"Wake up, Kushina."
Uchiha Sogetsu's voice was soft—yet it carried an authority that brooked no refusal.
A faint hum rippled through the air.
In an instant, Kushina—half-conscious, half-sinking—seemed to regain a sliver of clarity. She lifted her head blankly, staring up with wide, innocent eyes at the Konoha ANBU in front of her—the one wearing a white beast mask.
"Y-you are…?"
"Konoha. ANBU Commander. Owl."
Sogetsu's voice was low, threaded with a strange magnetism as he spoke unhurriedly.
"Leave the rest to me. You're exhausted. Sleep for now."
"I'm sorry…"
Kushina's eyelids grew impossibly heavy. It felt as if her soul were sliding out of her body as she drifted down and let her eyes close.
Her near–tailed-beast state was forcibly yanked back in a blink.
The blood-red chakra that had been writhing around her collapsed instantly—crumbling, dissolving, vanishing without a trace.
"…Her tailed-beast transformation stopped?"
Kurabi stared, shaken.
Is that some secret Konoha technique… or his personal ability?
But none of that mattered right now.
His tension eased. A contemptuous smile returned to his face.
"Heh. What a stupid move. Without the tailed-beast state, the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki is just a girl. So I'm curious—how exactly do you plan to escape our encirclement with just you few?"
"We won't run. And we don't need to run."
Sogetsu lifted Kushina into his arms and turned his calm gaze on the closing Cloud ninja.
"Because there's no need."
His tone stayed flat, almost leisurely.
"Whether the dust that needs sweeping is one speck, two specks, or dozens… to the naked eye, it's all the same—hard to tell apart."
He was calling them… dust?
Kurabi's smile faded. His face darkened.
"Then let's see if you actually have the ability to say that!"
He lifted a hand. Dozens of Cloud ninja began to advance in a slow, tightening ring.
ANBU were elite—sure—but that "elite" was built on assassination, infiltration, information theft, special tactics…
Not standing in the open and trading blows head-on.
"My lord… what do we do now?"
Tian Niao swallowed hard. Inside, resentment boiled.
A new ANBU Commander—and he's going to get us killed.
Never in his life had he seen an ANBU stroll openly into the middle of an enemy encirclement.
Who were they?
ANBU.
What were they best at?
Assassination. Intelligence theft. Special tactics.
Not smashing faces in the open.
And now?
They were surrounded by dozens of Cloud ninja. Unless Minato himself showed up, they were dead.
"Commander! We'll stay behind and hold them off!"
In a crisis, no matter how furious he was, Tian Niao could only grit his teeth and step forward. He lowered his voice.
"Please—take the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki back to Konoha!"
"Tian Niao," Sogetsu said mildly, still not moving. "Have you ever heard a saying?"
"Since you're here—make yourself at home."
Tian Niao froze.
When he saw Sogetsu still hadn't budged, he nearly exploded on the spot.
"Commander! Look around—this is not the time! Take the jinchūriki and run! Please stop saying things nobody understands!"
"That saying means…"
Sogetsu spoke with infuriating patience.
"Since you're here… then be buried here."
Behind the white beast mask, a pair of crimson Sharingan rotated slowly.
"Everyone—don't make eye contact with the Sharingan!"
Kurabi was experienced. He knew exactly how to deal with Uchiha eyes.
He shouted orders immediately.
"Watch your teammates at all times! If anyone gets caught in genjutsu, disrupt their chakra immediately!"
"Protect the jinchūriki."
Sogetsu placed Kushina into Tian Niao's arms.
Then—alone—he walked toward the dozens of Cloud ninja.
The Cloud shinobi stared for a heartbeat…
Then rage erupted.
He was going to take them on alone?
One man versus dozens?
Arrogant didn't even begin to cover it.
"Kill him!!!"
Someone screamed.
Dozens of Cloud ninja surged forward.
Sogetsu formed hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
A sea of flames blasted outward.
BOOOOM!
Like a towering tidal wave, a wall of fire—dozens of meters wide and several meters high—rolled forward with scorching heat, swallowing everything in its path as it crashed toward the Cloud formation.
"Strong Fire Release… so he really is an Uchiha elite!"
Kurabi's expression shifted—but he didn't panic.
He leapt down and formed seals quickly.
"Earth Release: Earth Wall!"
A thick earthen barrier erupted from the ground.
It wasn't wide—but it was dense enough to keep the fire from punching through.
Dozens of Cloud ninja sheltered behind it, waiting for the heat-wave to pass before pressing in again.
And then—
A cold flash.
The earthen wall split.
It collapsed with a roar.
Kurabi didn't even have time to react before a figure shot through the breach and slammed straight into their ranks.
For an instant it felt like a tiger entering a flock of sheep.
A blade's glint flickered again and again.
Cloud ninja in his path were cut cleanly in half at the waist—one after another—without anyone managing to stop him even for a breath.
In only a few heartbeats, more than ten were dead.
"F-fast—grab him! Stop him!"
Kurabi panicked.
He had calculated everything…
Except one thing.
This Uchiha's strength was beyond his imagination.
With a single man, he was shredding a formation of dozens of Cloud elites.
Then Sogetsu's voice drifted out—quiet, almost gentle.
"Dance."
He flashed through the crowd like a phantom.
His Body Flicker Technique was so fast the eye could barely catch it.
Blood sprayed in streaks.
Screams tore the air apart.
Limbs flew.
The ground became a river.
It was a slaughterhouse.
One. Two. Ten—
Around them, teammates screamed and fell one after another, all with the same horrific death: bisected at the waist.
And finally—
Morale snapped.
"Run!"
"He's not human!"
"A ghost! He's a ghost!"
The remaining Cloud ninja couldn't take it anymore. Their minds shattered under the nightmare of bodies being split open over and over.
They turned and fled.
"You idiots—don't run!" Kurabi roared, veins bulging, trying to stop them.
No one listened.
Shhk. Shhk. Shhk.
The escaping Cloud ninja suddenly froze mid-stride.
Slowly—mechanically—they turned their heads back.
Their eyes were full of terror… and something like desperate longing to live.
Their mouths opened, as if they wanted to say something.
A delayed beat passed.
And then each of them slid apart—split cleanly down the middle.
The battlefield went eerily quiet except for the wind.
Blood pooled everywhere.
Kurabi felt ice flood his bones as he stared at the heaps of remains—people who had been alive only moments ago.
Then—
A black-robed figure in a white beast mask filled his vision.
"So… it's my turn."
Kurabi's heart went bitter. Despair swallowed him whole.
He didn't even feel the will to resist anymore.
But the expected death never came.
Sogetsu patted him on the shoulder and walked past, leaving only one flat sentence behind:
"Go back and tell the Raikage—wash his neck clean, and wait for Konoha's revenge."
Kurabi collapsed to the ground, eyes empty.
Sogetsu returned to Tian Niao and the remaining ANBU, who stared at him as if they'd just watched a myth walk off a battlefield.
He shot them a sideways glance and frowned.
"Stop standing around. Bring Kushina. We still have a mission to finish—don't waste time."
"Yes, Commander!"
All three jolted like they'd been struck and hurried after him.
As Tian Niao carried Kushina, he hesitated for a long moment—then finally spoke, careful and quiet.
"Um… Commander… I was a little loud earlier. Y-you didn't take it personally, right?"
Sogetsu smiled.
"Do I look that petty?"
He spoke warmly—almost reassuringly.
"Relax. If I have a grudge, I settle it on the spot. I'm very reasonable."
Tian Niao's mouth twitched.
Reasonable…?
You mean slaughtering dozens of Cloud ninja because they looked at you wrong?
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