Coming to Their Door

"Lord Raikage, the most pressing question now is whether we should continue this war."

At that moment, Dodai, Kumogakure’s strategist, frowned deeply and spoke.

"What do you mean by that? Are we supposed to surrender before we’ve even fought Konoha?" A hotheaded jonin below could not help but shout.

"Shut up!" Killer B, seated beside the Fourth Raikage and usually wearing a cheerful, joking expression, now looked stern as he spoke with eyes as cold and sharp as blades.

The jonin shuddered. Over the years, Killer B’s ever-cheerful demeanor had often made people overlook his other identity: he was a Jinchuriki!

And Jinchuriki had always been synonymous with danger. They had never been easy to reason with! It was only because this generation’s two Jinchuriki were both exceptionally gifted and had never gone berserk since becoming Jinchuriki that he had forgotten that.

It was not only Killer B; the Fourth Raikage had calmed down as well.

The Raikage had intended to test Konoha by attacking it, but after Kumogakure had suffered such losses, they truly could not afford to keep fighting.

Especially now that the Two-Tails Jinchuriki had been taken by the enemy, recovering the Jinchuriki had to be their highest priority.

The Fourth Raikage was hot-blooded, not stupid. Maintaining a tough stance in ordinary times was one thing, but if he truly could not recognize when to advance or retreat, how could Kumogakure have developed into a great ninja village capable of rivaling Konoha?

After taking a deep breath, the Fourth Raikage continued, "It seems this war will be difficult to continue. But we cannot just retreat in such a halfhearted manner. Otherwise, forget Konoha—even our old rivals in Iwagakure may not pass up the chance to kick us while we’re down!"

"How about we fight one battle first, secure a few results, and then negotiate peace with Konoha?"

After hearing the Fourth Raikage’s words, the many jonin in the meeting room discussed it among themselves and all felt it was a good idea.

Even if Kumogakure intended to withdraw, they could not simply pull everyone back cleanly. That would only invite others to look down on them, shattering Kumogakure’s former image of strength and making others see them as easy prey. By then, there might be even more people eyeing Kumogakure than there were eyeing Konoha!

After all, while Konoha was rich in resources, it had never been particularly aggressive. The four great ninja villages had never held any irreconcilable grudges against Konoha. As the invaders, they should have been the ones Konoha disliked.

As for Kumogakure… aside from the Land of Water, which was difficult to reach, there was probably not a single one of the other three ninja villages that did not hold a grudge against them. It was only Kumogakure’s consistently hardline style that had kept others from daring to provoke them.

If they lost that intimidating facade, Kumogakure might as well consider Konoha’s treatment in every Ninja World War.

The Fourth Raikage had always acted swiftly and decisively. Having made up his mind, he immediately prepared to lead his men in a charge. Konoha had yet to fully prepare and had not completely assembled its forces, so this was the perfect opportunity to win some results and gain bargaining chips for the coming negotiations.

Unfortunately, the Fourth Raikage did not know that the Black Shadow Ninja he hated so bitterly was already about to reach their camp.

Kamui had been riding high lately. During his previous mission as an envoy to Konoha, he had adapted to the situation and rendered great service, bringing Kumogakure the precious Byakugan Bloodline Limit.

As a reward, this one-eyed ninja had received the Byakugan Bloodline Limit that Kumogakure’s ninja had long coveted. The provider of that Byakugan was none other than Hinata Hyuga, whom he had abducted from Konoha when she was only three years old.

To be honest, while the Byakugan Bloodline Limit was not especially effective in combat, it did not consume nearly as much as the Sharingan. More importantly, its extremely long visual range gave it tremendous strategic value. Its overall usefulness to a ninja village far surpassed that of the Sharingan.

Thus, Kamui had become the leader of Kumogakure’s reconnaissance ninja. He led his own squad and specialized in long-range scouting.

Since Kumogakure had already prepared to launch an attack, he had kept his Byakugan activated during this time, monitoring Konoha’s movements.

Though he was scouting Konoha, the Byakugan’s field of vision covered 360 degrees. So while it was activated, he could see not only Konoha’s movements ahead, but also the movements behind Kumogakure’s forces in the direction of the Land of Lightning.

"Hm? Who is that ninja behind us? That Chakra… what a terrifying guy!"

"Not good, he’s the Black Shadow Ninja!"

Kamui’s mind raced, and he immediately thought of the most likely enemy. Such an immense quantity of Chakra, far surpassing even a Kage-level ninja, could only belong to that terrifying ninja who had once defeated Konoha and Kumogakure by himself.

Rather than shouting aloud, Kamui quietly passed the information along. Before long, the entire Kumogakure camp began to stir, with ninja from every direction slowly moving to surround Yota.

"Have I been discovered?" Yota raised his head. Though he had not yet awakened the Uzumaki Clan’s Kagura Shingan, his Observation Haki now possessed a detection range nearly equal to the Byakugan’s. Kumogakure’s deployment for the attack had not escaped his notice.

"What a pity. It’s all useless struggling!"

At the same time, two lightning-wreathed flashes charged forward. In the blink of an eye, two thunderous fists slammed into Yota’s chest!

Amid flashing lightning, all three figures were blasted away at once. The difference was that Yota, whose chest and fists were coated in jet-black Haki, flew back more than ten meters but quickly steadied himself, looking completely unharmed. The other two lightning-wreathed figures, however, vomited blood after regaining their footing.

"This guy… his fist feels even more powerful than Pops’!" The Fourth Raikage wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression grave.

"This looks like Steel Release, not Dark Release." Killer B, several swords strapped to his back, spoke up. "But even if it’s Steel Release, this level of defense is outrageous. Not even Lightning Release Armor can achieve this."

Killer B’s mastery of Lightning Release Armor was far inferior to the Fourth Raikage’s, so that punch had shattered the bones in his entire hand.

Fortunately, as a perfect Jinchuriki, his recovery ability was absurdly powerful. As he spoke, Tailed Beast Chakra circulated through him, and his hand bones had already healed.

"B, be careful." Gyūki the Eight-Tails’ voice sounded extremely solemn from within Killer B. "Something about that opponent feels very wrong to me."

Of course he felt wrong. With the Rinnegan, Wood Release, and Sharingan, Yota’s abilities were practically designed to counter tailed beasts. As a powerful tailed beast second only to the Nine-Tails, the Eight-Tails could naturally sense something.