Naruto: Promotion is my Ninja Way

BOOM!

The thunderous roar echoed between heaven and earth as divine judgment fell from above!

The massive sword came crashing down with the force of a falling mountain!

An incredibly terrifying and enormous canyon opened up beneath the body of the Two-Tails, the massive fissure stretching outward for over a thousand meters in every direction. The canyon was impossibly wide and deep, its edges disappearing into the darkness with no end in sight.

This was the true power of Acala's immovable sword - a strike that could reshape the very landscape itself!

A bottomless chasm now split the battlefield in two, running like a scar across the earth.

"YOWWWWWL!"

Such a devastating blow struck the body of the Two-Tails directly. The beast had already endured multiple brutal attacks from Shihouin Naraku, and under this final, overwhelming assault, it completely lost any ability to resist further.

This attack had truly and decisively defeated the Two-Tails. The creature's massive form began shrinking rapidly, and within moments it had returned to the unconscious human form of Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails' Jinchuriki.

Yugito lay motionless on the cracked ground, appearing to have lost all consciousness from the tremendous trauma her body had endured.

Shihouin Naraku allowed the manifestation of Acala to fade away, leaving him standing alone before his defeated enemy with Kurikara gripped firmly in his hand.

"Shhk!"

The pitch-black blade pierced straight through Yugito's heart. The unconscious Jinchuriki drew her final breath without ever waking from her forced slumber.

"You bastard!"

"Lightning Style: Thunderbolt Hot Knife!"

Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki from the Hidden Cloud Village, suddenly burst onto the scene. Seeing Yugito's lifeless body at Naraku's feet, he roared with pure fury. The chakra of the Eight-Tails instantly cloaked his body in a protective shroud as he launched himself at Shihouin Naraku with the speed of a lightning bolt.

"BANG!"

The tremendous force of his attack struck Naraku and sent him flying backward through the air.

But even as he watched Naraku get knocked away by his surprise assault, Killer Bee suddenly coughed up blood before he could even check on Yugito's condition.

"Bee! Pull the blade out! Quickly!" the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, shouted urgently from within their shared mental space.

Looking down at his own body, Killer Bee saw a pitch-black straight blade piercing completely through his torso.

A pain that seemed to burn straight into Killer Bee's very soul consumed him. Fighting hard against the urge to vomit more blood, Killer Bee grasped Kurikara's handle with both hands, desperately trying to pull the cursed weapon free from his body.

"Don't..."

Before Killer Bee could get a proper grip on the sword's handle, a cluster of flames suddenly ignited around the blade and spread instantly. The extremely hot fire enveloped Killer Bee completely, burning him with merciless intensity.

"AHHHHH!"

Screams of agony tore from his throat as the flames burned faster and more fiercely with each passing second. In the blink of an eye, Killer Bee had been transformed into a human torch, his entire body wreathed in deadly fire.

The flames licked and blazed hungrily, and the human torch illuminated the devastated battlefield for a great distance in all directions.

The crackling fire burned with such intense heat that Killer Bee could no longer endure the overwhelming pain. He collapsed to the ground, rolling back and forth frantically in a desperate attempt to extinguish the flames consuming his flesh.

"Clang..."

Shihouin Naraku stepped closer with calm, measured steps. He stretched out his hand, and with a sharp metallic ring, Kurikara flew back to his waiting palm.

Naraku didn't spare even a glance for the burning figure of Killer Bee writhing on the ground. Instead, he turned his head toward the left, where an octopus tentacle had just managed to drag Yugito's lifeless body away from the immediate battlefield.

Shihouin Naraku flicked Kurikara lightly with his wrist, and leaping flames ignited beneath his feet in response.

With a sharp crack, spider web patterns of fractures appeared on the ground beneath him and spread outward like breaking glass.

"Whoosh!"

Holding Kurikara at the ready, Shihouin Naraku shot into the dense forest like a bolt of lightning, pursuing his fleeing target.

Behind him, the flames of the human-shaped torch that had been burning so fiercely gradually died out. Surprisingly, what had been almost completely burned to ash was not a human body at all, but rather one of the Eight-Tails' severed tentacles.

"Swish!"

Under the dark night sky, a shadowy figure moved quickly through the quiet forest, leaping from branch to branch with practiced ease.

Killer Bee carried Yugito's body carefully as he rushed toward the Hidden Cloud Village at his maximum possible speed. His breathing was labored, but his determination was absolute.

He had no intention of returning to the Cloud forces' temporary position in the Land of Hot Water. Since their surprise attack plan had failed so catastrophically, the position where his comrades were waiting would likely be compromised as well.

Killer Bee's only viable option now was to make a desperate run back to the Hidden Cloud Village itself, where the body of his fallen comrade could receive proper treatment and where he might find safety.

"Argh!"

A sharp, stabbing pain suddenly shot through his brain like a lightning bolt. Killer Bee lost his balance completely and fell heavily to the forest floor along with Yugito's body.

