A Futile Effort

As expected of Yichen, witnessing his closest teacher die before his eyes, the Six-Tails within Utakata's body erupted in a frenzy for the first time.

The three ninjas who were originally casting conventional seals around him had no time to retreat before they were flung away by the rampaging Tailed Beast Chakra.

However, these three were lucky; Utakata hadn't initially mobilized a large amount of Tailed Beast Chakra. So, although they were thrown around in a sorry state, they at least survived.

As Utakata mobilized more and more Tailed Beast Chakra, Yuki Koru's expression grew increasingly grim; he was preparing for a tough battle. Yichen, on the other hand, wore a broad smile, ready to watch a grand spectacle.

However, Utakata's subsequent actions completely thwarted Yichen, Yuki Koru, and the others' plans.

Perhaps because his teacher's last words were an encouragement for him to run away, or perhaps it was simply his own personality, the berserk Utakata did not attack Yuki and his group, but instead chose to flee.

Utakata, empowered by the Six-Tails Chakra, was incredibly fast. Only one ninja, who happened to be standing in his escape route, had time to interfere.

However, the ninja's protective suit was torn open by Utakata's brute force in the next second, and he was killed by the highly corrosive Six-Tails Chakra amidst screams.

This is also the only ninja to die in battle today.

By the time the others tried to use combat-type Sealing Jutsu against Utakata, that guy had already vanished.

Of all the people, Yichen reacted the fastest. As soon as Utakata left, he used his Light-Weight Rock Technique to chase after him. Since Utakata did not kill anyone as he expected, the Six-Tails could not be let go easily.

"Damn it. Follow me! Utakata is still a child; he can't maintain his Tailed Beast Transformation for long. Terumi Chizuru, you join up with Clan Chief Iketani and then follow him." After saying this, Yuki Koru led several ninjas skilled in speed and chased after the trail left by Utakata in his Tailed Beast Transformation.

After gathering everyone together, Terumi Chizuru arranged for three people to stay behind to take care of the wounded, and then led the others to chase after them.

Knowing that someone was causing trouble in the dark, and that the other party might be tracking Utakata just like her, Yuki Koru acted decisively, leading five ninjas to chase after Utakata in the direction he had left at top speed.

Yichen, who was running ahead, glanced back, smiled slightly, and then created a Shadow Clone.

Utakata was too young; his Tailed Beast Transformation didn't last long before it was interrupted. By the time Yichen caught up, he was already unconscious.

Yichen quickly cast a seal on Utakata, then picked Utakata and flew away using the Light-Weight Rock Technique.

At that moment, Yuki Koru and several elites had just emerged from a thick fog.

"Damn it!" Yuki Koru gritted her teeth.

They had just encountered the signature Ninjutsu of their Kirigakure, the Mist Technique, and were forced to slow their pace for fear of assassination.

As a result, they didn't encounter a single person until they safely made their way out of the dense fog.

Knowing she had fallen for the enemy's delaying tactic Yuki Koru rushed to the spot where Utakata had previously fainted as quickly as possible, then let out a long sigh.

"Let's go back. With the methods of that person in the shadows, once the Six-Tails falls into their hands, we definitely won't be able to get it back." After searching the surroundings briefly and finding no useful traces, Yuki Koru reluctantly announced the mission's failure.

Back in Kirigakure, the clan leaders, including Yuki Koru, gathered together once again.

Terumi Chizuru said, "The Misty Mist Technique they used was very strong and lasted a long time, so they must be quite powerful. Is there such a person in the village?"

"Could it be someone from another ninja village, deliberately using the Mist Technique to mislead us?" Hozuki Hotaru said.

Yuki Koru shook her head and said, "It shouldn't be. If that person hadn't interfered today, capturing the Six-Tails wouldn't have been too difficult. If that person were a ninja from another village, there would have been no need for them to inform us. They could have just captured the Six-Tails directly; there was no need to take any risks. What could be more valuable than a Tailed Beast? You know, Konoha is still holding onto the Seven-Tails."

Terumi Chizuru said, "I suspect their goal is to weaken us. Think about it, if Utakata had stayed to fight us instead of running away after his rampage, wouldn't we have lost a lot of men?"

Yuki Koru said, "That's right, that's what I think too. This person is definitely a ninja from the village, but he can't be from the Fourth Hokage's side. Otherwise, if the Fourth Hokage cooperated with the Six-Tails, we'd all be finished today."

"That old bastard Genji has some skills, but he's not good at scheming. I suspect it was Qing from the west who did it."

Everyone else was taken aback. Terumi Chizuru asked in confusion, "Isn't he neutral? Why would he want to weaken our strength?"

Yuki Koru sneered, "This person's appearance was too sudden. He probably just wants to use the neutral faction's power to achieve his own ambitions. Didn't you notice that since he arrived, quite a few ninjas have gathered around him?"

After saying that, he summoned the clansman who had previously been in charge of intelligence and asked, "Has the Qing in the west made any moves recently?"

