"Ōnoki… damn you, Third Tsuchikage! How… how dare you! Have you no shame left as a Tsuchikage?"
The gigantic Two-Tails Matatabi trembled with rage; she'd never imagined that this old man, a Village Kage, would stoop to ambushing ordinary Ninja.
Drifting down from the sky was a short, shriveled old man with a huge, bulbous nose—none other than Iwagakure's Third Tsuchikage.
At the Two-Tails Jinchuriki's roar, the Third Tsuchikage sneered. "Dignity? Face? What are those worth? To me and to Iwagakure, only tangible gains are real!"
"So Lord Tsuchikage intends to start a war with Konoha as well? Why attack our Ninja too?"
This time the speaker was a blood-soaked Kakashi Hatake. His cold eyes fixed on the Tsuchikage; that Dust Release had killed more than Darui—it had wiped out several Konoha Ninja and left Kakashi himself gravely wounded.
Even as he spoke, Kakashi inwardly gave a bitter laugh—seems Konoha wasn't the only one with hidden cards.
Ōnoki was a thorough old schemer; none of the veterans who'd survived the brutal Ninja World Wars could be underestimated. Still, for a Kage to be this shameless was an eye-opener even for Kakashi.
Hearing Kakashi, the Third Tsuchikage's mouth curved in a half-smile. "My apologies to you Konoha folk. Dust Release is a Kekkei Tōta and rather hard to control… surely you won't blame a muddle-headed old man?"
"Lord Tsuchikage thinks he can brush this off? This is—"
A short Anbu roared in a young voice, nearly lunging forward, but Kakashi clamped a hand on him and forced him back.
"Lord Tsuchikage, we've taken your words to heart. Whether to blame you isn't for us to decide—I've already sent the details to the Village with a summoning. I'm sure our Hokage-sama will give you his answer."
Young as Kakashi was, he was a seasoned survivor of the meat-grinder that was the Ninja World War; when outmatched, there was no point wasting words—preserving strength came first.
As for the future—there would always be a chance to settle the score.
Ōnoki glanced at Kakashi, hesitation flickering in his eyes. From the start he'd considered silencing them—if every Konoha Ninja here died, no one could point a finger at him.
But now that Kakashi had survived and sent word to Konoha, Ōno-ki had no reason to strike again.
Killing a few ordinary Anbu was one thing; killing a Ninja of Kakashi's caliber—one who might reach Kage level—was quite another. Iwagakure was already fated to fight Kumogakure; provoking Konoha as well would be foolish.
As long as Kakashi lived, the Villages could haggle later; Konoha wouldn't truly go to war.
The real priority was seizing the Vegapunk Clone; with Vegapunk's technology in hand, negotiations—even an alliance—against Kumogakure became possible.
With that thought, Ōnoki tore his gaze from Konoha's battered remnants and turned it toward Vegapunk.
"Damn you, Ōnoki—if you want Dr. Vegapunk, you'll go through us first!"
Transformed into Two-Tails Matatabi, Yugito roared and spat a sheet of flame; to a Tailed Beast it was ordinary fire, but to humans it looked apocalyptic as it bore down on Ōnoki.
Ōnoki sneered, manipulated the Light-Weight Rock Technique, and soared skyward to evade the blaze while gathering another beam of light in his hand.
Village Kage are said to possess the power to subdue Tailed Beasts: Kazekage with Magnet Release often used Shukaku for target practice; Third Raikage fought the Eight-Tails repeatedly; Fourth Mizukage was a perfect Jinchuriki; First Hokage once tamed all nine.
Only in Iwagakure had no Kage ever clashed with a Tailed Beast—for good reason: successive Tsuchikage's Dust Release was so lethal that even Tailed Beasts couldn't withstand it; one blast and the beast would simply die.
This undefendable Kekkei Tōta, deadly to anything it touched, was uniquely ill-suited to sparring with giant Tailed Beasts—hence no Tsuchikage ever fought his own; one slip and he'd kill it outright.
A column of light lanced from Ōnoki's hand, sweeping the sky. Under its lethal glare, Two-Tails Matatabi and Yugito shivered, leaping aside just in time—only the tip of a tail brushed the beam and instantly turned to dust.
"So that's Dust Release—the only Kekkei Tōta in the Ninja World… terrifying. Ugly, shameless little geezer, but his jutsu packs a punch."
Gulping air, Matatabi's face showed open dread as Ōnoki gathered a new sphere of light.
Hm? Just as he prepared to strike, Ōnoki sensed an enormous Chakra racing toward them at unbelievable speed.
With a thunderous crash a blazing streak fell from the heavens, shaking the earth. Ōnoki hesitated an instant, then swept a Dust Release beam at it.
Dust detonated, the ground disintegrated, and the blast left a huge crater—yet shock flashed across Ōnoki's face as he rocketed upward.
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