Chapter 298: Severing Bonds, Enemies from All Sides!

Chapter 298: Severing Bonds, Enemies from All Sides!

The ghastly white thunder spear that had pierced through the heavens and the earth gradually faded,

Yet the massive hole it had torn through the thick clouds remained, fully exposed in the sky.

The swirling black clouds slowly rotated clockwise around that gaping void,

And at some unknown moment,

The immense full moon hanging in the night sky had moved into alignment with that deep abyss, casting down its radiant silver glow.

Like a pillar of moonlight,

It poured down upon the world,

Directly illuminating the young man at the center of the great hall, his figure bathed in divine brilliance!

However,

As the gentle moonlight rippled across his face,

It did not bring warmth but instead a tingling numbness from the depths of his heart, a suffocating sense of urgency,

And the extreme peril of a taut bowstring aimed directly at him!

Feeling the terrifying chakra auras rapidly approaching from outside the hall,

He could sense at least two distinct Tailed Beast chakras that he was familiar with!

Moreover, there were others present—figures whose strength rivaled even Jinchūriki—

Their numbers were momentarily incalculable!

Such an intertwining of powerful presences caused the surrounding air to momentarily stagnate under the sheer force of their chakra waves!

Uchiha Ci took a deep breath, his expression growing instantly grave.

"You… what are you looking at?"

On the ruins beside him, Ryūzōji Sugiya trembled in terror as he watched Uchiha Ci, who stood silent and unmoving.

His face flushed red at first, then turned pale, his hands clutching the luxurious fabric of his kimono in growing unease.

Unable to bear the tension any longer, he blurted out,

"What the hell are you talking about!? What exactly do you plan to do!? Why did you keep me here, what do you—"

Before he could finish, Uchiha Ci turned his head slightly and cast a cold glance at him.

Without hesitation, he picked up a samurai sword embedded in the rubble and swung it!

Swish!

A crescent-like arc of silver light flashed through the air!

Slash!

In an instant, Ryūzōji Sugiya stared in horror at his own right arm, which had been severed and flung through the air.

His expression shifted from confusion to shock, then to sheer terror as his face contorted in agony—

"AAAAAHHHH!!!"

Tears and snot streamed down his face as he gawked in panic at Uchiha Ci.

"M-My hand! My hand! Y-You… you cut off my hand, you—"

"This is merely a warning in advance,"

Uchiha Ci coldly interrupted, his gaze indifferent.

"If you keep screaming, the next cut will be at your neck."

His chilling voice made Ryūzōji Sugiya freeze in place, his cries instantly silenced.

"Now,"

"Listen carefully to what I'm about to say!"

The words fell like a command, carrying a weight that could silence even a wailing infant.

Ryūzōji Sugiya turned deathly pale, his teeth chattering as he frantically nodded through his pain.

"I-I'm listening! No—no, I… I understand!"

Uchiha Ci nodded, then removed the black robe draped over his shoulders.

As expected, he found two "Sword of Shinobi's Love" Flying Thunder God markings on the fabric near the shoulders.

He shook his head, tossing the robe aside.

Then,

He slowly crouched down, gazing in silence at the unconscious Minato below him.

After a long pause, Uchiha Ci let out a soft sigh,

Reached out, and removed the Konoha forehead protector from Minato's head.

From his ninja pouch, he drew an ordinary kunai.

Clenching the kunai in his grip,

CRACK!

With a single stroke, he carved a deep horizontal slash across the steel plate of the forehead protector—

Defacing the symbol of Konoha.

Then, he tied the marked forehead protector onto his own forehead.

For the first time ever, Uchiha Ci seriously wore a Konoha forehead protector.

Even the one Aburame Ryōma had sent him before was casually tossed into the trash.

This action signified his recognition of the bonds he had formed—

The ties between his clan and himself, his clan and the village, and the village and himself.

All the Konoha shinobi he had encountered along his journey.

The Uchiha clan, Orochimaru, Aburame Ryōma, Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina, Elder Chen…

And at the same time,

It signified the severance of those bonds—

To become a rogue shinobi, walking alone in the darkness…

Before he met his end in a battle of unrelenting shadows,

He would fight for these people, for the love he had received.

And,

He would beat this cruel world into submission—

Until he carved out a conclusion so perfect it would bring tears to the eyes of all who bore witness!

"Listen!"

Uchiha Ci turned his head, casting an icy gaze at Ryūzōji Sugiya.

"Tonight, Uchiha Ci attacked Konoha's envoy to the Land of Lightning, Namikaze Minato, and defected from Konoha!"

"He has betrayed the village, betrayed his clan!"

"You will spread this news!"

"In exchange—"

"I will let you live through this night!"

Ryūzōji Sugiya choked on his breath, momentarily at a loss for words.

But more than this shocking news,

He was far more concerned with his own survival.

Under Uchiha Ci's piercing gaze, he felt as if an icy serpent had slithered up his spine.

He dared not utter a single word of refusal.

"I…" Ryūzōji Sugiya gasped heavily, trembling with fear as he asked,

"W-What do I need to do? To what extent? How should I—"

Though his words seemed to ask about methods, means, and execution,

None of that truly mattered.

What he truly wanted to know was—

What must I do to survive?

At that moment,

Uchiha Ci lifted his head, narrowing his eyes as he sensed the rapidly approaching monstrous chakra signatures.

He stood up and pointed at the unconscious Namikaze Minato.

"Carry him on your back and get out of here—hide!"

"You will guard his life with your own—even a single stumble is unacceptable!"

"And then,"

"When he wakes up, he will understand everything and take you away from this city of chaos."

