Watching the disappearing figures, Hoshiyomi smiled faintly:
"Ringo Ameyuri and Hozuki Mangetsu, huh? Perfect replacements for Itachi and Kakuzu—the one I accidentally killed myself. I wonder if we'll start seeing some new faces in that organization soon."
After seeing these people and their so-called "operation," Hoshiyomi instantly connected all the dots.
The mystery of why the Kaguya clan suddenly ran off to die was now completely solved.
No wonder the Militant Faction was doing something so self-destructive.
If their leader, Hozuki Mangetsu, wasn't planning to stay in Kirigakure at all, then the Militant Faction had already become irrelevant.
And Hoshiyomi naturally knew their goal:
Sacrificing the entire Kaguya clan—perhaps even the whole Militant Faction—was all for one thing…
The recently-revived Three-Tails (Isobu).
The timing was impeccable.
The Three-Tails had only recently resurrected and wasn't yet at full strength.
And because of the ongoing civil unrest, the village hadn't had time to reseal it.
Tonight, while the Kaguya clan marched off to their deaths, slipping in quietly to capture the still-weak Three-Tails was indeed a clever move.
Although the Akatsuki needed to extract tailed beasts in order, capturing one ahead of time was never a bad thing.
They had plenty of methods to suppress it.
Black Zetsu—ever the devoted son—would never be careless when it came to reviving "Mother."
So should Hoshiyomi stop them?
He could easily overpower Hozuki Mangetsu, Ringo Ameyuri, and Kisame even with their Seven Ninja Swords.
Now that they were swordless, defeating them would take almost no effort at all.
Hoshiyomi paused and thought for a moment, then shook his head.
He didn't want to reveal himself too early.
Besides, he still felt a faint anticipation—of facing Madara again.
Back when he was weaker, he naturally wanted to strangle any danger in the cradle.
But now he had fought a Six Paths–level Kimimaro for three years and was only one step away from crossing the Six Paths threshold himself.
He no longer feared Madara's revival.
When one's strength grows to the point where all schemes become irrelevant, one's mentality shifts.
If they wanted to capture the Three-Tails—let them.
Ruining Black Zetsu's plans too early would be boring.
For someone who'd plotted against him, Hoshiyomi preferred to wait until the moment victory seemed assured… then crush everything.
That would be far more satisfying.
With that in mind, Hoshiyomi abandoned the idea of interfering.
Instead, he followed them from a distance—close enough to observe, far enough not to be noticed.
The situation with the Kaguya clan was already settled.
Watching this side play out would be more interesting.
Trailing behind the three from Kirigakure and White Zetsu, Hoshiyomi eventually arrived at a river bend outside the village.
There, he quietly watched their capture plan unfold.
Hozuki Mangetsu's strategy was extremely direct.
He used his clan's Hydrification Technique to dive into the water and provoke the Three-Tails.
Being disturbed during its rest, the beast roared furiously as it rose from the river.
It was clear that the newly reborn Three-Tails had not fully recovered its peak strength—its size was noticeably smaller than the tailed beasts Hoshiyomi had fought before.
Smaller, perhaps—but still an enormous and terrifying monster.
Still, the three Kirigakure shinobi were already near semi-Kage level.
They weren't afraid.
Facing the enraged beast, Hozuki Mangetsu grinned:
"Good evening, big guy."
Before he even finished speaking, his right arm liquefied, merging with the river water—gathering into a massive, towering fist.
Great Water Arm Technique.
With this transformation, Mangetsu's fist was nearly as large as one of the Three-Tails' claws.
Seizing the moment while the Three-Tails was roaring, Hozuki Mangetsu lifted his massive right fist and launched an uppercut straight into the beast's chin.
Even for a creature as huge as the Three-Tails, the enormous blow made it stagger.
Howling in pain, it slammed its tail violently against the water's surface, sending up towering waves crashing toward Mangetsu—
but he had already liquefied into water and vanished.
While Mangetsu tangled with the Three-Tails, Kisame and Ringo Ameyuri rapidly formed hand seals.
Both had considerable chakra reserves; judging by how long the seal sequence took, the jutsu they were preparing was clearly powerful.
Sure enough, under Hoshiyomi's gaze, they finished their seals and shouted toward Mangetsu, still in the water:
"Mangetsu, you can come out now!"
Hearing this, Mangetsu quickly returned to the shore.
The moment he emerged, both Kisame and Ameyuri plunged their hands into the river at the same time.
"Water Release: Thousand Feeding Sharks!"
"Lightning Release: Thunder Gate!"
"Ninja Art: Thousand Thunder Shark Howl!"
With their combined actions, the river—already turbulent from the Three-Tails' movements—began to boil violently.
Under Kisame's influence, the surging water shaped itself into countless sharks with gaping, bloodthirsty jaws.
The instant the sharks formed, Ameyuri's lightning jutsu struck.
A massive bolt slammed into the river, not only electrocuting and paralyzing the Three-Tails, but also merging with the water-sharks—forming crackling suits of lightning armor around them.
The sharks' teeth crackled with thunder as they charged like suicide squads toward the immobilized Three-Tails.
Lightning fangs tore relentlessly at its exposed limbs and head.
Wracked with agony, the Three-Tails could do nothing; the lightning paralysis prevented it from retreating into its shell, leaving it helpless as the thunder sharks shredded it alive.
Seeing this, Hoshiyomi shook his head.
A tailed beast relying only on instinct, without a jinchūriki, was nothing impressive.
The Three-Tails' defeat was simply a matter of time.
Losing interest in the battle, Hoshiyomi turned and left the lake.
By the time he returned to regroup with the Konoha team, the fight here was already nearing its end.
Genji truly was an old fox—everything unfolded exactly as he planned.
The prepared Kirigakure forces easily defeated the Kaguya clan but intentionally avoided wiping them out completely.
On another front, after Ao contacted him, Zabuza agreed to cooperate with Genji.
He sent men disguised as scouts to spread word that the reckless Kaguya clan had attacked and been surrounded by Genji.
Hearing this, members of the Militant Faction panicked.
Worse, one of their leaders, Hozuki Mangetsu, wasn't present.
Leaderless, they rushed blindly to the rescue.
The Militant Faction never expected that just as they arrived—before they even caught their breath—the Momochi clan would suddenly betray them.
With the defected Momochi clan attacking from behind and the morale-boosted Conservative Faction pressing from the front after defeating the Kaguya clan, the Militant Faction was completely trapped.
Under Genji's impassioned persuasion, a small number defected to the Conservative side…
but most were slaughtered by the Conservatives.
That night, Kirigakure was soaked in blood.
But the internal conflict that had plagued the village for years was finally brought to an end.
..
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