Chapter 126: Danzō's Puppet Assault on Third Raikage, Hachifusa vs. Haki Armor, Hell Thrust Four-Finger Pierce Devastation
Danzō watched the Konoha ninjas collide with Kumo forces and furrowed his brow.
He didn't believe Kumo ninjas' individual strength could match Konoha's, nor did he think their commander could defeat him.
So he was curious what gave Kumo the courage for a night raid—until he spotted the tall, imposing figure of the Third Raikage A in the crowd.
The Third Raikage was boldly slaughtering enemies in the midst of the fray—ordinary ninjas fell instantly under each punch and kick.
Shimura Danzō revealed an evil smile, thinking inwardly: So Kumo's courage comes from nothing more than this Raikage!
Unfortunately, except for Sarutobi Hiruzen, no village's Kage was his match! And this was the perfect chance to capture the Third Raikage as a puppet.
He still clearly remembered the Raikage's mocking words from the last Five Kage Summit!
Danzō slowly drew Hachifusa and released his puppets one by one. The ones damaged in previous battles had already been replaced with new ones.
As before: Five Release puppets, Genjutsu puppet, Swordsmanship puppet, and Permeation puppet.
He first positioned the Five Release puppets to spread out and maneuver, while the Permeation ninja vanished to launch sneak attacks.
The Genjutsu and Swordsmanship puppets stayed at his sides.
At that moment, while the Third Raikage A was massacring fodder, he suddenly felt a slight pain in his kidney—and the Permeation ninja's figure slowly appeared.
What shocked Shimura Danzō happened next: the Permeation ninja, pouring maximum Lightning Release chakra into a single thrust, struck the undefended Third Raikage—
and it jammed!
What Danzō didn't know was that the only reason the Permeation ninja landed the hit—aside from battlefield sneak attack—was because the Third Raikage A hadn't activated Observation Haki.
And the thrust that appeared to pierce the Raikage's body completely stopped advancing once the Raikage instinctively tensed his muscles and coated them in Armament Haki.
The Raikage gave the puppet a slight smile. His left-hand fingers snapped the Permeation puppet's ninja sword in an instant, while his right fist directly shattered the upper half of the Permeation puppet into pieces.
The puppet's foul, rotting flesh scattered across the sky. The Third Raikage sniffed the smell and felt it wasn't very fresh.
Shimura Danzō naturally understood that the Third Raikage's strength wasn't so simple.
Ignoring that Konoha ninjas were still around the Third Raikage, he directly ordered the Five Release puppets to unleash Five Release: Great Barrage Technique.
Since these five puppets were carefully selected by Shimura Danzō—each one a special jōnin exceptionally skilled in a single Release—they could perform their specialty Release at a level exceeding its usual difficulty.
Just like how Kakuzu's Lightning Release puppet could turn B-rank Lightning Release: False Darkness into something surpassing Kakashi's Lightning Cutter—requiring two Chidori to counter.
Plus the puppets only consumed half the chakra Danzō paid, this time Danzō's Five Release: Great Barrage Technique reached intensity surpassing the original version cast by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Powerful flames, lightning, water blades, wind blades, and earth spikes converged toward the Third Raikage A in the center.
Any ninjas caught along the path screamed once before being carried toward the center by the Five Release power.
The Third Raikage A no longer had time to dodge this technique—he had never seen anyone use ninjutsu this way.
He even felt there were more Konoha ninjas around him than Kumo ones.
He could only push Lightning Release Chakra Mode to its limit and activate the strongest Lightning Armor.
At this moment his hair stood completely on end, and Lightning Release power reached its maximum. This granted him extremely powerful damage reduction.
But that wasn't enough—Armament Haki simultaneously covered his entire body, turning him pitch black. The final effect looked like a black iron giant clad in Lightning Release armor.
Though the operations seemed numerous, they all happened in an instant.
Then the terrifying explosion arrived—Five Release power flowed perfectly at the blast center.
Shimura Danzō revealed a cold smile, looking toward the Raikage's position. Right now he was a little worried whether this man known as the strongest shield would be directly blasted into minced meat!
However, as the smoke cleared, Danzō saw the Third Raikage—who had only spat blood, his hair and clothes shredded, body charred black—and his eyes widened in disbelief. He inwardly cried impossible—how could any ninja withstand that level of attack?
The Third Raikage A also felt a trace of lingering fear. This technique truly deserved to be the Hero of Shinobi Sarutobi Hiruzen's signature move—yet Shimura Danzō had replicated it with puppets.
It really was quite formidable—even his strongest Lightning Armor combined with full-body Armament Haki had nearly left him heavily injured.
It was only in the final instant of taking the hit that inspiration struck—he recalled accelerating blood flow to speed up muscle movement.
Would that provide better defense?
What he didn't know was that this was exactly Iron Body!
So right now he was only lightly injured!
And this time he wouldn't give his opponent a second chance to use Five Release: Great Barrage Technique!
The Third Raikage A once again fully unleashed Lightning Release Chakra Mode and activated Armament Haki. At the same time he pushed Intermediate Observation Haki to its limit.
He firmly locked onto the five puppets that had just attacked him.
Meanwhile Danzō hurriedly commanded the puppets to perform Five Release: Great Barrage Technique once more. With Inspiring Armor's passive of 100% increased chakra recovery speed, Shimura Danzō wasn't worried at all about lacking chakra for another cast.
But he underestimated the Third Raikage A—the current fastest ninja in the world! The owner of the title Strongest Spear!
"Hell Thrust: Armament Haki: Four-Finger Pierce!" ×4
This technique originally concentrated massive lightning into four fingers for ultra-fast piercing strikes against enemies.
Combined with Armament Haki, Hell Thrust: Four-Finger Pierce broke through the original limitation of pure piercing attack—turning the Raikage's palm into an indestructible ninja sword.
Moreover, flowing and externalizing Armament Haki further extended the attack range.
He had even developed an internal-destruction version of Hell Thrust: Armament Haki: Four-Finger Pierce—this completely eliminated his previous shortcoming of having penetration power but insufficient destructive power against large targets.
Although Naraku hadn't taught the Raikage the Six Styles, he had poured out all his ideas on the application of Armament and Observation Haki.
This was precisely why the Raikage acted like an ultimate simp, believing Naraku would be willing to come to Kumogakure.
In just 5 seconds, Shimura Danzō's Five Release puppets were completely gone.
At this point Shimura Danzō naturally lost his earlier confidence. Although he still had Wood Release from Inspiring Armor that he hadn't used yet,
the terrifying speed, defense, and perception of the Third Raikage before him was simply too overwhelming.
Danzō shouted for nearby Root ninjas to use ninjutsu to restrict the Third Raikage's speed.
But the next scene once again terrified Shimura Danzō—the Third Raikage seemed to have Byakugan-like vision, weaving between different ninjutsu.
Even attacks from behind he could sense in advance and evade, while weaker Earth Release techniques were directly blasted apart with one punch.
He approached Shimura Danzō unhurriedly!
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