Uchiha Yorin ignored Hyūga Hiashi's surprised, confused, even vaguely annoyed stare, and gave his final order:
"The tactics are set. Now get ready. Everyone—heads up. We're about to fight Cloud for all the marbles.
Oh, and one more thing. The previous intel—that Mist would rendezvous with the Fourth—was fake.
In reality, the Mist army landed behind Cloud and is marching straight for Kumogakure.
If my guess is right, Cloud is hollowed out at home, with very few units left to cover this blow.
The Mist strike will land."
"…"
"…Huh?"
Hearing Yorin toss out such a jaw-dropping update in such an offhand tone, most in the tent flipped straight to a "what the actual—" state.
But Yorin knew that wouldn't last. In a moment, shock would turn to thrill, to excitement, to glee.
Just as he said—Cloud's field army had emptied the nest. However mediocre Mist might be, against an unguarded Kumogakure they were a mortal lock.
Once your rear citadel gets sacked, front-line morale shatters. Even if they don't rout, they slump to rock bottom.
At that point, Konoha only needs to nudge and Cloud collapses completely.
Could the long war between Konoha and Cloud really end in their generation?
Could Konoha truly have the heft, under the Fourth, to complete the grand unification of the ninja world?
Uchiha Yorin—he wasn't just "Konoha's Macron"… he was Konoha's Bismarck?!
…
While Konoha's officers pictured the future, the Fourth Raikage's face looked like he'd just caught his beloved little brother Killer B cheating—ugly as sin.
Though the main host had marched, Cloud's homeland watch was still competent. The instant those six thousand Mist shinobi surged in, the village defenses detected them.
The few home guards left behind—more "big cat, little cat" than army—blurted a "you've got to be kidding," then scrambled: raising the barrier to buy time, while flying contract beasts beat their wings to carry the alarm to A at the front.
The message arrived just as he was ordering his own personal charge.
He swallowed a mouthful of blood and decided.
No more delay. Absolutely no more delay.
This battle was already broken.
The moment six thousand Mist struck Kumogakure, the war—the war—was lost for Cloud.
The only question left was the price.
Lose big—or lose everything.
"We must break the Konoha force in front of us. Only then can we withdraw in good order, dash back to Kumogakure, and drive Mist out!"
He couldn't help thinking: Otherwise, if we retreat in panic, Konoha will dog our heels and wipe us out. Kumogakure will be finished.
Twenty thousand annihilated, the home citadel sacked—that's a dead village.
Maybe, in time, the Daimyō of Lightning would bless a "new Cloud" somewhere. That wouldn't be his village. Wouldn't be this Cloud.
Life or death—this is what they meant. If we win, wonderful. If we lose… it all ends.
"I underestimated him. Uchiha Yorin. Even placing him so high, I still placed him too low.
Terrifying. Every one of his moves points at erasing Kumogakure."
His body trembled. If Heaven offered a chance to die together with Uchiha Yorin, he'd take it without a blink—buying Cloud one last road with his life.
"Bee. Yugito. We go."
"Mmm."
"Yes, Raikage-sama!"
…
Two titans surged out before the Konoha line—monsters radiating dread.
Tailed beasts: the world's finest army-killers.
On the left, the horned, crimson eight-tailed octopus-ox; on the right, a colossal feline sheathed in blue fire.
Two-Tails Matatabi and Eight-Tails Gyūki. Both of Cloud's bijū, unleashed in one breath, charged the Konoha defenses.
Between them strode the Fourth Raikage, A.
He looked small between the giants, but his aura was no less—and maybe greater.
Two roaring Tailed Beast Bombs announced them—whole sectors of the field turned to white glass in heartbeats.
Under that dual onslaught, Konoha's clever traps and lines went to zero. The corridor for assault yawed open.
"Follow the three Lords—forward!"
"OOOOOH!"
Behind them, Cloud's host roared and surged.
"So. The decisive battle." Uchiha Yorin's lips curled into a smile—widening, brightening, cracking toward mad delight.
"Then come. Come. A-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Laughing, he raised his mightiest art—his Ocean Titan stood again upon the earth.
Unlike the night action before, this was bright day—everyone saw it: that towering, water-blue colossus sheathed in violet lightning.
"Yorin-sama!"
"It's Yorin-sama's power!"
"Follow Yorin-sama! Show those Cloud dogs their color!"
…
Nothing buoys morale like a super-heavy war engine.
As the dozens-of-meters-tall titan strode lightly into the teeth of the foe, Konoha's momentary slump rebounded and soared.
As all 16,000 Cloud surged, all 15,000 Konoha did too—behind the Ocean Titan—crashing together in full, general battle.
…
"Uchiha Yorin! AAAAAAA!"
A's speed—fast, fast—a black flicker. He left the two beasts behind in a blink.
Those blood-red eyes locked onto the Ocean Titan, his hands like blades, starving to lop off Uchiha Yorin's head.
But he didn't.
When A lunged, a belt of Byakugan flared to life and blocked him.
The Hyūga.
"Move, Hyūga. You're not my match!"
Two lightning lariats hammered the first pair of overbold jōnin straight into the dirt—and still the Hyūga closed up, more than thirty of their taijutsu elites (with Hiashi and Hizashi) weaving a cage around the Raikage.
"Don't dream." Hiashi's lips said what his heart didn't—heart screaming—while he held his stance. "We're your opponent!"
"RRRAAAAH!" A launched into a storm:
Heavy Flow—Violence!
Thunder Explosive Bomb!
