The Konoha shinobi led by Orochimaru also saw the Eight-Tails.
They also saw that enormous Tailed Beast Ball being charged.
Subconsciously, the Konoha shinobi stopped.
In the last war, the Tailed Beast Ball had been a true weapon of mass slaughter.
It was not a technique any shinobi could resist head-on.
At every turn, it could cause hundreds of casualties.
In the hearts of shinobi, it was the most terrifying attack.
Not something human strength could contend with.
At this moment, Yoru's understanding tricked him once again.
He held no instinctive fear toward the Tailed Beast Ball.
If anything, he was full of curiosity.
Because he was too focused, he failed to notice in time that the companions around him had stopped almost simultaneously.
Fortunately, his senses were sharp, and his reaction was fast enough. He stopped almost immediately.
But he had been walking right beside Orochimaru.
That half-step forward was far too obvious to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru turned his head with interest and asked with a smile,
"Uchiha Yoru, you took half a step forward. Were you planning to test your strength against the Tailed Beast Ball?"
Yoru smiled bitterly.
"Orochimaru-sama, please don't joke. How could I possibly resist a Tailed Beast Ball? This is just my first time seeing the famous Tailed Beast Ball, so curiosity was inevitable."
"I see. You're only eighteen and didn't participate in the last war. It truly is your first time seeing one."
Then Orochimaru sighed.
"Being young is good. When you see a Tailed Beast Ball, your first reaction is curiosity."
"Unlike us old fellows. Our first reaction is to turn and run."
The elite shinobi Orochimaru had gathered were mostly between twenty-eight and thirty-eight years old.
Yoru was not only the youngest—
The gap was also the greatest.
When Orochimaru called him young, everyone felt it was completely reasonable.
His words made the Konoha shinobi burst into laughter.
Some even joked,
"Orochimaru-sama is right. I barely managed to suppress the urge to run."
"Aiya, aiya. Young people have plenty of firepower. Maybe if he rushed up, he really could block the Tailed Beast Ball."
"Haha, if I were twenty years younger, I'd charge too!"
"Forget it. When you were eighteen, I didn't see you being that brave."
Inside the Tiger Unit, Yoru was the older brother.
Here, he was only a little brother—
One at least ten years younger.
He couldn't say anything.
Whatever he said would be wrong.
Yoru understood deeply that language was the weakest and most powerless form of rebuttal in the world.
If he wanted these older brothers to shut up, the best method was action.
He glanced at the thirty-some jonin and tokubetsu jonin around him.
Inuzuka.
Aburame.
Hyūga.
Nara.
Yamanaka.
Akimichi.
Aside from Uchiha and Sarutobi, almost every major clan was present.
[This is a decent opportunity. A proper display can make my jonin promotion seem natural, diluting the impression that the Third Hokage deliberately promoted me.]
Yoru shook his head, moved his wrists, and slowly circulated chakra inside his body.
Right now, there were Hyūga jonin behind him and on both sides.
All of them had their Byakugan active, veins bulging around their eyes.
Yoru had to carefully control the false flow of chakra inside his body.
He couldn't let them see any flaws.
Only after slowly accumulating enough chakra did he indeed draw the attention of the three Hyūga.
Fortunately, the enormous Tailed Beast Ball was soon fired and exploded, raising mountain-like waves and a towering mushroom cloud, pulling everyone's attention away.
At the front of the shockwave from the explosion, densely packed Kirigakure shinobi could be seen.
All of them were wrapped in Water Prison-like spheres, using the explosion's shockwave to reduce damage.
As for Kirigakure shinobi who couldn't do that, they were naturally reduced to scraps on the spot.
At this moment, even hiding in the water was not safe.
A huge shockwave transmitted underwater had even greater power and faster speed.
Orochimaru watched the shockwave from the Tailed Beast Ball spread, rapidly approaching the Konoha shinobi.
His brow furrowed.
Just as he was about to order a retreat, Yoru formed the tiger seal with both hands and walked past him at an unhurried pace.
Orochimaru immediately changed his mind and swallowed the retreat order at his lips.
The reason he had wanted to retreat was that among his thirty-plus jonin, there were many powerful shinobi—
But not a single one specialized in large-scale ninjutsu.
Orochimaru valued Yoru greatly.
