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What?!
Although he was protected by his Lightning Release Armor, taking a direct hit from Kagaya still inevitably sent pain surging through him. And more importantly—that speed! It was far too fast!
A flash of lightning.
Giving Kagaya no opportunity for any follow-up attack, the moment the Fourth Raikage hit the ground, he forcefully absorbed the impact with his powerful, resilient body. Then, he swiftly leveraged the ground and explosively launched himself away.
Crackle, crackle, pop.
The sound of lightning crackled and snapped incessantly across the Raikage's body. He clenched his fist and spoke.
"Uchiha Kagaya... I've looked into you somewhat. They say your speed is very fast. I thought I had already greatly overestimated you, but now it seems... I still underestimated you."
The lightning wreathing the Raikage's body blazed ever brighter as he spoke.
"It appears... I must—"
Powerful chakra erupted forth. The Raikage's hair stood completely on end. He tore off his white outer coat.
"—go all out!"
BOOM!
As if a heavenly thunderbolt had descended upon the mortal world, the Raikage transformed into an extraordinarily thick pillar of lightning, blasting toward Kagaya in an instant.
"Lightning-Style Body Flicker: Liger Bomb!"
The faster the speed, the stronger the attack power!
If this applied to Kagaya, the statement above was obviously wrong. Although Kagaya was fast, his relatively frail body couldn't withstand too much impact. So while Kagaya was very fast, if one disregarded the Mangekyo, Kagaya's attack power was actually very weak. He couldn't convert his speed into attack power.
But if it applied to the Raikage, everything was different. The Raikage's body was inherently immensely powerful. In the entire shinobi world, if one discussed pure physical bodily strength alone, the Raikage was certainly among the top ranks. On top of that, the Raikage also had his Lightning Release Armor, which greatly enhanced his body. It could be said that the Raikage's physical durability, in an all-out state, was truly terrifying. Under these conditions, the Raikage could absolutely convert his speed into attack power!
This so-called "Liger Bomb" was actually very simple: build up speed, condense Lightning Release chakra, then raise one arm and crash into the opponent with the wrist.
The method of attack was exceedingly simple. The principle was also very simple. Basically, anyone could learn it. But it was precisely this kind of simple technique that, in the Raikage's hands, paired with his astonishing speed and physical durability, underwent a complete qualitative transformation!
The blue lightning beam instantly pierced through the golden point of light.
A heaven-shaking, thunderous explosion rang out from nowhere.
In the end, Kagaya still hadn't been able to evade this attack.
The Raikage's speed was truly far too fast. Going all out, this guy's speed had actually surpassed Kagaya's!
No... the main issue wasn't a matter of speed. It was a matter of the physical body. The Raikage's body was far too excellent. His upper speed limit was very high. Kagaya, on the other hand, couldn't match that—his body leaned toward the frail and delicate. His upper speed limit was much lower than the Raikage's.
Therefore, if both went all out, Kagaya's speed actually couldn't surpass the Raikage's.
In fact, Kagaya even believed that in the entire shinobi world, there was likely no one who could surpass the Raikage in speed using purely the Body Flicker Technique.
As for Minato back then? Minato hadn't used the Body Flicker Technique; he had used a far more unique space-time technique that wasn't restricted by the physical body, which was why he had been able to surpass the Raikage.
Whoosh!
Encased within the golden ribcage, Kagaya was sent flying in an instant by the blue lightning beam, vanishing from everyone's sight in a split second.
Then...
BOOM!!!
A colossal crashing roar echoed forth. Even the ground trembled slightly.
"Kagaya!"
Both Haku and Karin cried out in unison. Their faces showed some degree of worry, but ultimately, they didn't get too agitated. They hadn't been following Kagaya for just a single day. Deep in their hearts, they both had great confidence in him.
"Cough! Cough!"
In the distance, Kagaya coughed up two mouthfuls of blood.
"I underestimated this Raikage a bit. I had thought that after activating Sage Mode, my physical capabilities might be able to more or less approach his. Now I see the gap is still far too great. That speed of his... it's truly fast. Although my Mangekyo can clearly see it, my body simply won't allow me to keep up with such speed."
Although the Susanoo's protection had shielded him from any major injuries, some of the concussive force had inevitably propagated onto Kagaya's body, causing him to cough up blood.
He carefully examined the Susanoo surrounding him.
"Mm. Nothing unusual. It seems that although the attack power generated by the Raikage's speed is formidable, it currently still can't threaten the Susanoo."
Rising to his feet, Kagaya leaped several times and vanished from this spot.
Not long after, Kagaya reappeared at the location where the Raikage had just sent him flying.
The Raikage stared coldly at Kagaya. "You took my Liger Bomb head-on... and nothing happened? Was it that strange skeletal structure around you that protected you? Hmph! Whatever it is... don't think you'll walk away unscathed today!"
