Chapter 163

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When did the strength of a Jinchūriki become so weak? On the front lines, leading the Uchiha warriors along with a large number of Leaf Genin against the Cloud ninja, Fugaku couldn't help but frown.

Is it that Lord Kyomu is too strong?

Perhaps.

No longer focusing on the distant one-on-one battle, Fugaku concentrated on the task at hand, dispatching a Cloud ninja with a casual Fire Release.

"Trash, you deserve to die!"

On one side of the battlefield, a two-tomoe Sharingan Uchiha ninja berated his own team member.

The Leaf Genin shrank their necks, eyes filled with gratitude, guilt, and fear.

The teacher is fierce.

But seeing the injury on the two-tomoe Uchiha's side, the seven-year-old Genin smiled, "Teacher, it won't happen next time."

"Good, next time you die, I won't even glance at you!"

As he spoke, he caught a kunai thrown from afar, quickly attached an explosive tag from his ninja tool pouch, and hurled it back with swift, fluid motion.

Almost simultaneously, from several directions and many scattered corners of the battlefield, angry scolding from Uchiha ninja could be heard.

"You trash, deserving death!"

"You're blocking my attack path, get behind me!"

"Idiot, don't look at me with that face!"

"Killing two Cloud ninja and kicking you aside is just by the way, I'm not saving trash like you, kid, stay out of the way!"

On the battlefield, the Uchiha, besides being harsh with their words, maximized their efficiency in killing enemies, their combat strength, and their care for their comrades.

Two eyeballs, foreseeing all dangers a second before they occur.

But some accidents cannot be stopped, just a group of newbies on the battlefield, and despite the Uchiha's best efforts, the gap in strength and experience means death is often frequent and unnoticed.

"Teacher, I've embarrassed you..."

"I'm not your teacher; I don't have such trash as students." Grinding his teeth, an Uchiha ninja pressed hard against the chest of a seven-year-old child, but the blood wouldn't stop.

"He's dead, teacher."

"I know!" As he sent off his third student, the Uchiha ninja's expression grew colder, like ice unthawed for a thousand years.

Turning around, drawing his sword, he charged towards the encircling Cloud ninja, the black tomoe in his two-tomoe Sharingan eyes spinning faster, a third tomoe faintly emerging.

"Teacher, I don't want to die, I haven't become a ninja like you and Lord Kyomu..."

Without a word, he brushed past his eyelid, and an Uchiha stood up, looking back at the only three remaining Leaf Genin.

"You'd all be better off dead!" Stepping forward, "Stay close to me, don't stray more than three meters from me, or I'll kill you myself!"

Better to die by one's own hand than by the enemy's.

This psychotic thought triggered a massive emotional burst within him; his two-tomoe Sharingan definitively became a three-tomoe, but he was completely unaware, only seeing that all the Cloud ninja before him must die!

All of them!

"Teacher, you're amazing!"

"Teacher, thank you for saving me!"

"Teacher, can I be as strong as you after the war?"

"Teacher..."

There was sadness, but clearly more people were surviving, teacher after teacher, worship after worship, making the Uchiha feel awkward, their facial expressions even colder.

I'm fierce, I kill people, even my teammates if I have to, you all stay back!

Perhaps, the Uchiha are the ones with a permanent 'fight with one's back to the river' passive skill; the fewer comrades they have, the stronger they fight.

When all their teammates are dead, the talented ones could have activated the pinnacle of their potential by then.

As the battlefield situation became more intense, the Cloud ninja discovered that their forces, twice the size of the Leaf's, were being repeatedly slaughtered by about a dozen Uchiha leading seven-year-old Leaf Genin.

Are all these Uchiha monsters?

Carrying burdens not only does not reduce their strength but bizarrely increases it. What kind of logic is this?

Looking up, more three-tomoe Sharingan eyes appeared, not sure exactly how many, but there were at least seven or eight pairs.

But the Uchiha are not invincible; they can be injured and die.

"Finally, a break; you guys exhaust me..."

"Teacher!"

"Hmm, survive, just survive." He smiled, but coughed up blood mixed with bits of internal tissue.

