_________ POV Narration _________

Yusuzo panted a bit as his wings flapped in the wind.

He had somehow managed to leave the Raikage behind, taking flight and leaving him on the ground.

The Lighting Charged Kage was also tired out by using his more taxing form, which, coupled with his injury, was slowing him down exponentially.

Still, Yusuzo was not celebrating a successful retreat at all.

The fate of the Mizukage, their ally, was pretty much unknown. Even if he was strong, it was hard for Yusuzo to imagine he would be able to defeat Ken.

The Waterfall Kage took one last look behind him. At that point, the Raikage was a glowing dot in the distance. But he hadn't stopped. He seemed to still be running towards them.

'He's running out of steam... We should be in the clear for now...'

That gave Yusuzo the leeway to analyze the situation a bit more. He couldn't help but grit his teeth as the pieces all fell into place in his mind.

He had suspected that the Red Dot was involved in the matter even back when the Shinobi Alliance was crossing the sea.

Now? Turns out he was involved in finding out the information that set off the Raikage against them.

It was too suspicious in the Jinchuriki's mind to be a coincidence.

This led to the obvious conclusion, at least to the Jinchuriki, that Ken was either already in cahoots with the Grey Fox or they were the very same person.

From the look of things, he had done things in such a way that he was essentially playing Shogi with no one but himself.

Everyone, the Raikage, A, B, the Tsuchikage, and even Yusuzo himself, they were all nothing but pieces on his table.

And, when looking at the Tsuchikage's broken body, he couldn't help but realize that they had been played really well...

'It's my fault for keeping that arm... Although, even if I didn't have it, I think the outcome would've been the same...'

It seemed that his carefulness had led him to walk directly into a trap, but even so, he didn't think the Raikage would've let them go even if Yusuzo allowed a search and had nothing on him.

It was a dark thought, but it seemed that the Raikage's mind was already made up by the time they arrived in that blasted tent.

He wouldn't have brought 'assurance', in the form of the Red Dot, there if he wasn't already fixated on killing Yusuzo and Onoki. That was just the type of person the Raikage was.

The questions were likely just him trying to find some type of rhyme or reason for his son's death, maybe even a slight hope of recovering his remains.

Regardless, Yusuzo was at least sure of who to focus on from now on...

And that was the Red Dot. As soon as he got out of danger completely.

It wasn't hard for Yusuzo to realize now that the Red Dot had done the best job he could to affect his state of mind and thought process during that entire meeting.

And, embarrassingly, it had worked like a charm.

To the point where Yusuzo was only now putting the pieces together and realising that the Raikage was essentially just a puppet in the Red Dot's plan... Whatever that was.

'His intentions are too hard to grasp... I don't even have enough information on the type of person he is, so I can't even begin to guess at them...'

Many things were public about the Red Dot.

His ruthlessness, his overwhelming strength and skill, assassination techniques that knew no equal, and the mask he wore portrayed that he had 'something' to hide.

Maybe he had a family? Maybe he had loved ones? People he cared about, parents, children, whatever it was.

After all, there wasn't much reason other than that for wearing a mask, right?

'I bet that if I could find his actual identity, then I would be able to blackmail him into helping us with the Raikage... But that in itself might be impossible...'

He also thought of trying to convince the Raikage that he was being manipulated after things died down, but he knew it would be extremely difficult...

The hardest thing to do in the world was to convince someone they had been fooled.

'I need more time to consider things... I don't even know if I can rely on the Tsuchikage anymore, he's certainly not going to trust me since I hid the arm from him...'

At that point, Yusuzo gained an idea, looking down at the injured Tsuchikage, he smiled.

'Yes... I doubt I'll gain anything by saving him. I reacted out of instinct since we were allies for quite a while, but I don't gain anything from saving him.

If anything, he's likely to attack and try to kill me, while blaming this whole mess on my blunder...' 