Otherwise, at the most difficult moment, he would never have placed Yoru and the Tiger Unit at the battlefield's most critical point.
Although at the time, he might have simply treated a dead horse as a living one—
Or deliberately used the lives of Uchiha youths to exchange for the lives of more Konoha shinobi—
The fact that he had picked Yoru out from thousands of shinobi proved that Yoru had left a deep impression on him.
But Yoru had risen too recently.
The impression he left on Orochimaru was still not deep enough.
At least in a lightning-fast decision, Orochimaru would still unconsciously overlook him.
Fortunately, the instant he saw Yoru, he remembered that this youngest chunin was actually a shinobi skilled in large-scale ninjutsu.
That was why he stopped the retreat order in time.
Otherwise, if Orochimaru gave the order and then took it back, it would have been somewhat awkward.
The idea that once an order was spoken, one should rather let all subordinates die than change it—
That was Danzo's stupid way of shaping his authority.
Not Orochimaru's style.
The Cold Lord wanted only victory.
For victory, he would preserve as many subordinates' lives as possible.
He would not care about his own face.
Nor would he care about ordering some shinobi to die at critical points.
Strangely, Konoha shinobi trusted him because of this.
Even for missions that meant death, they never complained.
Because Orochimaru's decisions were extremely rational.
They could lead everyone to victory as much as possible.
Because they trusted Orochimaru, the Konoha jonin also held great expectations toward Yoru's action, which Orochimaru watched and tacitly approved.
No one retreated according to their own understanding.
No one prepared defensive ninjutsu for themselves either.
Miwa Masayo crouched on top of Yoru's head.
The two cooperated once again, performing their externally combined sage art formed by merging two fires.
Yoru had already given this sage art a name.
Sage Art · External · Great Fire Annihilation.
Yoru swelled his chest and spat out a blazing fireball containing extremely powerful chakra.
Miwa Masayo lowered her body and also spat out a blue-white line of fire containing extremely powerful natural energy.
The blue-white line of fire wrapped around the scorching fireball, easily changing its shape.
Chakra and natural energy collided and fused, forming senjutsu chakra under Yoru's control.
As the nature of the chakra supporting the fireball changed, the fireball turned golden and expanded.
It became a towering sea of flames several dozen meters high and hundreds of meters wide, still continuously spreading outward.
The heat of the flames distorted the air.
In an instant, the sea began boiling.
Large amounts of water vapor evaporated, and the temperature across the entire sea region suddenly rose by several dozen degrees.
Even the Konoha shinobi behind Yoru felt a faint burning sensation from the radiant heat.
The Konoha jonin narrowed their eyes to reduce the stimulation of the firelight.
But their hearts were filled with emotion.
Uchiha Yoru truly deserved to be valued by Orochimaru.
This ninjutsu, performed in cooperation with his summoning beast, was as powerful as if the Third Hokage himself had used it.
The Uchiha clan had gained another true genius.
Not only could he command Uchiha shinobi to withstand thousands of Kirigakure shinobi surrounding them—
He could even use Fire Release ninjutsu of such power.
Truly enviable.
Seeing the flames filling the sky, Konoha's shinobi were filled with emotion.
Kumogakure shinobi were shocked beyond words, not knowing which powerful Konoha shinobi had arrived on the battlefield to use Fire Release of such scale above the sea.
But Kirigakure shinobi felt something completely different.
They were at the center of the flames.
They used their own bodies to experience the truth that Water Release countering Fire Release had limits.
The water of the Water Prison Technique was boiled by the flames.
Boiling bubbles rolled upward.
The Kirigakure shinobi inside silently screamed.
Some were boiled alive inside their own technique's water spheres.
Some canceled their Water Release ninjutsu in time, only for their bodies to be ignited by the surging heatwave, burning away their exposed upper halves on the spot.
Only Kirigakure shinobi with skilled ninjutsu, steady minds, and rich experience could replace Water Prison Technique with multiple Water Formation Walls in time.
They used layers of Water Formation Walls to block heat transfer, preserving their own lives and those of their comrades.
From the north, the Tailed Beast Ball storm rolled forward.
From the south, Great Fire Annihilation surged ahead.
When the two collided, the Kirigakure shinobi suffered the greatest test.
After the storm passed, the mushroom cloud still towered high.
The sea still boiled.
