Chapter 56: Nine-Faced Beast VS Grass Ninja Village

In just a few short minutes of fierce combat, the ninjas of the Grass Village suffered heavy casualties.

With overwhelming strength, the Nine-Faced Beasts cleared a vast area around the hospital of all Grass Village ninjas.

Led by their captain, Ryuseki, the Grass Village Anbu fought desperately to protect their leader, Kusanagi Koji. They unleashed various ninjutsu, weaving a web of techniques that barely managed to hold back the combined assault of Xuanwu and Zhuque.

Meanwhile, the brothers Wuwei and Wuchang relied on their family's secret Fire Style techniques, fighting while steadily retreating.

"Fire Style: Ghost Lantern!" Wuchang dodged the pursuit of the Azure Dragon, his body retreating rapidly as his hands moved through a blur of seals.

In an instant, countless fiery red ghost faces emerged around Wuchang, letting out shrill wails as they lunged toward the pursuing Azure Dragon!

"Fire Style: Heavenly Prison Fire Sword!" Wuwei condensed fire-attribute chakra in his right hand, solidifying it into a blazing longsword, and thrust it toward the attacking White Tiger.

The Azure Dragon's body endured Wuchang's Ghost Lantern head-on; it gathered lightning-attribute chakra in its mouth and suddenly fired a lightning orb!

"What!" Wuchang's pupils shrank. This strange summoned beast was not only massive and thick-skinned, but it could actually use Lightning Style ninjutsu.

On the other side, just as Wuwei's Heavenly Prison Fire Sword was about to reach the masked white tiger, the opponent suddenly blurred into a phantom-like shadow.

"Not good!" Wuwei hurriedly retracted his fire sword to defend, following his combat instinct by swinging the flaming blade to the left.

The Heavenly Prison Fire Sword grazed the top of the White Tiger's head, but the White Tiger had already closed the distance to Wuwei!

A massive tiger paw slammed down toward Wuwei's chest.

*Puff!*

Wuwei was sent flying like a broken kite, a trail of blood arching through the air.

"Brother!" Wuchang's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly broke away from his fight with the Azure Dragon and used Body Flicker to reach the wounded Wuwei's side.

At the same time.

The Southern Dipper Immortal and the Northern Dipper Immortal began to cast binding techniques upon the Grass Village leader, Kusanagi Koji, and the Anbu ninjas surrounding him.

A purple magic circle rose from beneath the feet of Kusanagi Koji, Ryuseki, and the others, directly immobilizing them.

Kusanagi Koji felt his entire body stiffen; his chakra became as sluggish as if it were stuck in a swamp.

"Damn it! What is this!" Kusanagi Koji, currently fighting Xuanwu and Zhuque, roared in fury, yet he could not break free.

Xuanwu's steel-like body struck again!

Like a hundred-ton juggernaut, it slammed heavily into Kusanagi Koji.

Kusanagi Koji was sent flying, only to be struck mid-air by Zhuque's Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air.

"Lord Kusanagi!" The Grass Village Anbu captain, Ryuseki, stared with eyes nearly bursting from rage, yet he could only watch helplessly as his leader was struck and blasted away.

*Swish—*

Several wind blades swept in, whistling through the air. The immobilized Ryuseki and the other Anbu ninjas fell one after another, and the battle line completely collapsed.

A moment later, the area surrounding the Grass Village hospital building was littered with corpses.

With even their leader Kusanagi Koji and the Anbu captain's fates unknown, the other Grass ninjas, lacking organization and leadership, fled in all directions.

Soon, only a small group of Grass ninjas led by the brothers Wuwei and Wuchang remained, struggling to resist around the hospital building.

More Grass ninjas retreated to the outskirts, and the village civilians fled in panic; the entire village fell into chaos.

"Is this all it takes?" Menma held Uzumaki Vanilla in his arms; he hadn't even lifted a finger, yet the Nine-Faced Beasts were already on the verge of destroying this small village.

The brothers Wuwei and Wuchang truly lived up to their reputation as the future lords of Hozuki Castle; even after the heavy losses of elite ninjas like Kusanagi Koji and the Anbu captain, they could still organize a portion of the ninjas to resist the enemy.

