Samui's body trembled as she shakily forced herself to stand up.
Her broad chest swayed as she took one heavy step after another toward Shimizu. Before Yugito could even process what was happening, Shimizu used a Wind Release technique to blow Samui over to his side.
The first person to atone for Kumogakure's sins had begun.
In his Cursed Seal mode, though Shimizu's physical features hadn't changed much, his entire aura now exuded an unsettling, eerie quality. He ruthlessly initiated a brutal beating.
An effective beating requires refined skill. It demanded speed, precision, and absolute ruthlessness!
The thunderous, concussive sounds of his blows echoed continuously through the room. Under Shimizu's terrifying assault, Samui's eyes gradually lost their focus.
"Samui!" Yugito screamed in utter despair.
Unfortunately, her extreme mental and physical exhaustion left her unable to run over. She could only watch helplessly as her dearest friend was tormented by Shimizu.
"Uchiha... Shimizu!" Yugito's throat was nearly hoarse from screaming.
Never in her entire life had she hated her own helplessness so intensely. Housing the Two-Tails, she had always been hailed as a genius. After mastering the power of the Two-Tails, she had relied on that massive chakra to overcome almost every obstacle in her path.
But everything had changed ever since she crossed paths with Shimizu Uchiha.
First came the humiliation of his Genjutsu. And now, he was beating Samui right in front of her face. She felt a monumental, towering rage erupt inside her heart.
At that exact moment, the Genjutsu that had been cast over her began to fracture under the sheer pressure of her spiritual energy. If Yugito had belonged to the Uchiha Clan, she probably would have awakened a Mangekyo Sharingan right then and there just to add to the excitement.
"You will die a horrible death... a horrible death!"
Following her extreme fury, an overwhelming tide of sorrow washed over Yugito. If only her strength had been just a bit greater, she would never have fallen to such a pathetic state. Why was the power of the Sharingan so overwhelmingly formidable? How could it possess such absolute suppression over a Tailed Beast?
Sage of Six Paths, have you fallen asleep? What an utterly unjust world you have created!
Slap! Slap!
However, no matter how rich Yugito's internal world was, harsh reality would not alter itself in the slightest.
"Ah...!" Samui let out a series of miserable cries.
The sheer agony of the beating was too much to bear. Blood was beaten out of her, dripping heavily onto the ground.
Shimizu grabbed Samui by her short blonde hair, pulling it into two makeshift twin-tails, and walked toward Yugito.
"I know you're anxious, but don't be anxious just yet."
Shimizu reinforced the loosening Genjutsu once more. He lifted Samui up, holding her much like one would hold a small child.
Yugito watched Shimizu's movements in utter horror. To her, every single passing minute and second felt like excruciating torture.
After an unknown amount of time, Shimizu finally set Samui down.
How utterly lax.
She had merely used chakra to release a Water Release jutsu. Even if the shinobi of Kumogakure were notoriously terrible at Water Release, this was far too exaggerated. Did a person like this even deserve to be called a shinobi?
He turned his gaze toward Yugito. He hoped she wouldn't disappoint him.
With the blessing of a Tailed Beast, a Jinchuriki's base chakra reserves were vastly superior to those of ordinary shinobi.
"Next, you will take her place. After all, if she keeps going like this, her mind will completely collapse."
Samui's eyes were entirely vacant, her pupils significantly dilated. She had clearly lost consciousness, though her body still twitched violently from time to time.
Looking at Samui's wretched state, tears cascaded down Yugito's cheeks like a kite with a broken string.
While the battle was unfolding on Shimizu's side, the other battlefield was in an even worse condition.
The area covered by Deva Path Pain's Chao Shinra Tensei extended much further than anyone could have anticipated. Even Minato Namikaze had miscalculated its range.
Because the incident occurred so suddenly, and taking his remaining chakra reserves into consideration, Minato bit his lip and forced himself to teleport everyone to a location ten kilometers away.
Even so, the massive, shockwave-like shockwave of the assault still managed to sweep over them. The terrifying, deafening roar caused temporary tinnitus in everyone, leaving their ears buzzing violently. If Kushina hadn't relied on the Nine-Tails' power to manifest its chakra and cover them with those giant tails, everyone would have suffered catastrophic casualties.
"Hiss—"
Cold sweat poured from Minato Namikaze's brow. His lower body was completely drenched in blood. He tried moving his legs, and to his immense relief, they were still attached. If he lost his legs, his shinobi career could be declared over ahead of schedule.
For a shinobi, the hands were crucial for forming hand seals. But the legs were the absolute key to movement. Without his legs, his Hiraishin no Jutsu would be severely compromised, and he wouldn't be able to utilize it as fluidly as before.
The others were not nearly as fortunate.
A large patch of skin on Asuma Sarutobi's back had been completely peeled away, exposing crimson tendons; he had used his back to shield Kurenai Yuhi from the blast.
Orochimaru had crashed headfirst into the ground, his status unknown.
"Kushina!" Minato Namikaze endured the burning pain, gritting his teeth to stand up.
He looked at Kushina with deep concern. Having drawn upon so much of the Nine-Tails' chakra, there was a very high probability that the Nine-Tails would go berserk. And if it went berserk right now, the consequences...
"I'm fine." Kushina shook her head, her face noticeably pale.
