The Eight-Tails used its eight octopus tails to contract, their tips firmly pressing against the Tailed Beast Ball that was coming head-on, and then, with a push from its Eight-Tails, it directly bounced it away.
The target was naturally the Iwagakure army. Facing the incoming Tailed Beast Ball, the Iwagakure Allied Forces tacitly formed hand seals to cast Earth Flow Rampart, which, when combined, became an Earth Flow Rampart.
The high, thousand-meter-long Earth Flow Rampart formation was shattered by the Tailed Beast Ball one by one. Fortunately, after shattering half of it, the Tailed Beast Ball lost momentum and exploded.
The damage from the explosion shattered the remaining Earth Flow Rampart, but the Iwagakure Ninja suffered no casualties. The Four-Tails then fiercely charged towards the Eight-Tails.
It wasn't just the Eight-Tails that encountered the Iwagakure Ninja's collective Ninjutsu; the Third Raikage and Fourth Raikage A were also targets of attack, though the intensity they faced was not as great as what the Eight-Tails encountered.
However, the two, who were already on the defensive, found themselves in even more precarious situations. Earthquakes, like magnitude 10 tremors, made them lose their footing, and then the ground would crack open and close again, attempting to bury them.
If it weren't for the Third Raikage and Fourth Raikage A, who lacked neither strength, speed, nor defense, they would have died countless times over, but they were still being tormented and were in a sorry state.
Their sorry state wasn't due to this collective Ninjutsu, but rather Chiyo's poison and Karura's Sand Release; a moment of inattention could lead to poisoning or being trapped and buried by sand.
The Third Raikage was in an even more sorry state; he dared not slow down at all. Any of Rasa's Magnet Release Sand Gold had to be quickly blasted away and not allowed to entangle him, otherwise he would face an assassination attempt from Dust Release.
Repeatedly using Hell Stab to blast away Rasa's Sand Gold had already left the Third Raikage somewhat depleted of Chakra, and he was breathing heavily.
Now, let alone a good part of the day, if this continued, his Chakra would probably be exhausted in two hours, though Ōnoki and Rasa wouldn't be much better off.
Rasa's Chakra reserves were only at the ordinary Kage-level, and controlling Sand Gold with Magnet Release was also extremely Chakra-consuming; he would likely collapse before the Third Raikage.
As for Ōnoki, there's no need to mention him. While Dust Release, as a Kekkei Tota, is undeniably powerful, its consumption might not necessarily allow him to last longer than the Third Raikage.
Moreover, Ōnoki was old, his Chakra had somewhat declined, and he had a slipped disc. The continuous use of Light-Weight Rock coupled with the high-consumption Dust Release meant he was also breaking into a cold sweat at this point.
Continuing to persist now was simply a test of whose willpower was stronger and who could last longer. The Third Raikage would undoubtedly die once his Chakra was exhausted, while they still had a way out.
In fact, all three parties had overlooked the fourth and fifth parties. Yagura had not led the Hidden Mist back to the Land of Water, but was instead hidden in the Land of Hot Springs, only half a day's distance from the Land of the Moon.
He had received orders from the Third Mizukage that if the Kumogakure and Sunagakure, along with Iwagakure, were to suffer heavy losses, he should emerge and profit as a third party.
If Konoha couldn't hold back and made a move first, he was to take advantage of Konoha's vulnerable rear and launch a surprise attack on Konoha Village. Regardless of which plan succeeded, he was promised the position of Fourth Mizukage.
Thus, Yagura remained in a valley in the Land of Hot Springs, constantly sending out Ninja for reconnaissance, preparing to strike at the opportune moment.
This plan was naturally concocted by the masterminds Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara. In reality, Yahiko, who had already recovered, was also hidden in the Land of Hot Springs, just waiting for the Five Great Ninja Villages to suffer heavy losses before beginning to collect the Tailed Beast.