"Hurry up, Bee!" Gyuki urged frantically from their mental space. "That Octopus Leg Clone Technique definitely won't fool our enemy for long! He'll catch up to us very soon!"

"Run!"

The pain that penetrated deep into his very soul made Killer Bee lose his usual mood for rapping and joking around. He gritted his teeth against the agony, carefully picked up Yugito's motionless form from where she had fallen beside him, and forced himself to continue moving forward.

"Bee," Gyuki said with heavy sadness, "Yugito's life force and Matatabi's chakra have both completely dissipated. There's nothing that can be done for them now."

"Yeah, I know," Killer Bee replied quietly.

Even before he had launched his attack, even before he had failed to stop the enemy's blade from finding its mark, Killer Bee had known deep down that both Yugito and the Two-Tails were already doomed. The gap in power had been too great to overcome.

But he would never abandon his companions and friends, not even in death. Even if it meant only retrieving their bodies for a proper burial, and even if he had to risk serious injury to himself, he would not leave them behind.

"Hey, Gyuki," Killer Bee said through gritted teeth, "the wound has healed up, so why does it still hurt so much?"

In their shared mental space, the Eight-Tails could clearly sense that Killer Bee's mind was becoming somewhat unstable. This was a clear sign of soul trauma - damage that went far deeper than any physical injury.

While Gyuki could help Killer Bee recover from external wounds and broken bones, even the mighty Eight-Tails was powerless against injuries that affected the soul itself.

If this had been any other Jinchuriki, the tailed beast within them would already be considering breaking free from their seal and going on a rampage.

Mental instability and a damaged soul meant that the sealing jutsu was at serious risk of collapse. If it had been any other tailed beast, they would have already torn their way free from their host and begun destroying everything in sight.

However, Gyuki was different from all the other tailed beasts. The Eight-Tails had developed a genuinely good relationship with its Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, built on mutual respect and friendship. Because of this unique bond, there was no possibility of Gyuki going berserk or trying to escape.

"Swish!"

Getsuga Tensho!

A pitch-black, crescent-shaped wave of cutting energy transformed into deadly moonlight and poured down from above like a falling star.

At the critical moment, an octopus tentacle quickly sprouted from Killer Bee's waist. The appendage wrapped around a nearby tree trunk and suddenly yanked his body to the side, barely allowing him to avoid the powerful sword strike.

The blade of energy flashed past, cutting a clear passage through the forest that stretched far into the distance. The attack finally slammed into a distant mountain, and the sound of massive boulders falling and crashing could be faintly heard echoing from far away.

Cold sweat dripped down Killer Bee's forehead as he realized how close he had come to death. That had been an incredibly close call.

"Keep running!"

Before he could waste time feeling relieved about his narrow escape, Killer Bee felt the unmistakable sensation of a sharp blade approaching rapidly from behind. The feeling that his heart was about to be pierced made him leap forward immediately without looking back to confirm the threat.

"Whoosh!"

A few seconds later, Shihouin Naraku landed gracefully on the crown of a large tree, his eyes tracking the desperate figure fleeing through the forest in the distance.

"He runs pretty fast, I'll give him that," Naraku observed with mild interest.

"The Eight-Tails isn't weak either. I wonder why he doesn't dare to turn around and fight me properly?"

Tilting his head slightly and raising his eyebrows with curiosity, Shihouin Naraku transformed into a white streak of motion and shot forward in pursuit.

During the chase that followed, Naraku began deliberately herding Killer Bee toward the Land of Hot Water, like a predator driving prey toward a trap.

Whenever Killer Bee dared to deviate even slightly from the intended route, a terrifying blade strike would come slashing down in the very next second, forcing him to correct his path and continue running toward the Land of Hot Water.

In this manner, the hunter and the hunted continued their deadly game of cat and mouse.

Moving at speeds close to their absolute limits, they crossed the border of the Land of Fire, entered the territory of the Land of Hot Water, and rapidly approached the front lines where the forces of Konoha and the Hidden Cloud Village were engaged in battle.

By this point, a fierce and brutal conflict had already erupted between the Konoha shinobi and the Cloud forces.

According to their predetermined battle plan, Toshiro was leading the main Cloud army in a frenzied assault against the established Konoha positions.

From the very moment the battle began, it had immediately escalated into the most savage and ruthless kind of fighting.

The Konoha forces positioned on the front lines were using various traps and defensive measures that had been set up in advance to slow down and disrupt the advance of the Cloud troops.

However, there were simply too many Cloud shinobi attacking at once. The traps and obstacles could only work temporarily, not indefinitely. As a result, the Konoha positions were still falling at an alarming rate despite their best defensive efforts.

The Konoha shinobi knew they couldn't retreat endlessly. According to their own strategic plan, they couldn't afford to lose too much ground, or it would create serious problems for them when the time came to launch their counterattack.

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