However, as Kusanagi Koji, Ryuseki, and other elites fell and the rest of the Grass ninjas retreated, only the small group they led remained in the fray.

Having dealt with the others, the five Nine-Faced Beasts—Zhuque, Azure Dragon, Xuanwu, White Tiger, and Golden Snake—began to surround and attack the two brothers.

"Brother! Use that move!" Seeing the dire situation, Wuchang gritted his teeth and shouted, preparing to use a binding technique he had not yet fully mastered.

"Cough... let me!" Wuwei was heavily injured; the White Tiger's paw had left three bloody gashes on his chest that exposed the bone.

After coughing up a mouthful of blood, he struggled to stand, only to stumble and fall back down.

"Brother!" Wuchang no longer hesitated. His right hand formed seals as he began to condense fire-attribute chakra.

As his right palm became completely enveloped in fire chakra, a surge of scorching energy erupted from his hand. The chakra writhed and lashed through the air, transforming into five fiery red chains that flew toward the five Nine-Faced Beasts.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Heavenly Prison!" Feeling his chakra rapidly draining, Wuchang forced himself through the physical discomfort to execute this binding technique, which only a few members of the "Mu" clan had mastered!

It was said that the Great Fire Heavenly Prison was powerful enough to bind a Tailed Beast!

In the movie featuring Hozuki Castle, Naruto and the others suppressed the monster "Satoru" that emerged from the Box of Bliss.

The Lord of Hozuki Castle, Wuwei, had used the Great Fire Heavenly Prison to bind it, coordinating with Naruto's Wind Style: Rasenshuriken to deliver the killing blow.

Its power was evident.

The five flame-like chakra chains bound Zhuque, Azure Dragon, Xuanwu, White Tiger, and Golden Snake. Fiery red chain marks appeared on the bodies of the five Nine-Faced Beasts, restricting their movement.

"It worked!"

"As expected of Lord Wuchang!"

Seeing the terrifying enemies bound, the other Grass ninjas cheered, preparing to launch a counterattack.

However, in the next instant.

The bodies of the five bound Nine-Faced Beasts rippled like the surface of a lake and vanished in an instant.

"What!" Wuchang felt the chakra of the Great Fire Heavenly Prison vanish and was struck with shock.

When he focused his gaze on the center of the battlefield, he found that the mysterious masked man from before had also disappeared.

"When did he...!" Wuchang broke into a cold sweat, having completely failed to notice when the enemy had vanished.

Supported by his subordinates, Wuwei slowly stood up and walked toward the center of the battlefield, toward the corpse of Kusanagi Koji.

The former Grass Village had been severely devastated in this great battle, and even its leader, Kusanagi Koji, had perished.

Amidst the rolling smoke, Wuwei knelt before Kusanagi Koji's charred corpse. Looking at the ruined village, he whispered bitterly, "Lord Kusanagi... you should never have taken in the calamity of the Uzumaki clan back then..."

——————

The Ruins of Uzushio Village.

The former hideouts of rogue ninjas had now become Menma's stronghold.

He gently placed the awakened Uzumaki Vanilla onto the bed.

"Mama..." Karin knelt by the bedside, clutching her mother's hand as tears fell.

The extremely weakened Uzumaki Vanilla managed a forced smile for her daughter, then looked up at the masked man standing close by and pleaded, "Lord... please adopt this child..."

Though her breath was thin, Uzumaki Vanilla struggled to lift her head: "She can do anything... as long as she can live..."

She could clearly sense that her life force was nearly exhausted. She knew that once she died, the Grass Village would inevitably force Karin to continue serving them, and sooner or later, she would be drained of her chakra and life force just like her.

As a mother, Uzumaki Vanilla only wanted to grasp one last hope of survival for her daughter.

"Who gave you permission to die?" The voice beneath the white three-eyed fox mask was cold and majestic.

Although Menma had not yet mastered "Yin-Yang Release" and could not transfer chakra and life force to Uzumaki Vanilla.

But do not forget, he was also of the Uzumaki clan!

Menma unwrapped the red cloth from his wrist and extended it toward Uzumaki Vanilla.

"Bite." The voice beneath the mask brooked no refusal.