"Oh, so this is all he amounts to."
Terumi Mei, standing beside him, instinctively thought Aizen was referring to Yagura.
But in truth, Aizen was speaking about Uchiha Obito.
"Deep…" Aizen murmured suddenly.
Terumi Mei tilted her head, one eye peeking out from beneath her long bangs, watching him carefully.
"That's not Yagura—it's the Three-Tails itself. It seems someone used a release technique to free the beast from him."
Her expression froze in shock.
Impossible… wasn't that the same as saying there was a mastermind pulling strings behind Yagura?
After all, no Jinchūriki would willingly let their tailed beast be extracted. Everyone knew that once a beast leaves its host, death is inevitable.
"Then what's happening here?" Terumi Mei asked, still reeling.
"I don't know yet. But we don't have the luxury of wasting time thinking about it."
Aizen's gaze sharpened. "I'll restrain the Three-Tails. Mingyou, use this chance to infiltrate Kirigakure. Yagura may not be dead yet. If so, you might learn something from him."
Behind the mask, Sharingan spun, clearly seeing the truth: the Three-Tails wasn't being driven by Yagura's will at all—it was a pure rampage fueled by chakra, no different from when the Nine-Tails broke free of Kushina nine years ago.
This madness was the beast's own, not the host's.
Even when Uchiha Madara had controlled tailed beasts with his eyes, it was never their true power—only raw, destructive output. A beast without self-awareness was nothing more than a raging monster.
And Obito's pupil techniques? They were far weaker than Madara's. He couldn't synchronize with a tailed beast to fight beside it. He could only rip them from their hosts and unleash them in a frenzy.
After listening, Terumi Mei nodded gravely. "Understood. I leave it to you, Aizen-kun."
Aizen wasn't worried she would stumble into Obito. That man's plan demanded he stay in the shadows; Akatsuki could not afford to expose itself publicly yet.
So their paths diverged—Aizen to hold the beast, Terumi Mei to reach Kirigakure.
The battlefield was chaos. The Three-Tails' rampage had broken all order, especially among Yagura's forces. They had no idea what was happening, and could not understand why their Mizukage had turned on them.
Boom!!!
A massive water cannon formed overhead, heavy with deadly chakra. Even without a Sharingan, one could feel the sheer destruction in its swell. It was easily on the level of an S-rank jutsu.
"Stop, Mizukage-sama! We're your allies!"
"Why attack us?!"
"The range is too wide—we can't dodge!"
"Damn it, I don't want to die like this!"
Panic spread across the battlefield. Yagura's men, Aizen's allies, and Terumi Mei's forces—all faces turned pale.
Escape? Impossible. The blast zone was too large.
Block it? Equally hopeless. Few among them could muster an S-rank defense.
Water Style: Super Iron Cannonball!
The enormous sphere of water roared forth, big enough to wipe out two hundred shinobi in a single strike.
Everyone within range froze, certain death was moments away.
But Aizen calmly raised his left hand.
"Bakudō Number Seventy-Three: Falling Mountain Crystal."
Bang!!!
The colossal water blast slammed into a massive inverted crystal of translucent blue light, blooming into existence midair. Within its walls, hundreds of shinobi stood untouched.
"What… what is this?" a Mist ninja gasped.
A Sand shinobi wearing his village's protector shouted in relief: "It's Lord Aizen! Lord Aizen's barrier has saved us!"
"As expected of Aizen-sama!"
"As long as he's here, we cannot lose!"
"Long live Aizen-sama!!!"
The cheer spread like wildfire. Mist shinobi under Terumi Mei, who had just escaped death, echoed the cries with fervor. In only a few days of fighting together, many had come to admire him. Now, having been saved firsthand, their loyalty burned brighter than ever.
Aizen stood above them, suspended by the spiritual path beneath his feet. He seemed like a god, sword in hand, eyes locked on the raging beast.
"This is no longer Yagura," he declared, voice booming across the battlefield. "What you see before you is the Three-Tails, Isobu. Someone released it from the Fourth Mizukage's body. To those still loyal to Yagura—there is no need to fight any longer."
Shock rippled through the ranks.
What? Someone extracted the Three-Tails from Yagura? Who had such power? If Yagura no longer commanded the beast… then what had become of him?
"ROAR!!!"
The Three-Tails bellowed, its chakra surging like a tidal wave, sending tremors through every soul on the field.
"Withdraw!" Aizen's command carried like thunder. "There is no need for you to fight. I will handle the Three-Tails myself."
Pakura immediately raised her voice. "You heard Lord Aizen! Everyone, retreat from the island!"
Sand shinobi and Mist shinobi under Terumi Mei obeyed at once, scattering in retreat. Yagura's men hesitated, but soon followed, unwilling to stand against the beast any longer.
The air howled as one of Isobu's colossal tails, armored in scales, whipped through the sky toward Aizen with mountain-splitting force.
But before it could strike, Aizen vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared directly before the beast's massive face, palm already glowing.
"Hadō Number Sixty-Three:Raikōhō."