Four battlefronts

Thunderclouds churned above the canyon. The instant the first drop of rain fell, the battle erupted.

"Art is an explosion! Ha!"

Riding a Clay Giant Bird, Deidara swooped down from the clouds and scattered countless Clay Spiders with both hands. Lin Ye used the Body Flicker Technique to leap into the air, phased through the explosions with Kamui, and locked his left eye onto Deidara.

"Amaterasu!"

Black flames ignited on Deidara's right arm. His expression changed, and he decisively tore it off-a prosthetic made of clay. His real body was hidden inside the bird's belly.

"A substitution? No, a clay clone." Lin Ye's Transparent World saw through it. "His real body is underground!"

He formed hand seals and channeled Lightning Release: Earth Flow into the ground. But Deidara emerged from the rock wall on the other side, the mouth in his left palm chewing clay. "C2 Dragon!"

An even larger clay dragon lunged at him. Lin Ye warped it away with Kamui, but the dragon split into dozens of smaller dragons in midair, surrounding him from different directions.

"Multiple homing attacks... this is trouble." Lin Ye pressed his palms together. "Divine Dominion: Full release!"

An absolute defensive field spread out. The small dragons struck it and exploded, but the shock waves left Lin Ye's blood churning. Deidara's tactics were clear: wear him down with sheer numbers until his eye power ran dry.

"I can't let him drag this out." Lin Ye looked toward the other battlefronts.

To the east, Sasuke faced Itachi.

The brothers stood on rocks on either side of the waterfall, staring at each other through the curtain of water. Sasuke's three tomoe spun wildly, Chidori shrieking in his hand. Itachi's Mangekyo was as still as a deep abyss, a kunai in his hand.

"My foolish little brother," Itachi said, his voice utterly calm, "your hatred is still not enough."

"Shut up!" Sasuke charged through the waterfall, thrusting Chidori straight at him. Itachi neither dodged nor retreated. Just before Chidori struck, he scattered into crows-it was a genjutsu.

"Over here." Itachi's voice came from behind. Sasuke turned and saw him standing on the water, forming hand seals. "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

A water dragon burst from the waterfall. Sasuke countered with Fire Release, and steam filled the air as fire and water collided. Within the steam, Itachi's eyes took on the pattern of the Mangekyo.

"Tsukuyomi."

The world turned red. Sasuke found himself nailed to a cross, with Itachi standing before him, a long blade in hand.

"In the world of Tsukuyomi, I control time, space, and mass. For the next seventy-two hours, I will make you experience true pain."

The blade plunged toward him. But the instant its tip touched Sasuke's body, a hand caught it.

It was Lin Ye's Kamui shadow-an afterimage of Limbo: Border Jail. Although it could last only ten seconds, that was enough to interrupt Tsukuyomi.

"What?" Itachi was stunned, and the Tsukuyomi Space shattered. Back in reality, Sasuke dropped to his knees and vomited blood, but remained conscious.

"Ye..."

"His Mangekyo has a weakness. He can't use it repeatedly," Lin Ye said through Kamui. "Combine Lightning Release and Fire Release to force him to move. I'll deal with Deidara. Hold on."

"Understood."

To the west, Naruto and Killer B faced Kisame.

"The Eight-Tails brat and the Nine-Tails brat. What a lavish lineup." Kisame grinned, Samehada trembling excitedly on his shoulder. "Samehada says it wants a taste of the Nine-Tails' chakra."

"Not a chance!" Naruto erupted with four tails and charged at Kisame. Killer B drew seven swords, his rap turning into a battle chant. "Fool, ya fool~ Kisame, ya fool~ Lord Killer B~ is gonna cut you~"

"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!"

An enormous water shark lunged at them. Naruto countered with a Tailed Beast Bomb, while Killer B sliced through the water with lightning-infused blades. But Kisame's real target was neither of them-it was the waterfall. He used the Great Waterfall Technique to reshape the terrain, turning the entire canyon into a lake.

"In the water, I'm invincible." Kisame dove beneath the surface, his speed surging. Samehada attacked from below, wrapping around Naruto's foot and voraciously absorbing Nine-Tails chakra.

