Yuu could sense that Rasa's chakra presence had become extremely weak.
But it had not vanished completely.
Just as he raised his foot and walked forward,
the pile of rubble suddenly shifted. Then a small mass of gold dust quietly crawled along the ground, seemingly trying to condense again and grab Yuu's ankle. At the same time, two sharp cones made of gold dust trembled slightly, then shot out.
In response,
Yuu's expression did not change. He casually flipped his wrist and knocked the two gold-dust cones away with the sheath of the White Fang short blade. Then he raised his empty left hand and formed a seal with one hand.
"Binding Formula Seal: Thousand-Thread Net!"
That slash earlier had truly struck Rasa. So the binding formula attached to the blade had also truly landed on Rasa's wound, disrupting his chakra.
At this moment,
as Yuu activated the sealing formula,
a few strange sounds came from the pile of rubble. Faint purple-black light flickered, accompanied by a low groan. Rasa's torso was already covered in purple-black threads. His body, already badly injured, could no longer hold on. He completely lost the ability to resist.
Only then did Yuu walk forward. He inserted his sheath into a gap between the broken stones and pried hard, splitting a stone slab apart. Then he saw Rasa lying on the ground.
Rasa's condition was already extremely miserable. A massive wound crossed his chest, slashing diagonally from his right shoulder to his left abdomen. Flesh was torn open, bone visible beneath. Blood had nearly soaked half his body and was dripping from the edge of his clothes onto the ground. He raised his head and stared fixedly at Yuu, his eyes filled with resentment and horror.
"Cough… cough cough…"
Rasa seemed to want to speak, but the moment he opened his mouth, he coughed out a large mouthful of blood. His aura became even weaker.
Compared to before the fight, this severely wounded, dying appearance had none of the dignity of an acting Kazekage.
[Clone Technique: Wow, we successfully captured a big prey! Little Yuu and I are amazing! (◕ᴗ◕✿)]
[Monster Strength: Hey, hey, unrelated people shouldn't come out and steal credit, okay? Obviously, this victory was because of me!]
[Hatake Swordsmanship: ?]
"…"
Yuu was a little speechless.
It seemed these ninjutsu could also judge an opponent's strength. When he fought those ordinary Suna ninja earlier, he had never seen them so lively.
He turned his gaze back to Rasa and glanced at the scattered gold dust around him.
"Still not dead… You're pretty tough."
"Is it because of that layer of sand armor on your body?"
If that earlier slash had killed Rasa directly, then he would be dead, and that would be that.
But since he was still alive, capturing Rasa alive was undoubtedly the more cost-effective option. Later, whether they used him as leverage to force Sunagakure to surrender, or brought him back to Konoha for blood draws and tissue samples to study Magnet Release, both were good options.
In theory, Yuu could also use this battle achievement to ask Sarutobi Hiruzen for a couple of ninjutsu. Maybe he could consider learning Impure World Reincarnation.
Just as Yuu was thinking this,
he heard—
Boom!!!!!!!
A series of deafening explosions suddenly came from deep inside the valley!
Yuu turned to look and saw a blinding white light erupt in the core area of the valley, turning into a small gray-black mushroom cloud mixed with flames and thick smoke that shot into the sky. A violent shockwave wrapped in shattered stones swept outward in every direction like a storm of destruction.
"?"
What happened?
Did Deidara show up?
No…
This looked like… Chiyo's handiwork!
Yuu quickly understood.
Right.
Rasa's defeat meant Sunagakure's breakout plan had suffered a heavy blow. Having lost their leading "Fourth Kazekage," even if Yuu no longer acted, the chances of the other Suna ninja successfully breaking out had already dropped sharply. Even Chiyo herself might be killed by Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
Under those circumstances, the only thing Chiyo could do was make a decisive choice and cut off the tail to survive.
That was exactly what happened.
Chiyo abandoned three puppets from the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets and launched a suicide-style attack against Orochimaru and the others.
As the culmination of Sunagakure's puppetry techniques, every puppet among the Chikamatsu Collection was priceless. Each contained many mechanisms and tools, with a manufacturing cost close to half an Asuma. Now that they were being used in a mutual-destruction tactic, the power was horrifying. Even Orochimaru and Jiraiya had no choice but to temporarily avoid the blast.
