If I Don’t Treat This Soon, It’ll Heal

Hell Stab: Four Fingers Thrust!

Separation Breathing – First Form – Ion Slash!

Another clash erupted.

At this moment, the Third Raikage had plainly gone all out. He activated his Lightning Release Armor, his golden beard and hair standing on end as his speed, strength, and defense rose to another level.

Several cracks had appeared on the ninja sword.

Shimizu retreated, gripping the ninja sword with both hands. Nearly imperceptible Chakra Threads drifted from his fingers, linking to the puppets and holding back the Fourth Raikage.

"That old woman Chiyo taught a fine disciple. With your strength, even if I used every trick I had, without my son’s help to restrain your puppets, I might not actually be able to defeat you."

The Third Raikage shook his arm and glanced at the dense, fine wounds covering it, unable to help but voice his admiration.

Wind Release countered Lightning Release. Since Separation Release was formed by combining Lightning Release and Wind Release, it likewise possessed the ability to counter Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

Shimizu’s attacks had already broken through his outer defense, only to be stopped by the tougher, more powerful muscles tempered beneath it.

Though they were merely superficial wounds that the Third Raikage’s physique could rapidly heal without Medical Ninjutsu, it had been many years since the Third Raikage had encountered anything like this.

"You don’t actually think you’ve won, do you, old man Raikage?"

Shimizu glanced at the cracked ninja sword in his hand, then sensed the slight damage on several puppets. His expression remained cold.

He wasn’t trying to defeat those two brutes. He only needed to stall for enough time.

Still, this was a good opportunity to get some practice in.

If it were only the Third Raikage, Shimizu should have been able to suppress him. But the man’s defense was too strong, and he had no obvious weaknesses. Winning, much less killing him, would be difficult.

Add the Fourth Raikage, who possessed terrifying speed and strength nearly at the Kage level despite not yet reaching his peak, and Shimizu became the one being suppressed.

If he used the Blood Demon Art version of Flying Thunder God, he could turn the tide considerably and even suppress both of them, but taking their lives would still be difficult.

There was no need to mention the Third Raikage. With Shimizu’s current offensive methods, it was hard to inflict effective damage on him.

A powerhouse like that could only be worn down bit by bit, just as Iwagakure had deployed over ten thousand elite ninja and slowly exhausted him to death in the original timeline.

As for the Fourth Raikage, killing him would be even harder.

He was too fast, and his reaction speed was unbelievably quick. Though his body was not as absurdly tough as the Third Raikage’s, he still could not be killed so easily.

A at his future peak might have struggled to defeat those at the pinnacle of the Kage level, but with his speed and decisive nature, it would be hard for him to lose as well.

The current A was still somewhat lacking.

Shimizu estimated that in a one-on-one fight, if he used the Blood Demon Art version of Flying Thunder God to keep up with A’s speed, he had a fair chance of taking him down, though it would take over a hundred exchanges.

Now, with the Third Raikage beside him—someone whose abilities shared the same source, whose strength was greater, and who coordinated reasonably well with A—it became much harder.

Since the result would be the same whether he used Blood Demon Art Flying Thunder God or not, he might as well drag things out like this.

Because Shimizu was confident that even without Flying Thunder God, his powerful regenerative ability alone would let him withdraw unscathed with ease.

Then he might as well fight to his heart’s content!

"Hiss…"

Ethereal white mist emerged with Shimizu’s breathing. A steady stream of Separation Release Chakra poured from his body into the ninja sword in his hand, making its glow increasingly brilliant until it formed a sword of light.

Did the Third Raikage really think his blade was about to break?

Even his incarnation in the Demon Slayer World could swing a Crimson Blade through sheer arm strength, raising its temperature until the blade turned red-hot. Now that Shimizu’s true body was infusing it with high-temperature Separation Release Chakra and controlling it, he could melt and repair the blade.

Although doing so would turn the ninja sword into little more than a fire poker, its edge inferior to before, the power of Shimizu’s strength and Separation Release itself still made it formidable.

The Third Raikage’s heart sank. He had not expected Shimizu to possess such a method.

Of the four fingers extended on his right hand, he slowly drew back two.

He was going to reveal his trump card as well.

Hell Stab: Two Fingers Thrust!

Three years ago, Orochimaru had secretly infiltrated Kumogakure and assassinated the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Blue B with poison, causing the Eight-Tails to go berserk. To subdue it, the Third Raikage had used his strongest spear, One-Finger Nukite, and had accidentally injured himself as a result.

That had also been the Third Raikage’s only true instance of having his defense breached and suffering severe injuries.

Thus, under most circumstances, the Third Raikage would not use that technique lightly.

Four-Finger Nukite was already enough to threaten opponents of the same level. The speed and power of Two-Finger Nukite were sufficient for the Third Raikage to deal with nearly any enemy.

Bright blue Lightning Release Chakra gathered in the Third Raikage’s hand, concentrating at the tips of his two fingers into a sharp spear. It pierced the air and, accompanied by the buzzing crackle of Lightning Release Chakra Mode, arrived before Shimizu in an instant.

In this state, the Third Raikage’s body was further stimulated by Lightning Release, and his speed over a straight-line distance was nearly no slower than the Fourth Raikage’s.

At the same time, an equally dazzling circular mirror rose and began spinning at high speed.

Separation Breathing – Tenth Form – Spinning Mirror of Separation!

This was the tenth sword form of Separation Breathing that Shimizu had developed only recently, a combination of the previous Third Form, Separation Whirlwind, and Seventh Form, Mirror of Separation. It was faster and more powerful.

The next second, the spinning mirror of light shattered, and the ninja sword in Shimizu’s hand shattered along with it.

The Third Raikage’s body gained several much deeper wounds. Fragments of the broken sword were embedded in his flesh, and a few drops of blood flowed out before being rapidly evaporated by Lightning Release.

He could control his muscles to swell and seal such minor wounds, while the high heat of Lightning Release could quickly stop the bleeding.

If Shimizu’s attacks had only given him superficial wounds before, these were flesh wounds now. Yet they still did not affect the Third Raikage’s combat strength.

"Truly impressive… even more impressive than I imagined."

Shimizu looked at his blood-soaked, mangled right arm. While clicking his tongue in amazement, he felt a twinge of pain. Then a soft green glow covered his left hand as he pressed it against his right arm.

If I don’t treat it soon, this wound will heal on its own. I need to use Medical Ninjutsu to cover it up.

When strength did not offer an absolute advantage, ninja battles were largely decided by intelligence.

The more information he could conceal, the better. In any case, if a force on Kumogakure’s level wanted to investigate, it could uncover most of the methods he had used before, including Medical Ninjutsu. In the ninja world of the past, only Senju Hashirama had possessed such powerful self-healing, while Tsunade could only achieve it for a limited time after activating Hundred Healings.