Should they fight, or should they retreat?
Kirigakure had begun to move.
But Kumogakure's sensory unit wasn't idle either. As soon as they sensed the Kirigakure forces approaching, they immediately called for reinforcements to support the Raikage.
In a short time, over a hundred Kumogakure shinobi gathered at the scene.
Facing them were over a thousand elite Mist ninja, including top-tier combatants from various clans. The Third Raikage stood at the front of the Kumo forces.
Yagura was protected at the rear by a dense wall of Mist shinobi.
The atmosphere was taut, on the verge of snapping. Tension churned in Yagura's heart.
Their enemy was the Third Raikage. If a full-scale battle broke out, even with Kirigakure's elite, they might not come out on top.
Even if they won, the cost would be steep.
Yagura turned and shouted, suppressing the weakness in his body,
"Mei! I have a plan! Pull everyone back! That's an order!"
But Mei Terumi didn't budge—nor did any of the Mist shinobi around them.
"Please have some faith in your own village. Shinobi from the Bloody Mist don't cower behind their Mizukage!"
BOOM!
A thunderous roar marked the start of battle.
Yagura's heart clenched. He turned hurriedly to Isobu.
[Yagura: Isobu! How much longer?!Isobu: Almost done, stop rushing me—two minutes!]
...
Some of the Mist shinobi engaged the Kumo forces, while the main unit surged toward the Third Raikage.
Leading the charge were the Kaguya clan—their bodies erupting with deadly bone spikes, both offensive and defensive in nature. They looked like a horde of white beasts as they hurled themselves at the Raikage.
"Good! Bring it on!"
The Third Raikage easily sidestepped the Kaguya shinobi leading the charge. His three-fingered spearhand technique shattered the bone armor on one Kaguya's chest and pierced straight through his heart.
Yet that shinobi, even as his life slipped away, grinned with madness and forced more bone spikes to grow from within, locking the Raikage's arm in place with his own dying body.
His crazed eyes stared death in the face—fighting to the very end.
CRACK!
With a violent yank, the Raikage pulled his arm free.
Though the Kaguya's dying strike hadn't pierced his defense, it had drawn blood and left marks on his arm.
Dozens more Kaguya charged forward, utterly ignoring their fallen comrades. Bone spikes erupted from their bodies as they hurled themselves into melee range.
To avoid being surrounded, the Raikage made a split-second decision and leapt high into the air.
His target: the ninjutsu users in the rear.
Zzzzt—
Lightning chakra exploded from his body, obliterating the ice and coral traps beneath his feet.
He vanished in a bolt of lightning speed launching him like a missile into the rear ranks of the Mist.
He moved so fast, most Mist shinobi didn't even register it until several of their comrades had already been slain.
"Scatter!""Reform the formation!""If you're not good at taijutsu, fall back!""Surround him!"
Their response was swift. Though their formation had been broken, the Mist regrouped quickly and adjusted strategy.
A core unit formed the center, with front and rear teams creating a perimeter. Taijutsu specialists from the front were swapped into the inner ring.
The Yuki and Karatachi clans focused their techniques to try to slow the Raikage's speed and agility.
Ice Release and Coral jutsu—especially effective over water—were deployed at full power.
Hozuki clan members slipped beneath the surface, ready to ambush at a moment's notice.
The Kizuki clan using Dark Release, and the Cloud Release shinobi, supported the flanks. The former drained chakra from the Raikage's armor; the latter dispersed cloud barriers to shield their allies.
The Kaguya stood at the very front.
With their dormant combat instincts fully unleashed, they became bone-covered beasts, unfazed by pain or death.
And at last—under the relentless assault of jutsu and taijutsu—the invulnerable image of the Third Raikage began to crack. Cuts and bruises appeared on his body.
The Lightning Armor wasn't truly invincible.
Especially not against Kirigakure's elite, not mere genin or chunin.
Dark Release drained his chakra, weakening the armor. Coral and Ice solidified on contact with seawater. Cloud Release's wind properties dampened his lightning.
Under such suppression, the sharp bone strikes of the Kaguya, the Hozuki's relentless water cannons, and the corrosive mist from Boil Release began to bite into the Raikage's flesh.
But every drop of his blood cost the Mist dearly.
The Kaguya were falling fast—over half already killed or crippled.
Madmen.
Once again, the Raikage's arm was trapped in bone and flesh. A Kaguya shinobi looked up with bloodlust in his eyes.
Even a seasoned warrior like the Raikage felt a flicker of dread.
The Yuki and Karatachi clans began syncing perfectly—swiftly sealing the Raikage's movements.
Dark Release shinobi raised their hands to drain the chakra from his Lightning Armor.
Corrosive mist finally landed on him—his reaction too slow to dodge. It began eating through his armor and into his skin.
The Raikage yanked free, about to strike down the Kaguya ninja—
But the man—clearly on the brink of death—ducked low and slipped out of range.
He escaped?
The Raikage was stunned. These lunatics could dodge?
And it wasn't a fluke.
Again and again, whenever he went in for the kill, the Mist shinobi would veer off, evading his blows with strange precision.
Then he noticed—all of them were being pulled in the same direction.
