Uchiha orphan, so what if I'm ruthless?

Yugito Nii's sharp claws tore through the air, swiping straight at Uchiha Taiga's chest.

Her speed blurred into a single line as that two-stage acceleration technique appeared once more.

In midair, a surge of chakra suddenly erupted from her back and legs without a sound, instantly doubling her speed.

This acceleration came without any warning or wind-up. It was like an arrow in flight suddenly receiving a massive push from another force.

This time, Uchiha Taiga saw it clearly.

Through his Byakugan's vision, the flow of chakra within Yugito Nii's body was perfectly visible.

The chakra erupting from her back and legs wasn't Tailed Beast chakra; it was her own. She was using her personal chakra as a thruster to achieve an instantaneous burst of power.

It was certainly a unique technique, but it wasn't without its flaws.

She couldn't change direction.

The propulsion direction of that chakra burst was fixed. Once it erupted, her body would shoot forward in a straight line, completely unable to alter her trajectory mid-flight.

In other words, as long as his reaction speed was fast enough to predict her path before the burst and step out of her linear attack range, her incredible acceleration would be useless.

That was exactly what Uchiha Taiga thought, and exactly what he did.

The moment Yugito accelerated, his body shifted one step to the left.

That single step allowed her claws to brush right past him. The fierce wind trailing her fingertips tore his sleeve, but failed to scratch his skin.

The two brushed past each other. Uchiha Taiga landed a few meters away, steadied himself, and glanced back at her.

He didn't clash with her head-on. Instead, he kicked off the ground and dashed out of the town.

He moved as fast as a bolt of lightning, crossing the streets, leaping over the walls, and leaving the town's perimeter in the blink of an eye.

Yugito stomped the ground, leaving a crater in her wake as she pivoted and chased after him.

Her speed was equally astonishing. The orange-red chakra tail whipped through the air behind her, cracking sharply.

Seeing this, the remaining Kumogakure ninjas quickly followed. Some leaped onto rooftops, others scaled the walls, and the rest sprinted down the streets. In an instant, the entire group had left the town.

Uchiha Taiga came to a halt on an open plain.

They were now several miles away from the town. The area was a vast, open grassland with a few low hills in the distance. There were no trees, no houses, and no obstacles whatsoever. The ground was soft dirt that sank slightly underfoot, and the wind sweeping across the plain carried the fresh scent of green grass.

He turned around, faced the pursuing Yugito, and nodded.

"This is a good spot. Plenty of room for me to stretch out."

He chose not to fight in the town so he would have a place to rest afterward.

He still needed to soak in the hot springs, after all—it was a must-do activity here.

If he let Yugito go all out, nearly half the town would be destroyed. He planned to stay there for a few days and didn't want to demolish the place the moment he arrived.

Yugito landed a few dozen meters in front of him. The Kumogakure ninjas trailing behind her also arrived, stopping much further away.

They didn't step forward—not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't dare.

Yugito was in her Partial Tailed Beast Transformation. Every movement she made could cause massive destruction. If those ninjas rushed in, they would only get caught in the crossfire or become a hindrance.

Uchiha Taiga didn't waste words; he intended to end this quickly.

Bright yellow chakra surged from his body, gathering and solidifying around him. In the blink of an eye, it formed the skeletal upper half of a massive ribcage.

Flesh, meridians, and skin rapidly grew over the skeleton, manifesting a half-body giant clad in armor upon the plain.

The eyes of the Susanoo flickered with a crimson light as it looked down at the orange-red figure before it.

Yugito's pupils shrank.

She had heard of this jutsu.

Susanoo!

The ultimate visual jutsu of the Uchiha clan, a divine power that could only be wielded after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan.

But she never expected this young man to not only be capable of using it, but to wield it to such a terrifying degree.

She didn't retreat. Her body accelerated once more as she charged straight at the Susanoo.

Her right hand formed a claw, the five sharp digits coated in Tailed Beast chakra as she slashed at the giant.

The claws clashed against the Susanoo's armor, producing an ear-piercing screech of grinding metal and sending shockwaves through the air.

Five shallow scratch marks appeared on the Susanoo's armor, but they automatically repaired themselves in an instant.

Yugito didn't stop.

She moved rapidly around the Susanoo, launching attacks from every conceivable angle.

Her claws struck the giant again and again, leaving fresh scratches with every blow, yet each mark vanished just as quickly.

Her tail joined the assault as well. The orange-red chakra appendage whipped out like a lash, slamming viciously into the Susanoo's side with a deafening boom. The giant swayed slightly but quickly stabilized.

Uchiha Taiga stood within the Susanoo's chest, his arms crossed.

