Uchiha's personal opinion

"...No."

The lazy voice of the Eight-Tailed Gyūki echoed in Burubi's mind.

"But your chakra was clearly unstable just now! I could feel it!"

Brubi frowned as she communicated with the tailed beast within her.

Although she did not reach the level of a perfect Jinchūriki, Burubi and the Eight-Tails Gyūki had a relatively harmonious relationship, and the two of them would occasionally communicate.

At least in battle, the Eight-Tailed Gyūki has never tripped him up.

"Either your unstable emotions are causing your chakra to leak, or there's a problem with the seal. You decide for yourself."

The Eight-Tailed Gyūki's voice was clearly perfunctory: "By the way, the vortex seal we added a while ago seems to have some problems. Maybe we should remove it? I feel like my brain is about to stop working..."

Brubi did not continue to probe or respond.

The attitude of the Eight-Tailed Gyūki speaks volumes.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be so deliberately perfunctory; they must be trying to cover something up!

The Land of Frost borders the Land of Waterfall to the west and the Land of Fire to the south. Although it is a vassal state of the Land of Lightning, it is only separated from the Land of Lightning by the sea. On land, there are several neutral or pro-Fire small countries. That is why the reconnaissance team dispatched by Kumogakure arrived so late after receiving the intelligence.

Especially since the Hidden Cloud Village was going through a turbulent period at this time, after its hasty attack on the Hidden Mist Village failed, a large force of Hidden Mist ninja had begun to cross the sea to attack. Meanwhile, the Hidden Cloud Village suffered repeated defeats in naval battles, and all the overseas islands it had previously established had fallen. At present, it could only retreat to the coastline to block the Hidden Mist Village's landing.

Under such circumstances, the Hidden Cloud Village was temporarily unable to spare more resources to attend to external matters, resulting in a power vacuum even in spheres of influence like the Land of Frost.

Brubi walked into a deep crater that was clearly formed by a ninjutsu attack, and kicked his left foot haphazardly without thinking.

The pit contained only loose soil; any remnants that might reveal ninjutsu characteristics had been cleaned up.

"As expected... there wasn't a trace of ninjutsu at all..."

Brubi couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

The deep crater could have been created by fire, lightning, or earth techniques, but without any obvious traces of ninjutsu residue, it's impossible to determine the cause.

"...Didn't you find any lightning-struck wood or glazed clay?"

"Brubi suddenly asked."

"No..."

The Cloud Village ninjas under his command once again gave a negative answer.

"Let's go..."

Brubi sighed and waved to summon his men to prepare for evacuation.

The fighting on the eastern and northern coasts of the Land of Lightning was truly intense, and the Third Raikage was too busy running back and forth to provide support to spare any time for the battle. Brubi also didn't have much energy left to stay in the Land of Frost.

"If only the Two-Tails Jinchuriki were still here, at least I wouldn't be so exhausted..."

Brubi felt a bit of a headache.

Under the harassment of Kirigakure, Burubi and other powerful Kumogakure warriors were busy providing support for days on end, but they could not catch many of the slippery Kirigakure warriors, and most of their time was spent on the road.

"Two-tailed..."

Suddenly, Brubi thought of something and stopped in her tracks.

The ninjas under his command, unaware of what was happening, also stopped.

"If I remember correctly, the Two-Tails hasn't appeared for several years, right?"

Brubi asked his subordinates.

"Yes... Ever since the incident at the Takigakure Alliance meeting, there has been no trace of the Two-Tails."

The Cloud Village ninja replied.

"If... the Two-Tails Jinchuriki had already died in battle back then, shouldn't the Tailed Beasts have been resurrected by now?"

Brubi continued to ask.

"...That's how it is in theory."

The Cloud Village ninja answered cautiously.

"Demon!"

Brubi immediately focused his mind and communicated with the Eight-Tails Gyūki within his body, "Can you sense the Two-Tails' chakra?!"

"...I'm sleepy, don't bother me."

After a while, the Eight-Tailed Gyūki finally answered lazily.

"It seems that's indeed the case..."

Brubi felt she had guessed the truth!

There is a mysterious connection between the tailed beasts. Even if the information on the battlefield is processed very carefully, ordinary ninjas cannot remove the special "scent" that can only be detected between the tailed beasts.

"Who could it be..."

Brubi calculated everything in her mind.

"Konoha?"

Brubi immediately ruled out Konoha because he knew that the Third Hokage's eldest son was stationed on the northern border of the Land of Fire, and that guy had neither the courage nor the power to cross the border to capture the Tailed Beasts.

