If the battle between the Fourth Raikage and Uchiha Fugaku had been the pinnacle of current shinobi combat…
Then what Yoru displayed just now was a level that completely shattered that ceiling—an overwhelming force from an entirely different dimension.
In the blink of an eye, he had frozen heaven and earth. He'd effortlessly sealed away the rampaging Fourth Raikage—whose power was enough to shatter a Susanoo—and casually deflected the attacks of two perfect Jinchūriki.
Calm. Composed. Unshaken.
It was this unbothered presence that filled the hearts of the Raikage and the Jinchūriki with an overwhelming, paralyzing despair.
The kind of despair that erased even the thought of resistance.
"Impossible…"
"How can anyone in this world do something like this…?"
Even Killer B, a perfect Jinchūriki who had fought in multiple wars and even crossed fists with Minato Namikaze during the Third Great Ninja War, had his fighting spirit completely snuffed out in that moment.
Inside his consciousness, Gyūki—the Eight Tails—had gone dead silent the instant Yoru appeared.
Only one thought echoed through B's mind:
Run.
As for Yugito Nii?
If not for the six-rod light prison binding her, she likely would've collapsed from sheer terror.
Inside her spiritual realm, the Two-Tails, Matatabi, was trembling like a housecat, limbs twitching uncontrollably, its back arched in fear.
Yoru glanced toward Hiashi and Fūsai, both of whom were breathing hard, looking utterly disheveled. Then he turned his gaze to Fugaku, who was slowly beginning to recover.
Normally, any Uchiha who suffered those injuries—compounded by the backlash from overusing Mangekyō—would've been unconscious for at least two weeks.
But Fugaku had implanted Hashirama's cells.
His enhanced physical resilience allowed his body to begin regenerating almost immediately. In just moments, his injuries were stabilizing.
"Sorry to trouble you, Lord Yoru," Fugaku said hoarsely.
"I didn't expect the Fourth Raikage's strength to be this overwhelming—especially not with two perfect Jinchūriki beside him…"
Yoru replied flatly:
"At your level, battles are ultimately a contest of intel. Your data's been sitting on the Raikage's desk for months. Sure, your recovery caught him a bit off guard… but only briefly."
"On the other hand, you knew almost nothing about him."
Yoru's gaze lingered on the frozen Fourth Raikage. He hadn't erased his life force—just locked his body in ice.
Kumogakure might not have the same heritage as Konoha, but it was still one of the Five Great Nations. And the Raikage's role was more sovereign than symbolic, unlike in Konoha where elders and advisors often meddled.
Yoru, who respected balance and leadership, had no interest in destroying such figures if it could be avoided.
"It was arrogance on my part, Lord Yoru," Fugaku murmured, bowing his head.
He forcibly suppressed the Uchiha bloodline's manic instinct that had awakened earlier—the one that made him laugh like a madman after gaining power.
Yoru smiled lightly and shifted his attention back to the frozen Raikage.
"So… what do you plan to do with them?"
"Obviously, I'll execu—" Fugaku began reflexively, but stopped short.
His Sharingan picked up on a tiny micro-expression on Yoru's face. Instantly, he corrected himself:
"I mean… I'll follow your lead, Lord Yoru."
Had this been a typical situation, Fugaku would've killed the Raikage on the spot to secure Konoha's upper hand in the war.
At minimum, he would've dragged the man back to Konoha—to boost morale and pressure Kumo into surrendering.
But… with Yuki Yoru here?
Fugaku knew better.
That's why Yoru had chosen him. Because Fugaku understood the situation.
"Good," Yoru said approvingly. "I like working with smart people."
"Then I'll take them with me for now. You clean things up here, then head to the frontlines to stabilize the situation."
"Understood, Lord Yoru."
With a flicker of chakra, Yoru vanished, taking the frozen Fourth Raikage and the two Jinchūriki with him.
Fūsai opened his mouth to speak but shut it again.
Without Yuki Yoru, not only would they all be dead—Konoha itself might have collapsed today.
Yoru had saved them. The least they could do was shut up and be grateful.
"Alright, little Fugaku," said Tagorihimei, floating toward him.
"Now that this mess is wrapped up, we're heading out too."
"Don't forget your promise. We're choosing recruits from Konoha next—make sure the ANBU and ROOT know to stay out of our way, or they might get bitten."
Fugaku nodded solemnly:
"You have my word. If not for the two of you, this would've been Konoha's downfall. And as a Holy Land, Ryūchidō choosing from our shinobi is… an honor."
"Good, then it's settled," muttered Ichikishimahime beside her.
"You go back first, Tagorihime. I need to stop by Yoru's place—maintaining the reverse summoning is draining. He wiped out two-thirds of my Sage Chakra in one go… the guy's a damn monster."
"Sure, sure~"
With a puff of smoke, the two priestesses vanished.
The battlefield fell silent once again.
"Lord Fifth!"
"You did well, Hiashi. Fūsai," Fugaku said, now standing fully upright.
Feeling his chakra restoring rapidly, he clenched his fist.
"Let's go. Kumo's got three thousand elite shinobi pressing our frontlines. Danzō and Setsuna can't hold them off for long."
"If we don't crush them hard this time, they'll never learn."
"Yes, sir!"
Fugaku shot into the trees, leading the charge.
Behind him, Hiashi and Fūsai hesitated slightly.
Hiashi's veins bulged—Byakugan still active—as he stared at Fugaku's retreating figure with furrowed brows.
"You saw it too, didn't you?" Fūsai said quietly, using chakra transmission.
"The backlash from the Mangekyō… the Susanoo breaking… the chakra loss… no Uchiha could've recovered so fast. It's unnatural."
"What's your point? Don't you want the Fifth Hokage to be strong?" Hiashi replied flatly, keeping pace.