But the morale Kirigakure had just raised was once again shattered.
At this point, Kirigakure's morale could no longer be encouraged.
Even the Terumī jonin who had barely survived was shouting,
"Retreat! Retreat!!"
This was the consensus of all Kirigakure shinobi.
Everyone knew counterattack was no longer possible.
Even if there was no issue with their strength, people's hearts no longer allowed it.
When the wind was favorable, they competed for merit and charged bravely forward.
When the wind was against them, don't even think about fighting desperately.
This was the greatest and most difficult problem of a loose shinobi village like Kirigakure.
The three thousand-plus surviving Kirigakure shinobi scattered in a swarm.
They did not stubbornly flee toward the Land of Water.
Instead, they drilled toward openings in all directions.
Neither Kumogakure nor Konoha had expected such a sudden accident.
Both sides combined had fewer than one hundred shinobi.
Caught off guard, they had no way to intercept Kirigakure's reckless pig-like stampede.
The Third Raikage and Orochimaru made the same decision at the first moment.
"Pursue the shinobi of the Hōzuki clan, Yuki clan, and Kaguya clan. Among them, prioritize Hōzuki!"
Kumogakure shinobi and Konoha shinobi spread out and launched an unrestrained pursuit.
They even passed directly through crowds of Kirigakure shinobi, yet not a single Kirigakure shinobi tried to stop them.
They only desperately tried to put themselves farther away from the enemy.
A little farther.
Then even farther.
Orochimaru successfully intercepted Ryō of the Yuki clan.
The Third Raikage used speed to stop Kaguya Ren.
As for Hōzuki Sakuzuki, he was intercepted by the AB Combination.
At this moment, Blue B was desperately soothing the Eight-Tails Gyūki, preventing himself from losing control due to the tailed beast's excessive excitement.
He deeply understood that his safety was not guaranteed right now.
Although Kirigakure shinobi on the battlefield had completely ceased to be a threat, Konoha shinobi were still present.
They were enemies watching hungrily too.
The tattooed shinobi's concerns were very correct.
Yoru was currently lurking near him, watching this jinchūriki with predatory attention.
He and Miwa Masayo had already confirmed—
The octopus leg they had eaten absolutely had an unclear relationship with the Eight-Tails.
Of course, it definitely wasn't a father-son bloodline relationship.
Rather, after the Eight-Tails' blood flowed out and was swallowed by some other creature, that creature survived the blood's backlash and underwent a change in life form.
Probably similar to Kinkaku and Ginkaku eating the Nine-Tails' flesh and blood…
Maybe.
In short, tempted by delicious food and curious about the shinobi world's largest artificial chakra lifeform, Yoru brought Miwa Masayo over to see if they could find a chance to get some Eight-Tails flesh.
Who would have thought there was no battle happening around the Eight-Tails jinchūriki?
That left Yoru very helpless.
How was he supposed to fish in troubled waters?
At that moment, he keenly sensed something strange in the sea beneath his feet.
Although he couldn't feel what it was exactly, the ripples on the surface had changed slightly.
And these differences connected together, forming an S-shaped pattern.
[Orochimaru?]
[Wait. That one fighting the Ice Release shinobi so fiercely over there is… Manda?]
[He's also here to make a move on the Eight-Tails jinchūriki?]
Stimulated by this, Yoru suddenly remembered something.
There did seem to be such a matter.
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Eight-Tails jinchūriki Blue B had been a member of the Edo Tensei army.
He had said his death was caused by Orochimaru.
The Eight-Tails Gyūki had even lost one horn because of it.
Recalling these details, Yoru immediately felt certain.
The place where Orochimaru caused the Eight-Tails to go berserk and killed Blue B was Kumogakure.
There was no way he would enter the enemy's headquarters without making any preparations.
And when targeting the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, he had succeeded with drugs in one move.
If he had not made targeted preparations in advance, there was no way such a drug could be prepared.
After all, the existence of a jinchūriki was a major change in life form.
In order for humans to adapt to the presence of tailed beasts, their entire life system had long since become nonhuman.
Extract the tailed beast, and the jinchūriki dies.
Even the vitality-overflowing Uzumaki clan was no exception.
From this perspective, the tailed beast had actually become an important organ of the jinchūriki, embedded into the jinchūriki's life system.
