Winds Rising, Clouds Surging

"Let go of Lord Suikazan Fuguki!"

Seeing Suikazan Fuguki captured by Uchiha Chen, a fair-skinned, youthful-looking boy charged at Uchiha Chen as if he had lost his mind, ignoring all danger as he punched and kicked the massive hand of the Susanoo while tears and snot streamed down his face.

"Uchiha devil!" the boy's angry shout was filled with fear and hatred, "Kirigakure will never let you get away with this!"

"Kinchiku, what nonsense are you spouting?"

To the boy's shock, the one who scolded him was none other than the superior he was trying to rescue, Fuguki.

After being trapped by the Chakra arm, Fuguki had exhausted every trick in his arsenal—Body Flicker, Substitution, and escape techniques—but the arm of the Susanoo was like a cage, leaving him unable to break free.

"Lord Chen, supreme powerhouse of the Uchiha, I am willing to surrender to you."

Under the incredulous and grief-stricken gaze of the Kirigakure boy, Suikazan Fuguki swallowed hard, shedding his previous arrogance and adopting a humble, fawning smile:

"I have a report to make, sir. It was Shimura Danzō who sent people to contact me, ordering me to attack you while I was eliminating Pakura! That Aburame Tatsuma is one of Danzō's subordinates."

Suikazan Fuguki pointed his finger toward an ordinary Mist Ninja wearing a mask at the edge of the battlefield.

"Oh?"

So it wasn't a coincidence, but the handiwork of the Pot King?

Uchiha Chen narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the person Fuguki had identified, only to see a dense, countless swarm of insects erupting from the man's body.

"Secret Technique: Insect Sphere!"

Countless insects flew out from the water beneath Uchiha Chen's feet, from the nearby trees, and from the grass, converging in mid-air into a pitch-black cloud that surged toward Uchiha Chen, carrying Aburame Tatsuma along with it.

"Hah!"

Uchiha Chen pointed one hand at the insect cloud, his face full of mockery: "As expected of the blockheads from Root, you really dare to make a move? Amaterasu!"

Black flames appeared out of thin air, spreading wildly the moment they touched the insect cloud, burning Aburame Tatsuma's long-prepared Insect Sphere to nothing in less than a few seconds.

"Aaaah!"

A shrill scream rang out. Lord Chen was still kind-hearted; he extinguished the Amaterasu after burning Aburame Tatsuma for only two or three seconds, leaving him with half a corpse.

"Young people really do sleep well, just dropping off the moment they hit the ground!"

Uchiha Chen smiled with a sinister air, and the Susanoo released its grip on Suikazan Fuguki.

"Thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord!"

Suikazan Fuguki, devoid of any dignity or poise as a powerhouse, prostrated himself on the ground and kowtowed several times before summoning the courage to call out to the six or seven remaining Mist Ninja:

"Hurry over and pay your respects to our master! Do you all want to die?"

If I kneel alone, the ground is too dirty and the water is too cold; if everyone kneels together, I might still get to be the one in charge.

"No need!"

Uchiha Chen kicked the shark-man lying on the ground with a rough shove, feeling somewhat listless:

"I only need one captive. Handle the rest yourself!"

"Yes!"

Suikazan Fuguki breathed a sigh of relief, kowtowed twice more, and then stood up to decapitate the hot-blooded Kirigakure boy, Kinchiku, on the spot.

A moment later, a few more patches of gruesome bloodstains appeared in the pool, but the red color quickly dissolved into the clear water.

"Uchiha Chen."

Having witnessed this overwhelming battle firsthand, Pakura felt a chill rise from the bottom of her heart.

In her eyes, Uchiha Chen clearly had the ability to defeat the Mist Ninja instantly, yet he toyed with his enemies like a cat playing with a mouse, even forcing the surrendering Fuguki to kill all his own subordinates.

That manic, unhinged smile and his wanton, reckless actions all showed just how twisted and terrifying this person was inside.

If Konoha has such a madman, then Sunagakure... wait, I've already been betrayed by Sunagakure anyway!

Pakura felt a bit dejected, but she also felt a faint sense of relief.

Seeing Suikazan Fuguki begin to clean up the Mist Ninja, Uchiha Chen dismissed his Susanoo and walked toward Pakura.

