Stealing

Chapter 42: Theft

With the deafening, thunderous roar of the Summoning Jutsu, the central district of Konoha was instantly reduced to ruins.

"ROAR!!!"

The violent, savage howl transformed into a tangible sonic wave, physically blasting away the Konoha ninja who attempted to approach.

"It's the Nine-Tails! Why is the Nine-Tails in the village?!"

"Hurry! Protect the civilians and evacuate! Earth Release squad, establish a defensive line immediately!"

The entire village of Konoha was plunged into unprecedented panic and despair.

Facing this natural disaster that existed only in legends, the kunai and explosive tags of ordinary ninja were like raindrops hitting a red-hot iron plate; they were vaporized into nothingness the moment they made contact.

"Adamantine Staff!"

At the critical moment, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, clad in full battle gear, wielded his elongated giant staff and forced the Nine-Tails back by half a step, buying precious breathing room for the evacuation of the civilians.

Meanwhile, in front of the Konoha Police Force headquarters.

The firelight illuminated half the night sky, and the terrifying roars of the Nine-Tails made everyone's eardrums ache.

"Quick! First Squad, follow me to the front lines to support the Third Hokage! Second Squad, take charge of the barrier..."

Fugaku Uchiha had already donned his combat uniform, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spinning frantically as he issued urgent combat orders.

However, before he could finish his sentence, a row of "Anbu" ninja wearing animal masks, exuding a cold and murderous aura, silently blocked the entrance to the Police Force headquarters like ghosts, completely sealing off their path to the center of the village.

"The Third Hokage has issued an order."

The lead ninja coldly raised a scroll stamped with the Hokage's seal, his voice devoid of any inflection: "By order of the Third Hokage, the Nine-Tails incident is of grave importance. As the Police Force, the Uchiha Clan's mission tonight is to immediately head to the outskirts of the village to evacuate civilians and maintain order in the shelters. No Uchiha clansman is permitted to step even half a step into the Nine-Tails battlefield!"

"What did you say?!"

A hot-tempered Uchiha squad leader was instantly incensed. "We are the Konoha Police Force! At a time like this, instead of going to the front lines to protect the village, you want us to go to the rear to evacuate civilians? Furthermore, our Sharingan clearly has a suppressive effect on Tailed Beasts; we could play the greatest role on the front lines!"

"This is the supreme directive, and it is also to prevent 'unnecessary' trouble."

Just then, Shimura Danzō, his right eye bandaged, slowly emerged from the shadows leaning on his cane, accompanied by these "Anbu." He stared fixedly at Fugaku Uchiha ahead. "What is it, Fugaku Uchiha? Do you intend to defy the Hokage's orders?"

"Unnecessary trouble..."

Hearing these words, Fugaku felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his face instantly turning deathly pale.

His mind exploded in an instant, and in his ears, it was as if he could hear the voice of that masked S-rank missing-nin, who had sneered at him in a room a month ago:

"They will immediately order the Uchiha Police Force to evacuate civilians and will never allow you to get within half a step of the Nine-Tails. Because they are afraid—afraid that you will control the Nine-Tails, and even more afraid that this is a coup d'état you have orchestrated..."

Spot on!

Everything was exactly as Yue Uchiha had predicted, without the slightest deviation!

At this moment, when the survival of the village was at stake, the first thing the Konoha high-ups thought of was not relying on the power of the Uchiha, but guarding against them! Suspecting them!

"Clan Leader! We cannot just watch the village be destroyed! Let us charge in!"

The young Uchiha clansmen had bloodshot eyes, gripping their katanas and kunai in righteous indignation. If Fugaku gave the order, they would surely cut down the Root members before them and rush toward the battlefield.

They did not like the way that old man was looking at them.

Looking at the menacing, airtight blockade of Danzō and the Root, then looking at the Nine-Tails wreaking havoc in the distance, Fugaku took a deep breath. His palm gripped the cold metal tag engraved with the Rōran mark hidden in his robes.

That missing-nin was right; these waters were too deep, and the Uchiha had been pushed to the edge of a cliff.

