Chapter 195: The Unfurling Butterfly
Elsewhere, Han, in his full Tailed Beast form, was locked in a ferocious battle with the Konoha shinobi.
With a roar that seemed to split the sky, a sphere of chaotically swirling energy materialized before him.
Feeling a palpable, lethal threat wash over them, Choza Akimichi shoved his comrade aside and pulled a small red pill from his pouch, immediately swallowing it.
This was one of the Akimichi clan's three secret pills, passed down through generations. The other two were the green Spinach Pill and the yellow Curry Pill, but the red Chili Pill was by far the most powerful.
Taking it amplified the user's strength a hundredfold, allowing them to enter "Butterfly Mode." The drawback was the immense physical strain it placed on the body, which would very likely result in death.
But in this situation, if he couldn't stop Han's Tailed Beast Bomb, the side effects wouldn't matter. None of them would even have a body left to bury. Seeing this, his best friend, Shikaku Nara, didn't try to stop him.
How long has it been since I've felt this helpless? Shikaku thought, his fists clenched tight as he watched the brilliant chakra wings unfurl from his friend's back. His body trembled, partly from rage at his own powerlessness, and partly from fear of what was to come.
Just as despair threatened to consume him, Choza, now fully transformed, spoke from in front of him. "It's alright."
"I will protect you."
"Choza..." Hearing his friend's voice, as gentle and steady as ever, Shikaku's trembling subsided. He opened his mouth to say something, but the world before him was suddenly consumed by a blinding light.
A deafening roar followed an instant later.
"HRAAAGH!" Choza roared, focusing every last bit of his chakra into his hands. He tracked the trajectory of the Tailed Beast Bomb and, with his hands clasped together, slammed them into the sphere's underside with a powerful upward blow.
The ground beneath his feet cracked and splintered under the immense force, but Choza held firm against the initial impact.
At that moment, Hyuga Hizashi, despite his own grave injuries, appeared in a flash below the Tailed Beast Bomb. He thrust his palms forward, unleashing four powerful shockwaves of chakra that struck the base of the sphere.
"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
With Hizashi's support, Choza grit his teeth. Every muscle in his body strained as he unleashed a final, cataclysmic burst of strength.
The jet-black Tailed Beast Bomb was finally forced upward, soaring into the sky. A few seconds later, the sky itself seemed to darken for an instant before the sphere detonated in a massive explosion.
BOOM!
The apocalyptic scene made everyone, even those desperately trying to retreat, freeze in their tracks. They stared in terror at the source of the devastation.
"My god... who could possibly stop a monster like that?"
"Lord Hokage, please watch over us..."
"Damn it... is this the end?"
Just as hope began to fade, a pair of beautiful chakra wings unfurled in the sky. With a powerful beat, they propelled their owner directly toward the roaring, tailed beast.
It was Choza Akimichi.
"I will not let you harm my comrades!" he bellowed, closing the distance to the Tailed Beast Han in an instant. He drew back his right fist, which pulsed with the entirety of his remaining chakra, and drove it into his foe.
"Secret Technique: Butterfly Bullet Bombing!"
The very ground beneath them collapsed. A sonic boom cracked through the air as Han's massive body was sent flying backward like a cannonball, carving a deep trench in the earth until it finally slammed into a small, hundred-foot-tall hill and came to a stop.
"I... I did it..." Choza managed, looking up at Shikaku as he rushed to his side. A faint smile touched his lips before he collapsed heavily to the ground.
"Choza!" Shikaku cried, turning his friend over and pressing his ear to his chest, his expression tense. He held his breath until he heard the faint but steady beat of a heart that was still fighting. Only then did he let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.
Looking at the serene smile on his friend's face, Shikaku gave a bitter laugh. "Thanks to you, we're all still alive. Next time... this will never happen again. I promise."
Just then, Hyuga Hizashi and Uchiha Ukyo slowly approached. Both glanced at the unconscious Choza in astonishment before placing a comforting hand on Shikaku's shoulder.
After composing himself, Shikaku stood and turned to Hizashi. "What's the enemy's status?"
Hizashi, who had been tracking their foe with his Byakugan, replied with relief, "Choza's attack inflicted massive damage. It wasn't fatal, but it was more than enough to scare him off. He's retreated."
"He ran..." Shikaku breathed, relieved, but then his brow furrowed.
Today's battle had been perilous, but something about it felt off. It was as if the enemy's entire purpose had simply been to cause a scene and leave.
Their medical camp had sustained heavy damage, but personnel casualties were surprisingly low. Logically, the enemy's surprise attack should be considered a failure, yet a deep sense of foreboding lingered in Shikaku's gut.
He handed Choza over to the arriving medical ninja and immediately used his communicator to contact Inoichi Yamanaka, who was stationed elsewhere.
After briefly describing the situation, he added, "I suspect the enemy had another objective today. Make sure you remind the other units to stay on high alert."
Inoichi acknowledged the message, and the communication was cut.
After relaying Shikaku's warning to the other units, Inoichi received feedback that all was quiet. Could Shikaku's guess have been wrong? he wondered. No, his concerns are valid.
Trusting his comrade's intuition completely, Inoichi sent out a wide-scale alert, ordering all units to immediately report any unusual enemy activity to the communications department.
It was then that a piece of intelligence caught his eye.
According to the report from a Konoha ninja, a separate Iwa unit had apparently infiltrated the Land of Fire. Their objective was unknown, but they had reportedly clashed with members of the Uchiha clan and abducted someone important. The Uchiha's Second Elder was now leading a pursuit.
"...What is the enemy trying to achieve with a move like this?" Unable to figure it out, Inoichi dispatched a team to investigate. The news they sent back made his heart sink.
The support team arrived at the site of the battle to find it long over. The scene showed signs of a fierce struggle. They found the bodies of several Iwa ninja, but there was no trace of any of the Uchiha clan members.
The conclusion was obvious: they had either been completely annihilated by a jutsu, or they had been taken captive.
Either outcome was a disaster for the Northwestern Corps. These Uchiha were not only important in their own right, but their lives were deeply connected to a critical figure: Uchiha Kyosuke, who was at that very moment racing to the front lines.
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