The mastermind of the whole thing was, in fact, Mito.
Shiki was the one planning and executing the attack itself but it was the Uzumaki matriarch that made it all possible in the first place.
A wide scale fuinjutsu formation was set up across several days designed to work with the boy's Nirvana Art: Elemental by Mito and he himself working together.
Even then, Shiki had quietly gathered the required Nature Energy to execute such large scale weather manipulation over the course of several more days.
This perfectly set up environment also boosted his regular elemental ninjutsu to an immense degree.
Even then, the previous Water Dragon Symphony combined with the currently rampaging Grand Heavenly Formation Lightning and Great Serial Flaywind had depleted most of the energy he had accumulated.
'The weather will return to normal soon but I have to inflict as much damage as possible before then.' Shiki thought to himself.
Unfortunately, the Kages had decided enough was enough and, even with his preparations in place, Shiki was still unable to even hamper them personally.
Although he referred to S rank power as Kage Level, not all Kage were built the same and truthfully, even the weaker Kages were not bottom tier S rank, at least not based on his analysis of things.
The Third Raikage moved first, leaping high into the air.
'Lightning Release: Black Lightning Rod'
His blue Lightning Chakra Mode shifted to black and all of the falling lightning bolts were suddenly drawn to him.
Floating in the sky, held aloft by the power of Shiki's own attack, the Raikage truly looked like a god of thunder at that moment.
Less flashyly, the Third Tsuchikage also made his contribution.
While the old man usually kept to Earth Release or his trump card Dust Release, the latter was a Kekkei Tota, a fusion of three elements.
That meant he had access to two other elements besides earth, one of them being particularly well suited for the current situation.
'Wind Release: Wind Tamer'
A rather simple jutsu meant to calm ordinary strong winds, not to counter enemy ninjutsu.
With the foundation of the Tsuchikage's massive chakra however, the power of Shiki's Flaywind gradually waned until it became harmless.
To compound the issue, the boy had spent the last of his accumulated power fighting against the suppression of the two Kages so he was unable to continue the battle.
*
As the weather cleared, a gentle starlit night, bereft of even the previous mist, allowed the devastated fleet to take a full account of the damage.
Or so they thought.
Physical attacks were done but psychological warfare?
Like a supernatural spectre, it appeared, a snow white haired figure with pale white skin, impossibly beautiful, dressed in black and purple shinobi sleeveless hakama with no sleeves and shinobi gloves that reached to its elbows.
"It's HIM!" Dodai shouted like a traumatized victim unexpectedly meeting their abuser.
Shiki's features and info had circulated across the world after his clashes with Kumo so, with that shout, everyone on the scene realized the identity of the boy.
"That excited to see me, Kumo small fry number 3? I might blush" Shiki carelessly spoke, provoking the other party immediately.
'Is this a flight jutsu?' The Tsuchikage silently pondered.
As one of the few shinobi in the world with flight capabilities, he knew how valuable such an ability was.
"You caused all of this?" The Mizukage questioned with interest.
Shiki theatrically bowed in admittance.
Immediately, hatred surged in the still reeling shinobi forces below.
* Noises of impotent rage *
"Never expected to be this popular with foreigners!" The boy commented.
Several lower ranked shinobi lost control of their emotion and threw kunai and shuriken at him but he just flashed to the side, effortlessly avoiding them.
'His mid air agility is high . . . too high . . . Something is off.' The Tsuchikage immediately realized.
But the Raikage's patience had run out.
His Lightning Cloak flashing black, he instantly appeared in front of Shiki's figure, the leap he made seeming more like genuine teleportation.
Alas!
The boy was unable to react and dodge despite seeing the attack coming, the Raikage was truly too fast, but Shiki's figure that was struck, dispersed around the area of impact . . . and then reformed right away, as if nothing even happened
This was Twin Illusion: Meikyo Shisui, Kyoka Suigetsu, the genjutsu Inori developed with Shiki's help years ago, a jutsu he himself also mastered at a later point. Shiki himself was not using a flight jutsu at all, he merely controlled his illusory self to rise up in the air.
"Come on! You should know it was never going to be that easy." The boy commented.
'Yamanaka Inori's genjutsu!' Zee and Dodai immediately realized.
Even Raikage-sama with his Black Lightning Chakra Mode can be so easily affected.
'Hmph! Are you just here to talk?" The Kage of Kumo questioned with barely contained rage.
He was a wise and competent leader to be sure but also a man notorious for his hot temper.
"Your subordinates should be very aware that I never start my "diplomacy" with words." Shiki calmly replied.
"And why are we speaking now?" The Mizukage then questioned.
"Turn back now. The Land of Whirlpools is not taking visitors." The boy coldly declared, the somewhat mocking tone from before, completely gone.
"You give your warning after attacking our fleet?" The older voice of the Tsuchikage sounded out for the first time in the exchange of dialogue.
"Of course. I need to make you understand your position." Shiki casually responded, bruising more than a few egos.
"And if we don't turn back?" The Raikage inquired, provocation in his tone.
"Then this little greeting I gave you will turn into something much . . . much . . . worse." The boy paused in his sentence and enunciated each word perfectly with ominousness creeping into his voice.
And then, before any answer could be given, Shiki's figure vanished into nothing.
"Has a full account of the damage been done?" The Tsuchikage gave no heed to the boy's sudden departure.
A shinobi with light injuries approached, wearing a Iwa uniform, glasses and sporting long disheveled hair that once had been very neatly combed.
"T-Three quarters of our ships have been sunk, my lords." The man started addressing the three Kage.
"Continue." The Tsuchikage, Onoki, emotionlessly commanded.
"Y-Yes Tsuchikage-sama. Casualties within the ranks of our regular Jonin and Elites are near non-existent with light to no injuries being the average." The man continued his report.
"However, half of our Elite Chunin have perished while the surviving half lies in various states of injury, only about an eight are combat able."
"As for regular Chunin and Genin . . ." The man paused, hesitant to say the words.
"Out with it!" The Third Raikage shouted, startling the man.
"E-Effectively no s-survivors . . ." The reporting shinobi finally concluded.
The Mizukage remained unruffled but the faces of the Raikage and Tsuchikage darkened with cold rage.
Onoki in particular, having brought the largest contingent of low ranked shinobi, was absolutely furious.
However, it was not the time to be impulsive.
"Our element of surprise is gone, the enemy knows we are coming and they have made thorough preparations. Most of our elite forces were brought here to end the battle in a single assault, leaving our villages vulnerable." The Tsuchikage elucidated the situation.
"Are you suggesting retreat, Onoki!?" The Raikage ragingly questioned.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -