Before the age of fifteen, Sasori of the Red Sand defected from Sunagakure—and along the way, conveniently killed the so-called "strongest"Third Kazekage.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that after killing the Kazekage, he simply left Sunagakure.
There were two prevailing accounts of how it happened.
One claimed Sasori confronted the Kazekage head-on, defeating and killing him in a direct clash.
The other held that what Sasori used was, in fact, assassination.
Silent. Clean. No commotion.
Higher success rate.
Minimal concern for raw power disparity.
Those were the advantages of assassination.
And so, the Third Raikage—who by all accounts should have held the line here for three days and three nights until exhaustion claimed him—instead died to Hagoromo's not-so-subtle assassination.
The Raikage had overestimated his own defense.
And underestimated Hagoromo's jutsu.
In truth, Hagoromo had been overly cautious.
With the sheer penetrative and destructive power of the Lightning Release:, there were few techniques in the entire ninja world better suited for breaking single-target defenses.
One shot was enough to punch through the Raikage's protection.
The triple volley had been unnecessary.
After all—
Was Raien Jūkoku really weaker than Hell Stab: Four-Finger Thrust?
If Four-Finger Thrust could pierce the Raikage's defense, then the Lightning Release: certainly could.
One pierced and detonated.
The other pierced and erased.
But Hagoromo wanted absolute certainty.
That was why he fired three times.
Afterward, there was no emotional outburst.
Taking advantage of the moment when the Stone ninja collectively froze in shock, Hagoromo immediately sealed the Raikage's body.
That part had been unplanned—he hadn't expected the corpse to remain intact rather than exploding into gore.
Still, bringing the Raikage's body back to Konoha held enormous value.
Extracting intelligence directly from the Raikage's mind was unlikely—someone willing to walk into death alone would certainly have seals in place to prevent information leaks.
But at the very least—
The body could be studied.
Every generation of Raikage shared similarities in offense and defense. Perhaps weaknesses could be found by dissecting the Third.
The corpse was sealed.
Which raised the real question:
How was Hagoromo supposed to escape now?
Only after he finished did the Stone ninja finally react.
The Raikage… is dead?
At the center of the battlefield, the mist of blood created by unidentified Lightning Release techniques still lingered.
Stone corpses lay layered across the ground.
Kitsuchi and the frontline ninja all fixed their gaze on the ANBU operative standing before them.
Blood droplets clung to his cold mask, gathering and dripping down under their own weight.
His white hair had been dyed a different color entirely—
White streaked with red.
"The Third Raikage is dead!"
"We defeated the Raikage!"
At last, the realization spread—followed by waves of shouting!
Even the coldest and most disciplined shinobi, after witnessing such an overwhelming enemy fall, could not help but erupt in excitement once the shock passed.
Hagoromo's thoughts stirred.
An idea formed.
He deliberately swept his gaze across the battlefield.
Then, clenching his right fist, he raised it high—
And shouted in a voice charged with thunder:
"The Raikage is dead! Iwagakure, eternal victory!"
His voice echoed across nearly the entire battlefield.
…Yes.
He was trying to blend back in.
To rejoin the Stone ninja, then look for an opportunity to slip away.
As an "Iwagakure ninja," it was only natural to take pride in personally killing the Raikage.
Only natural to celebrate Stone's triumph.
He needed to look like a hero.
In practice, though—
It was a rather ridiculous performance.
A few particularly enthusiastic idiots even tried to rush forward, clearly intending to hoist the "hero" into the air.
But just as Hagoromo's shout faded—
Another voice thundered across the battlefield.
Deeper.
Heavier.
Far more commanding.
"MAINTAIN! FORMATION!"
The tone carried stern authority, suspicion, doubt—
And unmistakable anger.
It was like a bucket of ice water dumped over the Stone ninja's excitement.
They knew that voice.
What was going on?
Most couldn't immediately piece it together.
But on the battlefield, orders came first.
The Stone ninja suppressed their emotions and returned to their positions.
The slight gap that had appeared in the encirclement closed again.
Hagoromo remained surrounded—layer after layer.
Trying to slip through?
Not that easy.
