Something Strange?

"Why didn't you leave that guy here, teacher?"

"Well, keeping them for now is still useful. The Six-Tails and Seven-Tails are easy to get, but the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki is a tough nut to crack. The Cloud Ninja have already suffered twice, and this third time won't be so easy. That guy's Mangekyō Sharingan is quite powerful, and it should be able to play a role when the time comes."

"Moreover, even if we could capture them all by force, the cost would be considerable."

"Huh?"

Kuyue looked puzzled.

"Hey, Kuyue, look closely at the sky. Don't you think the snow stopped strangely? It just happened to stop when those two bastards were about to leave. It's really unexpected! They even pulled this trick. Interesting, really interesting." Katsuki chuckled and looked up at the sky.

The snow has stopped.

However, the thick snow still weighed down the walls and rooftops, and the old, verdant pines were bent over by the heavy snow.

The dark clouds in the sky were like spilled ink, so thick and heavy that they seemed impossible to disperse. It looked like the snow would continue to fall into the night.

Katsuki sat on the veranda, wearing only a thin robe, her chest exposed, revealing her fair and firm pectoral muscles. The cold wind swirled up the snowflakes that had fallen from the branches, which immediately melted into cool water droplets on her burning chest, feeling moist and comfortable.

Kuyue tightened her winter clothes. It was true that the Yuki family used Ice Release, but that didn't mean they weren't afraid of the cold.

The Yuki family's cold resistance is indeed significantly higher than that of ordinary people, but that's about it; not everyone is as impervious to heat and cold as Katsuki.

She gazed at the gloomy, inky clouds, carefully sensing the changes in moisture in the air.

Indeed, just as the teacher said, this snowfall was truly strange—no, to be precise, it couldn't have lasted this long. But this morning, the wind and snow suddenly intensified. She thought she had misjudged the situation, but after the teacher's reminder, perhaps her judgment wasn't wrong after all.

"Someone interfered with the celestial phenomena?" Kuyue's eyes widened in shock. "How is this possible? The power of nature cannot be controlled by humans. Even S-rank Ninjutsu cannot do such a thing!"

"Kuyue, calm down. Nothing is impossible. Besides, the criteria for judging Ninjutsu are A-rank and below, which is quite reliable. But S-rank Ninjutsu is just a very general concept. Just like Jonin, Kuyue, as a fellow Jonin, how many of those ordinary Jonin can you handle? Seven or eight shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Katsuki stared at the sky.

"There's no detailed definition for S-rank Ninjutsu; it simply categorizes all Ninjutsu that surpass A-rank into one group. Even within the S-rank category, there are significant differences! Of course, manipulating celestial phenomena does seem rather unreliable, but look at the possibilities—there are even more unreliable things out there!"

If you just think about Kaguya Otsutsuki, who was an alien, then there's really nothing unbelievable about her.

Kuyue blinked, realizing that the teacher wasn't joking, and immediately froze. Even more absurdly, she realized she'd never heard of that new term before.

"Teacher, what is the Ten-Tails? Why have I never heard of it?"

I'd only ever heard of the One-Tail to Nine-Tails, I never knew there was a Ten-Tails in this world. Listening to the teacher and Senju Zen talk made me feel like I was being tickled by a cat.

Now, reminded by Katsuki, I suddenly remembered that there was such a thing.

"Ten-Tails, Minato, you've come."

At the corner of the corridor, Minato emerged and strode over.

"Katsuki, have those two guys left already?"

They left as soon as the snow stopped.

"I see! The Five-Tails has already been handed over to them?"

"Yes, yes, those two kids are incredibly cunning. If I hadn't given them to them, the village would probably have been buried in snow. Have the Barrier Squad found anything?" Katsuki turned to look at Minato who was walking over.

"It's all useless talk. The changes in the clouds are indeed problematic, but since we can't find the source, we don't have any way to prevent it for the time being," Minato sighed, looking melancholy. "Also, Katsuki, please continue. I'm quite curious about the name Ten-Tails."

Minato sat down, and Shuyuan, being very perceptive, served him hot tea.

"Ten-Tails"

"Both the One-Tail and the Four-Tails have been captured. It has been confirmed that those who carried out the operation were all wearing the same black robes with red clouds, so there's an 80% chance they came from the same organization."

"The one who infiltrated Sunagakure and captured the One-Tail Beast was Deidara, S-rank Rogue Ninja from Iwagakure, who was wanted by the Fourth Tsuchikage for his terrorist attacks; the one who captured the Four-Tails Beast was Kisame Hoshigaki, S-rank Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen Kisame Hoshigaki of the Mist, whose specific deeds are unknown, and who wielded the Samehada."

"Furthermore, the identities of the two attackers who abducted Yugito Nii have been confirmed. One of them is Kakuzu missing-nin from Takigakure. However..."

"But what?"

Ai looked at hope standing in front of the table.

"However, the wanted poster we found was issued fifty years ago, and according to the records at the time, Kakuzu was already a very famous master in Takigakure. He would probably be over eighty years old now."

Hope said with a wry smile.

"Hiss!"

Ai gasped.

Chakra is the source of power for ninjas, and Chakra is a mixture of physical and mental energy.

In their youth they rely on their physical strength, and in their old age they rely on their spirit—this is the true reality for ninjas.

However, even so, there are limits. In their sixties and seventies, they can still fight with their spiritual energy, but in their eighties and nineties, their bodies deteriorate to a new level. At this point, it is already incredibly difficult to have four or five tenths of their peak strength.

"This old guy, still so lively in his eighties, probably has some hidden trump cards up his sleeve. Mark him carefully."

The Cloud Ninja have been having the worst luck lately. They finally managed to hold a joint Chunin Ninja Exams with Konoha and Sunagakure, but not only was the exam forced to be canceled halfway through, but their own Kage was also killed. Not long after this bad luck started, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki was also captured.

Nothing went smoothly.

Although Ai had always been helping her father share the responsibilities of the Shadow, it wasn't until she actually sat in that position that she truly understood what pressure meant. The weight of hundreds of thousands of people from the entire village rested on her shoulders, a burden that almost made her breathless.

"Lord Raikage."

Darui burst in, his face showing no sign of worry.

"Breaking news: Konoha's Five-Tails has also been taken by that Akatsuki Organization."

"What?"

Ai slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

"Wasn't the Five-Tails inside the Konoha Disaster? How did the Akatsuki Organization manage to get their hands on it?"

"The intelligence was very vague. It seemed that the Akatsuki Organization used some means to threaten Konoha, Konoha's natural disaster extracted the Five-Tails, which was then handed over to the Akatsuki Organization." Darui, looking at the secret letter in his hand, was also completely puzzled.

Ai snatched the secret letter and quickly began to read it.

Xi grabbed Darui and asked him in a low voice.

Ai quickly finished reading the brief secret letter sent from Konoha, his face turning as black as the bottom of a pot. (To be continued)