The battle at UzUzushiogakure quickly escalated into a white-hot stalemate.
Two thousand elite shinobi from Sunagakure and Iwagakure clashed continuously with the Uzumaki ninja, forcing the Uzumaki into an increasingly difficult fight.
Although the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques were extremely powerful—especially their forbidden techniques—most of them required close proximity to be used.
The Sand and Stone ninja were clearly well prepared for this. They never gave the Uzumaki a chance to close the distance, relying instead on long-range ninjutsu, with the two sides even developing a tacit coordination.
The Sand ninja's puppet corps directly controlled puppets for long-range attacks. Even if the Uzumaki used forbidden techniques to destroy the puppets, it was difficult to inflict real damage on the puppeteers themselves.
The Stone ninja were even worse to deal with, repeatedly combining large-scale Earth Release techniques that were extremely hard to break through.
And that shinobi with Lava Release was especially destructive—far too difficult to handle.
More importantly, the Uzumaki had already expended a massive amount of chakra earlier when they erupted to annihilate the Mist ninja. Their combat strength was now severely affected.
"We can't drag this out any longer."
Uzumaki Ashina's face was filled with resolve.
The current situation was extremely unfavorable. The Sand and Stone forces had clearly obtained intelligence from the earlier battle against the Mist ninja and were now guarding against the Uzumaki using the Banana Fan to unleash massive five-nature attacks.
Although, in theory, the Uzumaki could rely on their superior chakra reserves to slowly wear the enemy down, maintaining the Four Red Yang Formation consumed an enormous amount of chakra.
At this point, they were already sustaining it by overdrawn life force. It wouldn't last much longer.
Once the Four Red Yang Formation collapsed, the Sand and Stone ninja would be able to retreat calmly, rest, and return with even better preparations.
But that wasn't what worried Ashina the most.
What truly concerned him was Konoha's hidden move.
So far, only Shimura Danzō had revealed himself. The Third Hokage still hadn't appeared.
Worse still, Konoha hadn't even directly attacked UzUzushiogakure yet.
Once they did, it would undoubtedly be a thunderous strike.
Therefore, the battle against the Sand and Stone ninja had to end quickly. There was no time to delay.
They could only use that forbidden technique.
"Second Uncle!"
Seeing the hand seals Uzumaki Ashina was forming, Uzumaki Masahiko—who was nearby, using Adamantine Chains to fight Chiyo's Chikamatsu Ten Puppets—was horrified.
He knew exactly what those seals meant.
That was a forbidden technique—one that would cause the user's soul to be taken by the Shinigami, never to reincarnate.
It was the most terrifying and taboo jutsu of the Uzumaki clan.
"Zi, fall back—now!"
From the rear, Hiruz… no, the Iwa commanderŌnoki's subordinateShi Shi (West Dead Man) sensed something was wrong when he noticed the abnormality between Ashina and Masahiko. He immediately shouted for Roshi's jinchūriki counterpart (Purple) to retreat.
Uzumaki sealing techniques were too bizarre, too full of taboos. Extreme caution was necessary.
Purple didn't insist on pushing forward. He withdrew from the Adamantine Chains' attack range and leapt back onto the Earth-Style wall on their side, watching the Uzumaki elders closely.
At the same time, he felt puzzled.
The Four-Tails inside him was unusually calm—not only not rampaging, but even actively lending chakra to help him resist the Adamantine Chains.
Was it afraid of Uzumaki sealing techniques?
Meanwhile, the Uzumaki elders all raised their hands and began forming seals, their expressions utterly resolute.
This was the Uzumaki clan's ultimate forbidden technique—one that targeted the soul directly.
Even someone like the First Hokage would die without exception if their soul were dragged out.
Moreover, the technique was powered by the user's chakra. The stronger the chakra, the greater the power.
With the combined chakra reserves of several Uzumaki elders, even a Kage from any of the Five Great Villages would be forced to kneel.
"Invading evil spirits… come with this old man and become offerings to the God of Death!"
