The First Fire Shadow Jinchuriki, Born!

Land of Fields.

In the darkness.

A troop was sprinting at full speed.

Whoosh—

The moment his toes touched a branch, chakra gathered in his legs; the branch barely bent, and Uchiha Setsuna launched himself over twenty meters forward.

Beside him, a delicate-looking youth from the Hyuga Clan, dressed in a black bodysuit and a green chunin vest, followed closely.

Surrounding them were five hundred elite shinobi from the Sarutobi Clan, a mixed force of jonin, chunin, and veteran genin.

In the name of the greater good, these men would rather die in battle than be accused of dereliction of duty.

—Acting under the name of the Hokage, even if the Fifth, Uchiha Xiu, used them as cannon fodder and sent them to the front lines of the Land of Lightning to fill the gaps, they still had to obey.

Unless they were willing to abandon their families and their clan's reputation, they had no choice but to follow orders.

Regarding this, the Sarutobi Clan had proven their stance through action: the night before last, upon receiving a secret missive from the Raikage's envoy, they had decisively handed the unopened letter directly to Tsunade.

An elder had stated bluntly that they were willing to sacrifice two generations of men to pay a "blood tax" to the new Hokage, proving their loyalty.

Furthermore, there were thirty Uchiha jonin, a senior Uchiha elder, and an Anbu tactical squad acting as overseers along the way!

"We are still over a hundred kilometers from the northeastern border."

"Almost there."

Uchiha Setsuna silently calculated the distance as he sprinted.

The Land of Fields, the Land of Moon—the only reason these nations existed was because the great powers required sufficient strategic buffer zones.

Once the balance was broken, one could simply march through and deploy armies at will.

Who cared about the interests of weak nations!

Just then, the Hyuga youth accompanying the army paused, stepping heavily onto a rock to force a sudden halt.

Swish, swish, swish!

Three figures quickly converged around him.

"What is it, Kenichiro? Is there a situation?"

Uchiha Setsuna asked in a low, indifferent voice.

The white-eyed youth, whose Caged Bird Seal was hidden beneath his forehead protector, nodded. His body couldn't help but tremble, as if he had seen some kind of demon:

"Setsuna, Senior Setsuna, in the cave on that high ground eight hundred meters to the left, there are two massive, terrifying chakra signatures. It's just like the night of the Nine-Tails."

Tailed Beasts?

Could it be that the Land of Lightning had already deployed their strategic weapons here? What on earth were the frontline garrison troops doing!

They had clearly arranged a powerful sensory unit composed of Hyuga jonin, Yamanaka jonin, ninja insects, and ninja hounds to guard the area.

A breeze blew through the forest, and Uchiha Setsuna, Sarutobi Taku, and Morino Ibiki all instinctively grew vigilant.

The perfect Jinchuriki, Killer B.

The perfect Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii.

The achievements of Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning regarding the taming of Tailed Beasts were absurd and highly coveted.

"So, how shall we handle this?" The Sarutobi jonin looked at Uchiha Setsuna, his eyes filled with scrutiny.

"Hmph, if the Hokage herself is not afraid of sacrifice and leads the team deep into enemy territory, why should I be?"

As he spoke, Uchiha Setsuna gave a stern order: "Anbu Akainu squad, take the intelligence back to the village immediately and inform Lady Tsunade."

"Everyone else, follow me. Charge!"

"Anbu sealing team, prepare to restrain the Jinchuriki."

"Yes!"

Having previously presented twelve mature Sharingan to Uchiha Xiu, gifted three to the clan head Fugaku and one to Shisui, and keeping only two Three Tomoe eyes for himself, Setsuna was certainly no coward.

Including his original eyes, he had over five minutes of invincibility.

That would be enough...

However, just as the hawkish elder prepared for the sacrifice, three familiar figures entered his line of sight.

Genma's squad.

Their own people?

These three, who had served as bodyguards for the Fourth Hokage and could jointly execute the Flying Thunder God Formation, were leaping toward the cave from another direction.

Not long ago, Shiranui Genma, Namiashi Raidō, and Tatami Iwashi had been personally selected by the Fifth to be incorporated into the new generation of the Shadow Guard.

Crackle!

Deep inside the cave, a piece of firewood popped slightly in the hearth.

The scent of roasted meat wafted out.

Having just consumed a Secret Military Ration Pill to restore a portion of his stamina, Jiraiya sat cross-legged before two large fish skewered on wooden sticks.

