Yamanaka Fū circled to the front of Susanoo and gave Aburame Ryoma a signal. Immediately, Aburame Ryoma leapt forward, both sleeves flaring wide as he released all his kikaichū at once. The insects swarmed onto Susanoo's body, completely obscuring "Uchiha Itachi's" line of sight.
Another Root shinobi, hidden in a visual blind spot, swiftly formed hand seals.
"Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique!"
At the same time, Yamanaka Fū also formed hand seals rapidly.
"Secret Technique: Mind Body Switch Technique!"
However, this time his secret technique only took effect for an instant—barely causing "Uchiha Itachi's" head to blur before he was repelled, vomiting blood, and caught by his comrade as they quickly retreated.
But even that brief moment was enough. The Earth Release shinobi had already tunneled beneath Susanoo's defenses and burst up from the ground, the short blade in his hand gleaming coldly as it sliced toward "Uchiha Itachi's" neck.
"Got him!"
Ignoring the blood gushing wildly from his mouth, Yamanaka Fū stared fixedly at his Earth Release comrade, waiting for that single stroke to sever "Uchiha Itachi's" head.
But who could have expected that "Uchiha Itachi" would merely glance downward lightly, and at once the Earth Release shinobi froze where he stood, his posture still mid-swing, motionless.
"He…" Uchiha Yasuo sneered coldly. "No enemy dares raise their head before a Uchiha!"
With that, he casually drew the short blade at his waist and gave it a single effortless swing, slicing off the Earth Release shinobi's head.
Under the powerful pressure of the carotid arteries, the severed head was propelled skyward, spinning through the air out from Susanoo's abdomen and flying straight toward Aburame Ryoma.
Instinctively, Aburame Ryoma reached out and caught his comrade's head. As his gaze lowered, he found himself staring into the unblinking eyes of the dead man—eyes that now bore a pair of crimson Sharingan.
"Damn! It's a Sharingan genjutsu!"
Aburame Ryoma hastily urged the insects within his body to dispel the illusion while flinging his hands outward to throw away the comrade's head that had already become a medium for the enemy's genjutsu—but it was too late.
In just that instant of delay, Susanoo's attack had already arrived.
That immense, sky-covering energy hand came crashing down with unstoppable might, engulfing both the head and the insects together as it slammed down upon Aburame Ryoma.
With a muffled "splutch," Aburame Ryoma was crushed into pulp, blood splattering everywhere, staining the ground within several meters.
"Ryoma!" Seeing Aburame Ryoma's tragic death, Yamanaka Fū couldn't help but cry out in shock.
Within the Root, Yamanaka Fū and Aburame Torune were Danzō's most valued left and right hands, and though Aburame Ryoma's strength did not match Torune's, his loyalty had been tested through years of service. He would have surely become one of the Root's elite shinobi in time.
But now, his most promising successor had perished here, leaving Yamanaka Fū overwhelmed with grief.
"Haha…" Seeing the look of pain and regret on Yamanaka Fū's face, Uchiha Yasuo felt immense satisfaction and couldn't help but cover his face with one hand, laughing maniacally.
"There's a defensive gap beneath Susanoo's feet—you think I wouldn't know that?"
"You damned fleas!"
"If it were a frontal battle, I admit it wouldn't be that easy to kill you."
"I don't have that much time to waste slowly grinding you down. The best method, of course, is to dig a pit and wait for you to jump into it yourselves!"
"Yamanaka Fū, you were the one who devised this operation plan, weren't you?"
"When you were drafting the plan, did it never occur to you that this could be a trap?"
"How does it feel to lose your comrades?"
"Huh?"
"Haha…"
"Damn it!" Yamanaka Fū's eyes bulged with fury as he listened, rage and grief surging within him until he spat out several more mouthfuls of blood.
The last remaining comrade behind him quickly spoke in a low, steadying voice: "Yamanaka-sama, for Root shinobi, this day was always bound to come. We have long been mentally prepared to fall in battle, and we will never harbor any complaints for it."