So... west of the Land of Frost is the Land of Waterfall...

That's impossible. After acquiring the Seven-Tails, the Land of Waterfall focused on closing itself off from the world and rarely ventured outside.

Beyond the Land of Waterfalls lie the Land of Grass, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Rain...

Although the Land of Rain is guarded by ninjas from the Uchiha clan who established the shogunate, intelligence indicates that there are no particularly powerful figures there, so it can be ruled out.

As for the Land of Earth... it's not that Brubi looks down on Iwagakure, it's just that Iwagakure's Jinchuriki skills are too poor, and the two current Jinchuriki are both somewhat unstable. Unless Onoki goes crazy, he won't provoke the other Tailed Beast.

Moreover, before the daimyo's mediation, Iwagakure had been at a disadvantage in the war against Kumogakure, so he probably wouldn't have dared to do such a thing...

So, the truth is—

"Hanzo the Salamander of Amegakure!"

Bulubi gritted his teeth.

That's right!

The only ones capable of creating such a massive ninjutsu commotion and disposing of the battle traces so cleanly and efficiently are, besides the five great ninja villages and the unfathomable Takigakure, the only other possibility is Amegakure, the village of the Land of Rain, which has always been striving for the status of a great power!

That makes sense!

Brubi felt as if she had opened the door to a new world! She suddenly felt enlightened!

"Back to the village!"

He leaped up and ran towards the direction of Yunyin.

Chapter 218 So-called Fate in the Dark

After staying in the Void Ruins for another day, Uchiha Tokumitsu prepared to lead his troops away.

It wasn't appropriate to carry the Two-Tailed Cat through cities and villages, lest some black market ninja with a sensitive nose smell it. So, it was temporarily left in the Void Ruins to be cared for by the Ninja Cat Clan.

Grandma Cat was naturally delighted with this and readily agreed.

The strength of the Ninja Cat Clan is generally average. Their guarding force mainly relies on a small number of combat Ninja Cats and a few Uchiha ninjas who are assigned to guard the area according to contracts. If the Two-Tails Matatabi is well taken care of in the Ninja Cat Clan's territory, he might even share some of the Tailed Beast Chakra with other Ninja Cats, which would be equivalent to enhancing the Ninja Cats' strength.

Uchiha Tokumitsu, of course, didn't take Granny Cat's scheme to heart.

Although they had only spent a few days together, Uchiha Tokumitsu could tell that the Two-Tails Matatabi, despite his seemingly foolish appearance, was actually quite shrewd.

The reason why he was willing to sign a summoning contract with him was perhaps not only because he was forced by circumstances, but also because he wanted to find a safe place to hide.

The so-called monthly beaver allocation is just a self-imposed excuse.

If it weren't for being caught in the barrier and unable to escape, and if it weren't for the fact that Uchiha Tokumitsu had a large number of followers and enough strength to subdue it, any ordinary ninja who provoked it would have been relentlessly pursued and killed by the petty Two-Tails, Matatabi, even if they weren't crushed to ashes on the spot.

The tailed beasts' reputation as natural disasters is not undeserved.

"...Hey! Do you believe in fate?"

After settling the summoned tailed beast, Uchiha Tokumitsu was about to return to the village when the Two-Tails Matatabi suddenly called out to him.

"...Destiny?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu became interested.

He waved for his subordinates to make way, then sat down in front of Ni-O Matatabi, staring directly into those beautiful cat eyes.

What do you want to tell me?

Seeing the faint smile on Uchiha Tokumitsu's face, Two-Tails Matatabi also felt a little uncomfortable: "You mean the so-called predetermined fate, the arrangement of heaven and stuff like that... Do you believe in these things?"

"What difference does it make whether you believe or not?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu, still smiling, countered with a question.

"Do you... know the name Indra?"

Nio Matatabi asked cautiously.

"Indra?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu closed his eyes slightly, and when he opened them again, he had already activated the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"...Are you referring to a certain ancestor of the Uchiha clan?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu deliberately asked in an uncertain tone.

"Your eyes can see into the past?!"

Matatabi, who had been slightly lowering his head to avoid the gaze of the Mangekyou Sharingan, was immediately infuriated by Uchiha Tokumitsu's pretentious behavior.

No longer caring about its inner fears, it looked up and stared directly into Uchiha Tokumitsu's eyes, scrutinizing him closely.

"The Mangekyou Sharingan has this kind of ability?!"

Nibi Matatabi's tone was full of horror.

Uchiha Tokumitsu smiled without saying a word.

This can also be considered a form of habitual strategic fraud.