"Naruto!" Killer B wrapped Naruto in a Tailed Beast Cloak, cutting off the absorption. But Kisame had already appeared behind him, bringing Samehada down.

"Lightning Release: Lariat!"

A suddenly burst into the fight, moving at blinding speed in his Lightning Release Armor, and sent Kisame flying with a punch. The Raikage had arrived.

"Brother!"

"Stay focused. There's more than one enemy." A looked toward the lake, where a second Kisame surfaced-a water clone. No, there were five water clones. Together with the original, six Kisames surrounded them.

"This is trouble, yo~" Killer B said.

To the south, Sakura and Tenzo faced Sasori.

Sasori controlled the Third Kazekage puppet, sending giant iron sand needles raining down. Tenzo defended with Wood Release: Wood Wall, but the iron sand was poisoned, and the trees rapidly withered.

"Little medic girl, can your Monster Strength Fist shatter iron sand?" Sasori's voice came from inside the puppet.

"Let's find out!" Sakura shattered an iron sand needle with a punch, but the fragments re-formed and shot toward her. Tenzo used Wood Release to bind Sasori's real body, but Sasori shed his Akatsuki cloak, revealing a puppet body-he had already turned himself into a Human Puppet.

"It's useless. My body is an eternal work of art." Sasori's back opened, firing countless poisoned needles. Sakura sliced through them with a Chakra Scalpel, but one grazed her arm, and the poison spread.

"An antidote..." Sakura gritted her teeth and used Medical Ninjutsu to force out the poison, but Sasori's poison was too potent. Her movements slowed.

"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!" Tenzo summoned a wood dragon to coil around Sasori, but Sasori formed a drill from iron sand and bored through it. The battle was turning against them.

All four battlefronts were locked in bitter struggles. Lin Ye's mind raced. He had to break the stalemate.

"System, scan the battlefield and find their weaknesses."

[Scanning...]

[Deidara's weakness: his clay requires moisture from his mouths. His real body is three meters to the left in the rock wall.]

[Itachi's weakness: excessive Mangekyo use, declining vision, and an old injury in his right eye.]

[Kisame's weakness: Samehada has a limit on chakra absorption and fears Lightning Release.]

[Sasori's weakness: his core is in his chest, but it has three protective layers that must be destroyed simultaneously.]

"Destroyed simultaneously..." Lin Ye formed a plan. He looked at Sasuke and spoke through Kamui. "Sasuke, use that jutsu. Coordinate with me."

Sasuke paused, then nodded. He pulled a scroll from inside his clothes-the one Lin Ye had given him, containing the Combined Ninjutsu "Lightning-Flame Formation," which required two people working together.

"Naruto, Killer B, Raikage, follow my lead," Lin Ye continued through Kamui. "In thirty seconds, attack the center of the lake with your strongest Lightning Release. Sakura, Tenzo, strike Sasori's chest with Wood Release and Monster Strength Fist. Three consecutive hits, half a second apart."

"Understood!"

"Then the countdown starts now. Thirty, twenty-nine..."

Lin Ye's real body returned to the air to face Deidara. Deidara had already finished preparing C4: Garuda, filling the air with microscopic Clay Bombs.

"This time, you can't dodge." Deidara smiled.

"I don't need to." Lin Ye formed hand seals, but aimed his attack at the sky rather than Deidara. "Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

Instead of spreading out, the flames formed a massive fireball, igniting all the airborne Clay Bombs. A chain of explosions followed, but the blasts remained trapped inside the fireball. Deidara's expression changed drastically. He tried to flee, but Lin Ye held him in place with Kamui for one second.

"Amaterasu!"

Black flames ignited on Deidara's real body inside the rock wall. Deidara screamed, but kept forming hand seals. "C0: Self-destruction! Die with me!"

"Kamui: Transfer!"

With the last of his strength, Lin Ye transported Deidara and his self-destructing clay into the Kamui Dimension. The explosion erupted inside it, and the backlash made Lin Ye vomit blood. But Deidara had been dealt with.