Before the smoke and dust from the explosion had dispersed,
a slightly hunched but extremely fast figure rushed out from the chaotic smoke with several dozen blood-soaked, battered elite Suna ninja. Like an arrow leaving the bowstring, they charged straight toward the valley entrance.
It was Chiyo!
At this moment, only coldness remained on Chiyo's wrinkled face. She seemed determined to lead her remaining subordinates and carve out a path of survival with their lives on the line.
"Stop them!"
Konoha ninja chased from behind.
But the breach Chiyo had created by detonating her puppets was real. She herself was also a Kage-level powerhouse. With her wholeheartedly trying to break out, Konoha's side had difficulty forming an effective encirclement in the moment.
Facing the killing intent approaching from afar,
Yuu only thought for one second before flying forward. He reached into the rubble, hooked his fingers around the collar of Rasa, who was covered in purple-black sealing marks and near death, and lifted him up. Then he flickered toward the nearby hillside.
At the same time, he threw a sentence to Kakashi and the others behind him.
"Retreat first! Don't take them head-on!"
For Yuu's group, after defeating the "Fourth Kazekage" and eliminating dozens of elite Suna ninja, their mission had already been completed far beyond expectations.
Yuu did not have much chakra left now, and Kakashi and the others were also spent after fighting with all their strength. There was no need to fight Chiyo to the death.
Of course…
if Kakashi and the others, or Orochimaru and Jiraiya behind them, could keep Chiyo here, that would also be fine.
But that was no longer something Yuu needed to consider. His damage output this round was already high enough. The rest of the work was better left to the others.
At once,
chakra erupted beneath Yuu's feet. Carrying Rasa, he rushed like a nimble leopard toward a steep, jagged cliff they had scouted earlier, slightly above and to the side. In the blink of an eye, he reached a height nearly a hundred meters above the ground.
Chiyo originally seemed to really want to take Rasa with her, but before she could reach them, she saw Yuu carrying Rasa up the mountain. After a moment of hesitation, she gritted her teeth and charged straight toward the valley entrance.
"Break through! Regroup at Wildfire City! Whoever can escape, escape!"
"Hmph, you offended Konoha and still think you can leave? Watch how I, Lord Obito, teach you how to behave…"
Obito opened his Sharingan, eager to act, looking as if he wanted to cut Chiyo down on the spot.
Kakashi clutched the wound on his shoulder and shouted sharply, "Don't rush too close! That person is not someone we can deal with… Delay her a little and wait for Lord Jiraiya and the others to arrive!"
On the other side,
Kurenai, Asuma, Maruboshi Kosuke, and the others also snapped back to their senses one after another. They each used ninjutsu, trying to slow Chiyo's group. Fireballs, wind blades, and water bullets interwove into a net of firepower. Although they failed to stop Chiyo herself, they successfully held back most of the Suna ninja behind her.
Chiyo was truly fighting for her life now. Puppet strings danced from both hands, knocking away incoming kunai and ninjutsu. Her speed did not decrease as she rushed toward the valley entrance. During this process, she did not even turn back to glance at Yuu standing on the slope above, or at Rasa in his hand.
After all…
if she looked a few more times, forget saving him—she herself might not be able to leave alive.
Now that defeat was certain, the most important thing was preserving strength.
Soon,
the sounds of battle in the valley gradually quieted.
Relying on her Kage-level strength, Chiyo ultimately led a small group of Suna ninja through Kakashi and the others' encirclement, disappearing into the vast night without looking back.
As for the remaining Suna ninja, after losing their two highest commanders, their morale quickly collapsed under Konoha's pincer attack from front and back. A small number stubbornly resisted and were wiped out by Orochimaru and Jiraiya, while the rest chose to surrender.
Only then
did Konoha's side relax.
Obito sat down heavily on the ground, feeling all the strength leave his body.
"Hah… we finally won…"
"Hey, Obito, don't rest yet. We still have to gather up those prisoners…" Kakashi called out.
In this battle, Konoha could be said to have won a great victory.
The seven or eight hundred Suna ninja Chiyo and Rasa had brought were nearly wiped out. Aside from the dozens who escaped with Chiyo, the rest either died in the valley or raised their hands and surrendered. Moreover, the "Fourth Kazekage," who served as their public face, had been left behind here. The blow to Sunagakure was easy to imagine.