Pakura's heart tightened, like a young lioness encountering a male lion encroaching on her territory, unsure whether she should bare her fangs in defense.

"I practice Scorch Release, so my body temperature is constantly higher than an average person's, which is why I wear backless clothing all year round to dissipate the heat!"

"Huh?"

Uchiha Chen was a bit stunned. Shouldn't you be thanking me for saving you? What does your clothing have to do with anything?

Seeing Uchiha Chen's confused expression, Pakura whispered a reminder: "You asked me before if I wouldn't be cold wearing backless clothes in the winter."

"This..." Uchiha Chen couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time, "Isn't this answer coming a bit too late?"

"Then... thank you for saving me?"

Pakura was cautious, terrified that Uchiha Chen would suddenly give a sinister smile and say something like 'It's too late, you're dead' or 'You're happy too early.'

Fortunately, Uchiha Chen was quite normal when he wasn't using his Eye Power.

Ah no, Uchiha Chen had always been normal—

—He had always firmly believed that he was the only sane person among a group of lunatics in the Uchiha clan.

As for the madness, chuunibyou, and bloodlust displayed during the previous battle, those were merely emotional fluctuations caused by the influence of his Eye Power while he was unleashing it!

"Hmm, no need to thank me. I saved you because you're useful. Your Scorch Release is a quite rare Kekkei Genkai; you won't mind assisting me with some research later, right?"

In her heart, Pakura added the label 'mad scientist' to Uchiha Chen's existing tags of 'battle maniac' and 'bloodthirsty demon.'

Thankfully, he didn't ask for any conditions, which made it feel almost fake.

It's not like he could say he saved a damsel in distress because he saw how beautiful I was and fell in love at first sight, right?

"I can! My life was saved by you, so I am willing."

Pakura boldly snuck a glance at Uchiha Chen. Under the moonlight, the young man's features appeared incredibly soft and handsome, his pair of black eyes resembling stars.

He's very handsome, too, but it's a pity he's a lunatic.

"Master, I have fulfilled your mission!"

Suikazan Fuguki, covered in the stench of blood, knelt before the two of them.

"Good!"

Uchiha Chen certainly wouldn't place any trust in a backstabbing traitor with the gaze of a wolf like Suikazan Fuguki. The moment he approached, Uchiha Chen's eyes had already manifested the shuriken-shaped pitch-black pattern.

[Kotoamatsukami: Light]

Under the brutal brainwashing of his Eye Power, Suikazan Fuguki would be Uchiha Chen's most loyal servant for the next forty-eight hours.

"Speak. How did the plan to ambush Pakura and me actually come about?"

Suikazan Fuguki's eyes went vacant for a moment before they turned firm, revealing an intense fanaticism:

"It is exactly as I said before: Rasa betrayed Pakura, and Danzo betrayed you, but there is indeed a hidden agenda behind this operation.

The Three-Tails was discovered to have resurrected in a lake in the eastern part of the Land of Whirlpools. That is why the village used 'peace talks' to force the Sunagakure forces in the Land of Whirlpools to shrink their defensive perimeter, thereby reducing the risks for capturing the Three-Tails.

At the same time our team departed, the Kirigakure Anbu Commander and Fourth Mizukage candidate, Yagura, had already led a team to retrieve the Three-Tails."

"Oh?" Uchiha Chen became interested.

Doing a quick mental calculation, it had indeed been about three years since the death of Nohara Rin; the Three-Tails should have revived by now.

Uchiha Chen turned to look at Pakura. "How about it? Interested in going to cause a scene?"

The moon in the sky waxes and wanes, but it seems it will never change.

If that is the case, then in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, one must surely be able to obtain eternal happiness, right?

The one-eyed man wearing an orange mask gazed at the crescent moon in the sky, listening to the report from the half-black, half-white monster beside him.

"Karatachi Yagura, does he want to become the Three-Tails Jinchuriki?"

"Yes! Because Kirigakure's philosophy is that the strong reign supreme, and his power is indeed still lacking."

Three-Tails Rin.

The red light in Obito's eyes intensified.

"Then, let us send a congratulatory gift to this soon-to-be Fourth Mizukage!"

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