[Defeated Akatsuki member Deidara. Obtained Rinnegan Fragments ×80.]

[Current fragments: 160/1000]

At the same time, the attacks on the other battlefronts began.

Sasuke completed the Lightning-Flame Formation, trapping Itachi inside a barrier of lightning and fire. Itachi burned through it with Amaterasu, but Sasuke's Chidori struck from his blind spot, piercing the right side of his chest.

"Sasuke, you've grown." Itachi coughed up blood, yet smiled. "But it's still not enough. Next, I'll show you... the truth about the Uchiha."

Tsukuyomi activated again, but this time it transmitted memories rather than inflicting torture. Sasuke froze in place, receiving a flood of information.

On the lake, the Raikage, Killer B, and Naruto unleashed their strongest Lightning Release attacks. "Lightning Release: Liger Bomb!" "Lightning Release: Lariat!" "Tailed Beast Bomb: Lightning Release Mode!"

Three bolts of lightning slammed into the center of the lake, forcing Kisame's real body out. Samehada absorbed a massive amount of Lightning Release, reached its limit, and began to backfire. Kisame screamed as the Raikage punched him into the cliff, knocking him unconscious.

[Defeated Akatsuki member Kisame Hoshigaki. Obtained Rinnegan Fragments ×70.]

[Current fragments: 230/1000]

Tenzo's Wood Release and Sakura's Monster Strength Fist struck Sasori's chest three times in succession, destroying all three protective layers. His core was exposed, and Sakura shattered it with one final punch.

"Art... is eternal..." Sasori fell, his puppet body breaking apart.

[Defeated Akatsuki member Sasori of the Red Sands. Obtained Rinnegan Fragments ×60.]

[Current fragments: 290/1000]

Of the four battles, three were over. Only Itachi and Sasuke remained.

Lin Ye landed and staggered toward Sasuke. Sasuke was still frozen in place, bloody tears streaming from his eyes-a side effect of the Tsukuyomi transmission. Yet he was smiling and crying at once.

"Ye... I saw it... the truth about the Uchiha, the massacre, and Itachi..."

"He told you?"

"Yes." Sasuke wiped away his bloody tears. "My brother... did it to protect me and Konoha... but I won't forgive him, and I won't hate him either. I'll follow my own path and break this absurd fate."

"Good." Lin Ye looked at Itachi. He was leaning against the cliff, his breathing faint, but he was still alive.

"Uchiha Ye," Itachi said, "Obito is nearby... he's coming to finish things... leave, now..."

Before he could finish, space twisted, and Obito and Zetsu appeared. Obito looked at the three fallen Akatsuki members, his gaze icy.

"A bunch of useless fools. But it doesn't matter. They were never my targets." He looked at Killer B. "I'll be taking the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki."

"Not a chance!" The Raikage charged, but Obito phased through his body and appeared behind Killer B. Kamui activated, about to suck Killer B inside.

"Kamui!"

Lin Ye countered with his own Kamui, canceling out the spatial distortion. But Obito smiled. "Did you think that was all I had prepared?"

Zetsu merged into the ground, and a massive formula lit up across the canyon floor-a modified Chibaku Tensei, designed not to seal, but to extract tailed beasts.

"This formula can forcibly extract a tailed beast from its jinchūriki. It'll kill the host, but that doesn't matter, as long as the tailed beast survives," Obito said. "Goodbye, Killer B."

The formula activated. Killer B screamed as the Eight-Tails' chakra was forcibly drawn out. The Raikage tried to save him, but the formula repelled him.

"Stop!" Lin Ye directed Amaterasu at the formula, but it absorbed the flames and grew even stronger.

"It's useless. This formula uses the power of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Nothing short of the Rinnegan can destroy it," Obito said. "Unless you use that."

"That?"

"The Kāma inside you," Obito said. "The Otsutsuki's Kāma can unravel any formula. But the moment you unseal it, it will begin consuming you, turning you into an Otsutsuki vessel. What's your choice? Watch the Eight-Tails get captured, or sacrifice yourself?"

