"Where's the Raikage? Where is the mighty Raikage?"
Looking at the Kumogakure shinobi from the vanguard unit who had fled back from the front line, Nozomi, the village's third-in-command, stood frozen in confusion.
He had only just arrived at the border of the Land of Lightning with Kumogakure's main force of more than three thousand shinobi, yet the man before him already looked like someone who had lost everything.
"What happened on the front line?" Nozomi suppressed the unease rising in his chest and asked as calmly as he could, staring at the shinobi whose spirit had clearly collapsed.
"We lost. We all lost. The enemy was too strong. The boss couldn't stop him. Everyone's dead!"
The fleeing shinobi spoke in a dazed, disjointed voice, his eyes dull and his body covered in dust and blood.
"You bastard! What are you saying?!"
Before Nozomi could respond, one of the jōnin standing beside him rushed forward, face twisted with fury. He grabbed the returned shinobi by the collar and shouted, unable to accept what he was hearing.
"Let him go."
Nozomi's voice was cold.
As the highest-ranking person present, he forced himself to remain steady and continued his questioning.
"How many shinobi did Konoha send?"
At that question, the returned shinobi trembled. Then he looked at Nozomi with a terrified, almost broken smile.
"One… There was only one enemy."
"Have you lost your mind?! What nonsense are you spouting?!"
The jōnin who had just stepped forward immediately shouted again, disbelief written all over his face.
"Raikage-sama is the strongest shinobi in the ninja world! How could he possibly lose to some Konoha bastard?!"
"Quiet!"
Nozomi barked the order.
Even he could barely accept the report, but the expression on his face had already turned grim.
When the noise died down and silence fell over the area, Nozomi stepped forward under the watchful eyes of everyone present and stopped in front of the shaken shinobi.
"You're safe now. Don't be afraid. Calm down."
His tone softened deliberately. He needed information, not panic.
As he spoke, Nozomi quietly used a genjutsu to steady the man's mind.
After several tense seconds, the fear in the shinobi's face finally began to fade, and some clarity returned to his eyes.
"Lord Nozomi… we followed the boss and reached the border of the Land of Fire. Konoha's shinobi discovered us.
Once it was clear we had been exposed, the boss ordered us to attack immediately.
But just as we regrouped and crossed into the Land of Fire… the enemy intercepted us.
There really was only one enemy.
It was that Konoha shinobi who attacked the village last time… Shimura Kizaru."
At that point, the Kumogakure shinobi seemed to relive the scene of Kizaru slaughtering their forces. His face twisted in horror.
"That man… no, that monster… he used some kind of illusion technique that created phantoms and concealed his real body.
He toyed with the boss using those illusions, then slipped into our ranks and started butchering everyone.
He used the same light blade from the last attack on the village… and those dense barrages of light.
None of us could stop him. Everyone suffered terrible losses!"
His eyes turned red as tears of despair welled up.
"We were no match for him at all. The boss stayed behind to stop him and ordered the rest of us to retreat."
"Where's Buyūmu?" Nozomi asked immediately.
"Lord Buyūmu escorted us away from the battlefield and told us to retreat. After ordering me to report back to you, he went back to support the boss."
Nozomi could no longer maintain the calm expression on his face.
The moment he heard that the Third Raikage and the Two-Tails' jinchūriki were still alive, the tension in him shifted into burning urgency.
He turned at once toward the jōnin beside him, the same one who had shouted earlier.
"Tetsu, send the order. Increase the pace. We're moving to support the boss immediately."
"Understood!"
Knowing how critical the situation was, Kumogakure jōnin Murakui Tetsu answered without hesitation.
After giving the order, Nozomi looked back at the shinobi in front of him.
"Return to the village at once. Report everything to the elders."
"Yes!"
The fleeing shinobi nodded quickly, then turned and ran toward the village without the slightest delay.
Watching him disappear, Nozomi turned his gaze toward the Land of Fire, his expression heavy.
Boss… don't let anything happen to you.
With deep concern for the Third Raikage, Nozomi waited for Tetsu to finish relaying the command, then led the main force into a rapid advance.
In order to reach the Raikage as quickly as possible, Kumogakure's forces broke straight into the Land of Hot Water. They did not conceal their movements, nor did they slow down for those who could not keep up.
After pushing forward at full speed, it took Nozomi and the army a little over an hour to reach the border of the Land of Fire.
By then, the original force of over three thousand shinobi had been reduced to just over two thousand.
Along the way, they had encountered members of the retreating vanguard, and under their guidance, Nozomi finally led the Kumogakure army toward the place where the Raikage and Kizaru were fighting.
As they gradually came to a stop, Nozomi, being a sensory-type shinobi, immediately picked up the faint chakra of the Third Raikage.
A look of joy flashed across his tense face.
"Found him!"
Opening his eyes, he looked toward the battlefield ahead, in the direction of two o'clock.
"Where is the boss?" Tetsu asked urgently from beside him.
"The enemy may have jinchūriki with him. Everyone, prepare for battle and follow me."
Nozomi had sensed four chakra signatures near the Third Raikage. Two of them were especially powerful. One belonged to the Two-Tails, and the other felt like an unknown tailed beast.
At his words, the Kumogakure shinobi immediately drew their weapons and passed the warning back through the ranks as they moved.
Under Nozomi's lead, they entered a battlefield littered with shattered stone and enormous craters. After advancing several hundred meters, they finally saw the enemy.
In the clearing before the forest stood a tall seat made from Earth Release.
Kizaru sat lazily upon it with one leg crossed over the other, a small blue-flamed kitten resting in his arms.
"Hmph. Just this once, got it?"
Matatabi, curled up in Kizaru's left hand as he stroked her head, lowered her voice and spoke in an annoyed tone.
"I'm truly honored. Another trip, just for me."
Kizaru smiled as he lowered his head and petted the cat.
"Hmph."
Matatabi snorted, though she still lifted her head, allowing him to rub beneath her chin and along her neck.
While idly petting her, Kizaru sensed the enemy's arrival and finally raised his head.
Standing behind his seat like bodyguards were Kakuzu and Hyuga Chōyasu, one on each side.
Hyuga Chōyasu was doing it for free.
Kakuzu was charging five million ryō… chair fee included.
To the right of Kizaru's seat stood the Third Raikage, bound tightly by chains of light. The moment he saw the Kumogakure forces and Nozomi, the village's third-in-command, his expression shifted.
"Kizaru… let them go."
Without lifting his head, the Third Raikage spoke in a low voice.
"Raikage-sama, surely you don't want every shinobi in your village wiped out, do you?"
Still stroking the cat, Kizaru looked up and spoke with a faint smile.
"I'll cooperate."
The Third Raikage answered immediately.
Under these circumstances, there was no room left for pride.
"That's wonderful."
After saying that, Kizaru turned his gaze back toward the Kumogakure army before him.
"You bastard! Let the boss go!"
The moment he saw the bound Third Raikage, Tetsu roared and charged out from beside Nozomi, heavy blade in hand, rushing straight at Kizaru.
"Tetsu, get back!"
The Third Raikage shouted the warning at once.
"So scary… I might get hurt."
Holding the cat with both hands and still sitting on his seat without moving an inch, Kizaru spoke in his usual mocking tone as Tetsu's blade came crashing down toward him.
Kizaru did not move.
But Kakuzu, standing behind him, did.
He raised his right arm, and under the control of his Earth Grudge Fear, the fist detached from the wrist and shot forward at terrifying speed.
It struck Tetsu in midair with perfect accuracy and pierced straight through his chest.
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