Chapter 221 Battlefield Clash
At the border of the Land of Hot Water, the once clear sky suddenly became overcast. The Konoha ninja army spontaneously parted to make way, and Uchiha Touko strode forward unhurriedly, arriving at the front of the Cloud Village army. The Fifth Hokage's robes fluttered in the wind behind him.
"Here he comes." Killer Bee and Yugito watched Uchiha Touko approach with grave expressions. However, when Killer Bee saw the figure Uchiha Touko was carrying, his face showed surprise.
"Big Brother?" Seeing A covered in charred wounds, Killer Bee immediately wanted to rush forward, but Yugito stopped him.
"Killer Bee, calm down. The Raikage is in their hands now; we can't act rashly," Yugito said.
"They're both here." Uchiha Touko glanced with interest at the two ninjas at the front of the enemy lines, who were arguably the strongest in Kumogakure besides A. He then turned to the Kumogakure member holding Konohamaru hostage and said, "Alright, we can begin the hostage exchange."
The man was already drenched in sweat, having to maintain the activated explosive tags while holding a hostage and traveling under the death stares of the Konoha ninja.
By the time he reached the front lines, his back was soaked with sweat, but even so, he maintained his grip on Konohamaru's neck.
"Get Lord Raikage across the border first!" the man roared.
"Is this the procedure for hostage exchanges?" Uchiha Touko's eyes narrowed slightly. Under Uchiha Touko's gaze, the man holding Konohamaru trembled uncontrollably.
"Now, get Lord Raikage across the border quickly, or I'll make this brat pay with his life!" the man shouted, his voice laced with bravado, as he lifted Konohamaru up.
"Konohamaru!" Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted anxiously.
"Alright, let's do it your way." Touko Uchiha chuckled and tossed A, which he was holding, towards Killer Bee and Yugito like trash.
An octopus-like tentacle stretched out from behind Killer Bee, scooping A up and pulling him back into the formation.
"Big brother!" Killer Bee cried out anxiously, seeing the unconscious A. "Medical ninja! Medical ninja!"
The next moment, seeing that the Raikage had safely returned to the formation, the man holding Konohamaru hostage suddenly revealed a fanatical expression.
"Damn Konoha, die!" With that, he immediately deactivated the chakra-activated explosive tags in his hand, which instantly lit up with a blinding white light. He had never intended to return alive from the beginning, and after seeing the Raikage safely return to the Land of Lightning, he made the choice to fight to the death without hesitation.
However, the next moment, Uchiha Touko suddenly appeared before him. His right hand, wreathed in chakra, gently traced a complex sealing jutsu. The flames from the exploding tags instantly subsided, coalescing into the rune in Uchiha Touko's hand.
The next second, Uchiha Touko, carrying Konohamaru, returned to the front lines, leaving behind only a headless corpse.
"Sealing Technique..." Yugito stared at Uchiha Touko with an extremely solemn expression. According to the information they had, Uchiha Touko was not skilled in genjutsu, which was why they, the Jinchūriki, could stand safely in front of him. But the sealing technique that Uchiha Touko was displaying now was even more effective at restraining Jinchūriki than genjutsu.
After all, even with Mangekyou Sharingan genjutsu, they could still gamble on the possibility of a perfect Jinchūriki and Tailed Beast working together to resist it, but a sealing technique had completely and utterly restrained them from beginning to end.
Uchiha Touko threw the still-conscious Konohamaru to Sarutobi Hiruzen. Hiruzen caught Konohamaru and carefully checked his beloved grandson's condition. Seeing that Konohamaru was only unconscious due to the lingering effects of the potent sleeping potion, he breathed a sigh of relief. He handed Konohamaru to a nearby clansman for care, and then Hiruzen went to Uchiha Touko's side. With the two Hokage standing at the front, the morale of the Konoha side soared.
In contrast, those who had just witnessed their Raikage being thrown back to the Kumogakure army like a dead dog had their fighting spirit waning.
Then, A, who was receiving treatment from a medical ninja in the Kumogakure formation, suddenly had his right arm explode into a cloud of blood mist.
"Uchiha...Touko!" Killer Bee, seeing his brother suddenly suffer a heavy blow, gritted his teeth and glared at Uchiha Touko. The next moment, he drew his sword and charged at Uchiha Touko.
As Killer Bee ran, his chakra surged continuously, and in no time, an octopus with a bull's head appeared before everyone.
Uchiha Touko, seeing Killer Bee in his Tailed Beast form charging straight at him, neither dodged nor evaded, speaking expressionlessly, "I could have resolved all of this within my own borders, but do you know why I brought it here?"
Power surged from Uchiha Touko's eyes, mingling with chakra, and a jet-black martial god rose from the ground. With a single punch, he slammed the charging Gyu-oni into the ground. Looking down at the Cloud Village members before him, the black martial god coldly said, "Because I want you to witness firsthand the tragic fate of your Raikage, and then to understand the consequences of provoking Konoha."
The massive black martial god raised its two long swords high. In an instant, thunderclouds gathered, and the two divine weapons wielded by Susanoo, Futsu-no-Mitama and Ame-no-Habakiri, charged amidst the lightning, unleashing two sword beams powerful enough to cleave the sky, sweeping towards the Cloud Village's formation.
Seeing this scene, Gyūki, who had been knocked to the ground by Susanoo, quickly got up and retreated, blocking the path of the Cloud Village army.
"Mattaka!" Yugito shouted, completing his Tailed Beast transformation into a cat demon engulfed in dark blue flames. He and Gyūki opened their mouths, and a jet-black Tailed Beast Ball rapidly condensed before them, then flew one after the other towards the incoming lightning sword light.
A massive explosion resounded across the vast plain on the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Lightning. Although the two Tailed Beast Balls significantly weakened the damage of the Uchiha Toki's attack, due to the hasty preparation, they were insufficient to completely block this attack imbued with divine might. The remaining lightning swept across, and the two Tailed Beasts, seeing this, could only stand in front of the army, using their bodies to block the attack.
The two enormous Tailed Beasts were slammed heavily into the Cloud Village formation. A huge wound appeared on Gyūki's body, while Matatabi, the Two-Tails, was directly reverted to its original form.
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(End of Chapter)