"Lord Hokage, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki from Kumogakure has reportedly been captured by the Akatsuki. The Hidden Cloud is requesting Konoha's assistance!"
Inside the Hokage's office, Uzuki Yugao gave her report to Uchiha Fugaku.
"So they've finally appeared!"
Hearing the news, Fugaku pushed back his chair and rose to his feet.
He had long ordered Konoha's intelligence division and his spore-clone network to track Nagato's movements, but all their efforts had come up empty.
The Akatsuki were experts in secrecy. Once they chose to hide, even Konoha's intelligence network found it nearly impossible to root them out.
Now, at last, there was a lead—Nagato had surfaced.
The Eight-Tails' fate didn't concern him. What mattered was the trail that could lead him to Nagato.
Sunagakure pretended to be cordial while scheming in secret against the Land of Fire. Kumogakure, however, had never hidden its hostility.
They had once sent an envoy under the guise of peace talks, only to attempt to steal the Byakugan. That plot led to the death of Hyūga Hizashi.
So whether the Eight-Tails' host lived or died was irrelevant to him. If not for the chance to strike at Nagato, he wouldn't have even entertained Kumogakure's plea for help.
Before long, Fugaku departed the village with three companions, heading toward the Land of Lightning.
He didn't slip away in secret. Instead, he left in full view of the entire village, cloaked in the towering form of his Complete-Body Susanoo.
If Nagato learned that he had left Konoha and chose that moment to attack, so much the better. Fugaku had already prepared: with the Flying Thunder God technique mastered by Shiranui Genma, Raido, and Iwashi, he could instantly return to Konoha and strike Nagato down.
In mere hours, Susanoo's immense speed carried him to Kumogakure's search party.
His three chosen companions were all specialists in tracking:
Inuzuka Hana, with her keen sense of smell.
A branch member of the Hyūga clan, able to see hidden places underground.
A member of the Aburame clan, who used insects to scout vast areas.
Fugaku alone was enough to handle any battle. What mattered most was finding Nagato.
"Lord Hokage, we are in your debt."
At the forefront of the Cloud's team was the Fourth Raikage. True to his nature, he had come personally once he heard his younger brother, Killer B, was captured.
Seeing Fugaku arrive eased some of the storm in the Raikage's face. He stepped forward and offered thanks.
"No need for formalities, Lord Raikage. The Akatsuki are our common enemy," Fugaku replied smoothly, masking his true feelings.
He could sense the Raikage's genuine worry for Killer B—their bond as brothers was real. But that didn't make him a "good man."
After all, the tragedy of Hyūga Hizashi's death was the Cloud's doing, and it would not have happened without the Raikage's approval.
"How is the search progressing?" Fugaku asked.
"We're tracking Killer B's scent."
"The Akatsuki have people with space-time abilities. If they teleported him, would you still be able to track a scent?" Fugaku pressed.
"B must have deliberately maintained his tailed-beast transformation. Because of that, the enemy couldn't simply warp him away with Wood Release, and his scent remains." The Raikage explained.
At that moment, Inuzuka Hana stepped forward."Lord Raikage, may I borrow some of Killer B's clothing to collect his scent?"
"Of course."
At once, the Raikage had an aide bring one of B's old garments. Hana gathered the scent, and the party resumed the pursuit.
Meanwhile, deep within a hidden Akatsuki base, two colossal figures loomed.
One was the Eight-Tails itself, a monstrous octopus with eight massive tentacles.
The other dwarfed even it—a humanoid giant with nine eyes, seven of them already open.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Upon its raised fingers stood four figures: Uchiha Obito, Nagato, Konan, and Zetsu.
"We're ready to begin the extraction. Once it starts, we can't stop. Can we guarantee our location won't be exposed during this time?" Nagato asked.
"Rest assured," Zetsu grinned, his split black-and-white face unsettling. "Until the beast is extracted, no one will find us."
"Then begin." Nagato commanded.
All four formed the same hand signs in unison.
The statue released a terrible suction, pulling the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki toward it.
Killer B's screams echoed endlessly through the cavern.
Hours later, the trackers faltered.
"What's wrong?" Fugaku and the Raikage approached.
"Lord B's scent has split—into dozens of trails. The enemy must have scattered objects carrying his scent in different directions to mislead us."
"Damn it!"
The Raikage slammed a fist into a tree, splintering it apart.
"We'll have to split up," Fugaku said grimly.
With no way to know which trail was real, they would have to follow every lead.
"Form multiple squads. If anyone finds him, send up a signal flare immediately!" the Raikage ordered.
Eight squads set out in different directions—limited not by will, but by the number of skilled trackers available.
On a barren plain of weathered stone, Fugaku and Hana pursued one trail alone.
Other squads had six members, but this one had only two. That was enough: Hana for the trail, Fugaku for the fight.
"Lord Hokage, the scent is very close!" Hana reported.
"Good. Leave the rest to me."
"Tenseigan!"
His eyes turned a brilliant azure, like a sky without clouds. Though it shared all the Byakugan's powers, the Tenseigan looked utterly different. There was no need to hide it.
A 360-degree field of vision bloomed around him. Soon, he spotted a suspicious figure:
Some 800 meters ahead, half-buried in the earth, something was tunneling rapidly beneath the ground.
With a flicker, Fugaku blurred forward, shadows trailing his body.
In seconds, he overtook the figure—a pale, plantlike humanoid. A White Zetsu.
It clutched a strip of cloth, no doubt carrying Killer B's scent.
With a swift motion, Fugaku appeared in its path.
The Zetsu froze. Seeing Fugaku, it panicked, trying to sink deeper into the ground.
Too late. Fugaku's hand clamped its throat, yanking it free with brutal strength.
Crack—
The Zetsu's neck snapped, eyes rolling back as it went limp.
Without hesitation, Fugaku sealed the corpse into a scroll.
Even the smallest prey had value. Each White Zetsu body brought him closer to recreating the legendary vitality of Hashirama Senju.
He incinerated the scented cloth with a Great Fireball, then turned to Hana.
"A decoy. It's been dealt with. Continue tracking the other trails."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
They pressed on.
A day later, as they searched, a firework exploded in the distant sky.
"A signal! Another squad must have found Killer B!" Hana cried.
"Let's go."
Fugaku summoned his Susanoo and sped toward the flare, carrying Hana within its colossal frame.
Almost at the same time, another figure crackling with lightning arrived—the Fourth Raikage, having outpaced his own squad with sheer speed.
"Where is he?!" the Raikage demanded.
A Cloud shinobi pointed toward a rocky mountain ahead.
At its base was what looked like a sealed entrance, blocked by a massive boulder. On it lay a talisman bearing the kanji for "Forbidden," radiating a barrier that suppressed all detection.
Not even Fugaku's Tenseigan could pierce inside.