"What?!"
Killer B's eyes narrowed at the Eight-Tails' warning. None of the five Uchiha Yuan before him were the original—yet he hadn't seen when or how the real one disappeared.
Did he flee… or is he still here?
As B scanned the battlefield, the five shadow clones dodged his tentacles with impossible agility, circling closer and closer. Then, all five suddenly ignited with blinding light—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Five simultaneous explosions engulfed the Eight-Tails in a blaze of fire and smoke.
B groaned, the blast shaking even his monstrous frame. The chakra cloak surrounding him flickered violently, shrinking by nearly a third as cracks tore through its surface.
Chunks of scorched earth rose into the storm. Shards of rock flew in every direction—one large piece spinning straight toward B's face.
"B, watch out!"
The Eight-Tails' warning came too late.
Just as the rock reached him, B sensed it—a flicker of chakra inside. His eyes widened.
The "rock" burst apart.
Uchiha Yuan emerged from within, his body glowing faintly crimson. His right hand was raised in a sword seal, two fingers shining with condensed chakra.
Like lightning, his strike pierced the Eight-Tails' chakra armor and stabbed precisely into B's chest.
"GAAH!"
B roared in pain. His entire cloak rippled and destabilized as a crimson shockwave burst from the wound. The force hurled Yuan backward through the air.
Panting, B looked down—there was a hole in his chest, blood and chakra swirling together.
He gave a crooked smile. "Yo… so that's the move Big Bro talked about—the one like Pops' Hell Stab. Damn, that hurt. You really are one nasty kid, Uchiha bro."
But as he tried to draw more of the Eight-Tails' chakra to heal, his face suddenly froze.
"What the—? Why isn't it flowing?"
The chakra within him stuttered, the circulation faltering as if something had jammed his pathways.
Meanwhile, Yuan landed lightly several meters away, crouched low. With a sharp exhale, he kicked off the ground—vanishing from sight.
The earth exploded beneath his feet as he rocketed forward, a streak of red light cutting through the night.
In the blink of an eye, he was behind Killer B.
B whipped his head around, swinging his blade in a horizontal arc—
"Behind you, B!"
The Eight-Tails' warning echoed, but too late.
Before B could complete his turn, Yuan's sword-fingers struck again—straight into a point at the center of his back.
The Eight-Tails' chakra cloak distorted, warping violently before imploding inward.
B gasped, his massive form trembling as the chakra avatar began to collapse.
"Rrrraaaagh!"
Desperate, he forced one final counterattack—forming a Tailed Beast Ball in his mouth and firing it point-blank.
The black sphere roared toward Yuan like a comet.
Yuan crossed his glowing arm before him, his right hand shimmering with brilliant red chakra. The air buzzed with static.
BOOM!
The explosion struck—but Yuan's arm held. Arcs of crimson light flared, his chakra condensing and sharpening until it formed a radiant two-meter blade of energy.
The Crimson Blade.
With a single swing, he cleaved the incoming sphere cleanly in two. The Tailed Beast Ball split apart, detonating in midair with a thunderous explosion.
B was thrown back, coughing blood as he tried to control the raging chakra within him.
But the damage had already been done. His internal chakra network was breaking apart—two vital meridian points blocked by Yuan's earlier strikes.
The power of the Eight-Tails churned wildly inside him like a flood slamming against closed gates.
Blood dripped from his lips. "Damn… that kid's jutsu… he hit my chakra nodes."
"B, pull back my chakra—now!" the Eight-Tails warned urgently.
B tried, but gasped in alarm.
"Something's wrong. There's foreign energy inside you!"
He looked down. The wound in his chest was glowing—a thin, golden column of light pulsing like a seal.
"So that's what he left behind…" he muttered bitterly. "A trap."
In the distance, Yuan landed lightly amid the smoke, the Crimson Blade still humming faintly in his hand. The glow flickered, then faded.
B stared at him across the battlefield, his breath ragged.
He's exactly like Big Bro said—troublesome to the end.
Reluctance filled his eyes. "We're done here."
He began to retract the Eight-Tails' chakra, the monstrous form shrinking rapidly. But the process was rough—his body convulsed as the chaotic energy tore at his insides.
Within moments, the Eight-Tails' avatar vanished, leaving only Killer B's battered form, kneeling amid the shattered earth.
Several Cloud shinobi finally arrived, stopping in shock at the devastation.
"Lord Killer B! Is the Uchiha dead?" one shouted.
B shook his head, voice low. "Don't know. Don't care. That kid's too damn persistent. We're pulling out."
He vanished with a flicker of movement, retreating toward the Cloud camp—intent on purging the strange chakra still burning inside him.
Half an hour later, the forest trembled again as dozens of Konoha shinobi arrived.
Yamanaka Mokuno surveyed the ruined terrain, his expression dark. "Search the area. Lord Yuan has to be nearby."
Moonlight Ryūka sighed, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Mokuno… be ready for the worst. No one could survive that many Tailed Beast Bombs."
Mokuno didn't reply. His jaw tightened, his eyes scanning the wasteland.
Then—
"Over here!" someone shouted in the distance. "There's movement!"
The two commanders turned sharply toward the sound.
Somewhere amid the rubble… something still lived.
Some people die… but they're never truly gone.
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