Kuja Island

The Imperial Guards' hearts tightened when they saw the strange red eyes of Yashiro and the others. Kikyo, who led them, shouted sternly:

"Who are you? Where did you come from? Drop your weapons immediately!"

Naturally, Uchiha Yashiro and the others would not lay down their weapons just because of a few words. Several Uchiha clansmen turned to Yashiro, awaiting his orders.

Yashiro drew the kunai at his waist, his eyes devoid of any mercy for women.

As an Uchiha ninja who had fought in both the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars, Yashiro would never underestimate any enemy on the battlefield.

"Capture them and take them to see the clan head!"

Sensing the enemy's hostility, Kikyo no longer hesitated and gave her subordinates an order as well.

"Attack!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

Several arrows wrapped in faint Armament Haki tore through the air, incredibly fast and coming from tricky angles.

"Such fast arrows!"

Yashiro was startled and used the Body Flicker Technique to evade the incoming arrows.

Bang!!

The arrows passed through Yashiro's fading afterimage, pierced straight through the thick branch where he had just stood, then blasted a modest crater into the ground without losing any force.

"How could that be? That power!!"

Having barely dodged the arrows, Yashiro turned back to stare at those embedded in the ground in disbelief.

They were clearly ordinary arrows, so why were they so terrifyingly powerful? They were nearly as strong as Explosive Tags!

He immediately ordered, "Spread out! Counterattack! Try to take them alive!"

The battle erupted in an instant.

The four Uchiha elites immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to evade, while kunai and shuriken poured from their hands like a rainstorm, glimmering with Fire Release.

However, the Imperial Guards were also Kuja Island's elite. They were extraordinarily agile and had solid taijutsu foundations, allowing them to nimbly dodge most of the thrown weapons.

Those they could not evade were blocked with weapons. A few could even use their bare arms to block Yashiro and the others' shuriken, producing the clang of metal striking metal.

"Don't engage them head-on! Their defenses are strong, and their physical abilities are outstanding!"

One Uchiha subordinate shouted. His Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique had been narrowly dodged by one of the warriors, leaving only a scorched patch of grass.

Yashiro personally engaged Kikyo, the leader.

Kikyo used a peculiar sword style paired with nimble footwork. In terms of strength and speed, she was not inferior to Yashiro in the slightest.

What alarmed Yashiro even more was that her attacks contained a strange energy. Whenever they collided with his kunai, his arms repeatedly went numb.

"Damn it... Why are this woman's attacks so strange?"

Yashiro's gaze grew grave as his Three Tomoe Sharingan spun madly, trying to copy and analyze Kikyo's attack patterns.

But it was completely useless.

Kikyo's attacks showed nothing unusual in Yashiro's Sharingan, yet with Armament Haki empowering them, their destructive force was astonishing.

Even so, the scales of victory gradually tilted toward the Uchiha.

At first, Kuja Island's Imperial Guards had caught Yashiro and the others off guard with their powerful physiques and Armament Haki.

But as time passed, Yashiro and the others gradually adapted to Kikyo's attacks.

Attacks enhanced by Armament Haki were indeed immensely powerful, but no matter how strong they were, they were useless if they could not hit anyone!

"This ends now!" Yashiro shouted.

Spotting an opening, he took one of Kikyo's side kicks head-on. His chest tightened painfully, but his Sharingan instantly caught a flaw in Kikyo's defense.

Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!

A concentrated stream of high-temperature flames shot straight at her, forcing Kikyo to retreat and block it. The heat wave made her squint involuntarily.

Now!!

Yashiro used Body Flicker to appear at her side, his scarlet Three Tomoe Sharingan staring directly into Kikyo's eyes.

Genjutsu activated!

Illusion Technique: Restraining Chain!

Yashiro's low voice sounded like an incantation. His Three Tomoe Sharingan instantly unleashed powerful Eye Power, forcibly dragging Kikyo's mind into the illusionary world he had constructed through their locked gazes.

In Kikyo's eyes, everything around her abruptly changed.

The forest, her companions, and her enemies all vanished, replaced by a scarlet, distorted space.

Countless massive, illusory stakes appeared out of nowhere. Carrying irresistible force, they violently pierced her limbs and torso, firmly "nailing" her in midair and leaving her unable to move.

Intense pain, as though it came from the depths of her soul, swept over her, making her let out a muffled groan.

Her body in reality stiffened as well. Her eyes instantly lost focus, and her movements came to a complete stop.

"Captain Kikyo!"

When the other Imperial Guards saw their leader suddenly freeze in place with a pained expression, they cried out in alarm, and their formation fell into brief disarray.

"Now! Take them down!"

Yashiro forcefully suppressed the suffocating pain in his chest from the kick and the mild dizziness caused by the expenditure of Eye Power as he issued the order sharply.

The other four Uchiha elites seized the opportunity and immediately intensified their offensive.

They were all Uchiha Clan elites tempered on the battlefield. Having awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan, they were stronger than ordinary jonin.

As the other women were distracted by their leader's restraint, the Uchiha elites used the Sharingan's precise perception to either cleverly knock away their weapons or restrict their movements with binding Wind Release or Earth Release.

Bang! Bang!

Following several muffled impacts, the remaining four Imperial Guards, having lost their coordination and been shaken mentally, were successively knocked down and subdued by the Uchiha ninjas using a combination of taijutsu and ninjutsu.

The battle ended quickly.

After only a few minutes of fighting, one of the five Kuja Imperial Guards had fallen into a genjutsu, while the other four had been physically subdued.

Yashiro panted heavily as he walked over to Kikyo, whose eyes were vacant and whose body trembled slightly.

"Hmph. No enemy who has been caught in the Uchiha's Illusion Technique: Restraining Chain has ever broken free!"

Yashiro was rather proud, utterly confident in his clan's advanced genjutsu.

"Take them back to camp."

After giving the order, Yashiro was the first to turn away.

One Uchiha clansman stepped forward, grabbed Kikyo by the shoulder, and prepared to carry her away.

However, just as Kikyo's consciousness was about to sink completely into the genjutsu, her unyielding will as an elite warrior of Kuja Island and her fierce determination to protect her nation erupted into a surge of strength on the spiritual level.

She abruptly bit down on the tip of her tongue, and the intense pain jolted her nerves.

At the same time, Armament Haki instinctively flowed through her body in response to her will, resisting the invading mental erosion.

The instant the Uchiha clansman grabbed her, Kikyo relied on her astonishing willpower to briefly break free from the genjutsu's restraints.

Glancing at her subdued companions, Kikyo sent the nearby enemy flying with a punch wrapped in Armament Haki.

Then she abruptly pulled an exquisite whistle from her robes and blew it with all her strength!

Beep—!!!

The sharp, piercing whistle rang through the forest and carried far into the distance.