Perhaps, it is only in death that the Uchiha's hard exterior softens.

Tears sparkled in the eyes of the few surviving Leaf Genin, but war afforded them little time to linger on such emotions.

They gripped their swords and charged towards a gravely injured Cloud ninja, resigned to their fates.

As different scenes unfolded across the battlefield, the Leaf side's morale surged, and the Cloud ninja gradually began to retreat.

Boom.

A petite figure was thrown over, and Fugaku abruptly stepped back.

It was Yugito.

"Yugito!"

Dodai's eyes split with rage, wanting to rush to her aid, but Kyomu's face suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

Plans cannot keep up with changes. Dodai had misjudged Yugito's ability to escape; not only could she not defeat Kyomu, but even her attempts to flee were exhausting.

Whoosh.

Dodging a sudden slash from Kyomu, Dodai thought of retreating but seeing Yugito lying on the ground, possibly dead or alive, he made his decision.

"All forces, retreat!" he yelled, his body speeding to its limits as he charged towards Kyomu.

"Fugaku-senpai, control the Two-Tails inside Yugito," Kyomu advised, not caring if Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan was up to the task or if he knew the technique. Either way, today Dodai was destined to follow the Third Raikage's path.

Yesterday the Third Raikage died; today it was Dodai's turn. Brothers in arms should stick together.

Monstrous Strength Punch!

Dodai's Raiton: Rairyū no Tatsumaki clashed hard against Kyomu, who stepped back half a step, while Dodai was forced back several paces.

"You are far inferior to the Third Raikage," Kyomu shook his head and hands dismissively. "You were the drag in the famous Cloud ninja duo."

Dodai's forehead veins bulged as the lightning chakra mode around him flared again, and he charged back at Kyomu.

Meanwhile, as the Cloud ninja troops began their retreat, Fugaku did not lead his team in pursuit but instead tried, according to Kyomu's instructions, to control the Two-Tails inside Yugito using his Mangekyō Sharingan.

It was not very skilled, or perhaps just a groping forward.

The Uchiha clan's library lacked advanced texts on the Mangekyō Sharingan, primarily because when Madara left the village, he took these crucial texts with him.

But not having studied them wasn't a problem. Due to the innate nature of the Mangekyō Sharingan and its ability to suppress tailed beasts, controlling the Two-Tails inside Yugito wasn't difficult for Fugaku.

Fugaku couldn't pull away, but other red-eyed Uchiha, with the remaining Leaf Genin in tow, relentlessly pursued the retreating Cloud ninja.

Dodai was also left behind by Kyomu; escape was no longer an option.

And as Kyomu had assessed, Dodai's strength was just as he described: in the duo with the Third Raikage, he was just the wingman.

"Too slow, too slow!" Kyomu didn't use teleportation but used other means to keep up with Dodai's speed, "Faster, even faster!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Electric arcs surrounded Kyomu as Yoei repeatedly sliced through Dodai's Lightning Armor, leaving numerous cuts across his body.

In a one-on-one duel, no one in the current ninja world frightened Kyomu; he could kill anyone!

"Aragami Kyomu, I will kill you!"

"Fighting isn't about who shouts the loudest," Kyomu's voice calmly echoed around Dodai, "The Third Raikage had desperate measures, but you can't even manage that."

Dodai's composure shattered, destabilized by Kyomu's words, his body increasingly vulnerable.

And Kyomu used Dodai, effectively a punching bag, to refine his own combat techniques.

Boom!

Dodai's body tilted downward, crashing into the ground as Kyomu pressed down with one hand, sliding him across the earth like a plow, turning up large swaths of soil and carving a deep trench that scarred the landscape like a wound.

With a graceful motion of his right hand along his waist, Yoei was swiftly unsheathed.

Swish, swish, swish.

The blade handle rotated clockwise three times in Kyomu's palm, flashing a circular blade light. With a firm grip on the handle, the spinning blade was thrust downward fiercely.

Stab.

The tip of Yoei pierced through Dodai's thick Raiton Armor, broke through the skin of his neck, shattered his cervical vertebra, and plunged into the ground beneath.