Double-Lariat Thunder Axe!
Lightning Savage—Thousand-Fold Waterfall Blast!
Every limb and edge and point of him was a killing tool. Under that terror of Lightning Body Art, the Hyūga had only guard, no riposte—"soft" doesn't bend steel when the steel is too thick.
So much for with-soft-break-hard; this was hard smashing soft to paste.
Eight Trigrams, Gentle Fist, Rotation—what stops a roaring A?
Nothing.
Not this time.
"If you fools insist on barring me, then I kill you first—and then I rip off that Uchiha brat's head!"
The Raikage's iron fist crashed into Hiashi. The "absolute defense" Rotation shattered; blood geysered; Hiashi almost blacked out. If not for brothers shielding with their bodies, the clan head would've been seized and folded in half by the Lightning Bomb.
He sucked a ragged breath and prayed:
Yorin-sama, please finish fast and help us—else the Hyūga will be wiped out!
As A fought in the hard, Yorin opened in the quick—choosing his prey.
He left the Eight-Tails to Shisui and went for the golden-haired Cloud beauty.
The Ocean Titan faced the Two-Tails, the great blue-flamed cat.
"Not bad. A kitty. I'm fated with cats."
Thinking of catnip in his left hand and fish flakes in his right—enough to stun the entire Ninja Cat clan—Yorin looked upon Matatabi with fond eyes.
He figured a cat-fire bijū and Uchiha were a perfect match. Smashing it to paste would be wasteful; better to take it alive.
His heated stare gave Matatabi the chills.
"Cut it out—what's with those eyes?!"
With a twin roar, Matatabi and Yugito spat a giant fireball—Ocean Titan slipped aside like a dancer.
"So nimble—at that size. Flowform combat?"
Matatabi's body coiled—she'd test fire against water and speed against speed.
She crouched to pounce.
Yorin had spent his life fleecing ninja cats—he knew the counters. Before the blue fire pounced, the Titan raised its hand and hosed the Two-Tails in a jet.
"Water Style? That feeble? Funny."
Yes, in theory water checks fire—but Yugito felt nothing—she sneered—and then her legs went to jelly. She staggered, nearly collapsed.
"What is it, Matatabi?"
"I don't know—lazy, limp—no strength at all, Yugito~"
In battle—you're not supposed to—but Matatabi's voice went languid, sweet, and Yugito had to fight the impulse to mewl and curl up on the ground.
"Genjutsu? Mangekyō?"
"No. Catnip." Yorin smiled. "It's catnip in the water."
He'd dumped the entire stock from his scroll—enough for three thousand ninja cats—right onto Matatabi.
"You—!"
Yugito wanted to spit, You think a tailed beast that looks like a cat is a cat?!
But what came out was a soft "nyā~."
We're done. Not just dying—social death. Yugito pressed down the despair and lunged to drag him to hell with her.
Her claws scraped the waterfall; you can't scratch water. You can't tear lightning from water either.
Electricity ran through the Titan's veins—into Matatabi—warm, tingling—then thirty-two Lightning-Cutter kunai and a million-ton water-pressure punch, atop triple-dose catnip, knocked the Two-Tails into infant sleep. She collapsed back into Yugito.
A Konoha sealing platoon piled on, cocooning the beautiful jinchūriki in layers—and sprinted away before Cloud could counterpull.
"Yugito! Bring her back! Don't stop me!"
A's roar shook the air—his iron elbow crushed half a Hyūga's face; of the thirty who'd fenced him, only half still stood, all of them bleeding, all one-breath-from-collapse. Another minute of it and they'd be gone.
Luckily, Yorin arrived.
He'd used the "despicable" catnip stratagem to hurry Matatabi's fall—because of the Hyūga.
He loathed their fossil elders—but a friendship with the clan was necessary. You don't feed a brother to death. You buy him yakiniku. Otherwise you make enemies.
"Well done, Hiashi-senpai. The Hyūga completed their task. You may withdraw," Yorin said. "Leave the rest to me."
He dropped the Titan and stepped forward in human form—facing A.
Truth be told—he would have liked to hit B at the same time; that man's blade science—Aramaki Lopping Heron style and Ultrasonic Lightning Blade—would be prize techniques to copy with the Sharingan.
But B—and Shisui—were dancing as titans already. No quick end there. So he'd settle for one Raikage.
Early on, A's rage had blinded him. The Hyūga's grit cooled him; he could fight Yorin with clearer head.
"Such a monster—beating Matatabi in minutes, unworn. Incredible."
Ordinarily, I'd disengage now. But not this time.
He killed the softness and lifted his hand in invitation:
"Come, young Konoha champion. Let us see who is stronger."
"Me, obviously." Yorin chuckled. "Who else—you, old man?"
"Hahahah—how arrogant!"
Lightning body-flicker vs lightning body-flicker. Raikage knife-hand vs lightning-forged blade.
The hand that once severed Gyūki's horn met special chakra steel; the clash rang like an anvil.
And the system chimed.
[Conquest Quest · Kumogakure]
Objective: Conquer the Village Hidden in the Clouds.
Rewards: Free Attribute Points +3; Greatly increased Lightning chakra; Theoretical knowledge of Chakra Weaponization; Ability to sense "Sky"-aspect natural energy.
(Go, boy—seize the sky, bind the storm, and break the wild, swaggering Cloud!)
Just like with Mist—the target this time was the purer beast: no kekkei genkai, all grit and thunder.
Which left only one thing to say—
Fight.