Yahiko, infused with Hashirama cells, had also awakened Wood Release, but he relied on the Rinnegan to suppress the Hashirama cells to prevent them from rampaging. If the Rinnegan were to be taken from him, he would transform into a towering tree.
Black Zetsu had not told Yahiko about this matter. Yahiko, on the contrary, was extremely excited about possessing Wood Release, and its power was not low.
Taking advantage of the fact that several Ninja villages were observing the battle and their attention was not on him, Yahiko had secretly gone to the Land of Rain to settle scores with Hanzo and Danzo.
Once the scores were settled, he could begin Tailed Beast collection. Black Zetsu said that the Nine-Tailed would be handled by others, so he planned to settle scores first and then head to Takigakure Village to capture the Seven-Tails.
Black Zetsu no longer intended to delay. While Uchiha Madara could still shine and contribute, he planned to take Uchiha Rei away before Madara's death, which would reduce the variables in his plan.
Otherwise, if Uchiha Rei grew for a few more years and Uchiha Madara aged for a few more years, it would be an unknown whether Uchiha Madara could still kill Uchiha Rei at that time.
Ling was completely unaware that Black Zetsu was plotting against her again. She had been conscripted by Hiruzen Sarutobi, who claimed there was a problem with the Interrogation Department's barrier and it needed to be upgraded.
Otherwise, if another hostage were to be inexplicably rescued after being captured, it would be too disadvantageous for Konoha. So, she directly became the head of the repair team.
She and Kushina began designing a new barrier. The Interrogation Department's barrier version was still stuck in the Second Hokage's era; for so many years, it had only been inspected, not upgraded.
If it were a barrier made by Uzumaki Mito, there might not have been any problems, but unfortunately, it was the result of the barrier squad, and now it had reached a point where it had to be updated and replaced.
The Third Hokage also remembered that the barriers in many confidential locations were somewhat outdated. Having been in use for too long, their functions and efficiency had greatly decreased.
So Ling's workload was quite large, but she was only busy during the initial design phase of the barrier. Later, she could just arrange for the barrier squad to set it up.
Ling estimated that once these barriers were completed, the Third Hokage would probably ask her and Kushina to renovate and cover Konoha with a new barrier, mainly because there were too many secret passages in the previous one.
She had no free time every day. Barrier design could only be done in a secret room under the watchful eye of an Anbu squadron, and she was not allowed to leave until it was completed.
The inherently evil Hiruzen Sarutobi gave her and Kushina such a massive workload, and even made them supervise each other to ensure no secret passages were left.
As for Minato Namikaze, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, they had already taken some elites to Konoha's border defense forces.
He had them guard against possible sneak attacks from Kirigakure and also see if there was an opportunity to profit as a third party. When Konoha learned that Kumogakure, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure had started fighting, Konoha was overjoyed.
Mainly because the pressure from the Four Great Shinobi Villages' allied forces had been too great before; now, going from four enemies to possibly only one enemy was simply too easy.
It must be said that the butterfly effect caused by Ling was truly significant; the current situation in the Ninja World was already vastly different from the original story.
However, the only constant was the Third Raikage being ambushed. But this time, with Rasa and Ōnoki participating, the Third Raikage's situation became even more difficult.
After half a day, the Third Raikage was already panting, his Chakra nearly depleted to only thirty percent, and this was even after consuming a large amount of Soldier Pill.
On the other side, Rasa and Ōnoki, relying on their potential as Ninja forces, were in much better condition, but they also dared not be careless. No one could guarantee what the Third Raikage, on the verge of desperation, might do.
Fourth Raikage A and Killer Bee were also nearing their limits, yet the Kumogakure reinforcements might still be half a day away, and they couldn't hold on that long.
When the three gathered together again, they could only see the boundless allied forces of Sunagakure and Iwagakure. In fact, they had had a chance to break through earlier.
However, those few thousand Kumogakure Ninja would have been completely annihilated, and Kumogakure did not have as many Ninja as Iwagakure.
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