If they defied this order and forced their way into the battle, Danzō and the high-ups would inevitably use "insubordination" and "dereliction of duty" as excuses to impeach them heavily.

By then, not only would the dirty water of controlling the Nine-Tails be poured entirely onto them, but the Uchiha, already outside the center of power, would face even harsher suppression or even a purge.

But what if they obediently followed orders and retreated to the rear?

When the village was plunged into misery and other ninja clans bled on the battlefield, the Uchiha—the strongest noble clan in Konoha, possessing the power to suppress Tailed Beasts—would have remained unscathed, hiding in the shelters.

Afterward, the prestige of the Uchiha in the hearts of the Konoha villagers and other clans would plummet, and they would be thoroughly branded as cowards and suspects, distrusted by everyone!

Trapped in a dilemma, with an abyss on both sides.

Rōran... the honor of the Uchiha... the village... the missing-nin... so be it.

Of two evils, choose the lesser.

"All Uchiha, listen to my order..."

Fugaku closed his blood-red eyes, swallowing all his unwillingness and pride. Using all his strength, he squeezed the humiliating command through his teeth: "Obey the Hokage's order... go to the rear to evacuate civilians and maintain order. No one... is permitted to approach the Nine-Tails."

"Clan Leader!!!"

Amidst the wails of despair and grief, the Uchiha Clan—the strongest force in Konoha capable of contending with the Nine-Tails—was thoroughly isolated from the center of this bloody night by the core of Konoha's power.

Meanwhile, atop a towering water tower several kilometers away from the main battlefield, Yue and Hikari arrived in a hurry.

They stood side by side, watching this scene of a living hell.

"Yue, that Obito is not with the Nine-Tails."

Hikari's eyes, shining brilliantly in the dark night, swept across the battlefield, keenly sensing something amiss.

"There is a reflection of a Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes, but the caster is not nearby."

"Of course he isn't."

Yue felt the two extremely subtle yet violently clashing fluctuations of space-time chakra coming from the distant forest, a smirk curling the corner of his mouth beneath his mask.

"He is currently busy with a fated duel against his 'teacher.' He cannot spare the energy to precisely control the Nine-Tails right now; this is our moment to act."

Yue slowly pulled three black sealing scrolls, specially crafted from Dragon Vein energy and chakra-conductive metal, from his robes and lined them up.

"Hikari, do you remember what I told you in Rōran?"

"This world has an invisible rule called the 'World Correction Force.' It acts like a scripted play, forcibly pushing the gears of history forward."

"In the original 'fate,' the Fourth Hokage will use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal tonight to seal the Nine-Tails, dying here alongside Kushina. By doing so, he will seal half of the Nine-Tails' chakra into Naruto, kicking off the legend of Naruto Uzumaki for the next era."

Yue handed a scroll to Hikari, his left eye, Yagokoro Omoikane, already throbbing with a dull ache.

"If we rush down now and use our Mangekyo to forcibly erase the Nine-Tails or kill Obito, the script will collapse entirely. When that happens, the 'Correction Force' might descend in an incredibly unreasonable way—like a meteor falling from the sky to make us suddenly drop dead."

"Therefore, we must slice the sausage—testing the bottom line of this 'world' step by step until our power is sufficient to defy it."

Hikari took the scroll: "I don't understand any of that, just tell me what you want me to do!"

Yue clutched his forehead, having overestimated the girl's intelligence, but he continued nonetheless:

"The Nine-Tails' chakra is the 'core prop' of tonight's script. If I tear away thirty or forty percent of it, will the general direction of the script—'Minato dies sealing the Nine-Tails'—change?"

"If Minato still feels he must sacrifice himself to seal the remaining Nine-Tails, it means that as long as the 'result' remains unchanged, the Correction Force won't care how much of a 'rebate' we took during the 'process'!"

"And what if Minato doesn't sacrifice himself?" Hikari barely grasped the concept before asking.

"Then we will see exactly how the Correction Force deals with us. It will serve as a test for one of my hypotheses."