At that moment, Yusuzo looked back, the Raikage was such a small point in the distance that he was no longer even visible.

'Whatever, maybe I can strike a deal with the next Tsuchikage, I doubt Onoki would've given them the details of our dealings.'

And at that moment, his tail loosened, dropping the Tsuchikage's body at a random point in the forest, the trees and ground below shaking as they broke his fall.

A small dust cloud rose where the legless Tsuchikage had landed, signifying that his fall was not pleasant, trees or not.

'The Raikage will reach this forest sooner or later, I'm sure he'll find Onoki in his small crater... If he hasn't died already.

Regardless, should be a good enough distraction for me to get away...' 

Looking back once more, he noticed something strange.

'Wait a minute... Why has the Raikage stopped?'

There was no longer any light in the distance, all he could see was the dark clouds and the sky.

Had the Raikage given up the chase?! Impossible!

Yusuzo and Onoki had killed his son! The Raikage wouldn't have stopped chasing them for anything in that world!

At that point, he noticed a large silhouette as the moonlight broke through the clouds. The figure stood amongst the clouds, somehow...

It was a humanoid figure, dozens of kilometres away. A human covered in a tattered cloak, a burly body covered in dark-green scales which shined in the moonlight...

A long tail that seemed to be as big as his body sprouted from his lower back.

And on his upper back was a pair of scaled wings, looking similar to those of a bat, spiked and bony, but also covered in scales.

Yusozo's eyes widened as he could see the wingspan of the creature that was observing him from the distance.

It was easily bigger than his entire body, flapping slowly as they parted the clouds slightly with each movement.

In a split second, Yusuzo turned around and immediately increased his flying speed, knowing that he needed to get away from that creature.

One detail gave it away that the creature was not his ally. The only feature he could recognize on that beast... A mask.

It was too far for him to discern what type of mask it was, it was too much for his eyes. But his Tail Beast was telling him to run away almost as soon as he laid eyes on that creature.

There was only one person that his Tailed Beast reacted like that around.

'The Red Dot... Who would've thought that he was an actual monster.'

His speed increased at the thought of the mad assassin catching up to him.

His mind was filled with confusion. How did that make any sense?! Since when was the Red Dot able to grow wings?

Did that mean he wasn't the Grey Fox after all?!

'... Don't tell me... Does his body morph however he wants it to?'

That was the only conclusion Yusuzo could reach as his 6 wings flapped at great speeds to carry him away from the strange monster.

After a few minutes, the Jinchuriki made the mistake of looking back once more.

And his eyes widened as he noticed that the assassin was now a few kilometres closer, even easier to make out even in the cover of night.

"SHIT!" The Waterfall Kage screamed out loud as he willed his body to go faster, he hoped to somehow outlast the abomination that was hunting him down.

Minutes passed, and Yusuzo struggled to keep his heightened pace, constantly looking back only to see that the Assassin was still on his tail, slowly but surely creeping onto his trail.

It was clear at that point for Yusuzo that he had made a mistake. Droping the Tsuchikage didn't seem to do anything to distract the monster hunting him down.

'I should've waited more before dropping him! Shit!'

He had inadvertently saved the Tsuchikage with his actions. Well, he had at least given him a chance to live. Onoki was injured plenty, so his survival wasn't fully assured.

Yusuzo's chakra had only helped patch up some of his minor wounds after all. And that fall was bound to have done some damage.

Still, the situation was not looking good for Yusuzo.

The Raikage had likely allowed Ken to continue the chase and had stopped to tend to his injury. And Ken had possibly missed the moment where he had thrown Onoki...

'Just my luck... shit! FUCK THIS!'

Yusuzo immediately turned around, he continued flying in the same direction, now facing Ken.

'I can't outrun him, I don't know if I can outlast him. But I can at least try to stop him!'

There was too much uncertainty for him to just continue blindly tiring himself out and running in a direction.