The man hesitated for a moment before saying, "Chief, in the few days you were gone, there was a rumor in the village that Qing knows the Water Release Technique and is a member of the Hozuki Clan."

"Impossible! If our Hozuki Clan had such a powerful member, how could I not know? Are you doubting our Hozuki Clan?" Hozuki Hotaru immediately denied.

Yuki Koru thought for a moment and said, "Hozuki Hotaru Chief, don't get agitated. Today, your Hozuki Clan is also one of the main forces in capturing the Six-Tails. Judging from that person's behavior, even if he is from your Hozuki Clan, he probably doesn't intend to show you any mercy."

With a single sentence Yuki Koru not only cleared the Hozuki Clan of suspicion and prevented internal divisions, but also planted a seed in the hearts of the Hozuki Clan to prevent Hozuki Clan from colluding with them in the future.

Therefore, it is clear that Yuki Koru's ability to become the leader of so many Bloodline Ninja Clan and Secret Technique Ninja Clan is not entirely due to the strength of his Yuki Clan.

"Regardless, from now on, we need to intensify our intelligence gathering on that Kiyoshi. Didn't he kill Shinichi Ezaki? We can use this opportunity to sow discord between him and the Genji faction, and ideally, make them fight each other again," said Yuki Koru.

The others nodded in agreement.

"The teacher at Utakata said there was something in the room. What exactly was it?" Yuki Koru asked.

Terumi Chizuru took out a scroll and said, "This guy is researching a method to remove Tailed Beast without harming the Jinchuriki."

Upon hearing what Terumi Chizuru said, the others immediately lost interest; they had absolutely no interest in such matters. Things at the level of Tailed Beast were not something they could get too involved in.

Yuki Koru had little interest in this kind of pointless research.

On the other side, Yichen brought the unconscious Utakata to a deserted mountaintop.

This was the second time Yichen had come into such close contact with a Yichen from another Jinchuriki; the first time was with the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki from Takigakure.

At that time, Yichen was waiting for Obito Uchiha's actions near Konoha, so he didn't do anything to the Seven-Tails. But this time it's different. Kirigakure is in chaos, and no one will pay attention to this place, so Yichen has plenty of time to deal with the Six-Tails.

Yichen took out the materials and made a gourd-shaped sealing container that was about the height of Kunai. Then he set up a seal to strip away Chakra.

Yichen placed the unconscious Utakata into the center of the seal and first removed the original Tailed Beast seal from his body. Then, Yichen added an A-rank seal.

After completing these steps, Yichen began to activate the external seal that stripped Chakra.

This seal is the result of research by the Iwagakure, a research project that actually began a long time ago. Yichen mentioned a plan to split Tailed Beasts when he was very young.

However, by the time the village had a preliminary plan, the Five-Tails had already been sealed into the body of the new Jinchuriki, Han. Therefore, this seal was never tested.

This is a rare opportunity, Yichen plans to give it a try.

Yichen didn't possess the Yin-Yang Release level of Minato Namikaze, and therefore couldn't separate the Yin and Yang of the Tailed Beast. Yichen's idea was to directly divide the Tailed Beast.

After the seal was activated, the chain-like tentacles formed by runes reached into Utakata's body and established a connection with the Six-Tails inside him.

Before Six-Tails could react, Yichen suddenly pulled the rune chain outwards.

Instantly, a large amount of Tailed Beast Chakra surged out along the rune chains and then entered the gourd-shaped sealing container through the pre-arranged passage.

At this moment, Utakata, who was unconscious, let out a shrill scream. At the same time, Yichen seemed to hear a huge roar.

Suddenly, the Tailed Beast Chakra that had been rapidly surging outwards stopped flowing out and even showed a tendency to recede.

Yichen shouted loudly, mobilizing the maximum amount of Chakra he could muster, and pulled outwards with all his might. At the same time, Yichen directly activated the runes in the rune chain.

Stimulated by these runes, the Six-Tails' resistance vanished instantly. Its Chakra was once again extracted in large quantities by Yichen.

This time it lasted much longer than the last time. By the time the Six-Tails recovered and began to control its Chakra again, Yichen had already collected a large amount of Tailed Beast Chakra.

However, that was the end of it. With the Sealing Runes exhausted, Yichen could no longer extract Chakra from the Six-Tails.

Yichen dispelled the seal used for disintegration, and then activated the seal he had set up on Utakata to seal the Tailed Beast Chakra.

This process didn't last long, but the struggle against the Tailed Beast took a huge toll on Yichen.

Yichen sat to the side and silently recovered his Chakra for a while before he began to observe the Six-Tails Chakra in the gourd.

As the Tsuchikage, Yichen was one of the few people in the entire Ninja World who were relatively familiar with the Tailed Beast. Yichen had come into contact with complete, independent Tailed Beast, as well as Tailed Beast inside Jinchuriki. He had also come into contact with the scattered Chakra of the Tailed Beast.

These different forms of Tailed Beast Chakra gave Yichen a different feeling.

Guess who the Fifth Mizukage was?