Naruto: Drop System

Seeing Yugito blown away by the intense heat wave, Samui felt a pang of worry, yet she wasn't about to let this golden opportunity slip by. As Hiruko wielded the Uchiha fan and activated the Uchiha Repel, Samui quickly used the Body Flicker Technique to get behind him, ready to unleash a powerful lightning-infused slash.

At that moment, Hiruko turned and looked at her. His eyes had transformed into the blood-red, three-tomoe Sharingan.

The Sharingan!

Samui's eyes widened with shock and fear. Before she could even mutter the word "Sharingan," her body dropped helplessly to the ground.

After exploiting Yakumo Kurama's kekkei genkai, Hiruko, though unable to wield Wood Release, had greatly enhanced his powers. With the Sharingan, he could control an opponent's five senses with a single glance, pulling them into a genjutsu realm to assault them with disastrous illusions, and even bring these effects into reality through Genjutsu Realism.

This made Hiruko an illusion master, wielding the three-tomoe Sharingan's genjutsu at a level surpassing Tsukuyomi.

"Genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness Technique!"

Having taken Samui down with a glance, Hiruko now advanced on the fully transformed Yugito, who was desperately using her tailed beast form to recover. Before he even reached her, Yin chakra invaded her mind, shrouding her in darkness.

No matter how she disrupted her chakra flow, she couldn't escape the consuming darkness, nor could she sense her surroundings.

"Roar..."

Unable to break free from the genjutsu, Yugito opted to unleash a massive fireball onto the ground, creating a flash of light. She then leapt to a high rock and began forming the Tailed Beast Bomb, blending the purple-black yin chakra and blue yang chakra in a ratio of 2:8 to create a black sphere.

But before Yugito could release the Tailed Beast Bomb, a towering pillar of lava erupted from beneath her, obliterating the rock and engulfing her completely.

"Ahhh..."

The huge Two-Tails let out a blood-curdling scream. As she fell, a hand reached out and pressed onto her, shattering the beast's chakra and leaving black symbols spreading across her body. Yugito instantly reverted to her human form, losing control of her body.

Sealing Technique: Contract Seal, and Limbs Binding Seal!

With Hiruko's persona firmly established, he could freely use Konoha's forbidden techniques and sealing jutsu without suspicion, even if others might suspect he had obtained them through theft or dealings with Orochimaru.

With just a few moves, Hiruko had defeated the Two-Tails' Jinchuriki, one of the top fighters in the Hidden Cloud.

"Lady Yugito!" Samui called out desperately. She finally broke free from the genjutsu, only to see her ally lying unconscious on the ground.

"Well done, as expected of you, Hiruko-senpai! That was quick!"

At that moment, the voice of Tobi, laden with exaggerated theatrics, echoed around them. Samui's face turned pale as she turned to look in his direction.

There, Tobi was strolling toward them, hands clasped behind his head. Before Samui could question him, Hiruko spoke up.

"You've handled it?" he asked.

"Yes, Hiruko-senpai!" Tobi saluted him, saying, "I used my ultimate move to kill them both. Nothing remains of them."

Hearing this, Samui's pale skin grew even whiter, her blue-green eyes filling with despair.

"Hiruko-senpai, what should we do with this woman?" Tobi glanced at Samui, who was bound and seemingly under another genjutsu.

"Kill her." Hiruko glanced coldly at Samui, then swung his fan. A gale tore through the ground, stirring up a storm of wind blades that shredded everything in their path as they hurtled toward Samui.

Unable to break free and now overwhelmed by hopelessness, Samui closed her eyes, resigning herself to her fate.

Just as she waited for the pain and the darkness to take her, an unfamiliar yet comforting voice broke through the air.

"Wood Style: Forest Barrier!"

Startled, Samui opened her eyes and saw a wooden wall rise from the ground, intercepting the fierce wind. The blades that could tear through solid rock only left shallow marks on the wall, which quickly healed.

As the dust settled, Samui saw a tall figure in a black robe standing atop the wooden wall, facing away from her with his hands folded, looking down on Hiruko and Tobi. His silver hair billowed in the wind, and in the noon sunlight, he seemed to glow with a golden radiance.

In that moment, Samui felt as if a god had descended, and her heart started pounding. She found herself in a scene straight out of a heroic romance movie.