Kagaya smiled and shook his head. "I admit I underestimated you earlier. But now it seems... you're the one who's being arrogant. You've already stopped treating me as an evenly matched opponent and instead believe that you've got me completely under control."
The Raikage spoke as if it were obvious. "Isn't that the case?"
Kagaya raised his hand. A massive, skeletal golden arm materialized around him.
The very next second, a flash of gold.
"No. Of course it isn't. You're far, far off the mark!"
In an instant, Kagaya appeared behind the Raikage. Without giving the Raikage any time to react whatsoever, the colossal golden skeletal arm seized him directly!
The Raikage's eyes flew wide open. He spoke reflexively.
"Just now, you... No! That wasn't the Body Flicker Technique! What you just used was—"
Kagaya smiled, continuing to hold the Raikage in the Susanoo's grip. He himself bent down and picked up a kunai from the ground—a kunai he had deliberately left behind before being sent flying.
Kagaya raised the kunai and showed it to the Raikage. On the kunai's surface was the mark of a small black sword.
"Yes. This is the Flying Thunder God."
It had to be said: Kagaya's ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu were all very average. His talent in those areas truly couldn't be considered outstanding. But what corresponded to that was Kagaya's extremely dazzling talent in the Body Flicker Technique. Any technique related to speed, Kagaya seemed able to learn extremely quickly. During the final two months of his time in the Warring States era, Kagaya had used his top-tier talent to easily correct the Flying Thunder God that Tobirama had taught him. The Kagaya of now could fully and completely use the Flying Thunder God.
The Raikage's entire body instantly froze, as if encased in ice. After several seconds, he let out a sigh.
"After that man... the Leaf Village has finally produced someone else who has learned this technique, huh."
With a flick of his wrist, Kagaya made the kunai silently vanish from his hand.
"One correction: I am not of the Leaf Village. Not anymore."
The Raikage gave a bitter laugh. "That's true enough."
As he spoke, lightning began blazing furiously across the Raikage's body once more. Chakra erupted continuously as he tried to break free from the Susanoo's giant hand.
Kagaya furrowed his brow and intensified his chakra. The immense gripping force directly caused blood to begin seeping from the corner of the Raikage's mouth.
"Stop struggling. The moment you were caught by my Susanoo... you had already lost."
The Raikage clenched his teeth tightly. The Susanoo's crushing grip squeezed him relentlessly. Even his Lightning Release Armor couldn't withstand this terrifying force.
This was absolutely not gripping force that a human could possibly generate!
This was a ninjutsu, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with this brat's own physical strength!
The Raikage confirmed this fact to himself.
And that was only natural. The gripping force the Susanoo could generate was, of course, beyond anything a human could compare to. The Susanoo was an ocular jutsu. In terms of power, the stronger Kagaya's ocular power, the stronger the Susanoo's power became.
The Susanoo's strength had absolutely nothing to do with Kagaya's physical body.
Kagaya looked at the Raikage and spoke. "Let me ask you something. Why did you send people to kill my companions?"
The Raikage narrowed his eyes. "From your intelligence profile... I saw a faint resemblance to the Fourth Hokage. So I couldn't help but send people to observe you. As for killing your companions... that was merely incidental. After all, you're ultimately just a rogue ninja. Who knows when you might end up opposing our Hidden Cloud? You could be considered a potential threat."
Kagaya nodded. "Mhm. Reasonable and logical. The only illogical thing is... since when has the hot-tempered Fourth Raikage been so agreeable? I ask you something, and you just honestly explain it all? That makes me somewhat disinclined to believe your words."
Lightning blazed wildly over the Raikage's body. Although he still couldn't break free from the Susanoo's giant hand, it was clear that he was utterly furious right now.
"Are you taking me for a fool?! I've fought the Flying Thunder God once before and lost. This is the second time, and I've lost again. When facing the strong, I naturally grant a certain degree of respect. You merely asked an unimportant question. What harm is there in answering it? As for you, Uchiha Kagaya... spare me your incessant chatter! I've tried and found that I can't break free from this golden hand of yours. I've already lost. Just give me a clean end already! Only... I hope that, in light of my death, you won't go after Samui and the other two afterward."
Kagaya didn't speak. Instead, he looked toward Haku and Karin.
To Kagaya, killing the Raikage or not was all the same. His current strength was simply far too great. Before the Rinnegan-wielding Madara appeared, Kagaya was the true number one in the entire shinobi world. He didn't need to fear any faction at all. Thus, Kagaya wasn't the least bit afraid of so-called retaliation from the Hidden Cloud, nor was he afraid of making an enemy of the Hidden Cloud or anything of the sort.
