Saya reached into the pouch at her waist and pulled out more than a dozen shuriken. In that instant, her arms moved like whips of bone, slinging the projectiles out with fluid, practiced motion.
The shuriken spun through the air with a piercing buzz, slicing through the atmosphere.
At the same time, Saya formed a hand seal with her right hand, raised her thumb and index finger, and began gathering searing fire chakra in her throat.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Claw Red!"
More than a dozen fireballs erupted from her mouth, trailing behind the shuriken like meteors wrapped in flame.
These weren't ordinary flames. They burned orange-red, condensed with high-intensity chakra, packed so tightly the air around them warped from the heat.
Yukimaru stepped forward, swiftly weaving hand seals. The moisture in the air condensed, forming a massive dragon-shaped torrent of water that spiraled upward to meet the incoming barrage.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
Just before the fireballs and water dragon collided, Saya's Mangekyō Sharingan flared to life, her pupils whirling with hypnotic intensity.
She marked the water dragon with her chakra—Yachihoko.
The water dragon faltered. Its form twisted unnaturally, compressing as though shrinking from within. At the same time, the flames expanded and began to link together. The shuriken became nodes, their arcs forming the spine of a vast creature.
The shape coalesced into a flaming dragon, its head defined by a cluster of shuriken burning bright.
Saya threw one final shuriken—this one attached to a wire—and drove it straight into the fire dragon's forehead.
"Shuriken Technique: Fire Dragon Dance!"
With a flick of her finger, the fire dragon dove with terrifying force.
When Yukimaru's technique mysteriously vanished and the flaming dragon surged in its place, a wave of fear swept through the battlefield.
Many began to suspect that this Uchiha woman named Saya possessed a secret technique that allowed her to absorb or manipulate chakra itself.
But Sasuke wasn't focused on the jutsu. His gaze was locked on Saya's eyes.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
Only three people in the clan had awakened it before: his brother Itachi, his father Fugaku, and Uchiha Hikaru.
And now… this woman.
He immediately averted his eyes, refusing to meet her gaze. Instead, he fixed his attention on her body movements and shouted a warning to the others.
"Don't look at her eyes! Avoid eye contact with Sister Saya!"
Not only Sasuke, but even the tailed beasts inside their respective Jinchūriki stirred with alarm.
"Mangekyō Sharingan—don't look into those eyes," they warned. "Even Jinchūriki can be caught in genjutsu if it's strong enough!"
But Saya didn't intend to use genjutsu—or any other eye technique. She had no intention of killing Naruto, Sasuke, or their friends. Her orders were clear: retrieve the scrolls, nothing more.
A little suffering was fine. But she wouldn't take their lives.
Suddenly, a defiant figure charged toward the oncoming fire dragon.
His eyes blazed with stubborn pride.
"Fire Style?"
"Hah! Fire's the most useless of all elements!"
Suigetsu's body liquefied into water, soaking up every last trace of moisture in the air. He reformed as a towering ten-meter-tall water beast, his upper body rising from the shoulders of the monster like a war god.
"Water Style: Tate-eboshi!"
A massive water shield surged up in front of him, protecting his core.
The fire dragon slammed into the shield—sparks exploded everywhere. The shuriken at the dragon's head embedded deep into the watery barrier.
Suigetsu grinned wildly.
"Now I'll cut this fire dragon down!"
His right arm transformed into a giant blade of water and swept toward the dragon's midsection.
But Sasuke, standing nearby, noticed the taut wires hidden among the flames.
His heart sank.
"No—throw the shuriken! Get away from them!"
Too late.
A blinding arc of purple lightning surged from Saya's palm, racing up the wire and exploding through the water shield.
In an instant, Suigetsu's vision shattered into static. The colossal water form collapsed into a puddle of broken fluid and smoke.
Bang—!
He hit the ground hard.
Sasuke blinked, stunned. Suigetsu lay flat and naked on the dirt, his body still twitching from residual currents. Purple arcs of lightning danced across his skin, and his mouth frothed with smoke. His eyes stared blankly into the void.
(×_×)ﾉﾟ
Sasuke raised a hand to shield his own eyes.
Too brutal…
This is the true art of the shuriken.
This—this was why the Uchiha clan were unrivaled with shuriken.
Not just because the Sharingan tracked movement.
But because their specialty wasn't just fire techniques.
It was lightning.
Iron wire—its conductivity of heat and electricity—amplified both elements to terrifying effect.
And Suigetsu… had actually tried to catch the Uchiha's shuriken with bare hands.
As water.
Doesn't he know water conducts electricity?!
Fu and Temari yelped, immediately shielding their faces.
"Not safe for work—not safe for work!!" (//ω//)
But they couldn't help but peek through their fingers… which only magnified the effect, focusing the light directly on—
(｡♥‿♥｡) Damn, that's one nice ass.
Meanwhile, the unconscious Suigetsu had no idea he lay naked, smoking, and twitching like a fried fish. In his last conscious moment, he was still basking in the imagined triumph of slaying the fire dragon.
Saya released the wire from her fingers and turned calmly back toward Naruto and the others.
"Don't worry," she said gently. "I controlled the chakra output. He's not in danger."
"At most… he'll suffer a little."
She smiled.
"Now then… it's your turn."
Inside Yukimaru mind, the three-tails, Isobu, stirred as another tailed beast——spoke to the others.
"Since we're all gathered together like this, doesn't this count as… team-building?" (¬‿¬)
"Why not lend some chakra to our Jinchūriki?"
"I don't want Yukimaru to lose to some Uchiha."
Isobu said nothing—his silence was agreement. After all, Yukimaru was his chosen Jinchūriki, and he saw much of himself in the boy. He wouldn't let him fall here.
Fu's tailed beast, Chōmei, didn't hesitate either. Fu was the only perfect Jinchūriki among them. Their bond was ironclad.
But the Nine-Tails and One-Tail—Kurama and Shukaku—were a different matter entirely.
Isobu tone turned sly.
"Kurama, you're not scared your Jinchūriki will underperform next to the raccoon's, are you~?"
Kurama: "What?! Don't be ridiculous! Even if Naruto's a damn moron, he's still better than that flea-ridden raccoon-cat!"
Shukaku: "Piss off, furball! My Gaara's ten times the shinobi your brat is!"
In the blink of an eye, Kurama and Shukaku were bickering like schoolkids comparing toys.
And just like that—they both shoved massive chunks of chakra toward Naruto and Gaara.
(｀へ´) (｀Д´*)
Let the battle of the Jinchūriki begin.
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Bonus Chapter at 150 Power Stone
Second Bonus Chapter - 300 Power Stones
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