murmured grimly. "That man must be someone famous among them."
"It's Raibeast Isaka," another answered. "Rumor has it he once fought a hundred Rock ninja alone. A monster of a man."
Just then, a violent surge of chakra erupted skyward.
Moments later, a colossal beast materialized—a monstrous, flame-wreathed cat covered in black markings and cloaked in eerie blue fire.
"That's a tailed beast!"
"They've unleashed a tailed beast?! The Cloud are going all out!"
"No… it's not a full beast," Yuan said calmly, his eyes narrowing. "That's the Two-Tails Jinchūriki—she's entered partial transformation."
The massive two-tailed cat—Matatabi, the Two-Tails—roared as it loomed over the battlefield. Within the swirling chakra cloak, a slender human silhouette could be seen—its host, the Jinchūriki herself.
The moment she transformed, the tide turned sharply against Konoha.
Fireballs the size of boulders erupted from her maw, raining down like meteors. Many Leaf shinobi failed to evade in time, consumed by the explosions that tore through the camp, leaving charred ground and screams in their wake.
The Jinchūriki then leapt into the fray, her massive body crashing through formation lines and scattering Konoha squads like dry leaves in a storm.
"Teams One through Four, hold the Two-Tails! Teams Five and Six, reinforce the main gate and the western flank!" Yuan barked rapid orders, his voice cutting through the din.
With that, he and several jōnin surged forward, the air splitting with the gusts of their chakra-charged leaps.
Earth Style: Earth Flow Rampart!
Water Style: Water Collision Wave!
Three ninja combined their chakra to raise a towering earthen wall, while five others unleashed a surging torrent of water that crashed against the beast.
The massive wall slowed the Two-Tails' charge just long enough for the roaring wave to slam into her body. Steam hissed upward in great clouds as the boiling blue flames met the water's force.
Leaf Great Whirlwind!
A blur of green shot skyward—a single, powerful kick crashed down like a hammer.
The strike sent the Jinchūriki flying backward, shattering most of her chakra cloak and revealing the human figure within—a young woman.
The Two-Tails' host, Yugito Nii, steadied herself midair, her body still trembling from the impact. Even through the beast's chakra armor, that single kick had rattled her bones.
She snarled furiously, the tails behind her flaring as chakra surged anew—
But before she could retaliate, a sharp mewl echoed within her mind—Matatabi's warning cry.
Yugito's eyes widened. She turned just in time to see a shuriken spinning toward her at blinding speed—its surface glimmering with attached explosive tags.
Her cloak hadn't yet reformed.
Boom!
The explosion lit the night sky.
From within the smoke, a massive chakra-formed claw lashed out, blocking the blast—but then a powerful fist struck it head-on, scattering the flames and smoke alike.
Through the haze stood a lone figure, his arm still raised from the punch that had shattered the beast's claw.
Uchiha Yuan.
Beneath the flickering blue aura, Yugito's sharp feline eyes locked on the man before her. The fan-shaped crest on his back made her tense instantly.
The Uchiha name carried a weight of blood and terror across the shinobi world. No one faced an Uchiha lightly.
A thin line of blood appeared on Yugito's cheek—the shuriken had grazed her despite the cloak's protection. The throw had been impossibly fast, the force behind it strong enough to pierce her tailed-beast armor.
If not for Matatabi's warning, she would have died in that instant. Even now, recalling that moment—the instant the shuriken appeared before her—made her heart clench with a cold, instinctive fear of death.
That fear twisted into fury.
Her pupils contracted into vertical slits like a cat's. A surge of killing intent poured from her body as vast quantities of chakra erupted outward. The Two-Tails' claw reformed—larger, denser, deadlier—then swept down toward Yuan.
Eight Gates Released Formation—Gate of Pain, Open!
A roar split the battlefield.
A green blur appeared between Yuan and the descending claw. With a single ferocious kick, the newcomer shattered the attack in an explosion of blue flame and chakra.
"Yo! Uchiha kid—you alright?"
Landing lightly in front of Yuan, the man turned and flashed a grin bright enough to rival the sun.
Might Guy. Kakashi's lifelong rival.
"Be careful," Yuan warned.
In the next instant, a gust of wind tore past Guy—Yuan's figure vanished.
When Guy turned, he saw Yuan already weaving through the claws of flame, twisting and leaping upward. In the blink of an eye, Yuan was at Yugito's side, his hand gripping a shuriken wreathed in black lightning.
He thrust—fast as a thunderbolt—piercing straight through the beast cloak, the blade's tip aimed directly at Yugito's heart.
But before it could strike—
A blinding flash of lightning erupted from afar.
A figure wreathed in lightning armor crashed into Yuan like a human cannonball.
Lightning Release: Heavy Flow Impact!
The blow struck with the force of a thunderclap, sending Yuan hurtling through the air.
Boom!
He tumbled a hundred meters before twisting midair and landing in a crouch. The ground beneath his feet cracked and cratered from the impact, dust billowing outward in a violent shockwave.
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