Chapter 522: 487. A Clash of Kages Part-3
Kakashi and Guy confront the First Raikage. The first Raikage doesn't have a vast arsenal of jutsus like the second Raikage. Neither does he possess a powerful shield and spear like the Third Raikage. However, the first Raikage had quite a powerful instantaneous movement ability and a special lightning state that makes him invulnerable to attacks.
"Guy, buy me some time to figure out his technique?" Kakashi turns to Guy.
"Leave it to me!"
Guy crosses his arms around his chest.
"Eight Inner Gates: Fifth gate of Limit: Open,"
Guy enters the fifth gate and flickers in front of the First Raikage. He has yet to completely recover his stamina from the previous battle. So, currently, the fifth gate is his limit.
HAAH…
A green aura envelope Guy. He clenches his fists and dashes towards the First Raikage. However, within a few seconds, the First Raikage overwhelms Guy with a barrage of omnidirectional attacks.
"Hmm…"
Guy could only passively block every attack and despite his every attempt to counterattack with his fast reflexes, he is always slow by a moment.
Hmm…
'This is…'
Kakashi notices a glimmer of a lightning clone every time the First Raikage performs his instantaneous movement.
"So, that's how it is!"
He figures the secret of the First Raikage's movement technique.
"Kamui!"
Kakashi activates his Kamui and banishes the lightning mark of the First Raikage to the other dimension.
Swoosh…
This disrupts the first Raikage's lightning state and reveals his body. However, he quickly shifts his position and re-enters into his special lightning state.
The lightning remnant allowed him to leave an invisible chakra mark in his surroundings.
"Guy, I figured out his technique. I just need an opening to break it."
"Very well!"
Guy grits his teeth and takes out a chakra pill from his pocket. He gulps the pill and riles up his chakra.
"Sixth Gate: Gate of View: Open,"
The powerful shockwave from Guy's body disrupts the lightning state of the First Raikage, revealing him and his lightning marks.
"KAMUI!"
Kakashi quickly memorizes the location of the lightning marks and destroys them with his Kamui, revealing the first Raikage.
"Looks like you figured out the secret of my Lightning Remnant technique." The First Raikage nods at them.
"The lightning remnant allows me to leave an invisible chakra mark in my surroundings. By expanding my chakra, I can enter into a special lightning state where my body gains the properties of the lightning and I can instantly move between remnants at lightning speeds. Thus, making me very mobile and untouchable on the battlefield.
However, this technique has a serious limitation that it requires me to expand an enormous amount of chakra and constantly create new lightning remnants on the battlefield since a lightning remnant gets consumed as soon as I teleport to it. So, this Edo body is almost perfect for this technique."
Kakashi seals The First Raikage's body using a sealing tag and heaves a sigh of relief.
GAH…
Guy's eyes turn white, and he faints from exhaustion.
"GUY!"
Kakashi quickly supports Guy and carries him on his back.
Previously, Guy pushed his limit by opening the Sixth Gate to create an opening for Kakashi.
Sakumo and his team also arrive on the battlefield as the rest of the group is done dealing with their adversaries.
"Looks like we are late!"
He shakes his head and signals a few medics among his team to tend to the Raikage, Guy, and Guy's students.
"Dad!" Kakashi walks beside Sakumo as the latter nods his head.
"Good work! You can take a break for tonight. Someone else will take over your night watch shift!"
"That's a relief!" Kakashi also closes his eyes.
Sakumo lifts his head and stares at the giant moon in the sky.
"The moon seems a bit larger than usual." He mumbles and turns his attention to the rest.
"Quickly wrap up here and return to the camp."
'Today's meeting is going to be unpleasant!'
Back at the coastal battlefield on Kiri's side,
Tsunade, Mei, Fugaku, and others warily stare at the dense mist in front of them.
Other than a few attacks from the Zetsu soldiers, there was no other movement from the mist.
"What's Kabuto planning?" Tsunade frowns as she cast another glance at the mist before returning to her camp.
They had the most uneventful battle of the day.