In an instant, Dodai's struggling body went limp, the severance of his spinal cord rendering him motionless.

With a twist of his wrist, Yoei's blade flicked upwards in a swift, rightward slash, cleanly decapitating Dodai.

Drip, drip.

Blood spurted and fell to the ground, yet not a drop stained Kyomu; any blood that neared the electric arc surrounding him was instantly vaporized.

Kyomu deactivated his Lightning Release: Eight Gates, wiped the blood off Yoei on Dodai's corpse, and sheathed the blade cleanly.

Rustle.

He then reached to his waist and pulled out a sealing scroll, into which he sealed Dodai's head.

The Raiton techniques and the ultimate Raiton chakra techniques of Dodai were of great interest to Kyomu. Although he didn't need them for himself, he could give them to others, and the residual memories in Dodai's head could be extracted using special techniques.

Having completed these tasks, Kyomu stood up, coincidentally making eye contact with Yugito, who lay on the ground.

"Kyomu! I will kill you!" Yugito struggled, but the Two-Tails inside her showed no response, "Let me go, let me kill you!"

Slap.

A sharp slap came down, "Are you stupid, or am I?"

Ignoring Yugito's frantic struggles, Kyomu stepped on her, pinning her to the ground to stop her from speaking further, and turned to Fugaku.

"Fugaku-senpai, how is it?"

"It's possible to suppress the tailed beast, the Mangekyō Sharingan truly can!" Fugaku's voice trembled with excitement, "Although our clan has lost those crucial texts, it really works, it really does!"

"Alright, calm down," Kyomu threw cold water on his excitement, "Subduing a tailed beast or a Jinchūriki, shouldn't a Uchiha with two complete Mangekyō just look and get it done? Why does it seem like Fugaku-senpai has to try, and the effect is still only half as good?"

Fugaku's smile froze, and his blood-red eyes glared at Kyomu.

He really wanted to punch that smug face.

"You think you can do better, why come to me?"

"Just joking, Fugaku-senpai," Kyomu nudged the restrained Yugito with his foot, "Can you control her when she's fully transformed into the tailed beast?"

"I can."

"Does it take a lot of effort?"

Fugaku pondered briefly, "It consumes half as much as using Mangekyō Sharingan techniques."

"So, you mean to say you could maintain ten battles, and your nearsightedness won't exceed 700 degrees?"

Fugaku huffed lightly and nodded slightly.

Clap.

Kyomu applauded and laughed, "That's great! By tomorrow, standing on the Two-Tails' head, battling the Cloud army, we might even push into their camp's center."

"Kyomu, you dare!" Yugito struggled even more fiercely, her words slurred but her determination clear, "It's impossible, I will never become yours..."

Kyomu pressed down harder with his foot, silencing Yugito by pushing her face into the ground.

Nonsense! If it weren't for this, you'd have been dead already.

"That's a good idea," Fugaku smiled lightly, "After using Yugito, what are your plans, Kyomu?"

"Throw her back to the Cloud, keep her as a tailed beast mount, or kill her; any way works," Kyomu said nonchalantly.

"You really are heartless."

"Heh, don't get sentimental, this is war!" Kyomu bent down, a dark seal jutsu formed in his hand, which he then pressed onto Yugito's back.

Without the support of the Two-Tails' chakra, sealing Yugito's chakra became much easier.

Kyomu grabbed Yugito by her milky brown hair, twisted it to tighten his grip, and began dragging her towards the Leaf camp.

"Fugaku-senpai, tell your frenzied clan members to retreat and regroup. Tomorrow is when we really show our strength."

As he spoke, he dragged Yugito, who helplessly scraped at Kyomu's wrist with her hands, her gaze hollowly fixed towards the Cloud ninja camp.

She didn't want this... she really didn't.

Her body sealed with chakra, and with the Two-Tails subdued, her eyes had already taken on the appearance of the Mangekyō Sharingan. She couldn't awaken or control it.

Tears streamed down her face, flowing from her eyes and tracing lines across her cheeks. Her fingernails dug deeply into Kyomu's wrist, leaving only futile white marks that couldn't even be called scratches.

(End of Chapter)