One Mist shinobi sensed something wrong and whipped his head around—only to see a massive sphere of compressed chakra forming in the sky, warping the air around it with raw power.
"Shit!"
"It's Gouju Yagura!"
"Yagura's ambushing us!"
The shout made everyone turn. Their eyes locked on the nearly finished Tailed Beast Bomb and went wide with terror.
"Run! Get the hell out of here!"
Too late.
Yagura finished the technique.
"Go."
The dense chakra sphere rocketed forward and slammed into the heart of the Taketori and Ninja Sword Glory forces.
BOOM!
The explosion was deafening. The ground cratered dozens of meters deep. A blast radius hundreds of meters wide turned everything inside it to dust and charred fragments. Ninja caught directly in the blast were vaporized—no bodies left, just ash and blood mist. Those farther out were hurled through the air, coughing up blood, missing limbs, or screaming as burns ate through their skin.
The two navigation groups that had been winning moments earlier were shattered in an instant. Survivors fled in panic, abandoning their wounded.
Yagura hovered in the air, red Six-Tails chakra still cloaking him like a burning mantle. He sneered.
"This is what happens when you challenge me. The Hidden Mist is my village. My power isn't something the likes of you can even dream of matching."
He watched his remaining forces chase down the fleeing survivors, then turned his gaze west.
"Next up… you, Rasa."
News of the crushing defeat—and Yagura's Tailed Beast Bomb—spread across the entire ninja world within hours.
Kumogakure
The Fourth Raikage looked at Killer B.
"B, you think you can pull that off?"
B nodded. "I can do it… but that Water Mirror Technique of his is a pain in the ass. Plus he's got Samehada now. If we actually fought, I'm not sure I'd win."
The Raikage frowned. "That jutsu is annoying as hell. Still, the Mist will probably clash with Sand or the Leaf before they come for us. We'll get plenty of intel before it's our turn."
Konoha
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared toward Minato's house.
"So Yagura wasn't lying. He's actually turned the Six-Tails into a controllable weapon. That's not a threat anymore—that's an asset. Once Kushina gives birth, I'll have Minato take her out and test it. If she can reach Yagura's level, the Nine-Tails will make us unstoppable. It's far stronger than the Six-Tails."
Iwagakure
Ōnoki rubbed his chin.
"We've got two Tailed Beasts. If we could control them the way Yagura controls his, we'd never have to worry about succession again. But Roshi's still sulking somewhere and Han's too young. If only we could steal the Mist's method…"
Takigakure
The village leader clenched his fists, eyes burning with ambition.
"We may be small, but we have a Tailed Beast too. One perfect jinchuriki is worth an entire army. We could rise above every minor village and stand just below the Five Great Nations. I will find a way to make one."
Sunagakure
Some Sand ninja looked worried.
"After crushing those groups, will Yagura come for us next? The reparations were huge… and we're still holding hundreds of Mist prisoners."
Others rolled their eyes.
"You don't trust our Kazekage? Rasa dragged this village out of the dirt and turned it into what it is today. Yagura's only strong because he's got a Tailed Beast. The people he beat were nothing. Jinpachi and Fuguki? Rasa soloed four of the Seven Swordsmen and killed them all. Yagura let those two escape—twice. The Taketori clan? They're not even on the same level as the Red Mountain clan that Rasa wiped out in one night. Yagura couldn't do that."
Rasa heard the chatter and understood their fear. Tailed Beasts had left deep scars on every village that possessed one. Rampages meant mass death. Sand had suffered multiple outbreaks—few people could even suppress them, and those who could still watched comrades die in the process.
"Yagura…"
Rasa hadn't expected him to become a jinchuriki this fast. He'd assumed Yagura would wait for the Three-Tails to revive.
"So he killed Utakata and sealed the Six-Tails into himself? Ruthless. Even toward his own people. But thinking that makes him untouchable? Naive."
He looked out the window toward the western horizon.
"If you want to come to the Land of Wind, then come. I'm right here."
After the devastating attack, the three navigation groups went quiet. Even the smaller ones stopped causing trouble. The Land of Water and Hidden Mist finally stabilized.
No one expected what came next.
An elite Mist strike team had already slipped across the border into the Land of Wind. They destroyed a Sand outpost and extracted enough intel to locate the main village.
A Sand patrol spotted movement.
"Who's there?! Report to the Kazekage immediately!"
Yagura stepped out of the shadows, no longer hiding.
"Rasa! Come out and die!"