The pungent, sweet smell of sulfur mingled with the scorching air, filling Yugito's nostrils. However, Yugito Nii was already accustomed to the harsh environment of the southern volcanic region of the Land of Lightning.
Her long, pale golden hair was blown about by the hot wind, and her body was wrapped in pale purple lightning, like writhing electric snakes—proof that the power of the Matatabi was resonating with her.
The secret order from Kumogakure had just arrived, and its contents made her scoff. " One-Tail suspected escaped entity is approaching the border; be on high alert."
"Here we go again?" Yugito Nii snorted coldly, his voice not loud, but carrying a hint of arrogance befitting an elite Jonin. "I don't believe in this nonsense about 'out-of-control Tailed Beast.' Can't those Hidden Sand Village trash even keep an eye on their own dogs?"
She was fed up with the village leadership's unfounded and tense atmosphere.
As Perfect Jinchuriki, she knew better than anyone what kind of strategic weapon the Tailed Beast were, and that they could never "escape" easily.
This is more like a clumsy excuse, perhaps concealing a political maneuvering she disdains to engage with.
However, as soon as she finished speaking, the calm lava lake beneath her feet suddenly began to ripple with eerie waves.
That's not a normal phenomenon of thermal convection, but a strange resonance from deep underground!
Almost simultaneously, a piercing alarm blared through the night sky, echoing throughout the entire underground base!
"What happened?!"
"Power supply to Zones A, C, and F is completely cut off! Backup power cannot be activated!"
"Is it an enemy attack!?"
The Hidden Cloud Village guarding the area were thrown into chaos. Several sensory ninjas frantically Hand Seals to probe, but could only sense a chaotic interference of chakra.
They hurriedly inspected the complex wiring, unaware that the real intrusion had already occurred behind their backs.
Inside the base's intricate ventilation ducts, several puppets resembling metal spiders were silently climbing.
Their ventral nozzles opened, and colorless, odorless, specially formulated paralyzing smoke was instantly diffused to each guard node by the high-pressure airflow.
Before the elite ninjas could even react, their bodies went limp and they collapsed to the ground.
In the chaotic communications room, a burly, honest-looking repairman Baba Tesshin, taking advantage of the moment when everyone was checking the backup power, swiftly pulled out an identical codebook from his pocket and swapped it with the one on the table.
From this point on, all "red alert" commands sent to Yugito Nii will be encrypted and translated into innocuous "routine maintenance" messages.
On the shore of the lava lake, Yugito Nii had already noticed the extreme anomaly.
The chaos at the base far exceeded the scope of maintenance; the faint, chilling killing intent in the air sent shivers down her spine!
Something's not right!
Without further hesitation, her chakra erupted instantly, a pale purple lightning cloak enveloped her entire body, and with a powerful push of her feet, she was about to ascend into the air to survey the entire base.
However, the moment she exerted her strength, the rock platform beneath her feet seemed to turn into a giant magnet, and an irresistible and terrifying suction force gripped her feet tightly!
Beneath the entire rocky ground, the Iron Sand Resonance Array that Xuan had already set up was fully activated at this moment, firmly adhering to her.
The action was forcibly delayed by half a second.
For top experts, that half-second can mean the difference between life and death!
A dark shadow tore through the thick smoke and darkness above, crashing down like a meteorite.
Those scarlet eyes looked incredibly eerie in the Kakkō.
Within Xuan's right eye, three Tomoe spun rapidly, instantly merging into a complex and ruthless pattern— the Mangekyō Sharingan was suddenly activated!
[ Myriad Phenomena Return to the Eye ]!
In an instant, everything inside the Yugito Nii body became clearly visible in Xuan's vision.
The unique frequency of the energy core of the raging Matatabi, composed of Yin Release Chakra, was precisely captured, locked, and analyzed by his eye technique!
"Who?!"
Yugito Nii let out a deafening roar; a strong sense of crisis made her instantly abandon her plan to take off.
Her chakra surged forth without reservation, her body rapidly expanded and transformed, the ghostly blue flames materialized, and two enormous tails lashed out like whips. She transformed into a gigantic blue cat phantom, several meters tall, carrying thunder and flames capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, and fiercely pounced on the black shadow!
Faced with an attack powerful enough to destroy a small town, Xuan advanced instead of retreating.
He hovered in mid-air, his left hand Hand Seals so fast that only a blur remained.
Lightning Release: Thunder Dust Explosion!
Strangely, this powerful Lightning Release Ninjutsu was not aimed at Yugito Nii, but instead struck the volcanic rock above them from a tricky angle!
Boom--!!!
The fragile rock strata were subjected to a violent internal explosion by the technique, followed by a terrifying chain reaction.
Boulders rained down like a storm, and the entire massive underground cavity began to collapse rapidly.
In just a few breaths, all the exits were completely sealed off, completely enclosing the entire battlefield within this underground lava cave!
Having lost her aerial mobility advantage and with her ground movements partially restricted by the Iron Sand, Yugito Nii was forced into the close-quarters combat she least wanted to see.
"Bastard!" she roared, her claws flashing, unleashing streaks of blue lightning as she lunged at Xuan.
However, all her attacks seemed clumsy in the Sharingan.
Every subtle muscle contraction before Lightning Release release, every change in the rhythm of chakra flow, was clearly seen by those scarlet eyes.
Xuan's figure was like a ghost, always managing to dodge her fatal attacks half a step ahead, and at the same time, his counterattack would follow.
"Improved version of Lightning Blade - Giga Slash!"
Xuan's right hand erupted with white lightning far more dazzling and violent than ordinary Lightning Blade; it was no longer a chorus of Chidori, but the roar of ten thousand thunderbolts!