To Kagaya, the more important thing was still the opinion of the parties involved. If they said kill, then kill. If they said don't kill, then don't kill.
Haku decisively shook his head. Although he deeply trusted Kagaya's strength, no matter what, he still didn't want to bring any additional trouble upon Kagaya because of himself.
"Whatever Kagaya decides is fine." Karin simply said.
Both individuals concerned had expressed their opinions. One didn't want it; the other was fine either way.
Kagaya shrugged. The Susanoo suddenly and fiercely intensified its gripping force, directly causing the Raikage to cough up a massive mouthful of fresh blood.
"This is a warning."
With that, the Susanoo vanished. The Raikage dropped to the ground.
Staggering unsteadily to his feet, the Raikage wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"To be honest... when I set out to find you alone, I never once imagined I would be defeated this quickly."
Kagaya asked flatly. "Aren't you going to avenge Samui and the others?"
The Raikage paused briefly, then spoke. "If I could defeat you... I definitely would."
"In simple terms, you bully the weak and fear the strong, huh."
"Put that way, it's not wrong. Doesn't the entire shinobi world—no, the entire world—bully the weak and fear the strong?"
The moment those words were spoken, Kagaya was instantly stunned. After several seconds of silence, he lowered his head and chuckled.
"You're right. The entire world does, in fact, bully the weak and fear the strong. It's just that some cases are more obvious, and some are less so. I'm in no position to blame you either."
Not long after, the Raikage departed, his body covered in wounds.
Kagaya and his group remained where they were, momentarily at a loss.
Originally, Kagaya had been planning to go to the Hidden Cloud and warn the Raikage. Instead, the man had delivered himself right to Kagaya's face and taken a beating. Kagaya had issued his warning, so naturally, there was no further need to go to the Hidden Cloud.
That then raised the question: where to go next?
"Do you two have anywhere you'd like to go?" Kagaya looked at Karin and Haku.
If Karin and Haku had somewhere they wanted to go, then Kagaya would accompany them. But if they didn't, then Kagaya planned to find some random place and begin training in the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags technique he still hadn't mastered.
Haku thought for a while, then shook his head.
"No."
Karin spoke up as well.
"Me neither. As long as I'm with Kagaya, that's enough."
Kagaya wasn't particularly surprised by their answers. Since neither of them had anywhere specific they wanted to go, it was time for Kagaya to consider where he would go to train.
Their current location was a stretch of unclaimed land slightly beyond the northeastern border of the Leaf Village and the southwestern border of the Hidden Cloud. Calling it unclaimed land wasn't entirely accurate; there was, in fact, a nation here. It was a minor nation, but one without even a hidden village—in other words, a nation with no military force whatsoever. Kagaya couldn't be bothered to learn its name and simply treated it as unclaimed land.
For training purposes, this minor nation actually seemed quite suitable. After all, it was sufficiently quiet.
That was what Kagaya had originally thought.
But the arrival of a crow slightly disrupted Kagaya's plans.
The crow was how Itachi transmitted information. It relayed two matters. The first was that the Akatsuki had located the Seven-Tails and were preparing to capture it. The second was to tell Haku and Karin to hold on. Itachi had apparently been away on a very lengthy mission earlier and hadn't been able to learn about what was happening to Haku and Karin in time. He had only just returned not long ago, and upon learning of the situation, had been preparing to secretly intervene and rescue Haku and Karin.
Regarding the second matter, Kagaya sent a reply telling Itachi there was no need to come—he himself had already returned.
As for the first matter, however, it warranted serious consideration.
The Akatsuki had begun capturing the Tailed Beasts. And the first Tailed Beast was the Seven-Tails?
But... in Kagaya's memory, shouldn't the first Tailed Beast the Akatsuki captured have been the One-Tail?
Mm...
Perhaps he had simply remembered something incorrectly.
Nevertheless, since the Akatsuki had begun capturing the Tailed Beasts, Kagaya was still going to disrupt their operations.
The first reason was to take revenge on Obito for the relentless hunt against Haku and Karin. The second reason was that, until he obtained the Rinnegan, Kagaya needed to delay the emergence of the Ten-Tails as much as possible.
Vaguely, Kagaya had always felt that ever since he had acquired Hashirama's chakra and Madara's chakra, his eyes seemed to be undergoing some kind of subtle, almost imperceptible transformation.
Although this transformation was so minute it was essentially undetectable, Kagaya still had that gut feeling.
Perhaps Madara's theory about combining two forces hadn't been wrong after all? Right? Perhaps that really was the method to evolve the Rinnegan!
For this reason, Kagaya had to delay the emergence of the Ten-Tails. Otherwise, if he let Obito carry out the Infinite Tsukuyomi, a mere Eternal Mangekyo would instantly fall under the genjutsu's thrall, leaving him at the mercy of others.