The order had come from the battlefield commander—
Kitsuchi, elite jōnin of Iwagakure.
His mind was very much intact.
He would not be fooled by such clumsy theatrics.
There were far too many suspicious points surrounding this ANBU operative.
Silence returned to the battlefield.
Kitsuchi stepped forward and faced Hagoromo directly.
"ANBU operative," Kitsuchi said coldly.
"Remove your mask. State your ANBU codename, ninja registration number, unit designation, and the name of your squad or division commander."
Hostility.
Hagoromo could feel it clearly.
So—
Exposed?
His hastily improvised plan to blend back in had indeed been foolish.
To be precise—
It was a terrible idea.
Ten thousand ninja couldn't handle the Raikage, and suddenly an ANBU showed up and killed him?
Ridiculous.
So this was as far as it went.
"Remove my mask? Declare my identity?" Hagoromo replied calmly.
"Wouldn't that mean I lose my ANBU position?"
Even as he spoke, his hand rose to his mask.
He lifted it slightly—
Just a few centimeters.
Enough to reveal the forehead protector beneath.
Then he lowered the mask again.
That instant was enough.
Because the protector was not Stone's.
It was Konoha's.
Why could he blow "his own people" into bloody mist without blinking?
Because he hadn't been attacking his own people at all.
"Maintain formation!" Kitsuchi barked again.
"He is not our comrade. He is a Konoha enemy ninja. Do not let him escape!"
Whether by assassination or otherwise—
Any shinobi capable of instantly killing the Raikage in combat could not be treated lightly.
The Stone ninja transitioned back into combat stance smoothly—
But mentally, they were reeling.
What the hell just happened?
A Konoha ninja infiltrated their ranks and killed the Raikage?
So all that excitement earlier—
Was for nothing?
Worse than nothing.
It was like swallowing a fly.
"Konoha ninja," Kitsuchi said,
"Someone capable of killing the Raikage is no nameless figure. Before you die, you may state your name."
Before you die.
In Kitsuchi's mind, this was a suicide operative.
Breaking out of this encirclement was impossible.
Hagoromo opened his mouth.
"I'm not—"
He didn't want to reveal anything.
He wasn't stupid enough to announce his name and invite Kumogakure's endless vendetta.
After all—
The Third Raikage was the Fourth Raikage's father.
But then—
He stopped.
He remembered something.
Kushina had always had a small, trivial wish.
She wanted to become Hokage—but that was clearly impossible now.
So instead, competitive as she was, she joked that she at least wanted to outshine Minato in reputation.
She had said things like that to Hagoromo before.
Of course, she had been joking.
She never truly expected him to do anything.
But Hagoromo—
Had taken it seriously.
Because beneath that joking wish lay something deeper.
A desire for recognition.
For freedom.
For being acknowledged.
Hagoromo smiled.
He changed his mind.
If he was going to announce something—
Then he'd do it properly.
He straightened his back and, using his loudest voice, declared to the nearly ten thousand Stone ninja present:
"The Third Raikage was killed by a member of the Uzumaki clan—
a Konoha jōnin, and disciple of Uzumaki Kushina!"
If there was anything truly worth doing for Kushina—
It was this.
For Hagoromo personally, this moment mattered more than killing the Raikage itself.
It might have been the most meaningful thing he had done since entering the war.
Would this bring trouble to Kushina?
Not much.
First, she would remain safely in Konoha.
Second, she hadn't killed the Raikage—
Her disciple had.
With such a shocking first impression, the ninja world would soon know:
"The Raikage died at the hands of Kushina's disciple."
Kushina's name would resound across the world.
As for Kumogakure's hatred?
That would fall on the disciple, not Kushina.
And with Kushina as a lead, the disciple's identity would be easy enough to uncover anyway.
So in the end—
Kushina gained the fame.
Hagoromo took the blame.
And the death sentence.
Even if it was his own doing.
Taking the fall for your teacher.
Dying for your teacher.
Such selfless dedication—
A true industry benchmark.
In a ninja world rife with teacher-slaying and betrayal,
Hagoromo could proudly be called—
A model disciple of Konoha.
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