Sasori had joined the battle.
After saving a few injured Mist shinobi and tossing them toward the medics, he barked at the others,
"Fight with everything you've got! I'll save as many of you as I can!"
"Arrogant bastard!"
...
The Raikage instantly blitzed toward the puppet master. His three-fingered spearhand shattered Hiruko's scorpion tail mid-defense.
Sasori used the impact to launch himself backward, facing away from the Mist and unleashing a barrage of senbon from a hidden compartment in his mouth.
The Raikage tried to dodge, but the traps underfoot hindered him again.
More Ice Release. More Coral.
Yet even with all that, the senbon couldn't penetrate his armor.
A thick yellow liquid—acid—rained from above.
The Raikage had nowhere to dodge.
It wasn't as potent as the mist, and his Lightning Armor held firm, leaving him completely unharmed.
But now he was thinking about something else.
That Boil Release user and the puppet master—weren't they supposed to be occupied?
He looked toward where the Mist detachment had previously clashed with his own Kumo forces.
The sight shocked him—and enraged him even more.
In just one minute, while he'd been tied down by Bloodline Limit users, the hundred-man Kumo unit had been wiped out?!
Their bodies were ravaged—skin corroded, faces marked with deathly signs of poison.
So those two—Sasori and the Boil Release user—had broken free!
They'd teamed up again, just like when he and Mei had barely managed to fend them off before.
And the combo was still just as lethal.
Kumo had no defense against that level of poison. They'd never anticipated a Suna genius puppet master and poison user on the Mist's side.
With reinforcements arriving, the Mist encircled the Raikage again.
"You're not getting away, Raikage!"
Kisame, masked by dozens of jutsu, managed to slip into melee. Samehada bit deep into the Raikage's flesh, devouring a massive chunk of chakra.
For the first time, the Lightning Armor faltered.
This was a result none of their previous tactics had managed—Samehada's power was undeniable.
A powerful water cannon rained down, forcing the Raikage to abort his attack on Kisame. Just from the sound, it was clear this blast could pierce clean through him in his weakened state.
"Raikage—your opponent is me!"
Yagura and Isobu had finished charging up.
Torrents of spiraling water blades surged toward the Raikage. He dodged or slashed through them with taijutsu.
He leapt high, bursting free of the encirclement and landing on the sea's edge near the coast.
He was covered in wounds—especially on his arm, where the Kaguya's suicidal attacks had mangled flesh and muscle.
The worst injury, though, was still the one from his own clone at the beginning of the fight.
Yagura was back. And with him, the balance of power had shifted.
The Raikage didn't fear dying in battle.
He was confident he could take 80% of these Bloodline users down with him.
But if he died, Kirigakure would still suffer heavily.
Kumogakure, on the other hand, couldn't afford to lose its Raikage in the middle of a war.
More importantly, his son wasn't yet ready to inherit the title.
Compared to Yagura... his son was far behind.
Yagura's fury had been fully ignited—his chakra surged as he charged ahead of the Kaguya.
"Trying to run, Raikage?!"
Run?
That word didn't exist in the Raikage's dictionary.
"Lord Raikage!"
A panicked voice called out from the shore.
The Raikage braced himself and caught Yagura's tail strike head-on, then flipped him over and slammed him into the ground.
Water ropes coiled around his arms—one of Yagura's Mirror Clones.
With a fresh surge of chakra, Yagura formed seals. Ten clones surged forward.
Taijutsu, tails, wind blades from the air, and surprise water-style attacks from below—the onslaught came from all directions.
The undersea jutsu was particularly dangerous, finally forcing the Raikage to abandon the unfavorable ocean terrain.
He retreated to the coast, where a dozen newly arrived Kumo shinobi had just shown up.
"Lord Raikage!"
He turned back, face darkening. Their expressions were urgent.
"Speak!" he barked.
"The village—urgent news from the village!" one shouted. "Lord Killer B has lost control of the Eight-Tails! It's rampaging through the village!"
A Tailed Beast rampage?!
The seal had been broken—right when he was away from the village?!
The Raikage's expression changed completely. Not even the siege he'd just endured had shaken him like this.
"What happened to the seal?! How did it break?!"
"We don't know!"
...
Yagura's face lit up with joy. Orochimaru's operation had worked!
He and five clones raised their hands in unison—launching a barrage of water cannons.
With the enemy chasing him inland, the Raikage had to turn back and defend again. He dodged the attacks, glaring murderously at the one who benefitted most from this mess.
"Mizukage! Was this your scheme?!"
Yagura shrugged with a mocking smile. "You flatter me, Raikage. I'm not that capable."
"To infiltrate Kumogakure and tamper with the jinchuriki's seal? If our village had a shinobi like that, do you think I'd be wasting my time fighting you myself?"
The Raikage didn't believe a word.
It had to be either Konoha or the Mist—those two were in it together.
Even if the Mist weren't the masterminds, the Mizukage's actions had clearly served as a perfect distraction.
Yagura stood firm at the front, stopping the Kaguya from charging again.
"Besides, you were the ones who picked this fight. We've never once trespassed on your land."
Orochimaru's plan…
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
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