Judging by the heat, the skin was only slightly dry; they had likely been roasting for only a short while.

Meanwhile, a visibly exhausted Shisui rested his head against a protruding rock face, eyes closed to conserve his energy.

Hyuga Tokuma, responsible for keeping watch, looked toward the cave entrance with a helpless expression:

"They've all arrived, one after another."

He had not expected that the landing point chosen by the Hokage would be situated right next to the reinforcements' marching route, inadvertently drawing their own people straight to them.

Obito, under the influence of Kotoamatsukami, remained silent as he took on the heavy burden, using his single eye to maintain the Mangekyo genjutsu on the Steam Ninja Han and the Five-Tails Kokuō.

That was right; Uchiha Xiu had already selected his first Pokémon.

The Four-Tails—Son Goku.

There was a saying in the Ninja World that the more tails a beast had, the more chakra it possessed.

However, this logic seemed to hold true only for the Eight-Tails and the Nine-Tails.

The other Tailed Beasts each had their own unique strengths.

Shukaku of Sunagakure, possessing the fewest tails, was a master of sealing techniques and excelled in desert warfare or other special regions with high wind currents.

The Four-Tails, appearing as a giant red ape, possessed the Lava Release Kekkei Genkai, allowing it to manipulate magma. Capable of both offense and defense and boasting immense physical strength, it originally resided in the Flower Fruit Mountain Water Curtain Cave of the Ninja World.

Compared to Kokuō, Uchiha Xiu, who excelled in Fire Release and intended to delve deeper into that aspect, preferred this one.

"Lord Hokage, Lord Jiraiya," Shiranui Genma stepped into the cave, greeting them softly before nodding to the others.

"The operation actually succeeded?"

"So fast!"

Namiashi Raidō and Tatami Iwashi exchanged glances.

The Lava Ninja Roshi and the Steam Ninja Han were both Kage-level powerhouses who had made their names during the last Great Ninja War and had faced Minato Namikaze head-on without fear; there was no way they could have misidentified them.

"Lord Hokage!"

Uchiha Setsuna followed closely behind, arriving via Body Flicker.

His gaze immediately locked onto Uchiha Xiu, who had removed his upper garment, his body covered in sealing runes.

A few steps away, suppressed by a miniature torii-shaped wooden gate, a round-faced, bearded man lay in a coma. Hot, violent lava chakra was constantly leaking from his body, and crimson mist swirled around him.

However, the fluctuations were firmly locked down by the Five Elements Seal, the Fire Seal, and the Wood Release Barrier that Uchiha Xiu and Jiraiya had set up in advance, preventing even a sliver from escaping.

"The Iwagakure Collapse Plan is a great success; all that's left is to take out Ōnoki."

Since the Hokage could not afford to be distracted, Jiraiya had no choice but to take command for the time being: "Elder Setsuna, continue your march according to the Fifth's previous instructions. Do not let the lightning brutes seize the initiative on the northeastern front."

Shisui opened his eyes at the right moment, his face weary, and nodded to signal the clan elder to lead the army away quickly so as not to interfere with the established plan.

"Understood."

Having stumbled upon this scene by accident, Setsuna quickly withdrew his gaze.

Use official titles while on duty!

They must not undermine Xiu's dignity as Hokage; acting on seniority or resting on past laurels was something the entire Uchiha clan had reached a consensus to avoid.

Glancing one last time at the one-eyed Obito, Uchiha Setsuna turned and left decisively.

In fact, relying on Mangekyo ocular power, Wood Release traits, and abundant chakra, completing the forced extraction and absorption of a Tailed Beast alone posed no danger whatsoever; there was no need for outsiders to worry!

Two hours later, as Uchiha Xiu set his final hand seal.

Hum—

Visible to the naked eye, the lava chakra transformed into a thick torrent, forcibly dragged out from Roshi's abdomen.

Within the torrent, carrying the scorching Lava Release power of the Four-Tails Son Goku, a vague silhouette of a giant ape could be glimpsed flashing by.

"Flying Thunder God Formation, activate!"

Seeing this, the three special jonin of the guard unit joined hands, surrounding Uchiha Xiu, who had taken the initiative to become the Jinchuriki.

Back in Konoha, the Sealing Team was on duty twenty-four hours a day.

They were waiting for the Hokage to appear in the clearing marked with the Flying Thunder God seal; once he did, they would jointly cast the Four Symbols Seal to create an Eight Trigrams Inner Space, safely securing Son Goku.