Of course…
Konoha also suffered some losses.
The Battle of Mount Kikyo itself was not too bad. The number of deaths was not high, and most people were only wounded. However, during the earlier retreat from Wildfire City to this place, there had been some losses too. Added together, there were still a few hundred casualties.
Still, in terms of strategic goals, those sacrifices had earned the return they deserved.
Jiraiya stood on the head of a broad toad and looked down at the devastated valley strewn with corpses. He sighed tiredly, then organized people to pursue and capture Chiyo's group.
Beside him,
Orochimaru had already released his Summoning Technique. His snake-like eyes glimmered faintly as he stared toward the cliff where Yuu was standing. The corners of his mouth curved into an unreadable smile.
Among the Sannin, he had not interacted with Yuu the most, but he knew the most about him. Yet the strength Yuu had displayed now had still exceeded even his expectations. To Orochimaru, who was used to seeing geniuses, this was a rare temptation.
For even one instant, Orochimaru thought of that technique.
If he could obtain a body like that…
"Forget it."
Orochimaru shook his head.
Although he was already researching Living Corpse Reincarnation and had considered "reincarnation vessels," Yuu's identity was still too sensitive. Not only was he connected to Namikaze Minato, he also had a subtle relationship with Tsunade. He was not very suitable as a candidate vessel.
But if he could study some of Yuu's cell samples and glimpse the secret behind the source of his strength, Orochimaru would be very willing.
On the cliff,
Yuu sat in a wind-sheltered hollow in the rocks. He took a bottle of cola from his ninja pouch and sipped it slowly while breathing heavily.
The continuous high-intensity battle, especially the final slash enhanced by Underdog Victory and Monster Strength: Mad Gamble, had consumed a great deal of his chakra and stamina. Now that he had relaxed, an intense wave of fatigue instantly swept through his entire body. Even after a few sips of cola, he still had not recovered.
Beside him,
Rasa had been thrown onto the sand like a broken sack. He had already fallen into a half-unconscious state.
Yuu's triple-buffed slash had dealt near-fatal damage to him. Even if Chiyo had rescued him and brought him back to Sunagakure, healing him would probably have been extremely difficult. And now he had become Konoha's prisoner.
Yuu thought for a moment, took out a soldier pill, crushed it, mixed it into another bottle of cola, and poured a few mouthfuls into Rasa. After confirming that he would not die for now, Yuu ignored him and continued adjusting his breathing, recovering chakra.
Suddenly,
a familiar voice came from below the cliff.
"Yuu! Are you okay?"
"?"
Yuu looked toward the sound and noticed a newly arrived group of Konoha ninja walking out from the woods on one side of the valley entrance and approaching this side. Rin was among them, along with Hebishi and the others from the medical team.
Hebishi was shaken by the tragic scene before her eyes, but she quickly began directing the medical ninja around her to treat the wounded Konoha comrades.
On the other side,
Obito immediately sat up when he saw Rin and waved hard.
But Rin did not have the mind to pay attention to him right now. She casually waved back, then quickly ran toward the cliff where Yuu was. Using both hands and feet, she climbed up to the higher ground. Her eyes swept over Yuu nervously, and only after confirming that he was not injured did she let out a breath of relief.
Then her gaze moved to Rasa.
"Yuu, this person lying here… is Sunagakure's Kazekage?"
Rin blinked and asked softly.
"Mm. But he's only acting. He hasn't officially been confirmed yet."
Yuu said.
In his view, Rasa's positioning as a "Kage" was somewhat inflated. He was basically in the weakest tier among all Kage. Defeating him was not something worth boasting about.
However, Rin did not know these things. In the girl's eyes, even if a "Kazekage" was inferior to the "Hokage," he was roughly on that same level. Now that Yuu had actually defeated him alone, it was an earth-shaking achievement. It also made her, as his teammate, feel ashamed.
After all, she had not even participated in this battle. She had spent the entire time in Kikyo City helping treat the wounded. Although that was also proper work, it did somewhat feel like she had been absent from the fight.
"Right."
Rin then asked, "This person is badly injured. Should we treat him a little?"
"We can."
Yuu nodded. "Treat him just enough so he doesn't die for now. This guy still has use later."
~~~
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