"So we meet again, Akatsuki rats," Yagyu said with a tone that conveyed neither fear nor urgency, but pure arrogance.

"Hiruko-senpai, it's Konoha's Wood Release user! We're finished!" Tobi exclaimed in feigned horror, clutching his head in an exaggerated display.

"Fight or flee?" Hiruko asked in a low voice.

Before Tobi could respond, the ground sprouted serpentine tree branches that shot toward them. Hiruko evaded, while Tobi phased through the branches. The branches wrapped around the unconscious Yugito, binding her securely.

At that moment, two massive energy spheres—one red, one blue—hurtled through the air, creating a deafening sound as they sped toward Hiruko and Tobi. Unable to keep up the act any longer, Tobi summoned a scythe and swiftly cut through the branches binding Yugito before escaping with her into the twisted void of his Kamui.

Hiruko, meanwhile, used the Mayfly technique to escape underground, merging with the plant roots and groundwater.

With a powerful, overlapping blast, the giant tornadoes of fire and water spiraled skyward. Even standing behind the wooden wall, Samui felt the terrifying force of the suction, as debris was pulled toward the tornadoes.

The fiery and watery tornadoes soon collided, unleashing an intense heat wave and a mushroom cloud of steam and dust that quickly enveloped Yagyu and Samui.

Gasping, Samui emerged from behind the wooden wall and was stunned by the sight of the scorched, cratered land. Once towering rocks and cliffs now lay in ruins, some melted into lava.

Watching all this, Samui's shock gave way to awe. She realized that this devastation was caused by Yagyu's two chakra spheres, which had unleashed S-rank elemental techniques without any hand seals.

Such power, Yagyu wielded as naturally as if it were a simple task.

When two S-rank rogues, who could each easily kill Yugito alone, had chosen to flee, Samui's admiration reached a whole new height. For the first time, she considered that Yagyu might truly be the next Shinobi God.

"Ah, you're Samui, right?" Yagyu's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

Standing nearly a head taller than her, his height and calm, imposing aura made her feel both secure and inexplicably nervous.

Composing herself, Samui bowed respectfully. "Thank you for saving me, Yagyu-sama."

"There's no need to thank me. I wasn't aiming to save you."

"Even so, I owe you a debt of gratitude," she insisted, her tone sincere.

"Very well," Yagyu replied with a small smile, before turning serious. "Wasn't that the Two-Tails' Jinchuriki with you? How did the Akatsuki manage to capture her if we'd already warned you? Why did you even let her take a mission at such a time?"

Samui's expression turned awkward. Although she had agreed with Konoha's warnings, her rank was too low for her opinions to have any effect. This mission had been approved by Yugito herself, and neither she nor the Raikage had taken the Akatsuki's threat seriously. She had only hoped to contact the village for backup, but the Akatsuki had proven far stronger than expected.

Thinking of how she'd tried to buy time for Omoi and Karui and had failed, she couldn't help but feel immense gratitude toward Yagyu for saving her.

Yagyu, unaware of the effect he was having on Samui, gave her a warning. "Take this as a lesson. Remember to pass it on to your Raikage: the Akatsuki aren't easy targets. Unless he wants to lose his brother, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, he shouldn't be so complacent."

Seeing Samui's silent agreement, Yagyu nodded approvingly. "To ensure those two don't come back for another round, I'll see you safely on your way."

Before she could respond, he placed a hand on her shoulder, and they vanished. In the blink of an eye, they reappeared atop a towering mountain within the Land of Lightning, with clouds swirling around them and distant thunder rumbling.

"I'll leave you here. Farewell."

As she bid him farewell, she touched her shoulder where his hand had been, feeling a surge of unfamiliar emotions. She could still see Yagyu standing like a divine figure on the wooden wall, a picture that stayed vivid in her mind.

For the first time, Samui felt her heart race over a man. But thinking of the circumstances between the Cloud and Konoha, she felt a pang of melancholy.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Samui steeled herself and took off in the direction of the Hidden Cloud Village. She needed to report everything she'd seen.

Just as Yagyu had said, the Akatsuki weren't an enemy to be underestimated.

The Five Great Nations had to unite to eradicate this terrible organization.