Chapter 161: Intercepting the Two-Tails

With Lightning flying at full speed, Uchiha Yuan and Hyuga Asana quickly arrived in the Land of Lightning. As soon as they entered, the two jumped down from Lightning's back and used the Transformation Technique to disguise themselves as ordinary civilians of the Land of Lightning—a basic tactic for infiltration.

Of course, this also stemmed from Uchiha Yuan's caution toward the Hidden Cloud Village. While he could escape on his own thanks to teleportation, Hyuga Asana didn't know space-time ninjutsu. If anything happened, she might not be able to get out.

After careful deliberation, they decided to use the dumbest method: wait patiently for the prey to appear.

The Two-Tails' jinchūriki was still a shinobi. And since shinobi carry out missions, they planned to wait in the Land of Lightning until the Two-Tails' jinchūriki showed up.

However, even if you wait, you still need to know roughly when the "rabbit" will appear and which "tree" it'll pass by. Only then can you confidently wait for it to walk into the trap.

So, while Hyuga Asana went to gather intel, Uchiha Yuan secretly infiltrated the Hidden Cloud Village. There, he used genjutsu to control a jōnin and tasked him with investigating the recent movements of the Two-Tails' jinchūriki.

Except for the Hidden Mist in the Land of Water, most villages didn't restrict civilian movement.

After all, civilians without chakra posed no threat. Even a basic genin could easily kill several large, muscular men who lacked chakra.

Therefore, once past inspection, a civilian identity was the best cover.

Of course, Uchiha Yuan wasn't about to let himself be inspected. Since he could teleport, he simply sensed an unguarded spot with his Mind's Eye and teleported straight into the village.

Inside the Hidden Cloud, Uchiha Yuan began looking for a target. Since the Two-Tails' jinchūriki was a perfect jinchūriki with Kage-level strength, the missions she took were at least A-rank.

Anyone with access to that level of mission would have to be a jōnin, so he started seeking out an appropriate candidate.

After about ten minutes, Uchiha Yuan spotted Dodai, a character who had appeared in the original series.

He remembered that Dodai had helped Naruto and others seal the reanimated Third Raikage during the Fourth Great Ninja War. The Third Raikage had even remarked that Dodai was the one responsible for assessing every generation's mastery of the Lariat technique.

Realizing this, Uchiha Yuan's eyes lit up. With that kind of background, Dodai was the perfect candidate.

He began his plan by pretending to accidentally brush past Dodai. The moment their eyes met, Uchiha Yuan cast a genjutsu.

The move was so sudden that Dodai couldn't react and immediately fell under the illusion.

Uchiha Yuan read a portion of Dodai's memory and discovered that the Two-Tails' jinchūriki wasn't currently in the village.

Now that was what you'd call a pillow when you're sleepy.

He immediately ordered Dodai to ask about the recent movements of the two-tailed Jinchuriki while he was training the Raikage in the Lariat technique.

Following Uchiha Yuan's instructions, Dodai acted during a training break with the Raikage, bringing up Yugito Nii as if in idle conversation.

After chatting for a bit about her, Dodai smoothly asked, "Speaking of Yugito Nii, Lord Raikage, where has she been lately? I haven't seen her in a while."

"Oh, her? She went to escort a trade caravan to the Land of Fields. Judging by the time, she should be on her way back.... Well, let's stop here today! Dodai. I'm leaving," the Raikage said, turning to leave.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Yuan controlled Dodai to meet him again.

Activating his Mangekyō Sharingan, Yuan deepened Dodai's memory, causing him to subconsciously believe the whole conversation was real. Then he released the genjutsu.

When Dodai snapped out of it, Uchiha Yuan brushed past him again—completely unnoticed.

Dodai briefly felt dazed, but because the memory was implanted, he didn't think anything was wrong—just a bit of dizziness, which made him uncomfortable.

He sat down to rest for a moment, and after the vertigo passed, resumed his work as usual.

After getting the intel from the Raikage, Uchiha Yuan left the Hidden Cloud and met with Hyuga Asana. Together, they headed toward the Land of Fields.

Yuan shared what he had learned, and upon hearing that Yugito Nii had just completed her mission and was returning, Hyuga Asana agreed it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

They decided to intercept Yugito Nii inside the Land of Fields if possible.

Engaging her inside the Land of Lightning would be too risky. If word got out, Cloud shinobi might reinforce her in time.

So Uchiha Yuan summoned Lightning once again. With him and Hyuga Asana riding on its back, they soared through the skies, keeping a sharp eye on the ground below.

Soon, they reached the Land of Fields.

Just as the Raikage had said, Yugito Nii had completed her mission and was returning to the Land of Lightning with a squad of Hidden Cloud ninja.

After a full day of travel, the sun began to set. Since the mission was complete, Yugito wasn't in a rush. She ordered her squad to stop and rest for the night.

Just as they were settling down, two figures descended from the sky, landing directly in front of them.

Uchiha Yuan immediately spotted Yugito Nii among the group.

However, she didn't recognize him or Hyuga Asana.

Both of them were wearing masks. For this kind of job, it was basic caution.

Although Yugito didn't recognize them, one of her companions was a sensory-type shinobi.

The sensor reported, "Lady Yugito, these two are very strong. The taller one has more chakra than even Lord Raikage. The shorter one has roughly the same amount."

Yugito frowned. While chakra levels weren't a definitive measure of strength, in general, greater chakra meant greater power, especially in terms of jutsu usage.

With two people possessing such enormous chakra standing before her, Yugito immediately became alert. She cautiously asked, "You two—what do you want by blocking our path?"

Uchiha Yuan smiled and replied, "I came to borrow something."

"What thing?" Yugito continued asking.

"Of course it's the chakra of the two-tailed beast!"

Yugito's expression changed instantly, and she immediately activated her Two-Tails chakra cloak.

"Heh… Looks like you're not willing, huh? Then I'll just take it myself."

(To Be Continued...)