Yagura, almost fully transformed into his Tailed Beast state, swung his tail toward Obito.
But the tail passed straight through Obito's body and smashed heavily into the ground.
"Boom!!!"
The deafening impact mixed with Yagura's agonized screams.
Obito's iron rod stabbed cleanly into Yagura's shoulder.
Yagura, now nearly fully transformed, was shocked to find his Tailed Beast chakra fading away.
"Ugh~~~"
For a moment, he froze—only for another iron rod to pierce his other shoulder.
The dark red chakra and the thick armor covering his body rapidly dissolved.
As his Tailed Beast chakra faded, Yagura was horrified to realize that even his own chakra flow was being disrupted.
"Ugh~~~"
One rod after another.
Obito's exposed eye burned with hatred.
"Why? Why did this have to happen?
The war between Konohagakure and Kirigakure is over. So why did you take Rin? Why did you put a Tailed Beast inside her?"
At this moment, Obito looked like a terrifying avenger.
As he muttered to himself, he kept driving black iron rods into Yagura's body, pinning him to the ground, leaving him completely unable to move.
These black rods were created using Yin-Yang chakra, a technique granted by the Rinnegan.
All of them were given to Obito by Nagato.
Against a Tailed Beast, these were even more effective than Obito's half-baked Wood Release.
With just a few rods, Yagura—who was on the verge of full transformation—was forcefully nailed to the ground, unable to move or even circulate his chakra properly.
Against the well-prepared Akatsuki, Yagura had all the power but no way to use it.
"This was easier than I expected."
Tendo glanced at Obito, who was consumed by rage. He didn't bother stopping him from venting his hatred on Yagura.
As long as Obito didn't kill him outright, Tendo didn't care what happened.
Pinned to the ground with no ability to fight back, Yagura could only let out helpless screams.
Obito had nearly turned his entire body into a pincushion with iron rods.
Blood kept flowing from his wounds, forming a small puddle on the ground.
Yagura looked miserable, yet Obito had deliberately avoided all vital points.
No matter how much Yagura screamed or how horrifying his injuries seemed, his life was never in real danger.
Yagura was crucial to the Akatsuki's plan to disrupt the ninja world—he was an important piece on the board.
Even if Obito needed to vent his anger, he wouldn't kill Yagura so easily.
Besides, he had an agreement with Nagato, and Nagato wouldn't just stand by and let him kill Yagura.
"Bang!!"
The office door was pushed open forcefully.
Shizune rushed inside, pressed her hands on the desk, and anxiously said to Yan:
"Advisor, Hokage-sama has received critical intel about the Akatsuki. Please head to the Hokage's office immediately."
"Shizune, don't be so anxious. I'll be right there."
Standing up, Yan patted Shizune's shoulder before heading toward the Hokage's office.
Shizune quickly followed behind him.
Yan curiously asked:
"Where did this intel come from? The Akatsuki has been quiet for years—have they finally lost patience?"
Yan had been waiting for news of the Akatsuki's retaliation, but they had seemingly disappeared without a trace. He didn't expect them to finally make a move after years of silence.
"Kirigakure."
"So it's confirmed, then."
The Hokage's office door was left open, so Yan walked straight in.
Shizune, following behind him, thoughtfully closed the door.
Sitting in her chair, Tsunade frowned as she looked at a scroll sent from Kirigakure.
Hearing the door close, she lifted her head and tossed the open scroll to Yan.
"Take a look at this intel. The Akatsuki has started retaliating against Kirigakure."
Yan glanced at the scroll and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Impressive. I didn't think they'd be bold enough to directly infiltrate Kirigakure and launch an attack. Yagura was severely wounded while pursuing them."
"There's something off about this intel."
After reading through the scroll, Yan rolled it up and placed it on Tsunade's desk.
"You're saying the intel is suspicious?
Kirigakure wouldn't send fake information to deceive us, would they?
If they dared to do that, they'd be making enemies of not just Konohagakure, but also Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure.
Yagura wouldn't be that foolish."
"Yagura himself may not be foolish, but the question is…"
Is he still the same Yagura?
Yan had serious doubts.
With Obito's personality and the Akatsuki's Infinite Tsukuyomi plan, it was unlikely they simply attacked Kirigakure, beat Yagura half to death, and left it at that.
That didn't make sense. More likely, Yagura had already become a puppet, just like the Third Mizukage before him.
Tapping his finger on the desk, Yan reminded Tsunade:
"Yagura is a perfect Jinchuriki. He's not weak. Someone like Kakuzu or Sasori alone wouldn't be enough to take him down.
For him to suffer such serious injuries, there had to be more people involved.
But the intel scroll doesn't mention that at all."
"So you're saying the intel is real, but a lot of details have been left out?"
"But why would Kirigakure do that?
If they wanted to hide the truth, they could've just kept quiet.
Why go out of their way to inform us, only to deliberately leave things out?"
Tsunade couldn't understand why Kirigakure Village would do this, or rather, why Yagura would do something so foolish.
"What if Yagura was being controlled?"
Yan spread his hands and shared his guess:
"If Yagura is already under the control of the Akatsuki, then it would make sense for them to cover up part of the information."
"Are you serious?"
Tsunade was so shocked that she jumped up, while Shizune slightly opened her mouth, looking stunned.
The Akatsuki are this crazy?
They even managed to control Kirigakure Village's Mizukage—what are they trying to do?
"It's just a guess."
Yan said impatiently:
"This is just my personal guess. Don't go spreading it around, or it'll cause misunderstandings.
If Kirigakure Village ends up coming after us in Konoha because of this, things will get ugly. Accusing another village's Mizukage of being controlled and turned into a puppet without solid proof would destroy the cooperation that Kirigakure Village and Konoha worked so hard to build."
Even though it was just speculation, Yan was at least 90% sure.
If Yagura was badly injured, that meant the Akatsuki sent a lot of people, maybe even the Six Paths of Pain.
A force that strong dealing with Yagura? If not effortless, it would at least be easy enough.
If they managed to take him down, why wouldn't they control him?
There was no way he would believe otherwise.
In the original story, Yagura was only burned a little by Amaterasu, and the Akatsuki immediately jumped at the chance to take control of him.
Obito wanted revenge—he wanted to make Kirigakure Village pay—so there was no way he would pass up this opportunity. The same went for the Akatsuki.
Without Amegakure Village holding them back, the Akatsuki could afford to act even more recklessly.
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