"This matter cannot be blamed on Yamanaka-sama. Please, do not lose your composure."
"We still have a mission to complete. Please continue to devise a new battle plan—even if you must use me as bait, it does not matter."
"Everything is for Danzō-sama!"
Yamanaka Fū took several deep breaths, his gaze sweeping across the battlefield. In an instant of thought, he realized that with only the two of them left, it was impossible to complete the mission of recapturing the Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
After only a brief moment of consideration, Yamanaka Fū decisively altered the mission objective.
"The mission to recapture the jinchūriki is already difficult to accomplish. Perhaps we can change the objective—to kill the jinchūriki and release the Nine-Tails."
"Even if the Nine-Tails causes some damage to the Land of Fire, as long as it remains within the nation's borders, once the sealing squad arrives later, they will surely be able to seal it again."
"In that case, the operation plan is changed."
"Feign an attack on Uchiha Itachi, find an opening, kill the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, and release the tailed beast!"
For the Root, completing the mission had always been the supreme principle; the tremendous cost it demanded had never been within their scope of concern.
After hearing this, the Root shinobi did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately agreed.
"I understand. I'll use Earth Release to break in again."
"A Nine-Tails jinchūriki who's unconscious is easy to kill—it only takes a single strike."
"Yamanaka-sama, please buy me a little more time. Don't let Uchiha Itachi interfere."
Yamanaka Fū wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve and gave a heavy nod.
"Focus solely on killing. Even if I have to stake my life, I absolutely won't give Uchiha Itachi the chance to stop you."
One after the other, the two began circling around Susanoo again.
This time, without Aburame Ryoma to draw attention for them, they simply went all in head-on.
Yamanaka Fū moved to the front of Susanoo and began forming hand seals for Fire Release.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Although he was most proficient in Yin Release, he was capable of using other releases as well—it was only that he wasn't as skilled in them.
Under the cover of the all-consuming flames, his comrade circled to the rear of Susanoo and began performing Earth Release, launching a surprise attack from underground.
"Heh, such a boring trick!"
After fusing with all of the Uchiha's memories and emotions, the pride of the Uchiha clan had also merged into Uchiha Yasuo's soul.
Although he knew that the enemy's renewed assault surely carried another scheme, he remained utterly confident.
A shinobi's battle, in a sense, is a battle of information. And for Uchiha Yasuo, who knew everything about his foes, there was no reason he could possibly lose.
He did not believe that these two had any qualification to harm him at all!
However, the enemy's target was never him to begin with.
The moment he saw the Earth Release shinobi burst out from the ground and rush toward the unconscious Uzumaki Naruto lying on the ground, blade swinging down, Uchiha Yasuo realized he had miscalculated.
"How dare you!" he roared in anger, about to rush forward to rescue—but his head suddenly went dizzy. That bothersome Yamanaka Fū had interfered with him again.
Risking his life, Yamanaka Fū's interference this time was stronger than ever before. Although Yasuo swiftly expelled his chakra from his body, it was already too late. When he looked up again, he saw the Earth Release shinobi's blade already hacking down heavily onto Naruto's neck.
[Pff!]
A spray of blood splattered, covering the Root shinobi's head and face.
But his eyes were filled with panic, showing no trace of satisfaction at completing his mission.
His short blade had struck something as tough as cowhide; what should have been a clean cut halfway through was suddenly stopped cold.
He jerked his head up—only to see that the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki had somehow already awakened. At this moment, crimson chakra surged violently around his entire body like boiling magma. Three long tails of energy were thrashing behind him, and wherever they swept past, the ground cracked inch by inch, hurling shards of rock in all directions.
As their eyes met, all the Root shinobi saw was a pair of feral, bloodthirsty beast eyes.
In those vertical pupils, there was no trace of human emotion—only the most primitive desire to kill.
The instant he was locked onto, the Root shinobi felt as though he had been targeted by a natural predator, his very blood freezing in his veins.
Damn it!
The Nine-Tails' jinchūriki has lost control!