Even with the formidable life force of the Uzumaki Clan and her unique chakra, controlling the power of the Nine-Tails was no simple task. She was not a perfect Jinchuriki and could not achieve a mutual understanding with the Nine-Tails; they harbored nothing but mutual hostility toward each other.
The so-called power of the Nine-Tails was a combination of the "Nine-Tails' chakra" and the "Nine-Tails' will." Right now, Kushina was merely drawing out the Nine-Tails' chakra and converting its raw power into her own usable chakra, while isolating the Nine-Tails' will within her mental world.
However, to perfectly separate the Nine-Tails' will from its power actually required a pure, powerful willpower completely devoid of hatred. Kushina was entirely incapable of achieving this; she was merely using her own chakra to forcefully suppress the Nine-Tails.
Every time she extensively utilized the Tailed Beast Chakra Mode, the accumulated hatred and malice of the Nine-Tails would inevitably leak out a little, lingering in Kushina's mind. If she used it too much, Kushina might even lose herself entirely.
Every single Jinchuriki walked on incredibly thin ice. The literal meaning of "Jinchuriki" referred to burying a living person inside a bridge pillar as a human sacrifice to pray for the gods' protection over the structure. Its alternative title was "The Power of the Sacrifice"!
"We need to retreat immediately. Unleashing such a powerful jutsu must place an immense burden on the user's chakra. The caster shouldn't have the capacity to pursue us anymore. We must bring this intel back to Konohagakure."
"But Minato, your..." Kushina pointed at Minato's legs. They were entirely saturated with blood, making it impossible to tell exactly where the bleeding originated.
"It's fine for now." Seeing that Kushina could still hold on, Minato Namikaze went to check on the condition of the others.
Orochimaru was not far from him, his head buried deep in the dirt and his legs sticking straight up in the air. Had Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, actually died just like that? Minato approached with deep doubt.
"Heh heh... What terrifying power."
Before Minato could even reach him, Orochimaru's upside-down body collapsed onto the ground with a wet thud. His mouth stretched to an exaggerated, grotesque angle, and a completely drenched Orochimaru crawled out from within.
The Orochimaru-Style Substitution Jutsu!
The corpse on the ground sloughed off like a discarded snake skin as Orochimaru slowly stood up.
"Minato, whether it's the power of the Nine-Tails or the power of the Rinnegan, they are both vastly superior to ordinary civilians like us." A dangerous glint flashed in Orochimaru's eyes. There were far too many Kekkei Genkai and secret techniques in this world; without immortality, how could one ever hope to see the end of it?
"Let's focus on delivering the intel back, Lord Orochimaru." Minato Namikaze was clearly in no mood to discuss whether the world was fair or unfair with Orochimaru.
The caster might be out of chakra, but that didn't mean the Kumogakure shinobi were out of chakra.
"Minato-sensei, are we not going to wait for Shimizu?" Kakashi, who had been silently standing within the group, asked. Shimizu, who had gone to intercept the Two-Tails, had yet to send any word back.
"The situation is urgent. We can only proceed like this for now," Minato Namikaze said, shaking his head.
Comrades were incredibly important to him. But the village was even more important. If Akatsuki still possessed such monstrous figures, it would pose a catastrophic threat to the village. They had to deliver the gathered intel back as quickly as possible.
"Kakashi, just listen to Minato-sensei," Rin Nohara said flatly. Given Shimizu's vile nature, even if he died, it would merely be ridding the shinobi world of a menace.
"But if Shimizu goes back, won't he run straight into Kumogakure?" To Rin Nohara's immense surprise, Kurenai Yuhi was actually the one actively asking about Shimizu's whereabouts. Isn't she a victim just like me? Rin wondered deep down.
"Minato-jonin, if we just head back like this, isn't it a bit too heartless?" Asuma Sarutobi naturally agreed with his goddess. Furthermore, his relationship with Shimizu wasn't too bad.
"Minato... Shimizu, he..." Kushina walked over, clearly wanting to say a few words on Shimizu's behalf as well. During the time she had spent with Shimizu, he had always been a warm-hearted boy who tirelessly fulfilled her requests without a single complaint.
"I, on the other hand, believe Minato's decision is correct." Orochimaru licked the corner of his mouth. It was true that he coveted Shimizu's body, but there was clearly a far more powerful vessel available now. However, that entity was still far beyond his current reach. If Shimizu could make it back alive, it would prove his worth. If he died, it would simply prove he was nothing special after all.
"Alright, let's move out."
Once Minato Namikaze recovered a bit of his chakra, he used his technique to teleport everyone a bit further away before organizing a structured retreat.
"This destructive power... how many Tailed Beast Bombs worth of damage is this?" Killer B silently calculated the scale in his mind. How could such a formidable shinobi belong to a newly emerged organization?
Up close, Killer B could discern that the person standing before them was merely a puppet. The true master was undoubtedly hiding somewhere else.
"Konohagakure, can you understand our pain now?"
Deva Path Pain descended from the sky, landing firmly on the ground. After standing still for a brief moment, the remaining paths of the Six Paths of Pain regained their mobility one after another.
"I need to recover now."
"Recover~ Then let's go find Yugito Samui~" Killer B spoke in his usual bizarre, rhythmic cadence.
Yugito had been missing ever since she was lured away by Shimizu Uchiha. A Tailed Beast was a vital asset to the village; under no circumstances could it be allowed to fall into enemy hands.
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