"Until—"

"The day the Daimyō falls and you inherit the throne!"

Meanwhile, in the increasingly chaotic Yunming City…

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

Amidst the rampaging citizens of the Land of Lightning, who had been converted into impromptu Jashin cultists,

Within the fierce night winds racing across the towering mountain buildings,

Silhouettes darted across suspension bridges, iron chains, rooftops, and sheer cliff faces—

Moving like shadows toward the heart of the conflict—

The colossal palace at the city's inner perimeter!

At that moment,

Even in the dead of night, a man wearing sunglasses, his entire body wrapped in bandages save for his face—

A figure resembling a walking mummy—landed with a group of fully armed Kumogakure elites atop a mountain plateau.

Blocking the path of two other incoming groups.

Killer Bee frowned deeply as he glared at the two figures leading their respective groups.

His voice turned cold.

"The Scorch Release user from Sunagakure, Pakura… and the Four-Tails Jinchūriki of Iwagakure, Roshi?"

"You all, what are you doing here?!"

Tonight—

The upper echelons of the Hidden Cloud had anticipated that someone might target the young lord of the Land of Lightning. As a precaution, they had informed Killer Bee in advance and made the necessary arrangements.

This matter was not originally supposed to be under Killer Bee's jurisdiction. His duty should have been to maintain public order and suppress the sudden, inexplicable riot in the city below.

However, the moment he saw that towering pillar of lightning piercing the sky—

The memories of death suddenly surged back to attack Killer Bee!

He remembered with painful clarity—

The last time, it was a spear of lightning, just like this one, that had left him in his current state.

Now, seeing this lightning pillar so eerily similar to that ultimate Lightning Release technique—

Killer Bee's first reaction was:

Could it be… that Uchiha Ci, who had supposedly been struck down, fallen into Hell Valley, and vanished without a trace—

Was still alive!?

Gripped by the urgent need to find out, Killer Bee immediately led his team over. He hadn't expected to run straight into these two people—

Pakura of the Hidden Sand, and Roshi of the Hidden Stone.

Could they be the ones plotting against the son of the daimyo?

Killer Bee narrowed his eyes dangerously, locking onto them.

At the same time, both opposing sides froze momentarily upon seeing each other.

Pakura of the Hidden Sand and Roshi of the Hidden Stone—both had come for the daimyo's son.

However, their objectives were slightly different.

"Granny Chiyo has already infiltrated in advance. For the future of the Hidden Sand, we must assassinate the daimyo's son tonight and pin the blame on the Hidden Leaf!"

With this in mind, Pakura subtly moved one hand behind her back, pressing it against her ninja tool pouch as her gaze turned sharp and dangerous.

"We must hold off anyone else and ensure the mission's success!"

Roshi, on the other hand, had a different motivation.

During the daytime, he had personally attacked the Tenshu Pavilion. But after returning to his station, he recalled something—the way Ryūzōji Sugiya, the daimyo's son, had reacted to him, his supposed "benefactor." His attitude had been unusually stiff and guarded.

When Roshi reported this to Kitsuchi, the latter immediately made a decisive judgment—something might have gone wrong with their mission.

To prevent the truth from being exposed, they adopted a ruthless policy—better to eliminate the target preemptively than to risk failure.

Thus, the two had decided to eliminate Ryūzōji Sugiya tonight.

However, since Roshi had openly "protected" the Tenshu Pavilion earlier, he couldn't take action directly. Instead, Kitsuchi had already set off in secret to do the job in his place.

Now, the three factions were locked in a tense standoff.

And at this very moment, their respective killing moves against the daimyo's son were already being set into motion!

"Bee, try to avoid clashing with those two. They're dangerous."

In the mental world, the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, spoke to Killer Bee with a solemn expression.

"Even with my chakra helping you recover, your injuries haven't fully healed. If you fight now, your chances of winning are uncertain."

"I understand."

Killer Bee exhaled deeply. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't fear these two. As a perfect Jinchūriki, he was confident in suppressing both Pakura and Roshi at once.

But right now, after being struck by an S-rank Lightning Release technique—Kirin—combined with the explosion of his own largest-scale Tailed Beast Bomb, the double impact had left him with internal injuries that required time to heal.

Fighting while injured—if he pushed himself into an extreme battle state, he risked arrhythmia and even death.

Thus, facing these two dangerous opponents in a standoff, Killer Bee felt significant pressure.

The tension in the air was suffocating.

Neither the Sand nor the Stone wanted to make the first move. Their only goal was to prevent the other side from advancing.

Meanwhile, Killer Bee desperately wanted to leave and find out what had really happened—was Uchiha Ci still alive? But his duty held him here, caught between them, unable to move freely.

However—

"BOOM!!"

A thunderous explosion suddenly erupted from the inner city in the distance!

All three turned their heads simultaneously—

And saw—

The very palace where their target, the daimyo's son, resided—

Collapsing in a landslide of rock and debris, as an entire mountain erupted from the ground!

It was as if the land itself had been overturned. A massive, newly risen stone platform carried a terrifying, flame-wreathed entity beyond human comprehension—

And it was crashing down toward the heart of the Hidden Cloud's inner city!

Among them, the one most familiar with this sight—Roshi—had his pupils contract sharply.

"That's… Kitsuchi's strongest technique!"

"Earth Release: Mountain Jutsu!"

"Who is he fighting?! And what… what is that thing?!"

At this sight, none of the three could remain still any longer.

They exchanged brief, cold glances—

Then, without a word, they each veered in different directions—

And simultaneously accelerated, charging toward the explosion, toward the raging inferno engulfing the inner city!