The Battle Ends

Azure lightning flashed before his eyes in an instant, a famous blade as sharp as the Kusanagi Sword aimed straight at his throat. Just as it was about to strike, an equally powerful and sharp force blocked the Fourth Raikage's Piercing Hand.

"Your speed and strength are as impressive as ever. Since you've offered me your hand, I'll gladly borrow it. Summoning Jutsu!"

His eyes bloodshot, the Fourth Raikage looked at the fingers that should have been pressed together, now gradually forming the hand seals for the Summoning Jutsu.

"Idiot! Bastard! I won't let you escape this time! Octopus Hold!"

From the mouth of Gyuki, now transformed into the complete Eight-Tails, clumps of ink took human form and surrounded the two from all directions.

"A Sealing Jutsu? Nanto Sage, Hokuto Sage, seal."

The barrier reappeared, its eerie violet glow sealing away the ink. Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird opened their jaws, wind and fire intertwining.

"Blaze Release: Wild Dance of Explosive Wind."

Swept by glittering golden sand, gales, and a sea of flames, even the appearance of the Nine Masked Beasts made Rasa, who had stopped to watch, furrow his brow.

"Summoned puppets? No, Summoning Beasts. Extremely troublesome Summoning Beasts. Just who is that member of the Uchiha Clan? Heat high enough to melt even Gold Dust?"

"The Uchiha Clan truly is a famous family of the shinobi world. They were hiding such a trump card? Uchiha Fugaku, you've hidden yourself well."

Fugaku remained expressionless, neither admitting nor denying it. Yet inwardly, he could not help comparing the person fighting the Fourth Raikage to the children of the various Uchiha families.

"You damned Uchiha brat! You actually used my hand to form seals! Just how little do you think of me, you bastard?!"

"Then I'll end this dull battle with a technique that requires no hand seals. Farewell. This is my parting gift—Great Spiraling Ring."

In an instant, the Konoha Ninja remaining within Kikyō Pass flickered away one after another. Having just returned from the coast, Namikaze Minato needed only one glance to understand what Uchiha Huayue intended to do next.

"So that's how it is. I see. Let's go, Mr. Choza, Mr. Shikaku..."

With a flash of yellow light, every Konoha ninja within Kikyō Pass was transferred dozens of miles away. Above an ordinary black kunai, something like a falling star descended from the heavens, blazing with dazzling light.

"That Uchiha brat is using that move again?!"

"No, the chakra in this technique... B! Hurry and switch me out!"

An unprecedented sense of crisis filled everyone's senses. Eight-Tails Gyuki tucked his entire body into his tentacles and spun madly.

"Tailed Beast Eight-Winding!"

Space and time froze at that moment. After a brief silence, pure white light swallowed the entirety of Kikyō Pass.

The greatest sound was silence. The all-devouring white quietly receded, and sunlight once again spilled down.

Kikyō Pass, which should have been there, had vanished without anyone knowing when. Only the scorching lava and the gold flowing through it proved that this deep abyss had once been its location.

As the aftershock faded, blistering lava flowed over the surface of the octopus-like tentacles. The Eight-Tails crawled out from deep underground, panting as he looked at the terrain that had already been utterly transformed, his expression helpless.

"That ninjutsu completely changed the surrounding terrain? It's fully comparable to a Tailed Beast Bomb unleashed with all our strength. Was that also the Uchiha brat's ninjutsu?"

"That damned... damned Uchiha brat! He actually did this to Toroi... Damn it..."

Within the scorching lava lay Toroi, Kumogakure's Magnet Release Ninja with a Kekkei Genkai. He had long since fallen silent.

"He was too far from me. Even if I wanted to protect him, there was nothing I could do. That guy's ninjutsu carries the nature transformation of Fire Release, and with his Body Flicker Technique and chakra comparable to a Tailed Beast..."

"Perhaps he'll become the strongest opponent Kumogakure faces in the future. He's clearly an Uchiha with the Sharingan, yet he's best known for his Body Flicker and that strange Summoning Jutsu. Even I don't know how to evaluate him."

Clearly, the Fourth Raikage had no mood to listen to the Eight-Tails' assessment. The temporary allies in the distance, Rasa and Pakura of Sunagakure, also turned back without hesitation.

The Sunagakure ninja they had brought had been completely wiped out, while Kumogakure had lost a Kekkei Genkai ninja. The Battle of Kikyō Pass had ended in total defeat.

To protect the vulnerable Hidden Sand Village, neither of them could die here. Otherwise, Sunagakure might very well face destruction.

"Uchiha Huayue, I'll remember that name. Let's go, B. Return to Kumogakure before that bastard Ōnoki notices what happened at Kikyō Pass."

"OK, big bro."

Their figures flickered as Killer B and the Fourth Raikage hastily retreated. The unending flames of war temporarily subsided along with the disappearance of Kikyō Pass.

At the border of the Land of Fire, within a hidden forest, the survivors descended from the sky. They looked at one another in silence.

"Are we safe now, Minato?"

Looking at his worried companions, Namikaze Minato smiled gently and nodded slightly.

"Though I don't know who that child is, there shouldn't be any problem. It seems that all the kunai I left at Kikyō Pass were destroyed as well. What a powerful ninjutsu."

"Kurenai—where's Kurenai? Lord Fugaku, that child should be from the Uchiha Clan. He had the Uchiha fan crest on his back. Where did he go?"

Seeing pairs of eyes fixed tightly upon him, Fugaku had no way to explain himself. He truly did not know that child. Had he known there was a genius in the clan capable of using the Flying Thunder God, he would have brought him into the Konoha Military Police Force for careful training long ago.

Meanwhile, near Kikyō Pass, two figures emerged from kunai. The Three-Eyed Demon Fox Mask concealing one of their faces was slowly removed.

Already numb from shock after the string of upheavals, Kurenai instinctively looked over. The surprise on her face turned into astonishment and an uproar.

"Uchiha... Lord Huayue? It was you?"

"I never expected you to be carrying out missions on a battlefield of this intensity. I knew graduates from the previous two classes had already gone to war, but I didn't expect even you would be dragged into it, Kurenai."

For a moment, even Yuhi Kurenai had not expected to be saved by a genin who had only recently graduated from the Ninja Academy and was two classes younger than her.

She only knew Uchiha Huayue because Anko often dragged Huayue to Konoha's various dango shops to sample dango. Combined with his lazy air and fairly handsome appearance, he had left some impression on her.

"It couldn't be helped. The Land of Fire's border was invaded, so the village could only temporarily mobilize ninja. More importantly... could you... put me down first?"

Her face flushed with embarrassment. Though she was dirty and disheveled, it could not conceal the rosy blush spreading across her cheeks. Her watery ruby-like eyes met those black and white eyes, yet she did not receive the answer she wanted.

"Sorry, but your injuries aren't something you can endure by forcing yourself. That was a Tailed Beast Bomb. If you don't get properly examined at a hospital, it'll be dangerous."

"You're back already? Then we should leave too."