"Whatever it is, I don't have a good feeling about it!" Mei shakes her head.
------------------------------
"What… Naruto, you located Kabuto's position?" Shikaku asks in surprise.
"Yes, it was Nagato who located him. And I am currently on my way to stop him." Naruto relays the coordinates and flickers in the southeast direction.
The personnel at the HQ marks the location on the map.
"That direction!" Shikaku raises an eyebrow.
"Sasuke and Itachi are close by!" Inoichi points out.
"Inform them of the situation! Naruto, we can't allow you to walk in the enemy's trap." Shikaku shakes his head.
"Let Sasuke and Itachi take care of it."
"But I…"
"Naruto, he is right! We can't ignore the possibility of it being a trap. So, it's best if you leave it to others." Kushina also voices her opinion.
"Mom, even you too."
"NARUTOO!"
"Fine, I get it!" Naruto raises his hands in surrender.
In a forest at the border of the Land of River and Land of Fire,
Itachi and his team receive the message from the HQ.
"We found him." He nods at the rest of his team members and flickers towards Kabuto's hideout.
-----------------------------
A few hours earlier, at the Iwa battlefield,
Mu obliterates Onoki using a blast of his particle extinction cannon.
"GRANDPAA!!"
Kurotsuchi screams in horror as Onoki's figure vanishes from her sight.
"Did I kill him?" Mū glances around at his surroundings as he is unable to sense Onoki's chakra signature.
"It's gone! His chakra signature."
The various sensors at the battlefield gulp their saliva as Onoki's chakra signature vanishes.
"Onoki-sama, is he… dead?"
The morale of shinobis from Iwagakure hits rock bottom.
"Now it's time for the rest of you to join him."
Mū infuses a large amount of chakra into his palm and shapes it into a giant cone.
Swish… Fwoosh…
A blurry figure reappears behind Mū and pierces a special sealing kunai through his chest.
GAH…
The surprise disrupts the chakra and destroys the giant cone. Several sealing runes crawl out of the kunai and binds Mū's body.
"You…"
Mū slowly turns around his head. The blurry figure becomes clear, revealing Onoki's face.
"How… how did you do it?" Mū slowly opens his mouth as the fuinjutsu seal slowly immobilizes his body.
Mū doesn't enquire about the nature of Onoki's concealment technique, since it's a variation of his own 'Dustless Bewildering Cover' secret technique. The fuinjutsu seal of the kunai disrupts Mū's hearing and slowly puts his consciousness to sleep. However, he is still able to lip-read Onoki's response.
"I see!"
Mū closes his eyes with a powerful seal shrouding his entire body.
Phew…
Onoki heaves a sigh of relief and wipes the cold sweat from his forehead.
This is a very tough battle for him since his enemy, being his mentor, knew every trick up his sleeve. Not only that, Onoki is aware of the fact that Mū held withheld a few techniques as his trump card and never taught those techniques to anyone.
"Sigh… to think that I would have to resort to trickery to defeat him."
Onoki sighs as he recalls the battle. Before the fourth shinobi war, the Fifth Hokage Tsunade shared one of the secret techniques, 'Shadow clones' with all Kages as a symbol of trust. The other Kages readily signed the agreement of non-disclosure to other shinobis of their village. The shadow clone is one of the most powerful techniques with the most utility.
'In the end, I had to let go of my pride and resort to such means.'
Onoki grits his teeth and flies away toward the camp.
While flying, he recalls the bitter memories from his youth. The humiliation and disgrace he underwent on that day and the oath he swore to himself.
----------------------
In a secret underground hideout.
Tch…
Kabuto clicks his tongue at the failure of his plan.
"It's time for the next phase of my plan!"
He glances at the wooden coffin in front of him.
"The summoning will take some preparation!"
He makes a series of hand signs and slams his palm on the ground.
A giant fuinjutsu formation appears on the ground.
A twisted smile creeps on Kabuto's face and a grim smile appears on Onoki's face as both of them mutter a name.
Chapter 523: 488. Battle of Deceit Part-1
After sealing the former three Raikages, the group reunites with the First Division.