Uchiha were all like this. When standing inside a Susanoo, if you didn't act profoundly aloof, how would anyone know how badass you were?

Taiga was no exception. Now, he completely understood why Uchiha Madara loved acting so tough.

Because it really felt amazing.

He watched as Yugito attacked relentlessly, trying to break through the Susanoo's defenses from different angles and with different methods.

Her strikes were fierce and ruthless, each blow carrying the wild, destructive power of Tailed Beast chakra. Her stomps left craters in the ground, her claws carved deep trenches into the earth, and her sweeping tail sent dirt and shredded grass flying into the air.

Yet, the Susanoo remained completely unmoving.

Yugito's expression gradually grew ferocious, clearly influenced by Matatabi's chakra.

Tailed Beast chakra was wild, untamed, and filled with a desire for destruction. As her time in the Partial Tailed Beast Transformation dragged on, that chakra began to erode her consciousness, making her attacks increasingly frantic and reckless.

Her speed increased, her strength surged, and her strikes became a relentless barrage.

Her claws left more and more scratches on the Susanoo, seemingly on the verge of breaking its defense, but the repair speed of those gouges also accelerated, vanishing almost the instant they appeared.

She began to use even stronger attacks.

Both of her hands formed claws and slashed out in a cross-shaped strike. Ten sharp digits tore into the front of the Susanoo simultaneously, emitting a horrific ripping sound.

Ten deep gouges appeared on the Susanoo's chest, nearly piercing through the armor to expose the chakra skeleton beneath.

But in the very next second, the scratches vanished.

Yugito's breathing grew heavy and ragged.

Her eyes had completely transformed into vertical slits. All traces of human emotion were gone from her pupils, replaced entirely by the madness of a wild beast.

Suddenly, her body began to swell slightly, and the single tail behind her split into two—the complete number of tails for the Two-Tails. However, her body hadn't fully transformed into the Tailed Beast yet; she still maintained a human silhouette.

Her power climbed to another level.

She leaped high into the air, reaching the height of the Susanoo's head, and slashed at its face with all ten claws.

She wanted to shred the Susanoo's eyes, assuming they were its most vulnerable point.

But just as her claws were about to strike its face, the Susanoo moved.

Its massive right hand reached out from the side, fingers splayed, and snatched Yugito out of the air.

Her body thrashed wildly within the giant's palm. Her claws frantically scratched at its fingers, and her tails whipped violently against its wrist.

But as the Susanoo's grip tightened, her struggles grew weaker. Her claws left countless scratches on the giant's fingers, but they healed far faster than she could inflict them.

Uchiha Taiga grinned.

"Little kitty, you really are quite cute."

He uncrossed his arms and began weaving hand signs.

Dense sealing formulas surfaced on his body. The black, tadpole-like scripts seemed alive, spreading outward from his hands and crawling down the Susanoo's arm. In the blink of an eye, they reached the giant's fingertips and transferred directly onto Yugito's body.

The moment the formulas touched her, they acted like greedy mouths, frantically devouring the Tailed Beast chakra clinging to her.

The orange-red chakra rapidly receded under the invasion of the seals. The two tails behind her vanished one after another, her sharp claws reverted to normal fingernails, her slit pupils returned to human eyes, her fangs shrank, and the ferocity faded from her face.

Ninety-Nine String Light Formation.

This was a sealing jutsu modified from the most basic String Light Formation.

The String Light Formation was merely a beginner-level jutsu used to seal small objects. It was incredibly simple and considered a fundamental sealing technique that all ninjas had to learn.

However, Uchiha Taiga had layered ninety-nine String Light Formations on top of each other, using sheer quantity to make up for quality. By employing the simplest combination method, he transformed it into a formidable seal.

There was no special technique to it; the main idea was that brute force creates miracles. As long as it worked, that was all that mattered.

With ninety-nine String Light Formations taking effect simultaneously, the Tailed Beast chakra was suppressed layer by layer.

Yugito's Partial Tailed Beast Transformation was completely undone in a matter of seconds. She reverted to her normal form... a seventeen-year-old girl with fair skin and slightly messy beige hair. Her clothes had been torn in several places during the battle, revealing her white undershirt and bare skin beneath.

The Susanoo opened its hand.

Yugito plummeted from midair, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

She struggled to stand, but with both the Tailed Beast chakra and her own personal chakra completely sealed, she didn't have a single ounce of strength left in her body.

Lying on the ground, she looked up at the young man stepping out from the Susanoo's chest.

Uchiha Taiga walked up to her, crouched down, and looked into her eyes.

"I told you."

He smiled.

"What would Kumogakure's attitude be if their Jinchuriki was captured?"