Secured.

Before Suguru's arrival.

A mere few minutes into the past.

Organized chaos still existed — a three-way skirmish between Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Konohagakure. Given the larger Konoha army, the two shinobi squads from Iwa and Kumo had no choice but to flee with their tails between their legs.

Kumo's Yugito Nii was forced into a full transformation into the Two-Tails by the calculated assault of several shinobi platoons.

These two squads would have already been wiped out if Konoha's army had been instructed not to use lethal force.

It was a definitive truth created by both quantity and quality. 

Only a few deaths had cursed the battlefield, creating an odd sense of discomfort among those alive.

Especially since the army was slowly tightening its chokehold on the jinchuriki rampaging before them.

"Hoho, so that's their target," Akatsuchi's eyes flashed as he bombarded another group of Konoha-nins with boulders as large as a house.

The rest of his squad had fled in separation under his command. He would stall Konoha for as long as he could.

'I'll bury as many as I can, right here!'

—Clap!

Slamming his palms together, Akatsuchi burned through his chakra reserves. Flickers of movement caught his eye. They were numerous, brandishing lethal steel and roiling chakra.

However, they were not a threat.

'Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!'

Akatsuchi would no longer permit their pursuit.

***

Yugito swiped her claws through the air, carving deep trenches wherever a threat appeared in her midst. The endless volleys of elemental jutsus bombarded her cloak, leaving varying levels of damage.

However, none were strong enough to breach her defenses. It was a jarring weakness from an army-strong force.

'It doesn't make sense,' Yugito analyzed as she breathed fire into a group of shinobi who had drawn close.

—AHHHHHHHH!

The screams of Konoha-nins burning alive rang in her ears before they were reduced to ash. However, Yugito could not feel any sense of triumph. Wrapped in the Two-Tails' chakra, the warmth of azure flames burned against her surroundings.

Yet she could still feel an endlessly cold gaze being directed in her direction.

Despite the flames, she felt cold.

'Just who is watching me...?'

The moment she felt a kindling of enlightenment entice her gaze, that was when she spotted it — a pair of crimson eyes, flashing in the darkness.

With ink-dark markings of three dots and a counter-clockwise spiral against a red backdrop, the Mangekyou Sharingan brought an inexplicable chill despite its warm hue.

Yugito finally realized the source of her worries.

Her senses, which spanned much of her surroundings, spoke to her of every important detail. The formations that the Konohagakure army employed, the positions of her squadmates as they assisted her movements, and the mysterious bearer of such malevolent eyes.

All of these details told her of a single task.

'Tailed Beast Bomb,'

Chakra instantly began to coalesce at her snout. Red and blue spheres joined together to paint a dark purple mass of chakra.

It formed in a terrifying instant, making the faces of the surrounding shinobi pale in fright.

"Run!"

Hurried commands rang in Yugito's ears. However, she bore these wails no heed.

—Whiiiiiiiing!

The Tailed Beast Bomb was released without any indication, propelled forward at a terrifying speed.

In the blink of an eye, the Tailed Beast Bomb appeared before the crimson-eyed individual.

Still reeling from the exertion, Yugito recollected herself as she watched her attack connect. However—

—Crack!

A bizarre, ghostly saber of pure white energy appeared out of thin air. Then, with a deft twist of the hand that wielded this saber, the Tailed Beast Bomb veered off-course.

'What..!' Yugito couldn't help but gasp as the distant explosion rocked the earth.

What had occurred before her seemed like a mere reverie.

'Again!' She yelled in her heart

A large amount of chakra once again coalesced at her snout, weighing her down.

'Tailed Beast Bomb!'

—Whiiiiiiiiing!

Tearing through the atmosphere, the Tailed Beast Bomb appeared right in front of her target in an instant.

Yet, just like moments before—

—Clang!

A gleaming white saber intercepted its trajectory and sent it away with an unbelievable parry.

Then, a massive aura of chakra erupted forth. Yugito watched, in both terror and amazement, as a skeletal warrior appeared before her. Muscles and sinews wove together to form its flesh, and a layer of skin wrapped around the warrior as it brandished its saber.

'Susanoo,'

At the center of this spectral warrior was a man that not many were familiar with unless they heard of his name.

Shimura Danzo stood with a haughty gaze that peered down upon the battlefield.

The unbelievable pain of having to summon his Susanno was but a mild buzzing in his mind. Having adapted further to this killing tool, he advanced without hesitation.

—Boom. Boom. Boom.

The footsteps of his Susanoo were like battle drums, echoing terror upon whoever was forced to face the armies it commanded.

In this case, however, the drums beat only for a single individual.

Yugito trembled as she watched the white giant step toward her own monstrous form.

—Vwhooooom!

Breathing out a wide-scale wave of flames, she prepared to retreat. Her squadmates had not been able to retreat as far as she thought, but it would do.

'I cannot die here,'

Recalling her previous orders to prioritize her own life over those who accompanied her, Yugito swiftly made her decision.

'The others won't be able to serve as even a momentary distraction.'

She needed a different way to escape.

Glancing at the approaching white giant, she swiftly commanded her chakra once more.

'Tailed Beast Bomb: Cannon!'

Swallowing the small yet incredibly dense sphere of chakra, Yugito felt the strain on her entire being. However, the arriving beam of pure destruction engulfed all that stood before her.

—VWHOOOOOOOOOOM!

Trees and mountains were vaporized in an instant. The ground was ruptured, torn through by an all-consuming blaze.

No screams were heard, nor was there any hint of blood.

Nothingness was left in the wake of her roar.

However...

"Haaaa,"

As Yugito breathed a sigh of relief—

'Bishamonten: Heaven and Earth Reconstruction.'

Everything returned to how it was, just moments before. The destruction of all of her attacks disappeared in an instant.

Even the explosions that reduced the distant mountains into mere craters had seen their effects nullified. Rewritten by a mere gaze.

The only difference was Yugito's decreased chakra reserves and the lives of those who had been lost.

'Hm,' Danzo's eyes flashed as he glanced around.

The sheer absence of Konoha's shinobi squads in the path of the chakra beam was a clear indicator of the intricacies of Fugaku's Mangekyou Sharingan.

No lives could be returned.

'Indeed... Only the Izanagi can achieve such a phenomenon.'

Danzo's analysis was calm as he directed his gaze unto the stunned Nibi once more.

This entire battlefield had already fallen under his Wicked Eye.

'The Nibi has been safely secured.'

Such was his thought.

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