Lin Ye gritted his teeth. He could feel something awakening inside him-the Kāma Madara had mentioned before, a mark left by the Otsutsuki.

"System, what happens if I unseal the Kāma?"

[Warning: unsealing the Kāma will release part of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's consciousness. The host risks possession.]

[Success rate: determined by the host's willpower. Current willpower assessment: 87%.]

[Recommendation: use the Wish System to suppress the Kāma. This requires 300 Rinnegan Fragments.]

Three hundred... he had 290, ten short. There was no time.

"Ye, don't listen to him!" Naruto shouted. "We'll find a way together!"

"There's no time." Lin Ye looked at Killer B. Most of the Eight-Tails had already been extracted. Any further delay would kill him.

He made his decision.

"System, exchange all my unfulfilled wish completion progress for ten Rinnegan Fragments."

[Consumed 100 points of unfulfilled wish completion progress. Obtained Rinnegan Fragments ×10.]

[Current unfulfilled wishes completed: 311/1344]

[Current Rinnegan Fragments: 300/1000]

[Use 300 fragments to suppress the Kāma?]

"Yes!"

[Consumed Rinnegan Fragments ×300. Remaining: 0/1000.]

[Suppression successful. The Kāma has entered dormancy, but its power cannot be used.]

"What?" Obito was stunned. "You suppressed the Kāma? Then how are you going to break the formula?"

"With this." Lin Ye pressed his palms together and poured the last of his eye power into his Mangekyo. The pattern in his eyes began evolving toward the Rinnegan again, but this time it was not temporary-it was on the verge of becoming permanent.

"With my eyes, I summon six paths power. With my soul, I form the sealing array-" Lin Ye bit his finger and drew bloody runes on the ground. "Forbidden Jutsu: Rinnegan Seal!"

It was a Sealing Jutsu he had gleaned from the Limbo: Border Jail Fragment, the reward for fulfilling Madara's unfulfilled wish. Based on the Rinnegan's eye power, it could seal anything. But he had no Rinnegan and could only imitate it with his Mangekyo. The price was permanent blindness.

The runes spread, clashing with the Chibaku Tensei Formula. The two forces locked together, shaking the canyon.

"Ye!" Sasuke tried to help, but Zetsu blocked him.

"Stay out of this."

"Get out of my way!" Sasuke's Sharingan evolved-stimulated by Itachi's memories, it advanced from three tomoe to the Mangekyo. A new pattern emerged: a six-pointed star.

"Amaterasu!"

Black flames ignited on Zetsu. He screamed, but as a being created through Yin-Yang Release, Amaterasu could not kill him. It could only hold him back temporarily.

Lin Ye's Sealing Jutsu was collapsing. His eyes bled, and his vision grew increasingly blurred. But he did not stop, pouring in the last of his strength.

"Break-now!"

BOOM!!!

The Sealing Jutsu and Chibaku Tensei destroyed each other, shattering the formula. Killer B regained his freedom, but half of the Eight-Tails had been extracted, and he collapsed weakly. Obito's expression darkened, but he had collected half of the Eight-Tails' chakra. His mission could still be considered accomplished.

"Retreat." Taking Zetsu with him, he left through Kamui.

The canyon fell silent again, devastated by the battle. Lin Ye knelt on the ground, his eyes completely blind, with only the faintest perception of light remaining. Yet he smiled.

"Did we win?"

"We won, Ye." Naruto helped him up. "Uncle Killer B is still alive, and we saved the Eight-Tails too."

"That's good..."

Lin Ye lost consciousness. In his final moments of awareness, the system's notification sounded:

[Completed special mission "Defense of the Valley of Clouds and Lightning." Obtained Rinnegan Fragments ×200.]

[Current Rinnegan Fragments: 200/1000]

[Unfulfilled wishes completed: 311/1344]

[Host's blindness has activated the "Mind's Eye" system: perceive the world through chakra. Perception range and precision increase with the number of unfulfilled wishes completed.]

[Next-stage objective: reach 500 unfulfilled wishes to obtain a Light Crystal and restore vision.]

The road was still long, but at least he had cleared another hurdle.