"Sakumo-sama!"
Guy and team three greet Sakumo while Kakashi, Minato, and A nod at him.
"I will return to the HQ to monitor the situation on other battlefields." Minato teleports away from the battlefield.
"What happened?"
The various shinobis with Sakumo support and treat A and Guy. Sakumo turns to Kakashi for an answer.
"Well… a lot happened!" Kakashi narrates the situation to Sakumo.
"I see… Let's return to the camp first."
Later, the various Kages, commanders, and vice-commanders spend a restless night. Their subordinates tally the number of casualties.
"The number is out!"
A member of the logistics department delivers a report to Shikaku. Shikaku holds the report and walks in front of Inoichi.
Mm…
Inoichi nods and informs the other commanders and vice-commander to join the meeting.
"Quick, tell me what the situation is like?"
Both A and Onoki impatiently turn to Shikaku as soon as the meeting starts.
Sigh…
"Here!"
Shikaku sighs and passes the report to them.
"The allied shinobi forces suffered a devastating blow. Even if you win this war, it will take us a very long time to recuperate from such heavy losses. Also, the victory and defeat are still uncertain given the several uncountable methods of the Akatsuki."
Rasa shakes his head after reading the report.
"It has been only three days, and we have lost a total of twenty-five thousand shinobis in this war. This must be the highest number of casualties in any war so far." Gaara speaks out.
"The only solace in today's battle is the fact that we managed to whittle down the hundred thousand-strong army to a mere thirty thousand soldiers. However, the presence of that unknown monster summoned by Tobi is quite concerning. It isn't something that we fight with, just numbers." Sakumo glances at everyone present in the meeting room.
"I think it's about time for us to merge the various divisions." Minato opens his mouth and stares at everyone present in the room for their reaction.
Hmm…
The various commanders and vice-commanders glance at each other and nod.
"The first division, the second division, and the third division will merge into one combat division, and the fourth and the fifth special division will merge into another combat division," Shikaku suggests.
The group collectively glances at the empty seats of the commanders and vice-commanders of the fourth and fifth divisions.
"From the looks of it, the enemy will make their move on the coastal battlefield tonight," Rasa remarks.
"The full moon cycle is near. So, there will be huge tidal waves in the sea at night. The enemy might try to use them to their advantage since it will greatly increase the power of the water-style jutsus." One of the Kiri commanders remarks.
"There is no use mulling over this matter. Let's leave it to the discernment of the Hokage and the Mizukage." Onoki remarks.
"I will take my leave. I am quite exhausted after today's battle." He exits the meeting.
One by one, the rest of the commanders and vice-commanders also break off the connection to recover.
As soon as Minato exits the meeting, he meets up with Izuna.
"Kushina wants to meet you!" Minato stares into Izuna's deep, clear black eyes.
"Ok!"
The space in front of Izuna fractures. He steps into it with a sleeping Kana and Tatsuya in his arms.
"Oh!"
Minato raises an eyebrow in surprise. He studies the fractured space rift in front of him.
On the other end of the space rift,
"Onii-chan!"
Ayaka jumps into Izuna's embrace as soon as he walks out of the portal.
"Ayaka!"
He gently pats Ayaka's head.
"It has been a while." He slowly opens his mouth. The memories of the past filter through his mind like a waning dream.
"Onii-chan!"
Ayaka raises her head and stares into Izuna's eyes.
Hmm…
Izuna is taken aback by the amethyst glow in her eyes.
'Her Dojutsu is slowly manifesting…'
He murmurs a few incomprehensible things to himself.
"Onii-chan! What's the matter?" Ayaka tilts her head in confusion.
"Nothing… I was just overwhelmed by emotions." Izuna shakes his head.
"Izuna-kun!"
Kushina also silently appears beside him and curiously glances at him from top to bottom.
"I can't even sense your presence. If not for my eyes, I might even wonder if you are even present here." Kushina circles him.
"You don't have any chakra signature at all. It's like… it's like…" Kushina opens and closes her mouth, at a loss for words.