Ashina's cloudy yet piercing gaze swept over Chiyo and the others as he completed the final hand seal.
The other elders were also close to finishing their seals. That was precisely why they had used the Four Red Yang Formation to lock down the entire village—to prevent anyone from escaping.
Chiyo and the others watched the Uzumaki elders with growing dread.
What kind of terrifying forbidden technique was this?
But just as Ashina and the others began recklessly burning their life force, overloading their chakra to summon the Shinigami—
They suddenly vomited black blood in unison and collapsed to the ground.
Immediately after, many fighters on both sides suddenly fell, some even losing all signs of life.
"Poison?"
Uzumaki Masahiko dropped to one knee, coughing up black blood in disbelief.
They had prepared extensively for Sand Village poison—stockpiling antidotes and even wearing masks.
So how were they still poisoned?
"This isn't Sunagakure's poison!"
Struggling to his feet, Ashina looked at Chiyo and her brother, who were also retreating in poor condition, as well as the Iwa commander, and instantly understood.
If it were Sand or Stone poison, their own people wouldn't be dropping as well.
"Cloud Village?"
Masahiko's first thought was Kumogakure.
The Cloud had hoped UzUzushiogakure would fall so they could absorb part of the Uzumaki clan—especially that hateful brat.
How despicable!
Smack!
Ashina slapped Masahiko hard across the face, furious at his stupidity.
"At a time like this, you still don't understand? This is Konoha making their move against us!
Compared to the Cloud, Konoha wants UzUzushiogakure destroyed far more.
"It must be something planted this morning when those three entered the village. Otherwise, it couldn't have bypassed the Four Red Yang Formation so silently."
There was no concrete proof—but logic alone made it clear.
Ashina had always been wary of Konoha's hidden hand. He'd expected covert elites.
Instead, it was this bizarre poison—so subtle he hadn't even sensed when it entered his body.
"Konoha!"
On the opposite side, Chiyo seemed to realize something and roared in fury, her face twisted with rage.
All three factions fighting here were poisoned and dying rapidly. Clearly, the poison didn't belong to any of them.
That left only Konoha, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure.
Kirigakure had already withdrawn and wasn't known for poison. Kumogakure also didn't specialize in it.
That left only Konoha.
And this didn't feel like ordinary poison—it felt alive, like insects.
That immediately made her think of Konoha's Aburame clan.
"Uzumaki clan head, we've all been played by Konoha. We've been infected with their poison insects—this must be an Aburame secret art. I propose a ceasefire!"
Ebizo suppressed the poison insects with medicine and shouted through the pain.
Continuing the fight was meaningless now. Their common enemy had become Konoha.
And the Uzumaki were far more difficult to deal with than expected. The battle couldn't be ended quickly.
A ceasefire was the only option.
"Iwagakure agrees to a ceasefire!"
The Iwa commander Shi Shi, also vomiting black blood, shouted in agreement.
Most of their forces were already down. Only a few stronger shinobi were still standing.
If the fighting continued, total annihilation was inevitable.
This time, Konoha had outplayed them. Iwagakure would remember this debt.
But before Uzumaki Masahiko could respond—
Identical chakra suddenly surged from the corpses on the battlefield.
One by one, explosive tags appeared out of thin air.
"BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—"
In an instant, UzUzushiogakure was engulfed in fire and thunderous explosions.
Corpses and buildings alike were blown apart and incinerated.
Trapped within the Four Red Yang Formation, the explosive shockwaves became even more concentrated, even drawing on the formation's flames and amplifying the destruction further.
At last, the four Uzumaki elders—already at their limit—could no longer endure.
The Four Red Yang Formation shattered.
⭐ Want more? Read chapters early on Patreon →
https://www.patreon.com/Nishaat⭐
Advance chapters are finished—all that's left is to unlock them.
BONUS CHAPTER SYSTEM
10 reviews → Bonus Chapter
100 Power Stones → Bonus Chapter
🔥 The stronger your support, the faster the story moves.