Under such circumstances, drugs used on a jinchūriki and drugs used on humans had to be completely different.
And for different tailed beast jinchūriki, effective drugs would also differ.
Orochimaru must have obtained Blue B's flesh or blood sample in advance.
He might even have already planted certain measures.
Only then could he topple this powerful jinchūriki in one move.
Yoru relaxed.
He decided to quietly watch what Orochimaru would do.
Maybe today, he could take advantage of Orochimaru's move and plant his own measure on the Eight-Tails jinchūriki.
Heh.
The thought of using the hand of the shinobi world's number one scientist, Orochimaru, to quietly do his own thing made Yoru inexplicably excited.
It was clearly showing off before an expert.
Yet he discovered he might actually win.
How could that not be exciting?
[I need to hide properly. I must maintain Wind Release carefully and conceal myself steadily within the wind.]
[Whether I can win my first victory in the old-six domain against Orochimaru depends on this.]
…
Orochimaru felt uneasy.
He used genjutsu and transformation techniques to create a relatively realistic false body, deceiving many shinobi and even Manda.
He had Manda fight the Ice Release shinobi to cover the false body's almost nonexistent combat power.
But the time definitely could not drag on too long.
Manda was not that enemy's match.
At most, with his madness, he could suppress the opponent for a little over ten minutes.
That was the limit.
Orochimaru knew he had to complete his move as soon as possible, then return in time.
But—
He still felt something was wrong.
It seemed as if someone was watching him.
Staring at him from behind.
Yet he had used every method.
There was not the slightest trace proving someone was there.
Only his intuition.
The suspicious Orochimaru hesitated for a very, very long time.
In the end, he still made his move.
This opportunity was too rare.
A tailed beast jinchūriki was the greatest secret of a shinobi village.
Whether their whereabouts or any other intelligence, everything would be protected by the full power of the village.
Before today, Orochimaru only knew that Kumogakure had two jinchūriki.
The Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails.
Beyond that, he knew nothing.
Male? Female? Tall? Short? Fat? Thin? Strong? Weak? Chakra nature?
That was the entirety of Konoha's record on Kumogakure's two jinchūriki.
Other than knowing they existed, everything else was a question mark.
Now, he had accidentally confirmed the Eight-Tails' identity on the battlefield.
And there were not large numbers of shinobi guarding him.
This was a heaven-sent opportunity that might not appear once in a hundred years.
How could Orochimaru let it go?
Even if his intuition screamed.
Even if his heart was unsettled.
He still acted carefully.
Poison.
As expected, poison.
Orochimaru began with poison.
The poison he used was truly too hidden.
Who knew how many stages it had?
Starting from a poison that left no trace, he strengthened the drug's effects and symptoms step by step, yet left the victim completely unaware.
Not only did the Eight-Tails jinchūriki fail to notice—
Even Yoru, who was watching from the side, did not notice.
Although he knew Orochimaru would do something, only when the poison's initial effect appeared did Yoru discover the clue from Blue B's momentary daze.
Orochimaru's method was probably mixed poison.
But it was also possible that he didn't start with poison at all, but with a medicine or even incense that relaxed the body and mind.
In short, after a full ten minutes or so, Blue B finally experienced a brief moment of distraction.
At the same time, the Eight-Tails inside him had its attention pulled away by a burst of chakra exploding from Manda.
That was Nine-Tails chakra.
The Eight-Tails had no choice but to take it seriously.
By the time Gyūki confirmed it was only some item stained with the Nine-Tails' aura and not the Nine-Tails itself, its jinchūriki had already been approached.
Not only had a bit of flesh and blood been stolen—
A long needle had also injected a tiny amount of mysterious medicine into his spine.
After succeeding, Orochimaru left at the first moment.
Manda's lower half had already been frozen solid.
Only his mouth remained capable of attacking.
He could not hold on much longer before being forcibly sent back to Ryūchi Cave.
Orochimaru had to return before then, replace his false body, and solidify a perfect alibi.
In the instant after Orochimaru left—
And before the Eight-Tails Gyūki's attention returned—
Yoru also made his move.
He pressed his hand lightly against Blue B's left shoulder, sending in a mark constructed from sealing techniques.
Then he erased every trace of chakra.
After confirming that his measure contained no flaws, Yoru nodded in satisfaction.
Then vanished with the wind.
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