"Of course I do. But the method he used to get that strong… don't you find it curious?"
"Curiosity kills the cat, Fūsai."
"That power… it came from Yuki Yoru, didn't it?"
"Your daughter is his student. Why didn't he give you that strength?"
"Meaningless provocation…"
Hiashi said no more, ignoring Fūsai and hurrying to catch up with Fugaku.
That didn't mean he wasn't paying attention.
With his Byakugan, he could clearly see a strange chakra signature at Fugaku's side—around his lower abdomen—and a face that every Konoha ninja recognized.
The face of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
"So it's the power of ancestral reversion..."
Watching Fugaku sprint ahead in his fire-patterned Hokage robes, Hiashi's pale eyes grew complicated.
He'd suspected something like this ever since Yoru had told him about the possibility of evolving the Byakugan into the Tenseigan, hinting at ancestral power.
But the conditions to evolve the Byakugan were extremely strict—bordering on brutal—and involved intra-clan conflict. So Hiashi had never acted on the information.
Now it seemed Fugaku had already started down that path—with Yoru's help.
A fusion of Senju and Uchiha blood...
This battle had shown Hiashi the true gap between himself and the world's top-tier ninja.
He couldn't take on Fugaku. Or the Raikage. Let alone two Jinchūriki.
He was already falling behind.
The Hyūga Clan couldn't depend on him forever.
Hinata was still just a child.
It was time…
He needed to consult with Yoru.
Meanwhile...
Kumogakure's invasion of Konoha had been executed like a lightning war.
Two prongs:
One led by the Raikage and two Jinchūriki.
The other, a force of elite shinobi rushing in behind them.
The goal was simple:
Strike fast. Strike hard.
Break Konoha before Kirigakure could react.
Given the current war conditions, it should've worked.
But what Kumo hadn't anticipated—was Uchiha Fugaku using Reverse Summoning to bring Yuki Yoru to the battlefield. And even more unimaginable was that Yoru, even under the limitations of Reverse Summoning, could still unleash such overwhelmingly dominant power.
Perhaps this was the essence of reality—victory nearly within reach, only to be shattered by cruel fate.
"I believe this is the first time we've met in person, Fourth Raikage."
Yoru stood calmly, eyes filled with curiosity as he watched the man before him emerge from his icy prison. The Raikage's muscles bulged with tension as he circulated chakra to unfreeze and reawaken his body, searching for openings—preparing to strike at any moment.
The Fourth Raikage's talent and character had earned respect not just in Kumo, but across the entire Shinobi World. Among the history of the Five Kage, he ranked among the elite.
Without any Six Paths bloodline, he had still grown strong enough to suppress the Eight-Tails, beat down Mangekyō Sharingan users, and once punched Uchiha Sasuke—at the height of his arrogance—so hard it snapped him out of his delusions.
Despite his explosive personality, he was more than just brute force. Sharp-minded, ambitious, driven, and indifferent to women (the 'doujinshi Raikage' was pure slander!), he fit the archetype of a true warlord to a tee.
Very few shadows in ninja history could truly compare.
Unfortunately, this kind of warlord was doomed to meet walls at every turn. In all his years, he'd never truly achieved what he sought. In many ways, he was Kumo's Jiraiya—talented, respected, yet fatefully thwarted.
"Let me guess," Yoru said lightly. "You probably thought that, if not for me, with your power combined with a perfect Eight-Tails host and a Two-Tails host starting to master full Tailed Beast form, you could've broken through Konoha today—swift and clean, like a thunderclap—taking the Land of Fire in one stroke."
The Raikage's face darkened.
He silently gathered chakra, trying to push his Lightning Release Chakra Mode to its peak once more.
"You defeated Konoha—so what makes you think we couldn't?" he snapped coldly. "Don't think you're anything special, Yuki Yoru!"
"Fair enough. What I can do, others might be able to do," Yoru replied with a chuckle, shaking his head. "But your mistake is in your goal. I merely defeated Konoha. You sought to destroy it. There's a difference."
"True, Konoha sits atop the richest land in the Shinobi World. It enjoys the most abundant natural resources and has been viewed as a prize since the Warring States period."
"Across a hundred years, there were countless moments of weakness—countless enemies who tried to seize it. But none ever succeeded. Not even I could destroy Konoha. And yet you—exhausted, thinking Konoha spent from war—believed you could raze it to the ground?"
"Hell Stab: Three-Finger Nukite!"
A massive surge of lightning burst forth.
The Raikage roared as his chakra exploded—his most powerful Lightning Release armor coating his body. In that moment, his physical energy, mental focus, and chakra control all reached their absolute peak.
With terrifying acceleration, he launched his strongest technique.
His body became a bolt of pure lightning, shooting toward Yoru.
Not even the Mangekyō Sharingan could react in time to this attack.
At this instant, the Fourth Raikage once again proved himself the fastest shinobi alive since the death of the Fourth Hokage.
(Except, of course... for Yoru.)
"You know," Yoru said calmly, unmoving, "the courage to swing your blade even knowing the difference between our strength… that's admirable."
But the moment the Raikage's strike should've landed—his body suddenly froze.
He was completely paralyzed before Yoru.
A terrifying, unexplainable pressure engulfed him—like something pressing directly on his soul.
It felt like suffocation. Like being swallowed by an abyss.
The Raikage's strike halted mid-air. His face twisted in agony, his muscles refusing to move. From his dashing charge, he collapsed into a kneel, trembling and wide-eyed, as if his very will had been crushed.
"N... no... I can't..."
A weak voice called out behind them.
Little Ichikishimahime slumped limply against the base of a massive tree, her tiny form shaky and pale as she glared at Yoru, half-complaining, half-exhausted.
"Big brother, can you stop showing off already? I'm seriously out of energy..."