On the mountain peak to the left of the Tenshu Pavilion.
—BOOM!
The giant cannon roared!
A brilliant yellow chakra beam was spat out by the ferocious steel monster, streaking directly toward the eastern part of the city. The moment the beam struck the ground, a small mushroom cloud erupted. Rubble, steam, dust, and a mess of severed limbs were hurled in every direction by the high temperature and intense shockwave.
However, this "sure-kill" shot missed its mark.
"Damn it! I should have adjusted three units further to the right. This mist is actually affecting my flawless Byakugan!"
Hyuga Shōta, his eyes bulging as he strained to observe the eastern flank, bit his lip in frustration. "And what on earth was that water monster? It actually managed to barely withstand a direct cannon blast?!"
After the first cannon blast—which had used a specialized armor-piercing shell to blow away half of Ren Uchiha's body—the success of the Cloud's operation at the Northern Gate had seemed guaranteed.
Under the direction of the Intelligence Unit, Killer Bee and Hyuga Shōta had then pivoted the Chakra Cannon to suppress the Akatsuki assault. The invaders had broken through the eastern wall and were currently pinned between the first and second rings of defense.
The destruction of the perception barrier hadn't hindered the Cloud's information flow too much. With the help of the Hyuga clan (invited by the Fire Daimyo) and the Kamizuru clan of the Stone, plus their geographical advantage, the forces to encircle the Akatsuki had gathered quickly.
However, just as the Chakra Cannon was meant to show its might, Mei Terumī's Hidden Mist Jutsu and Mangetsu Hōzuki's Water Style: Tate-Eboshi threw the situation into chaos.
Under the cover of the thick fog, the two Akatsuki teams—leveraging the visual advantages of the Ketsuryūgan and the even superior Rinnegan—were systematically breaking through the defenders' lines. The Cloud had vastly underestimated the strength of these individuals; even with the largest army ever mobilized, they couldn't stop the push.
They were fast approaching the fifty-meter-high wall of the second ring, guarded by the Cloud's true elite.
"Lord Bee, please, hurry! The defenders are about to break!" an intelligence officer urged frantically from the base of the peak.
"I've got it!"
Killer Bee took a deep breath, drawing another surge of chakra from the Eight-Tails, Gyūki. He turned to Hyuga Shōta, his brow furrowed. "Hyuga brat, can you be more precise this time?"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Shōta snorted coldly. "Follow my directions this time, and it's a guaranteed hit! A mere pack of rogue ninjas can't escape these eyes!"
However, in that very moment—
A sudden disaster struck!
From the direction of the Tenshu Pavilion, a bolt of lightning flared, accompanied by a panicked roar:
"BEE—!!!"
Bee whipped his head around and saw his brother, young A, charging toward them with an expression of desperate urgency.
"Watch the north!!"
Stunned, Bee scrambled to look toward the northern gate.
Atop the twenty-meter wall, the thirty-meter skeletal giant swung its massive arm. A projectile like a falling star was hurtling toward Bee's position!
Blinding light instantly filled Bee's vision. It felt as if a second sun had risen from the earth. The orb emitted a radiance so intense it was only as it drew near that he could clearly see what it was:
A ten-meter-wide, violently spinning crimson magatama bead. It whipped up a gale, tearing through the air with a shrill whistle!
If this hit, the Chakra Cannon—with its inability to move quickly—would be obliterated. Bee reflexively tried to pivot the muzzle to intercept the Yasaka Beads with a chakra blast.
But as the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly.
Beside him, Hyuga Shōta's face went pale. He yanked on Bee's sleeve in terror. "Hey, hey, hey... you've got to be kidding me..."
"Cloud guy! Look east! There's something flying in from there too!"
Bee's face tightened. He spun his head to the east.
There, standing behind the Akatsuki members who were already breaching the fifty-meter wall, a red-haired youth watched with cold indifference. He had keenly seized the moment Ren Uchiha counterattacked by hurling the Yasaka Beads at the central cannon.
With clinical precision, Sasori unfurled a summoning scroll. Amidst a puff of smoke, he hoisted a massive cannon barrel over two meters long onto his shoulder.
He aimed directly at the two men behind the Cloud's heavy weapon.
Sasori allowed a faint, ghostly smile to play on his lips. He raised a fist and smashed the chakra core at the base of the barrel.
—BOOM!!
A brilliant yellow beam, no less powerful than the Cloud's own cannon, erupted instantly and streaked toward them!
It was the signal for a total counterattack.
One from the North, one from the East—two simultaneous strikes closing in like a pincer! The Chakra Cannon could only defend one direction.
Though young A was an extreme speedster and had reacted quickly to warn them, the distance between the Tenshu Pavilion and their peak was nearly a hundred meters. Without Ren Uchiha's Sage Mode, even A couldn't leap that gap in an instant.
"Damn it!" Bee bit his lip, sweat pouring down his face, his heart hammering against his ribs. I can't let them destroy the cannon. If we lose it, the plan to force Ren to use his Sage Art in the second ring will fail...
Bee's expression turned ferocious. He threw his hands up.
"Hachibi!!"
With a roar, eight massive octopus tails surged from his back. The seventy-meter-tall Eight-Tails, Gyūki, rose from the peak. It reared its head and spat a massive Ink Salvo to intercept Sasori's beam.
Then, it wrapped its eight tails and its entire head tightly around the mountain peak, shielding the cannon with its own body.
The Yasaka Beads arrived a split second later, slamming into Gyūki's massive form with a violent spin!
—BOOM!!
A gale of fire and debris erupted! A small mushroom cloud bloomed from the peak as the Yasaka Beads detonated.
Meanwhile, at the northern gate.
Standing atop the twenty-meter wall, perched on the head of his thirty-meter Susanoo, Ren Uchiha narrowed his eyes. He looked toward the impact site with a look of mild surprise.
"Oh? Is that Sasori's chakra cannon? They actually blocked both shots?"
He knew what he had thrown wasn't an ordinary Yasaka Beads. Utilizing the power of the Yata no Kagami and his Uchiha bloodline, he had summoned a version comparable to Madara Uchiha's Perfect Susanoo—the True Yasaka Beads. A single hit was meant to shatter the earth.
"Well, it doesn't matter."
Ren let out a cold chuckle as he stared at the Cloud's artillery position. He had to admit, the Cloud's "weird tech tree" and those armor-piercing rounds were a nuisance. A skeletal-stage Susanoo couldn't defend against them effectively, and letting them fire at will would be a minor headache for his next move.
Ren raised his hand slightly. The artifact hanging from his neck, the Yata no Kagami, glowed in response.
With that movement, the massive Susanoo swung its arm. In mid-air, it summoned...
Eight more "suns."
Eight identical, brilliant spheres of Yasaka Beads!
"So," Ren muttered, his voice cold.
"A... you could tank the first one. But what are you going to do about the other eight?"
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