He dodged the cat demon's tail whip by sidestepping, and his right hand transformed into a lightning blade, slashing fiercely across the shoulder blade of the Yugito Nii Partial Tailed Beast Transformation form!
Sizzle--!
The indestructible blue flame Chakra Cloak was instantly torn open, revealing a terrifying, bone-deep gash on her shoulder. Black charred marks and the pungent smell of burning protein filled the air.
"You... you actually know Lightning Blade?!" Yugito cried out in Yugito Nii pain. This was the signature Lightning Release of Kumogakure, and its core variations were top secret!
Xuan's figure stopped not far away, a cold smile curving his lips, "More than just understanding."
Before he finished speaking, the Mangekyō Sharingan pattern in his right eye began to spin again, and an aura of mystery emanated from him.
[ Law Simulation ]! Activate!
Within his consciousness space, the Yang Release Chakra model he had obtained while analyzing the One-Tail Shukaku, and the Yin Release core data he had just captured from the Matatabi, began to merge, deduce, and reconstruct at an unprecedented speed!
In the real world, a ball of light appeared out of thin air in Xuan's palm.
It was an indescribable, extremely unstable ball of energy.
Half of it was Shukaku's dry, violent golden lightning, and the other half was Matatabi's gentle, deadly blue lightning.
Black and white lightning intertwined, collided, and annihilated wildly within, forming a chaotic singularity.
[Yin Yang Thunder Core - Prototype]!
"Try this."
Xuan slammed the lightning ball, which embodied the pinnacle of his wisdom, into the ground beneath his feet!
boom--!!!
At the moment of the explosion, there was no earth-shattering roar, but rather an eerie silence.
Immediately afterwards, two completely opposite shockwaves erupted simultaneously!
One is a masculine impact that tears everything apart; the other is a feminine pulse that erodes the spirit!
The double shockwave swept across the entire cave in an instant, penetrating directly through Yugito Nii's Chakra Cloak and precisely affecting the mental link between her and Matatabi!
"Ugh--!"
Yugito Nii let out a muffled groan of extreme pain, feeling as if his soul was being torn apart by two invisible hands.
The unbreakable bond between her and Matatabi was forcibly disrupted and severed in the face of this chaotic force!
The massive Partial Tailed Beast Transformation form deflated like a punctured balloon, rapidly collapsing amidst the chaotic blue light. The Yugito Nii its mouth and nose, and collapsed limply to its knees.
Now!
Xuan's figure appeared before her as if by teleportation, and his right hand, shrouded in ominous black mist, pressed down on her lower abdomen once more—there lay the core of the Sealing Jutsu!
In his mind, the cold system notifications were operating at full speed: "Target detected as incapacitated!" "Forcibly strip the Yin Release Tailed Beast Chakra from the target's body!" "Synchronously load the Yang Release One-Tail Beast template, conduct compatibility testing... calculate rejection rate..."
"You won't get away with this..." Yugito Nii, using his last ounce of strength, gripped Gen's arm tightly and roared hoarsely, "You think the Tailed Beast are just chakra supplements for you? They... they have memories! They remember every traitor, every person who ever used them!"
Xuan paused slightly, his eyes remaining expressionless, and simply replied, "That's perfect... let me hear its memories."
[ Soul Devourer ]!
A deeper, darker power surged into the seal through his palm.
While forcibly stripping away Matatabi's chakra, Gen's consciousness simultaneously invaded the depths of Two-Tails ' memories.
Countless fragmented images, filled with pain and resentment, surged forth like a tide: being brutally sealed by the First Jinchūriki, being ruthlessly driven as a tool of war, being suspected, abused, and rejected by successive Jinchūriki over the long years... The loneliness and anger that had been suppressed for hundreds of years transformed into the purest spiritual energy, impacting Gen's consciousness in reverse!
However, this immense negative emotion was instantly transformed into an amplifier by the mysterious system!
"Strong emotional resonance detected! Stripping efficiency increased by 40%!"
Finally, with a defiant roar, a wisp of extremely pure, deep purple Yin Release Chakra was forcibly extracted from the seal by Xuan and sealed into a specially prepared crystal test tube.
Yugito Nii's vision went black, and she collapsed to the ground, barely breathing. Meanwhile, the consciousness of the Matatabi within her body also fell into a deep slumber.
Xuan slowly withdrew his hand and stood up, feeling the Yin and Yang chakra within his body that had achieved a brief balance for the first time. The rotating pattern representing "eternity" on the outer edge of his right Mangekyō Sharingan seemed to be showing signs of a third closing ring emerging.
He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through thick layers of rock, looking towards the distant border of the Land of Lightning.
"Nine... I've already tasted two flavors," he murmured to himself, his voice carrying a hint of satisfaction and anticipation, as if savoring a delicacy.
At the same time, at a temporary base hundreds of miles away, the detection device in front of Kizashi Haruno suddenly emitted a blinding red light.
She stared at the abnormal energy fluctuation curve on the screen, which surged to its peak and then plummeted rapidly. Looking at the meticulously analyzed data showing the clash between the Yin and Yang attributes, she murmured in astonishment, "This level of analytical precision... He's not capturing Tailed Beast, he's analyzing and cooking them like food..."
And deep in the shadow of that still-collapsed volcano, a raven with jet-black feathers silently alighted.
In its crimson single eye, a Three-Tomoe Sharingan slowly rotated, and in its mouth, it gently held a rock fragment, still bearing the marks of black and white lightning, which it had just picked up from the core area of the battle.
It stood silently on the scorched earth, awaiting its master's next command.
Those eyes were looking in the direction of a vast and unknown land beyond the borders of the Land of Lightning.