Chapter 35: Cloud Village Yields
In the sky, the glow grew ever brighter. The blazing light caused by meteors tearing through the atmosphere instantly drew everyone's attention.
"That is… no, this is bad—those are meteors! They're falling toward us!"
Panic erupted within the Cloud Village camp. At first, the shinobi thought the streaks of light were simply ordinary shooting stars. But as time passed, the lights grew larger and brighter in their eyes—until the chilling truth set in. These were no ordinary meteors. They were descending fast, and heading straight for them.
"Damn it! Why are meteors suddenly falling from the sky?"
Yugito's face turned pale with rage and fear. If this many small meteors hit the ground, every ninja gathered near the border would be doomed.
"Get ready. I'll use small Tailed Beast Bombs to try and shatter the meteors before they hit the ground. The rest of you—destroy the fragments completely. We need to minimize the damage as much as possible."
Even Matatabi, the Two-Tails, couldn't stay calm. While it was true that Tailed Beasts could reincarnate, the pain of death was no less real. She wasn't some masochist—there was no way she wanted to experience death just for fun.
"Understood…"
After quickly issuing a few urgent commands, Yugito immediately entered a partial Tailed Beast Transformation. A massive beast with predominantly blue fur and black flame-like markings appeared in the middle of the Cloud Village camp. Two long tails lashed anxiously behind it, whipping up violent gales.
With Yugito transformed, the other Cloud ninjas scrambled into position, each ready to act on her command.
"They're coming…"
As the meteors drew closer, Matatabi warned her. A huge surge of chakra condensed in her mouth, quickly forming into a small black sphere—a mini Tailed Beast Bomb. Though not as powerful as a full-sized one, it consumed far less chakra and could be fired in rapid succession.
The black orb shot upward, speeding directly toward the descending meteor. The moment the two made contact, a powerful explosion erupted. The small meteor was instantly blown apart, shards flying in every direction. Even Sakura and the others, stationed far away, could feel the shockwave from the blast.
One after another, Matatabi condensed and launched mini bombs, each one slamming into the meteor storm with pinpoint accuracy. But even though Yugito had mastered full cooperation with Matatabi, the Two-Tails' chakra wasn't infinite. Unlike the Eight-Tails or Nine-Tails, she couldn't sustain such output for long.
After firing more than a dozen shots, Matatabi's chakra was nearly depleted. Most of the meteors had already been shattered and finished off by the supporting ninja, but one final meteor remained—still plummeting toward the ground.
"Yugito… I'm sorry. I can't gather enough chakra to fire another bomb!"
Matatabi's voice was tinged with exhaustion and regret. Tailed Beasts did have massive chakra reserves and could recover faster than humans, but even they couldn't endlessly generate that many bombs without rest. With the final meteor already so close to impact, there simply wasn't time to recover.
"It's alright. We should be able to stop the last one ourselves…"
Yugito panted heavily. The toll on Matatabi's chakra affected her too. She looked up at the fast-approaching meteor, her expression grim. While it was true that Cloud Village excelled at Lightning Release, most of their ninjas specialized in close-combat techniques, like kenjutsu or lightning-infused taijutsu. Long-range options were rare. And the shinobi stationed at the front lines weren't exactly elite either—bringing down a falling meteor at this speed was a tall order.
"Wait… that last meteor—it's not going to hit the camp…"
At that moment, Matatabi suddenly called out, "Yugito! Have them use Earth Release to shield the camp—quickly! The meteor's impact point is just outside the camp. As long as we can block the shockwave, we'll be fine!"
Yugito's eyes lit up at the suggestion. She immediately called for all the Earth Release users in the camp. Soon, a ring of earthen walls rose up, encircling the entire Cloud Village encampment. However, due to Cloud's general lack of Earth Release specialists, the wall was a mess—uneven in height, crudely patched together in segments.
BOOM—!
The meteor finally struck the ground with a thunderous crash, like the roar of a thunderclap. A powerful shockwave burst outward, shredding the nearby vegetation instantly. When the smoke and dust finally cleared, a massive crater had formed at the impact site.
Crack… crack…
Fissures began spreading across the outer perimeter of the earthen wall, but the meteor had landed far enough from the camp that only the edge of the shockwave reached them. The camp had been spared the worst of the impact.
"We… we survived…"
"Thank God that thing didn't fall right on top of us…"
"We're alive! We made it!"
Relief spread like wildfire through the camp. Many Cloud shinobi let out long, shaky breaths, laughing nervously as they stared at one another, wide-eyed. In that one dreadful instant, they had all thought they were going to be vaporized. But the meteor had landed just far enough away.
"That little brat… she did this on purpose!"
Yugito's expression darkened. She recalled Sakura's words earlier that day—inviting her to "watch the meteor shower and make a wish"—and suddenly, everything made sense.
"I'm going to ask her directly," said Matatabi. With that, she slipped her consciousness into the private mental chat space Sakura had created.
"I knew you'd come back to ask," Sakura was already waiting for her there. "When you return, tell Yugito this: If Cloud insists on continuing this war… then next time, the meteor won't miss. It will fall inside the village."
"…Got it." Matatabi replied flatly. She had no deep attachment to the Hidden Cloud, so this kind of threat didn't stir any emotion in her.
"Oh, and if she asks where the meteor came from, just say it's a powerful ninja tool left behind by the First Hokage."
Sakura quickly added the message as Matatabi turned to leave. The last thing she wanted was to draw unnecessary trouble to herself. Hashirama Senju was long gone, and no one could definitively say what legendary weapons or tools he might've left behind. Using him as a scapegoat was a perfect smokescreen.
"…Understood."
The moment Matatabi heard the name Hashirama Senju, she instinctively shivered. That man's terrifying strength was etched into the very memory of all Tailed Beasts. To him, they were no more threatening than a collection of household pets.
When Matatabi relayed Sakura's message, Yugito fell into a long, heavy silence. After several moments, she let out a reluctant sigh and—clearly displeased—gave the order to dismantle the camp. All Cloud shinobi withdrew and returned to the border outposts.