While they spoke, a high-density, purple-black energy ball was compressing frantically within the Nine-Tails' gaping, abyssal maw.

"Hikari, I need you to use Yachihoko to forcibly sever the masked man's ocular power control one second before the Nine-Tails fires the Tailed Beast Bomb! You don't need to fully control the beast; just cause its brain to fall into a momentary state of chaos and lag!"

"In that one-second window, I will personally move in and tear a few chunks of flesh off it!"

"Fine!"

Without a shred of hesitation.

Uchiha Hikari took a deep breath, and the Yin Seal on her forehead instantly unlocked!

A vast, pure, and chilling ocular power poured into her eyes like a bursting dam. Her pitch-black pupils instantly transformed into a crimson hue, and the intricate, eerie Yachihoko pattern bloomed like a spider lily, radiating a light that made the soul tremble in the night sky.

"Move!"

With Yue's low shout, both their figures vanished from the water tower.

In the center of the battlefield.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the ever-growing Tailed Beast Bomb in the Nine-Tails' mouth, his eyes filled with despair.

"Damn it! If that strike lands in the village, all of Konoha will be reduced to ashes in an instant! All barrier squads, hold it back even if it costs you your lives!"

At this critical juncture!

An incredibly subtle yet razor-sharp mental fluctuation, like an invisible poisoned needle, pierced fiercely from mid-air into the Nine-Tails' massive skull!

"Yachihoko."

High above, Uchiha Hikari's red silhouette appeared like an Asura descending upon the world.

Her eyes locked onto the Nine-Tails, concentrating all her ocular power into a single point, striking directly at the Mangekyo power left behind by Obito!

"Awoo?!"

The Nine-Tails, which had been frantically compressing the Tailed Beast Bomb, felt its pupils—still reflecting the Sharingan—contract violently.

Obito's control was forcibly interrupted by a more domineering, ancient mental force.

Two vastly different Mangekyo powers collided violently within the Nine-Tails' brain!

The Nine-Tails let out a pained howl, its massive body stiffening abruptly. The Tailed Beast Bomb, nearly fully formed, collapsed into a chaotic storm of chakra with a "poof" due to the sudden disruption!

"What is happening?! The Nine-Tails' attack... was interrupted?!"

The Konoha ninja waiting below were stunned, even Hiruzen Sarutobi was filled with astonishment.

But before they could react.

Another black figure, like a grim reaper, had already used the cover of night to appear like a ghost directly above the Nine-Tails' massive body!

"Now! Amenominakanushi! Yagokoro Omoikane! Increase the success rate for me."

Uchiha Yue's three-tomoe eyes instantly connected into the star-shaped dice pattern of his Mangekyo.

Without holding anything back, he converted all his chakra, along with the ocular power stored in his Yin Seal, into a terrifying "Absolute Gravity"!

But this gravity was not used for an attack; instead, with incredibly precise control, it transformed into an invisible "funnel," latching firmly onto the three tails on the Nine-Tails' back!

"Give it to me... strip it away!!"

Yue let out a roar, and the three black sealing scrolls in his hands unfurled simultaneously.

"Riiip—!!!"

Under the horrified gazes of all the Konoha ninja present, the physical form of the Nine-Tails, composed of pure chakra, was forcibly torn open from its back by an invisible force!

That was the most violent Tailed Beast chakra in the world!

A massive clump of dark red chakra flesh, so dense it was almost dripping, let out a shrill hiss as it was forcibly dragged into mid-air by Yue's gravitational pull.

Then, like a whale drinking water, it was frantically sucked into those three specially crafted Rōran scrolls!

"ROAR!!!"

The Nine-Tails let out the most shrill and maddened scream of the night!

The agony of having its soul and chakra torn away so violently plunged it into complete insanity.

"It's done!"

Yue felt the three scrolls in his hands become scalding hot and incredibly heavy, a flash of wild joy crossing his eyes.

These three massive clumps of chakra accounted for at least one-fifth of the Nine-Tails' total volume!

However, the very moment he prepared to stow the scrolls away.

"Hum!"

It was as if the world itself had begun to riot.