Shine's words acted like a calming pill, allowing everyone to settle down slightly.
Shikaku Nara pondered for a moment before immediately ordering, "Pass down the command: the entire army is to enter maximum alert! Triple the coastal and river defenses, mobilize all Ninja tool reserves, and prepare for Tailed Beast attacks. Simultaneously, send an urgent request for reinforcements to Konoha headquarters, asking for Tailed Beast-level combatants!"
"I will have all Uchiha Clan Members activate their Sharingan for 24-hour continuous reconnaissance. We will not give the Hidden Mist any openings!" Fugaku echoed in a deep voice, his eyes filled with resolve.
Upon hearing the news, though there was panic, the Ninjas in the camp quickly sprang into action under the orders.
The hammering of reinforcing defenses and the shouts of allocating supplies intertwined; the previously relaxed atmosphere became tense once more.
When Kakashi heard the news on the training field, his sword-swinging motion came to a sudden halt. His short blade split the wooden post but failed to sever the shackles in his heart.
He thought of Rin, the girl who had been forcibly injected with Three-Tails Chakra and ultimately died under his Lightning Blade. Yagura's success felt like salt rubbed into his wounds, making his gaze grow colder.
During the two months after Yagura became the Three-Tails Jinchuriki, the Konoha Allied Forces' defensive line was like a taut lute string, on guard day and night.
Everyone was gambling—gambling that Yagura would need time to synchronize with the Tailed Beast Chakra, and gambling that Konoha's reinforcements would arrive before the Hidden Mist's general offensive.
But they ultimately underestimated the talent and ruthlessness of the Fourth Mizukage. A sudden, full-scale offensive erupted on a cloudy afternoon.
"Boom—!"
Giant waves suddenly surged on the sea level, and countless dark figures leaped out from the deep sea like migrating locusts, densely covering the coastline.
Kirigakure Ninjas were clad in pale blue protective films formed by Water Release, their ninja swords glinting coldly under the gloomy sky as they roared and charged toward the Allied Forces' line.
Their offensive was more violent than any before, with no probing maneuvers, heading straight for the core defensive fortifications.
"Enemy attack! Everyone, engage!"
Shikaku Nara's roar was drowned out by the sounds of battle.
Konoha Ninjas hurriedly formed hand seals, weaving Fire Release and Wind Release into a net of flames in an attempt to block the Hidden Mist's charge.
But the Kirigakure Ninjas seemed oblivious to pain, breaking through the fire net one after another. The crisp clashing of ninja swords and Kunai, the screams of Ninjas, and the roar of Ninjutsu explosions instantly turned the battlefield into a living hell.
Shine stood on the high ground behind the defensive line, his crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan coldly scanning the battlefield.
He hadn't left; he already had plans for Nagato and the Rinnegan in the Hidden Rain Village. He had to wait for the Battle of the Hidden Mist to be settled, for Konoha and the Hidden Mist to both be weakened, before stepping in to reap the rewards.
At this moment, he simply observed the battle in silence, waiting for the optimal time to strike.
The battlefield soon fell into a tragic stalemate.
Kakashi led a mobile squad fighting on the western flank, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan accurately predicting every attack. The electrical glow of the Lightning Blade flashed occasionally, but he was ultimately hard-pressed against the Kirigakure Ninjas' human wave tactics.
Uchiha Fugaku led his clansmen in a Sharingan array, their Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique forming a sea of flames that temporarily repelled the Hidden Mist's charge, but they also suffered heavy casualties.
Just as both sides were fighting to the death and the Konoha Ninjas were gradually exhausting their strength, the sky suddenly darkened.
A terrifying Chakra, enough to make one suffocate, swept down from above the clouds.
Everyone instinctively looked up to see a black sphere several meters in diameter, wrapped in violent deep blue Chakra, crashing toward the center of the Allied Forces' line like a falling meteorite—it was the Three-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball!
"Not good! Get away!" Fugaku's roar tore through the air, but the Tailed Beast Ball was too fast and its coverage too wide. Dozens of Konoha Ninjas had no time to react and could only watch as death descended.
"BOOM—!!!"
An earth-shattering explosion rang out, and a blinding blue light instantly swallowed the entire area.
The ground shook violently, defensive fortifications were completely blown to bits, and rubble and flesh flew everywhere. Countless Konoha Ninjas were torn apart and annihilated in the energy storm.
A massive crater formed at the center of the explosion, with seawater pouring in, the turbid spray mixing with blood in a shocking sight.
The survivors were sent reeling by the shockwave, falling to the ground one after another, their faces filled with terror and despair.
Just then, a figure slowly walked out from the thick smoke of the explosion, hovering in mid-air.
Yagura Karatachi was dressed in the white Mizukage robe, surrounded by a layer of condensed crimson Tailed Beast Chakra—this was the Tailed Beast Chakra Mode that only a Perfect Jinchuriki could master!
His gaze was cold to the extreme, without the slightest emotional fluctuation, as if the world-destroying strike he just delivered was merely a casual gesture.
"Fourth Mizukage! Yagura Karatachi!"
"Crimson Tailed Beast Chakra... He has actually completely mastered the Three-Tails! He's become a Perfect Jinchuriki?!"
The Konoha Ninjas who recognized him froze in place, their voices trembling, their faces written with unbelievable fear.
Two months!
In just two months, Yagura had accomplished what others couldn't do in years or even decades. This talent and strength simply overturned everyone's understanding.
The deterrent power of a Perfect Jinchuriki was far more terrifying than imagined.
Yagura raised his hand, and another Tailed Beast Ball quickly condensed in his palm, the deep blue Chakra fluctuations causing the surrounding air to distort.
"It's over..." A Konoha Ninja sat paralyzed on the ground, his eyes hollow. "Against a Perfect Jinchuriki, we have no chance of winning at all."
Despair spread through the Allied Forces like a plague; many Ninjas' gazes began to wander, and their hands gripping their weapons gradually loosened.
"Enough!"
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!" Along with a cold voice, overwhelming flames surged toward the battlefield like a sea of fire.
A young man dressed in a white robe with tomoe patterns formed hand seals expressionlessly, but the intense fire he breathed out made everyone's hearts tremble.
A B-rank Ninjutsu, bolstered by Uchiha Xia Yin's terrifying Chakra, possessed a power more fearsome than even an S-rank Ninjutsu.
Its vast range was not at all smaller than Yagura Karatachi's Tailed Beast Ball.
As the terrifying explosion subsided, Xia Yin looked expressionlessly at the cold-eyed Yagura Karatachi ahead.
"Uchiha! Xia Yin!" Looking at the figure before him, a rare trace of wariness appeared in Yagura Karatachi's eyes.
After all, the guy in front of him was someone who had made even the Third Mizukage feel threatened a few months ago.
"Haven't you made enough of a scene?!" Uchiha Xia Yin said indifferently, looking at Yagura Karatachi, who was wrapped in Tailed Beast Chakra.
"Uchiha brat?" Yagura's eyes narrowed slightly, and his movement of condensing the Tailed Beast Ball paused. "Do you think you're worthy of being my enemy?"
"Whether I'm worthy or not, we'll know after we fight," Xia Yin spoke calmly, his hands quickly forming seals. "Fire Release: Majestic Devastation!"
Surging flames erupted from his mouth, forming a massive wall of fire that lunged straight for Yagura...
Advance chapter available on pãtrêon Got1808