CHAPTER 274: CHAPTER 274: DAMN, YOU’RE EVEN MILKING THE FEATHERS OFF THE GOOSE?

Yagura, in full rampage, radiated tailed beast chakra from head to toe. The moment he saw Kyoichi, he charged straight at him, a dense ball of chakra forming in his mouth—

Tailed Beast Bomb!

Kyoichi narrowed his eyes.

The bomb gathered rapidly—within the blink of an eye, the black sphere shot forth and blasted toward him.

But—

At the same time, dozens of paper shuriken burst from Kyoichi’s body.

Each folded shuriken was inscribed with his personal Flying Thunder God formula, gliding through the air while remaining under his precise control.

Just as the Tailed Beast Bomb roared his way—

Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!

The Three-Tails’ Tailed Beast Bomb was certainly powerful, but still a far cry from the might of the Eight-Tails or Nine-Tails. For Kyoichi, diverting it was no effort at all.

In the blink of an eye, the bomb vanished into thin air—only to reappear in the sky, redirected straight back at the Three-Tails.

"What... kind of jutsu is that?!"

Hōzuki Mangetsu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Even Tailed Beast Bombs could be redirected?

Then regular ninjutsu would be meaningless. That meant Kanda Kyoichi stood in an unshakable position—ninjutsu simply didn’t apply to him anymore.

Unless they could physically strike him with taijutsu or kenjutsu... but Mangetsu knew better than anyone that Kanda Kyoichi was a master of both, especially kenjutsu.

And ninja swordsmanship—

There were hardly any in the entire shinobi world who could rival him.

No—if we’re being precise, there was no one.

That realization sank in like a stone. Any lingering desire for revenge or resistance in Mangetsu’s heart vanished. Because deep down, he knew—

He could never beat Kanda Kyoichi.

BOOM!!

A thunderous explosion.

The Tailed Beast Bomb fired by the Three-Tails’ Jinchūriki blew up in his own face, knocking him flat with a pained roar.

Thankfully, the Three-Tails had extremely high defense, so the self-inflicted damage wasn’t fatal.

However—

In the very next second...

Kyoichi appeared right beside him, while at the same time, a Wood Clone slipped quietly beneath Yagura.

As Kyoichi’s real body began using the Four Symbols Seal to suppress the beast chakra, the clone below was already activating Chakra Absorption, draining the Tailed Beast’s energy.

The immense chakra fluctuation masked the subtle activity of the Wood Clone—no one sensed it. All they saw was the Tailed Beast being suppressed and gradually sealed away.

Elder Genji was momentarily stunned.

Was Kanda Kyoichi... actually doing good deeds in Kirigakure?

Even if he charged a fee, compared to the safety and survival of the village, any money was negligible. And the power and sealing techniques Kyoichi brought to the table—immeasurable.

"Elder Genji, what now?"

"Take the Third Mizukage to rest. His body isn’t injured, just spiritually depleted. As for Yagura... we don’t need to worry anymore. Looks like Kanda Kyoichi’s got it handled."

Genji said calmly.

The others hesitated to speak.

A ninja from Konoha—their former top enemy—was now standing in their village, single-handedly suppressing a rampaging Jinchūriki. It felt like something out of a dream.

"The reasons are complicated. I’ll explain after this chaos is settled."

Genji didn’t fully understand it himself.

But he knew one thing clearly:

In the shadows of the shinobi world, there truly were forces manipulating everything from behind the scenes.

Kirigakure’s war with Konoha had been ignited by those forces.

If it had been up to Genji’s own strategic judgment, the current state of Kirigakure was not fit for a war with Konoha.

He took a deep breath, already beginning to think about what to do next.

One thing was certain—

Given Yagura’s condition, he was no longer a viable Mizukage candidate.

Even if he was now freed from manipulation and mentally stable, the village wouldn’t trust him again—not after witnessing him go berserk and destroy their own streets.

So the biggest problem now was...

Who would become the Fourth Mizukage?

The Third Mizukage was clearly out of the question.

Even though Genji wasn’t a medical specialist, anyone could see how far gone the Third’s body was. The years had drained him.

Who knew what he had endured over all that time?

The most bitter irony was—

Kirigakure had been under foreign control for years, and they—the inner circle—had no clue. It took an outsider to expose the truth.

Genji looked up and saw that Yagura had regressed from full Tailed Beast Mode to a partial transformation.

Even now, he was still snarling madly.

But the reduction in size had clearly weakened his presence—it was almost...

Pitiful.

And it even looked like Yagura was trying to speak... but couldn’t form any words.

Genji furrowed his brows.

Slowly, Yagura’s struggling ceased. The transformation faded completely—leaving him in a fully normal human form once again. Genji and the others quickly moved in to secure him.

"Wait. I still need to check something."

Kyoichi formed hand seals.

Chakra scalpel—activated.

In the next moment—

A shallow incision opened on Yagura’s chest.

Kyoichi peered in, sensing carefully, and frowned.

There had been signs of a sealing formula—but it had already dissipated. Only a trace of foreign chakra remained. More importantly, Yagura wasn’t under genjutsu anymore.

However, on the Three-Tails itself—

There was a familiar contract mark.

Kyoichi casually applied a contract seal, severing Madara’s influence over the tailed beast. At the same time, he secretly left behind a backdoor in the contract.

If he managed to deepen his study of contract seals in the future...

He might be able to control the Three-Tails through that very backdoor.

Of course...

That was a precaution—in case Kirigakure ever decided to turn the Tailed Beast against Konoha.

The extracted tailed beast chakra was now sealed within the Wood Clone. Unlike Shadow Clones, Wood Clones had a degree of autonomy and stability.

As long as the clone wasn’t disrupted, it could maintain and preserve the chakra until needed.

Kyoichi already had some Four-Tails chakra sealed at his base.

And now, with Kushina’s Nine-Tails chakra too...

That made three types of tailed beast chakra in total.

He mentally tallied it up.

Still missing six.

But for now, it was just a rough idea—he wanted to see if gathering all nine could eventually help him study Ten-Tails chakra.

With Sage Chakra in hand, he didn’t urgently need tailed beast transformations.

Unless—

He mastered Perfect Tailed Beast Transformation.

But that wasn’t something chakra alone could achieve—it required the genuine cooperation of the Tailed Beast, which was... not exactly realistic right now.

So, for the time being, these tailed beast chakras were just strategic reserves.

With this matter wrapped up, Kyoichi extended his sensing outward.

Kakuzu was still approaching.

He’d likely already encountered Kakashi’s group.

"Genji. Yagura’s under control now. Don’t forget our deal—if you do, I’ll come back for you."

With that, he vanished in a flash of Flying Thunder God, heading off to reinforce Kakashi.

Genji naturally agreed.

Right now, Kirigakure was weak, and there were still enemies lurking in the shadows. Without Konoha’s support, the village could be wiped out at any moment.

Right now, their only hope was Kanda Kyoichi.

So that payment?

Of course he’d pay it.

But the real headache was...

Kyoichi never stated the actual amount. He just kept saying "add more."

Damn it...

How much money would actually satisfy that guy?

Genji had no idea.

He kept a calm face, but inwardly, he was already stressing about how to handle the aftermath. After some thought, he decided to check on Yagura first.

Getting closer—

Yagura’s tailed beast chakra had been completely drained.

"...Damn."

You even milked the feathers off the goose?

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