"Drip… drip…"
Blood dripped steadily from Uchiha Yuan's arm, one drop after another, as several deep cracks split open across his forearm.
He had blocked that last Heavy Current Strike by crossing his arm in front of him at the very last moment.
Such incredible power… he thought.
Uchiha Yuan pressed his fingers against the acupoints near the wound, halting the flow of blood.
Lifting his gaze, he saw that with the arrival of their reinforcement unit, the Konoha forces had finally stabilized the front lines.
Even so, the Cloud shinobi continued their fierce assault—often, it took several Konoha ninja working together to suppress a single Cloud ninja. This imbalance was especially obvious in battles among the lower- and mid-ranking ninja.
Just then, a thunderous explosion shook the earth.
The overwhelming force of it made Uchiha Yuan turn his head sharply—off in the distance, tens of miles away, a blinding pillar of light pierced the heavens, followed by a raging shockwave that swept across the battlefield.
That light… that destructive impact… it must be a Tailed Beast Bomb!
If the Two-Tails is here, then the one who launched that must be the Eight-Tails. The battle over there must be ferocious… Yuan thought grimly, his eyes narrowing as he glanced toward the direction of the pillar.
His gaze then shifted again, locking onto the position of the Two-Tails' jinchūriki.
The Cloud ninja were retreating while fighting, rapidly converging toward the Two-Tails' host. With more and more Konoha reinforcements pouring in, the enemy clearly intended to regroup.
Shh!
Blood sprayed like an arrow as Yuan's kunai slashed across a Cloud ninja's throat.
In the next instant, he vanished from sight with a Body Flicker, reappearing behind another enemy.
That Cloud ninja, along with two of his comrades, was locked in combat with four Konoha shinobi. Without warning, Yuan's kunai stabbed cleanly into his back.
The man roared in pain and swung his blade wildly toward Yuan—but Yuan had already vanished again. His attack missed, leaving him open, and a flurry of kunai from the Konoha side pierced him through his vital points.
Yuan's figure flickered repeatedly across the battlefield, shifting from one position to another. Wherever he passed, Cloud ninja fell one after another.
As the enemy formation continued to tighten, they finally retreated onto a nearby ridge.
Something about it made Yuan's heart sink.
The Cloud shinobi didn't look like they were being driven back—they were deliberately withdrawing.
Moments later, his sensory perception caught a violent surge of chakra.
Before the Two-Tails' jinchūriki, multiple lights of different colors began to gather—converging into a single, rapidly expanding orb.
Damn it—it's a Tailed Beast Bomb! Yuan's pupils contracted sharply.
With the Tailed Beast Bomb forming, a crushing wave of chakra pressure erupted across the battlefield.
All around him, Konoha ninja paled.
"Scatter! Quickly—move!" someone shouted.
Yuan's eyes sharpened. A kunai slipped into his left hand, its surface glowing as his chakra flooded into it.
Just as he was about to throw it, several figures dropped down from the sky ahead of him.
"Formation—Four Violet Flames Formation!" one of them shouted.
In perfect unison, an immense surge of chakra erupted as the Two-Tails' jinchūriki unleashed the Tailed Beast Bomb.
Boom!
A deafening explosion split the sky. A blinding light flared outward—only to be trapped inside a faintly violet barrier that expanded like a balloon under pressure.
The four shinobi maintaining the barrier trembled violently, their faces turning red as they poured chakra into maintaining the seal. The strain of containing a Tailed Beast Bomb was immense.
Suddenly—shuriken whistled through the air!
Multiple kunai came flying from afar, their targets unmistakable—the four shinobi maintaining the barrier.
Most of the Konoha ninja were already retreating, too far to notice the incoming threat. And even if anyone did, there was no time to intercept.
At that desperate instant, a shadow flashed into the air before the Four Violet Flames Formation. A spray of shuriken fanned out from his hand.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of metal striking metal rang out as every incoming kunai was deflected.
Below, the four barrier-casters had already sensed the incoming attack and felt a surge of panic—but they dared not dispel the barrier. If they let go now, the full blast of the Tailed Beast Bomb's shockwave would annihilate everything nearby.
But when they saw the incoming kunai deflected, and the figure standing before them—bearing the Uchiha fan crest on his back—they all let out a breath of relief.
An Uchiha… they realized.
The one who had intercepted the attack was none other than Uchiha Yuan.
He landed hard, the ground cracking beneath his feet, then launched himself forward like a cannonball straight toward the Cloud formation.
At that moment, the Two-Tails' jinchūriki, having fired the Tailed Beast Bomb, was visibly weakening—the cloak of demonic chakra receding back into her body.
Even for a jinchūriki, unleashing a Tailed Beast Bomb placed an enormous strain on the body.
"Stop him!" the Cloud shinobi roared as Yuan charged.
Yuan met the first wave head-on, his kunai flashing against a descending longsword.
Clang!
The enemy's sword shattered. A streak of silver light traced across the man's neck.
Before the body even hit the ground, Yuan twisted aside, evading two simultaneous attacks and slashing another Cloud ninja across the throat.
Crimson blood sprayed wildly, the metallic scent thick in the air.
Yuan's movements were spectral—swift, elusive. In the span of mere seconds, he weaved a zigzagging path through the Cloud defenses and reached the Two-Tails' jinchūriki.
Heavy Current Strike!
Just as Yuan's kunai thrust forward, a burly figure wreathed in lightning crashed down before him, driving a thunderous punch toward his chest.
It was the same Cloud shinobi who had sent him flying with a single blow earlier.
The two clashed once more.
Yuan twisted his body sharply, redirecting the force of the incoming blow and channeling it into a fierce counter-kick.
Boom!
The violent shockwave blasted outward. Both fighters were thrown back by the recoil.
Yuan flipped midair, landing lightly, then hurled his glowing kunai with all his strength.
Flash—!
A streak of cold light tore through the air, screaming straight toward the Two-Tails' jinchūriki.
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