Without any further ado, he started gathering Chakra at his mouth, preparing a small-tailed beast ball to at least slow down Ken in some way.

The ball was about as big as his head, he made it as big as he could, and immediately spat it out.

The Assassin seemed to notice it, but kept flying forwards nonetheless.

Yusuzo scowled as he turned back around and kept speeding away. Hoping for the best.

He turned his head the moment his Tailed Beast Ball reached Ken's vicinity, and he watched as the assassin didn't slow down at all, only extended one of his clawed hands forwards towards the ball of chakra.

'Hmph! Arrogant bastard! All the better for me!'

Yusuzo had expected Ken to dodge the attack, he expected it to do little damage, but he hoped to slow him down at least.

It seemed that the monster was going to clash head-on with it, which was a mistake one could only make once.

'Good riddance...'

He heard an explosion, and smiled, looking back, he could feel a small shockwave spreading amongst the clouds, parting them as the air around the Tailed Beast Ball burned and exploded.

Yusuzo's smile faltered when a figure flew out of the smoke.

Still heading his way at the same speed was none other than Ken, his hand still extended forwards, only smoking a bit.

At that point, he noticed that the Assassin had gained a burst of speed, growing a... Second pair of wings?!!?

'What the hell?! How am I supposed to get away from this abomination!?'

It seemed that getting away simply wasn't in the cards for poor Yusuzo... Oh, but he did put in a valiant effort.

Unfortunately, all it took for Ken to close the distance between them was 10 minutes.

Yusuzo was panicking so much, to the point where he immediately took his Tailed Beast Form when he felt Ken get within 100 meters of him.

"DON'T THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME OUT SO EASILY!"

Yusuzo let out a beastly roar as his one tail snapped in the air and trusted forwards, piercing the air at breakneck speeds and heading straight for Ken, who was still flying at him at full speed.

The masked assassin spun in the air, flying in a circle around his tail as he got closer and closer.

"STOP!"

Yusuzo's voice was sounding more and more desperate as the Assassin's claws were only metres away from his now giant body.

--- BANG ---

With a thunderous roar, Yusuzo's flight was broken, he was immediately kicked towards the ground with a force that could only be described as overwhelming.

He could only let out a pained scream as his massive body crashed into the ground like a meteor, breaking the small mountain it had fallen on.

But the Jinchuriki wasn't about to give up, urged by his Tailed Beast to get up and at least try something, he immediately started charging up a much bigger Tailed Beast Bomb.

'I'll take him out alongside this entire mountain range!'

Unfortunately for Yusuzo, one needed time to charge a proper Tailed Beast Bomb. And as he was doing so, a gigantic flying slash headed directly for him.

It was so large that it completely covered the Tailed Beast's body, it threatened to slash the entire crushed mountain range in two.

Yusuzo only roared as he willed his unfinished Tailed Beast Ball towards the Slash, hoping to break it.

Unfortunately, it was not the type of attack that could be blocked.

The Tailed Beast within Yusuzo felt it clearly...

'Senjutsu!'

It was at that point that it realized.

'We're dead!'

The slash broke through the unfinished clump of Chakra, only losing a bit of its size as it immediately came into contact with the Tailed Beast's body.

Sparks flew as its insect-like exoskeleton tried to put up some fight against the slash, it tried to create some sort of cocoon around itself, but it had no time to.

In a split second, blood sprouted out as the Tailed Beast was split in two, right down the middle.

The Flying Slash continued forwards, blasting apart what remained of the mountain range.

Ken continued flying in the sky, panting a bit as he looked at his long blade with appreciation.

'It's been a while since I went all out. Guess I got even stronger than before.

Welp, good riddance. No trace of the Tsuchikage, but it is what it is...'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Took a bit to write again, but at least I managed to put out a chapter today :))

Haven't found a new story to shout out for this week's shoutout: Who Says All Saints Need to be Good?

If anyone has any suggestions for a good smaller story lemme know ;)

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