Yako stood atop a branch, watching Uchiha Tōka's figure disappear into the distance.
He couldn't let him escape.
He had to finish this.
White Ram and his squad were still far behind. The speed of that underground technique wasn't something an elite jōnin could match.
Yako slipped into the trunk beneath him and vanished.
—
Guruguru carried Tōka underground before releasing the technique. From there, Tōka altered direction on foot, avoiding Wood Release detection.
Ten minutes later—
Tōka's heart tightened.
He looked up.
On a high branch—
Copper Fox.
The ANBU who killed his brother.
Guruguru felt it instantly.
Fox's gaze was different this time.
Cold.
Final.
The kind of killing intent that decided life and death in a single exchange.
Yako wanted him dead.
Desperately.
But it wouldn't be easy.
Physical attacks and ninjutsu were difficult to make lethal through Guruguru's Wood armor.
If he merely wounded Tōka, Pillar Leech would reverse it.
He had to immobilize him.
Then crush his skull instantly.
Yako formed seals and pressed his palm to the trunk.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Red maple trunks erupted from the earth, turning the battlefield into his domain.
Guruguru considered using the underground technique—
But sensed something beneath.
The entire subterranean space was saturated with Fox's roots.
Entering that was suicide.
From every maple trunk hung rows of vines.
They swayed like living things.
Then—
They moved.
All at once.
They lunged at Tōka.
Not to injure.
To bind.
Pillar Leech couldn't reverse restraint.
Air split with whistling sounds.
Tōka tried to leap—
But vines wrapped around his ankles from below.
That single delay was enough.
Thousands of vines engulfed him.
Even the best electrician in the world couldn't untangle that mess.
Ironwire vines cocooned him completely, leaving only his forehead exposed.
Yako formed a seal.
"Water Release: Severing Wave!"
A razor-thin stream shot toward Tōka's brow.
Tōka tried to move—
But the vines drained his chakra.
Guruguru shouted inside the mask.
"Tōka! Everything you've got!"
In the next instant—
The cocoon exploded outward.
Light-brown Susanoo emerged, blocking the water blade and shattering the vines.
Yako glanced at the forest floor.
There were too many Zetsu nearby.
He couldn't use Island of Miasmic Collapse yet.
He could not let Madara learn he could copy abilities.
That was his greatest secret.
He crouched and slammed his palm down.
A Wood Dragon roared into existence, bursting from the ground and coiling around Susanoo's left shoulder.
Susanoo dimmed slightly.
Chakra was being siphoned.
The dragon thickened.
Yako suddenly noticed—
A black dot beneath his feet.
He jumped instantly.
The dot expanded into a Miasmic Black Island.
Inside Susanoo, Tōka was shocked.
How did he evade that?
He had ignored the Wood Dragon entirely for the ambush.
Susanoo evolved further—
Muscle layered over bone.
Chakra surged.
A weapon formed in its hand—
A horned trident.
Even the weapon resembled Impalement.
The trident struck—
Pinning the Wood Dragon to the ground.
It struggled.
Couldn't break free.
Yako summoned another dragon.
It lunged at Susanoo's right shoulder, biting into its neck.
Chakra flowed from Tōka into the dragon's throat.
Tōka crushed the first dragon with Island of Miasmic Collapse.
Then impaled the second.
Another collapse.
Another dragon reduced to paper.
Yako breathed heavily.
The pursuit had drained him.
In this timeline—
Tōka didn't have Eternal Mangekyō.
Even with Guruguru and White Zetsu supplementing him, repeated Susanoo and Collapse were taking a toll.
His eyelids trembled.
Guruguru muttered, "If only you had fused your brother's eyes. Eternal Mangekyō consumes only chakra… not the eyes themselves."
Zetsu began clearing underground roots, opening a tunnel for escape.
"Hold on!" Guruguru urged. "We just need time! Zetsu have informed Madara-sama!"
Tōka advanced.
Hatred burned.
Susanoo shoved aside maple trunks and thrust its trident at Fox.
Yako swung on ironwire vines, moving through the trees.
Tōka used Island of Miasmic Collapse again.
A black dot formed beneath the tree Yako clung to.
The entire tree shrank instantly.
Yako released the vine at once.
The vine and tree collapsed to paper.
If he'd hesitated—
He would have been dragged in.
He fell midair—
Tōka formed another black dot at his landing point.
Yako sealed rapidly.
A Wood Dragon shot from a trunk, catching him midair.
This was his forest.
He moved fluidly.
Now only fifteen meters apart.
The dragon burrowed through Susanoo's waist, coiling out over its shoulder.
It drained chakra desperately.
Susanoo shrank to ribs and one arm.
Tōka used Collapse again.
The dragon vanished.
Yako saw blood tear from Tōka's right eye.
He was reaching his limit.
One more dragon might shatter Susanoo completely.
But—
Suddenly—
Yako's right eye burned.
Capillaries ruptured.
Blood flowed.
Yako looked up—
Tōka had used Pillar Leech.
Guruguru shouted excitedly, "Brilliant! Tōka! As expected of Madara-sama's chosen!"
A Zetsu emerged from the ground.
"The tunnel's ready!"
Guruguru dragged Tōka underground.
Yako didn't touch the ground.
He hung from a vine, wary of a trap.
Below, Zetsu tore away maple roots and laid down bodies to form an organic path.
They fled.
Yako landed slowly after catching his breath.
Then pursued again.
—
At the border of the Land of Fire—
He intercepted them once more.
Tōka and Guruguru were exhausted.
Susanoo weakened quickly under Wood Dragons.
Island of Miasmic Collapse was predicted repeatedly.
Only Pillar Leech remained reliable—
Transferring Mangekyō strain to Fox.
Yet Fox's bleeding eye recovered disturbingly fast.
After losing four Wood Dragons—
Yako finally drained Susanoo completely.
Tōka stood exposed.
Stronger than Gogo had been.
But not enough.
Yako formed a seal.
"Water Release: Severing Wave!"
The blade shot for Tōka's brow.
No Susanoo remained to defend.
Guruguru jerked Tōka's neck aside.
"I can boost your body and chakra—but the killing blow is yours!"
Tōka's right eye blurred.
He forced one final technique.
"Mangekyō: Island of Miasmic Collapse!"
A black dot formed beneath Fox's foot.
It expanded rapidly.
Tōka smiled.
Got you.
Fox was spent.
He would collapse—
In that final relaxed instant—
A figure flashed before him.
A wooden spear drove into his forehead.
It burst from the back of his skull in thorned bloom.
His brain was destroyed.
No more Mangekyō.
Guruguru's mask split open in shock.
He couldn't process it.
Why?
Why hadn't Collapse stopped him?
Because—
Yako had already anticipated the attack.
He had placed his own Island of Miasmic Collapse beneath his feet first.
Two identical collapses—
Canceled each other.
He reached toward Tōka's eyes.
These would make an excellent subordinate.
They must be removed before the pupils dilated.
Then—
A long-handled scythe whistled through the air toward him.