Chapter 262: The Raikage's Reckoning
Uchiha Akira looked at Deidara, who was currently involved in an animated, one-sided conversation with his captive, the bewildered Ōnoki (the Tsuchikage), proudly discussing the superior aesthetics of C3 explosive clay versus Dust Release ninjutsu. Akira allowed a faint, dry smile.
He had no time for Deidara's philosophical musings on art.
He turned his head and looked at Tsunade, who stood ready, her arms crossed, radiating competence and quiet power.
"Tsunade, I'm leaving the immediate consolidation and transport of resources to you."
"I'll return to the Village first to handle the inevitable political fallout and post-war matters."
Tsunade nodded sharply, her eyes already scanning the horizon, anticipating logistical challenges. The annihilation of a Great Ninja Village—a major event that would violently shake the entire Ninja World's foundation—still required Uchiha Akira, as the Hokage, to personally oversee the political cleanup and strategic preparations for the next move.
"Don't worry, Akira. We have the resources we need, and the prisoners are secure. Shizune and the medical teams will manage the wounded. We will return with the spoils and the remaining forces as soon as the area is fully secured."
Uchiha Akira then glanced back at Deidara, who was gesturing wildly, forcing Ōnoki to look at a small clay bird.
"Deidara," Akira commanded, his voice sharp and direct, cutting through the bomber's monologue. "You are now under Tsunade's command. Obey her orders. She will be your tactical lead."
"Yes! Big Brother!" Deidara immediately snapped to attention, executing a crisp, almost military salute, the title "Big Brother" used with strange devotion.
Buzz—!
Space twisted slightly around Uchiha Akira. The chakra of Amenominaka gathered, shimmering. His figure instantly disappeared from the spot.
Subsequently.
Looking at the empty space where Uchiha Akira had been, Tsunade let out a long breath, a ghost of a smile touching her lips at Deidara's bizarre behavior. She then turned, her face instantly becoming serious.
"All forces," she barked, her voice commanding, "continue forward! Begin the systematic collection of Suna's resources and the movement of the captured forces!"
"Target, Konoha! We move out in one hour!"
Two days later.
The Land of Lightning, on the heavily fortified border adjacent to the Land of Fire.
Inside a massive, camouflaged frontline outpost, the atmosphere was suffocatingly oppressive. The air itself seemed to crackle with latent, explosive energy.
Outside the outpost, a vast, dense crowd had gathered.
Tens of thousands of Kumogakure ninja were assembled here—the main striking force of the Hidden Cloud Village. They stood ready, their formations tight, their presence filling the entire area with a murderous, palpable aura.
They were just waiting for a single word, a single order, and these Kumogakure forces would pour into the Land of Fire to begin their full-scale invasion.
Inside the Command Tent.
The tent was hushed. Rasa's intelligence had sent shockwaves, but Ay's fury had brought them here.
"Uchiha Fugaku!"
A roar, deafening even within the confines of the tent, erupted from the massive figure of Raikage Ay!
"I will personally twist off his head and crush it under my heel! To avenge our fallen brothers! To wipe out that insult to Kumo's pride!"
Inside the tent, almost all the high-ranking officials from the Hidden Cloud Village were present.
The two strongest combat forces of the Hidden Cloud Village, the two Perfect Jinchūriki, were both in attendance: Killer B, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, stood casually, his sunglasses gleaming, and Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, stood nearby, her expression calm and composed.
[Inorin's Note: Killer B (Hachibi) and Yugito Nii (Nibi) are Kumogakure's Jinchūriki. Darui and Mabui are elite Jōnin and advisors.]
In addition, elite Jōnin and strategic minds, such as Darui and the always composed Mabui, were also present.
Ay had not only mobilized over eighty percent of the Village's combat power but had also brought both of his most important, high-value trump cards to the front lines.
His objective was self-evident: he intended to utterly tear apart Konoha's defenses with overwhelming, lightning-fast force, and, at the same time, exact blood vengeance for the subordinates previously intercepted and killed by Uchiha Fugaku.
"Raikage-sama!"
Just then, a Kumogakure ninja in charge of intelligence monitoring burst into the command tent, looking profoundly flustered, his face pale with shock.
"Konoha... urgent intelligence has arrived from the Konoha and Sunagakure battlefield!"
Ay frowned, impatient with the interruption, and snapped.
"Why are you so flustered, fool! Speak clearly! What a disgrace!"
The intelligence ninja swallowed hard, trembling, and spoke with immense difficulty.
"Hidden Sand Village... Hidden Sand Village... it has fallen! Completely lost!"
"And... it was a crushing, total defeat!"
What?
At those words, a collective shock rippled through everyone in the tent.
Ay's face, already red with fury, was now filled with utter astonishment.
How could this be?
Although Sunagakure had declined in strength, it shouldn't have been defeated by Konoha so quickly.
It had only been a few days since the war began; how could Konoha crush the entire Hidden Sand Village in such a short time?
Ay took a thunderous step, instantly appearing before the ninja. He snatched the intelligence scroll from his hand, and his gaze rapidly swept over the report.
The next second.
Ay's pupils constricted. His eyes, fixed on the paper, widened in horror.
"Hidden Sand Village... completely annihilated!"
"Fourth Kazekage Rasa... killed in action! Elder Chiyo, Elder Ebizō... all confirmed killed!"
"Nearly a thousand Sunagakure ninja and captured civilians secured by Konoha!"
Ay's voice, due to extreme, visceral shock, had completely changed pitch, cracking and straining with disbelief.
The other high-ranking Kumogakure officials in the tent were also stunned into silence upon hearing this devastating news.
