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<15 minutes earlier>
Lying motionless through the slaughter of his comrades had bought him time. Listening to Bee's experiment had given him knowledge. And now, as the Raikage and Bee were distracted themselves finishing the Iwa army, Han pulled himself upright. His chakra was nearly gone, but jinchūriki are not ordinary shinobi. The Five-Tails' essence burned faint, enough for one last move.
Boil Release: Vanishing Mist Burial (沸遁・消蒸の墓, Futton: Shōjō no Haka)
Han pressed his palms to the ground. The heat beneath the earth answered. Lava veins pulsed, and thick white steam surged higher, feeding the blanket around them.
Not to kill or fight. But to escape.
"Iwa will not lose another jinchūriki today," Han whispered under his breath, voice swallowed by the fog.
With every scrap of chakra left, he masked his retreat. Step by agonizing step, body broken but will unyielding, he slipped away into the white curtain.
--
Raikage's roars echoed, tearing through the steam. His lightning cloak blazed, but he could not find Han's body. Bee's tails thrashed. But they knew.
The silence of the field told them.
Han had survived. He escaped.
The corpses of 10000 Iwa shinobi littered the earth, alongside 3000 Kumogakure comrades melted days prior. Victory meant nothing.
Raikage stood tall, but his face was stone, unreadable. Inside, his fury boiled. He had fought 18 hours against two jinchūriki, endured the deaths of thousands of his shinobi, and in the end, allowed one of Iwa's greatest weapons to slip through his fingers.
--
Bee's eight tails still twitched restlessly, his chest rising and falling in heavy breaths as he strained his senses one last time. But no matter how he reached for the faint traces of chakra, Han's signature had vanished into the vastness of the steam.
"Five-Tails… gone," Bee muttered under his breath, his voice low, almost bitter. He clenched his fists, glancing at Raikage, who stood motionless.
The Raikage's shoulders trembled, the muscles in his neck rigid. For a moment it seemed like he might remain silent, holding it in, but then his cloak of lightning flared and he erupted into violence.
With a guttural roar, he leapt skyward, landing 700 hundred feet away from Bee, with an impact that cratered the ground. His rage thundered. Trees splintered into dust, rocks shattered into rubble, the very earth cracked and heaved under his fists. He pounded the ground, tore through stone, and sent shockwaves of destruction in every direction.
For thirty minutes, he raged like a beast untethered, lightning tearing through the fog of steam, striking at ghosts and shadows.
Bee watched, unmoving. Part of him wondered if he should step in... calm him, speak to him... but he knew better. To interrupt the Raikage's wrath was to stand against a lightning storm barehanded. So he waited, watching him thrash against the shame of letting Han escape.
Finally, the Raikage's movements slowed. His cloak dimmed, though faint arcs still licked his shoulders. He stood amidst the ruins, chest heaving, fists clenched. His jaw was tight, his teeth grinding audibly.
"We will let the Five-Tails jinchūriki go," he said at last, his voice low. "We move to Hot Water. Ay has held the line long enough. It's time to end this war."
Bee nodded, though unease gnawed at him. He asked, "Raikage-sama… what is the seal on your back? I haven't seen it before. What is it?"
The Raikage glanced at him, with a grim smile on his lips. "You'll see what it is in the next battle."
No more words. The two titans turned, cutting through the broken land toward Hot Water.
--
Young Ay had not had a moment of respite in a week. His armor was torn, his fists bloodied, his body aching. But worse than the physical toll was the constant mental strain.
Konoha was pressing harder than ever. The Ino-Shika-Cho formation rotated flawlessly, their teamwork strangling Kumo's larger numbers. Genjutsu from the Uchiha cast doubt and hesitation into every skirmish, illusions flickering between friend and foe. Kumo shinobi had numbers... around 1000 left to fight with no reinforcements from 2nd base... but against Konoha's 1500, bolstered by sheer persistence, it wasn't enough.
A week before, the ground itself trembled, as though some great explosion had rocked the interior of Land of frost. The men whispered in fear, wondering if their comrades at the Second Base had fallen. Young Ay gave them no room to falter.
But the worst pressure came from one man: Uchiha Fugaku.
Commander of Konoha's push, Fugaku stood tall with his 3T Sharingan spinning. Every motion he made seemed precise, decisive. Every genjutsu he wove found its way into Kumo ranks, scattering squads and breaking formations.
And now he stood before young Ay.
Ay squared his shoulders, muscles taut. He could feel the weight of command pressing down on him. His father was far from here, fighting somewhere else. His brother' Bee was not at his side. If he fell, Kumo's line here would shatter.
Across from him, Fugaku's eyes gleamed red in the half-light of fire and smoke. The Uchiha commander raised a hand, his voice calm but commanding.
"Ay… surrender. Your forces are scattered, your numbers dwindling. You will not win this battle."
Ay spat to the side, lightning flickering faintly across his fists. "You think Kumo will surrender to konoha? Never..."
And then he charged.
The ground cracked under his dash, his body a blur of raw speed. He threw a fist aimed straight for Fugaku's chest.
Fugaku thought his was fast. He sidestepped with him always tracking young Ay with his Sharingan. But he still got a scratch. His hands weaving through seals, fire bursting into being. A wall of flame surged up, but young Ay plowed through it, the heat scorching his skin but failing to halt his advance. He swung again, forcing Fugaku to leap back.
young Ay pressed hard. He knew genjutsu was his weakness here. He couldn't meet Fugaku's gaze. He fought with his eyes half-averted, relying on peripheral vision and the flickers of chakra in his opponent's form.
But fighting blind against a master was like walking a blade's edge.
--
A/N: Explanation 👇
1. Kumo's morale was hit from the past week with the constant explosion from Bee, Han, Roshi... The thought of there will no reinforcement put kumo at the edge...
2. Konoha [Uchiha Fugaku] noticing the explosion inside kumo... pressed kumo further.
3. Fugaku is a natural counter for young Ay. He is facing difficulty fighting him... and the explosion and wanting to know what is happening in the 2nd base is getting him. He received the message saying to hold the attack and be on standby, konoha gave them no breather.
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