An embarrassing situation occurred.
Although Yōwan shouted the words "Susanoo" at the top of his lungs, no chakra skeleton appeared on his body as expected.
By the time he realized it, Hiruko's fist was already just a few centimeters away from him.
"Uchiha, damn it!"
Cursing, Yōwan barely dodged Hiruko's Explosion Release at the last possible moment. He let out a breath, not understanding why his Mangekyō Sharingan wasn't responding to his will at all.
"You think you understand the Uchiha? Don't make me laugh. My research on the Uchiha far surpasses anything you can imagine."
Orochimaru seemed quite pleased by Yōwan's startled expression, the curve of his lips rising even higher.
"Ever since your companion used Susanoo to destroy my first research bureau, I've been trying to dig into the secrets of the Mangekyō Sharingan."
Just as Orochimaru said, both Sakumo and Takeshi had opened wide the gates of convenience for the bureau's studies.
Especially Takeshi. After achieving financial freedom in Konoha, he poured large sums of money into this seemingly small organization.
And from time to time, high-quality Mangekyō Sharingan wielders such as Obito and Fugaku would appear here for Orochimaru to study.
In terms of slicing samples, even Setsuna had "voluntarily" joined Orochimaru's research family.
"Here, whether it's ocular jutsu or Susanoo, neither can be used. This is my domain."
Every word Orochimaru spoke struck Yōwan's heart like a heavy hammer.
If he had lost to an Ōtsutsuki, that would be one thing. But now, even someone of so-called civilian birth was able to suppress him.
This feeling—
Yōwan's teeth were nearly cracking from how hard he was grinding them.
Why? Why does Konoha have this kind of power?!
"Scorch Release: Super Steam Kill!"
Even in this mental chaos, Yōwan still managed to dodge Hiruko's Scorch Release fireball.
"Explosion Release, Scorch Release... I see. So this is the fusion of Kekkei Genkai..."
Looking warily in Hiruko's direction, Yōwan finally put away his arrogance.
He had thought the man was just some nameless minion under Orochimaru. Who would've thought he had truly achieved Kekkei Genkai fusion?
He would have to make a decision.
With his Mangekyō ocular jutsu unusable, the path before Yōwan seemed to narrow down to only one option.
"I'll be back!"
Yōwan turned and left, his retreat decisive and clean.
Charging hard toward the research bureau's shut doors, he shielded his head with his arm, ready to smash them open by force.
"I've been planning for many years just to make you stay."
Orochimaru's cold voice echoed. The seemingly fragile doors, when met with Yōwan's body, instead repelled the Uchiha back into the hall.
Following Orochimaru's words, Hiruko unleashed another flurry of punches.
...
High above Konoha, the Sky Ninja, grievously wounded, began to retreat.
The jōnin squads who had arrived late saw this, and with orders from the higher-ups, pursued the fleeing enemies using the skills they excelled in.
Yōwan's comrades, such as Uchiha Yakume, saw the Sky Ninja retreating. Although they wanted to wait for Yōwan, with more and more reinforcements from the police force arriving—and even Fugaku himself rushing over—they reluctantly chose to withdraw.
"Chase them!"
Fugaku had no desire to let a stain like Yakume linger on his record, so he commanded the Uchiha of the police force to pursue in that direction.
The three-man Snow Ninja squad had been completely wiped out. Now, it seemed the only enemy left in the village was Yōwan.
Orochimaru, having obtained intelligence on the village through certain means, felt his eyes gleam even brighter.
At last, he would obtain Mangekyō Sharingan tissue samples!
At least, that was what Orochimaru thought—until Yōwan revealed his real trump card.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Knowing that being unable to use ocular jutsu put him at a grave disadvantage, Yōwan kicked Hiruko aside and activated the Summoning Jutsu.
Before everyone's eyes, the Konoha research bureau—once thought unshakable—slowly collapsed.
The cause of this destruction was the massive insect flapping its enormous wings at the center of the bureau.
The Seven-Tails, Chōmei.
"Takigakure, I swear to—damn it!"
A tailed beast appearing in the village naturally drew Takeshi's attention.
When he saw that the tailed beast was the Seven-Tails, Fifth Hokage immediately cursed.
Of course, this was just him venting his frustration.
After all, with Takigakure's strength, they couldn't even hold off Kakuzu, let alone someone as powerful as Yōwan.
Orochimaru was dumbfounded. He thought that by suppressing Susanoo he could prevent his bureau from being destroyed from within. But Yōwan, shameless as ever, had directly summoned a tailed beast indoors.
"A tailed beast...?"
Uchiha Hikari's expression grew solemn.
Kakashi tensed up even more.
After all, his father, still gravely injured, was in that research bureau!
They couldn't allow the enemy to run rampant!
Takeshi knew how serious things were. He immediately roused the slumbering Isobu inside him.
"Hurry, Isobu, transform into tailed beast mode right now!"
He didn't care whether the Kirigakure people saw him or not. The most important thing now was to drive the Seven-Tails out of the village.
"That's Chōmei?"
Isobu blinked, then, upon seeing Chōmei already spreading its wings and flying, became much more alert.
"How did you manage to offend it?"
"What do you mean I offended it? That thing's been controlled by Uchiha Yōwan! It's probably already reduced to the Gedo Statue's puppet—damn it!"
Within the consciousness space, Takeshi leapt onto Isobu's head, smacking him in annoyance.
"Oh..."
Although the smack didn't hurt, Isobu's gaze became much clearer. And when he saw that Chōmei was already gathering a Tailed Beast Bomb, realizing how dire the situation was, he immediately began transforming.
"Water Release: Iron Cannonball!"
Just as Yōwan, controlling the Seven-Tails, finished condensing the Tailed Beast Bomb and was about to hurl it down at the research bureau, Isobu's Water Release attack forced it to change direction midair.
"Hey! That's my Hokage Rock!"
Seeing where the Tailed Beast Bomb was going to land, Takeshi struck Isobu's head even harder.
"Be glad I even diverted its trajectory. It's just a chunk of rock—gone is gone."
Rolling his eyes at Takeshi, Isobu kept a close watch on Chōmei's movements.
Without wings and lacking agility, Isobu had no choice but to treat the freely flying Chōmei with caution.
Hearing this, Takeshi could only watch helplessly as the Tailed Beast Bomb drew closer and closer to his Hokage Rock.
"Flying Thunder God!"
At this critical moment, Minato intervened once more, resolving this major crisis for Takeshi.