Each of them looked horrified.
"This... how is this possible!" one commander stammered.
"What a joke! Although Hidden Sand Village's strength isn't as great as ours, they're certainly not a pushover! How could they lose so quickly! So completely! Annihilated!"
"False intelligence! This must be false intelligence! It's a Konoha conspiracy!" another shouted, grasping at straws.
Killer Bee also put away his usual nonchalant expression. The look in his eyes behind his dark sunglasses became incredibly serious, analytical.
"Baka yarō, Big Brother," he murmured, his voice laced with concern, "is this intelligence... yo... problematic? Is it accurate, fool?"
Ay did not answer.
Although his mind screamed for him to reject the news as false, the details—the precision of the report, the specific casualties—were too specific. And the fact that Suna hadn't sent a single distress signal confirmed the scale of the failure.
It couldn't be false intelligence!
"Damn it..."
Ay crumpled the scroll into a tight ball, his lightning chakra momentarily short-circuiting as his mind raced.
The atmosphere in the tent was now so oppressive it was suffocating.
Hidden Sand Village, just like that, gone?
One of the Five Great Ninja Villages, destroyed so easily, so quickly, by Konoha?
Just then, the intelligence ninja spoke again, his voice even more bitter and low, delivering the second hammer blow.
"There's also... another piece of intelligence."
"Iwagakure... The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, is holding his forces. He has ordered no mobilization. There are no signs of deploying any troops."
Boom!
Ay slammed his fist down, not on the table, but on the large, detailed operational map spread out in front of him!
The sturdy ironwood table beneath the map instantly became covered in spiderweb-like cracks under that furious, crushing punch!
"ŌNOKI!!!"
"That old man! That damned, cowardly old fox!"
Ay's rage was now directed outward, towards the Tsuchikage. "He just wants to sit back and watch us fight! He'll wait for us and Konoha to fight to the death, weakening both sides, so he can emerge at the end and peacefully reap all the benefits!"
Although Raikage Ay was known for being reckless and impulsive, he was not a fool. He was a Kage.
He understood the cold, cruel calculus of power.
The delicate balance of the Five Great Ninja Villages had been unilaterally, violently broken by Konoha!
Hidden Sand Village was annihilated.
Kirigakure, thanks to the self-destructive tyranny of Fourth Mizukage Yagura, was embroiled in prolonged internal strife and bloody purges, unable to attend to its own affairs. They were out of the game.
Looking across the entire Ninja World, the only three powers truly still qualified to contend for supremacy were their Hidden Cloud, Iwagakure, and... the rapidly growing, now unfathomable Konoha!
A dangerous, unstable three-way standoff!
And now, Iwagakure was holding its forces, deliberately intending to watch from the sidelines.
If their Hidden Cloud charged in at this precise moment, what would they face?
They would face Konoha's main force, which had just swallowed Hidden Sand, securing massive resources, with morale and strength at their absolute peak!
At that time, even if Kumogakure could eventually win—a massive 'if' given Akira's power—it would undoubtedly be a Pyrrhic victory! They would be severely, perhaps mortally, weakened!
And that old fox, Ōnoki, the Tsuchikage, could then effortlessly annex both their ruins!
Thinking of this devastating scenario, even the furiously enraged Ay felt a cold, paralyzing chill run down his spine.
He was the Kage of the Hidden Cloud Village; he couldn't gamble the entire Village's future on a rush of blood and vengeance!
"Raikage-sama, please contain your anger."
Just then, a calm and intellectual female voice spoke, cutting through the chaos.
Mabui, the Raikage's secretary, stepped forward, her composure a stark contrast to the surrounding fury.
She pushed up the glasses on her nose and calmly analyzed the situation.
"Now, perhaps, is no longer the best, most opportune time for an all-out, frontal war with Konoha."
Ay sharply turned his head, his crimson eyes fixed on Mabui, as if about to incinerate her with pure lightning chakra.
"Are you suggesting, Mabui... that I should be a coward?"
"Of course not, Raikage-sama," Mabui stated, maintaining eye contact.
"It's simply that we need to change our strategic objective. We must adapt to Ōnoki's move."
"Since Ōnoki wants to sit back and watch us bleed, then we must pull him down from his mountain. We must force him onto the field."
"With Hidden Sand annihilated and Konoha dominating, I believe this is a strategic situation Ōnoki is even less willing to see than we are. He fears an unchecked Konoha."
"We must first send envoys. Immediately contact Iwagakure and probe Ōnoki's attitude. Confront him with the new reality."
"Facing an unprecedentedly powerful Konoha, alliance, however distasteful, is our only option to ensure the survival of the other Great Nations!"
Alliance?
An alliance with Ōnoki, the cunning old fox who had always opposed them and was their enemy in the last war?
Inside the tent, everyone's gaze was fixed entirely on Raikage Ay, awaiting his final, agonizing decision.
Ay's expression shifted violently, cycling through rage, frustration, and grudging acceptance.
After a long, tense pause that felt like an eternity.
He suddenly looked up. His eyes, though still burning, were now clear. He had made his decision.
"Good! Very well, Mabui! You are right!"
"We'll do as you say! Cowardice, fine! But only if it guarantees our victory!"
"Immediately prepare an elite diplomatic team to travel to Iwagakure!"
"Tell that old fox Ōnoki," Ay roared the final command, his voice filled with venomous promise. "He has two choices: Either he teams up with us immediately to deal with Konoha and stop their expansion, or... he waits to be swallowed up by Uchiha Akira one by one!"
"The ball is in his court now!"
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