After resolving the issue with the One-Tail, Uchiha Yuan sent Kakashi back to the village to report to Minato, while he summoned Lightning and rushed toward the Land of Waves.
It had to be said—having a flying summoning beast was immensely useful. Lightning not only could fly, but also knew many Wind Release techniques, and could even use Lightning Release Chakra Mode—he was quite capable in combat.
Giving Lightning the chakra collected from the Dragon Vein had definitely been a wise choice.
With Lightning, it only took Yuan a few hours to reach the Land of Waves from Sunagakure.
After circling once in the air, Yuan spotted the confrontation between Kumo-nin and Kiri-nin. Hyuga Asana was also there, though she hadn't joined either side's conflict and was observing from a distance.
Yuan jumped off Lightning's back and, after a few body flickers, arrived beside Asana.
"What's the situation?" Yuan asked.
"Both sides are holding back—they haven't started fighting," Asana replied.
Yuan activated his Sharingan and looked toward the opposing sides.
The Kumo side had brought the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, along with over a dozen individuals with jonin-level chakra.
The Kiri side was led by a scruffy old man dripping with some sticky substance. Behind him was a Kiri ANBU squad and a bloodline/secret technique team composed of the Yuki clan, Kaguya clan, and Hozuki clan.
"Tsk tsk! Pretty stacked lineups on both sides," Yuan commented.
"To fight a Tailed Beast, the best weapon is another Tailed Beast—sending Jinchuriki is just logical."
"True. Do you think they'll fight?"
"Unlikely."
"Why not?"
"If they wanted to fight, they'd have started already. No need to wait this long."
Just as Asana predicted, after a standoff, it seemed the two sides had reached some sort of agreement, and the Kumo-nin chose to withdraw.
Not long after Kumo left, the Kiri-nin acted. Members of the Yuki clan unleashed Ice Release secret techniques, freezing the entire lake.
The Three-Tails, previously peacefully asleep underwater, suddenly went berserk and burst through the ice.
"It's time for us to act too, right?" Asana asked.
"No rush. Let them fight it out for a bit. Besides, I need to deal with some underground rats first." As Yuan finished speaking, he vanished.
A minute later, Yuan returned holding two White Zetsu corpses.
"Again with these things. Why are they here?" Asana asked.
"Probably tailing the Kiri-nin."
"Tailing Kiri-nin? Why?"
"Because Kiri is already infiltrated by them."
Asana frowned at that. Being able to infiltrate a whole village… these guys were definitely no small matter.
The Three-Tails fought the Kiri-nin for several hours, eventually gaining the upper hand thanks to the terrain advantage and forcing them back.
Then, the Three-Tails turned to return to the water.
"Kiri-nin are seriously useless. Asana, now it's our turn," Yuan said.
"Wait! I can't take on a Tailed Beast alone!"
"You just stall the Kiri-nin. I'll take care of the Three-Tails."
Before Asana could respond, Yuan vanished.
Sighing, Asana donned the mask she'd worn when collecting the Two-Tails' chakra, activated her Byakugan, and used repulsive force to fly in front of the Kiri-nin.
They were startled by her sudden appearance mid-air and immediately assumed battle stances.
Unbothered, Asana released the Third Kazekage's human puppet and raised her arm. Using attractive force, she uprooted several large trees.
A flash of lightning from her hand severed the roots, sharpening one end of each trunk.
Then she commanded the puppet to charge at the Kiri-nin, while occasionally hurling sharpened tree trunks to disrupt their rhythm.
(From here on, I'm changing the bird summon's name from Lightning to Shadiao, which is the name of a bird in another novel)
Meanwhile, Yuan had teleported onto Shadiao in mid-air and had him fly above the Three-Tails, just as it was about to submerge again.
Yuan then teleported in front of the beast and slammed down an oversized Electromagnetic Rasengan.
With a deafening thunderclap, electric sparks erupted over the lake's surface. The Three-Tails screamed in agony.
"Damn humans!" After a furious roar, the Three-Tails surfaced again, whipping its tail, and propelling a pillar of water crashing down on Uchiha Yuan.
Yuan didn't dodge.
At this time, a flash of lightning flashed across the sky. Shadiao, now in their Lightning Release Chakra Mode, moved with blinding speed, intercepting Uchiha Yuan and allowing him to evade the Three-Tails' attack.
Using Shadiao's aerial mobility, Yuan kept launching long-range Lightning Release attacks at the Three-Tails, rapidly overwhelming it.
He then teleported again in front of the beast, this time activating his Mangekyo Sharingan.
The moment their eyes met, the Three-Tails fell into Yuan's genjutsu.
He guided the beast to the shore, used Chidori Sharp Spear to sever two of its tails, and sealed them.
The intense pain snapped the Three-Tails out of the genjutsu. Knowing it couldn't win, it dove back into the lake.
Yuan didn't stop it—he already had its chakra, there was no need to pursue.
Then Yuan instantly teleported to the battlefield where Asana was still holding off the Kiri-nin and the Six-Tails.
Sizing up the Six-Tails' Jinchuriki, Yuan muttered, "Sticky and disgusting…"
In the original, the Six-Tails' Jinchuriki was Utakata, a rogue ninja from Kiri—a handsome young man in a sky-blue robe with long bangs.
But this guy? Uchiha Yuan's first impression was simply that he was disgusting. Covered in slime, looking just like the Six-Tails' true form.
Yuan rarely judged by appearances, but this time the man's look only intensified his hostility.
As Yuan examined him, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki also looked at Yuan.
Black hair, a strange mask, lightning flickering over his body—the Jinchuriki could feel a lethal threat.
Behind him, the Kiri-nin instinctively stepped back two steps—the pressure Yuan emitted was terrifying.
He had just easily suppressed the Three-Tails, something they had struggled to handle. That alone warranted fear.
Yuan, on the other hand, held no goodwill toward Kiri-nin. After all, he had fought them for years on the Bear Country front. Many of his squad members, including his parents, had died at their hands.
Remembering this, the lightning chakra around Yuan grew more violent.
In the next moment, he turned into a bolt of lightning and vanished from sight.
"Watch out for his lightni—" A Kiri ANBU's words were cut short.
Because the speaker, a jonin, had already had his throat slit by Yuan's drawn blade.
(To Be Continued...)