"It's like he is an illusion. A genjutsu that can vanish at any time." Minato completes the sentence for her.
"Yes, that's how his presence feels like, ethereal and illusory!" Kushina adds.
Izuna walks towards a bed and places Kanna and Tatsuya on it. He gently ruffles their hair with a loving gaze and turns to Minato and Kushina. Both of them have several questions for him.
'Like, where was he in the past three years? How is he so strong now? What kind of trials and hardship did he undergo?'
Ayaka walks towards him and snuggles in his embrace. Izuna gently pats his head with a smile and turns to the couple.
"Well, I am sure you both have a lot of questions to ask me?" Izuna opens his mouth.
Kushina and Minato glance at each other and nod.
"I will answer all of your questions after this war ends. So, please hold your curiosity for a little while."
"Alright!"
Minato and Kushina nod at him.
"Umm… I still want to ask you something!"
Mm…
"How strong are you, exactly?" Kushina asks him a very simple question.
Haa…
Izuna chuckles at her question as he replies to her.
"Kushina Nee-san, you know that there are countless other worlds, like our Shinobi world with hundreds of millions and billions of living beings? Some of them are smaller than our world and some are smaller.
As a part of these worlds, we might think that our fate and destiny belong solely to us. However, unknown to us, there is an unknown force that guides, controls and manipulates our every action.
These unknown forces are the so-called rules and the laws of the world that shape the very fabric of reality. For us, these rules are our laws that we can't act against us. However, for those truly powerful beings, these rules and laws are just other techniques that they can change at will."
"So, are you among those truly powerful beings?" Minato asks in astonishment.
"Well, I am," Izuna replies with a confident smile.
'Sort of… at least in this world.'
Izuna recalls the existence of GOD that reincarnated him in this world.
'Compared to the real thing, I am just another mortal with some power.'
"So, does that mean this war… you can?!" Kushina asks with slight excitement.
"Unfortunately, it's not as simple as you think." Izuna shakes his head.
"The events leading to the revival of Kaguya are a part of the destiny event. The destiny event determines the very fate of the universe, so the powerful existence can only subtly influence the event. They can't directly interfere with it.
It's how a chess player can control and move the chess pieces onto the chessboard. Even though he has freedom of action, he still has to follow the rules set by the organizer. Though flipping the entire chessboard is something entirely else."
"That makes sense!" Minato nods in understanding.
"Do you know the true mastermind behind this war?" Kushina asks him another question.
"Well, about that…" Izuna rubs his nose with an awkward smile.
"I still have no clue about the identity of the real mastermind." Izuna helplessly shrugs his shoulder.
'Though Black Zetsu is the real mastermind as far as he knows from his past life.'
However, the scale of events has changed so drastically due to his mere presence that even he has no clue about future events.
'Well, I will leave this problem for the future me to handle. And from the words of my son in the future, a lot of shit is about to happen in the future.'
"Oh, something interesting is happening on the coastal battlefield!"
Izuna stretches out his palm and projects a live feed of the coastal battlefield.
Minato, Kushina, and Ayaka curiously stare at the projection.
---------------------------
At the coastal battlefield,
Inside the camps, Tsunade, Mei, Fugaku, Akira, Yagami, Hiashi, and the other commander and vice-commander stare towards the sea. The almost oval moon hangs high up in the sky as the occasional sound of waves hitting the shore echoes in the distance.
The entire surface of the sea is shrouded in a thick mist that blocks the vision. This mist is a strategic tactic employed by Kabuto and Tobi to counter the vast population of Uchiha and Hyūga in the allied shinobi force division.
Hmm…
Hiashi raises his head and glances toward the sky.
"Byakugan!"
He activates his Dojutsu and notices several chakras filled with dark clouds in the sky. The fleet of black clouds covers the moon and shrouds the entire battlefield in darkness.
"The mist is gradually thickening!" Fugaku also notices the anomaly.
"EVERYONE, GET READY! It's an enemy attack."
Mei and Tsunade quickly react to the situation.
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