Before the age of 15, Sasori of the Red Sand defected from the Hidden Sand, casually murdering the Strongest Kazekage on his way out... or rather, after assassinating the Kazekage, he decided to leave the village as an afterthought.
Some say he engaged in a head-on clash with the Kazekage and defeated him through raw power.
Others argue the methods Sasori used were actually pure assassination.
Silent, untraceable, drawing zero attention, boasting a relatively high success rate, and requiring far less consideration of the sheer gap in combat strength... these were all the inherent benefits of assassination.
And so, the Third Raikage—a man who originally should have fought here for three days and three nights straight until he literally died of exhaustion—was ultimately felled by Hagoromo's slightly-less-than-subtle assassination techniques.
He had grossly overestimated his own absolute defense and underestimated Hagoromo's technique.
In reality, Hagoromo had been overly cautious. With the sheer offensive output of the Super Electromagnetic Cannon, in terms of armor penetration and single-target lethality, you probably couldn't find a stronger jutsu in the entire ninja world. A single shot would have been enough to shatter the Raikage's defense; the three-round burst was honestly overkill.
Comparatively speaking, was the Railgun really going to be weaker than the Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite?
If the Four-Finger Nukite could pierce the Raikage's defense, the Super Electromagnetic Cannon naturally could as well. The former was "stab whoever, and they die," while the latter was "stab whoever, and they explode."
But Hagoromo demanded guaranteed certainty, which was exactly why he fed the Raikage three piping-hot rounds.
Afterward, Hagoromo didn't experience any drastic emotional fluctuations. Capitalizing on the collective stunned silence of the Hidden Stone ninjas, he immediately sealed away the Raikage's corpse—which was actually an unexpected bonus. He truly hadn't expected the body to remain intact instead of being vaporized into a mist of blood and gore.
Regardless, bringing the Raikage's corpse back to Konoha would undoubtedly yield immense value. Hoping to extract major Hidden Cloud intel from the Raikage's brain... that was highly unlikely.
Even Hagoromo had an anti-interrogation seal in his head. As a Raikage fully prepared to die in battle, he naturally possessed powerful sealing formulas to prevent intelligence leaks.
But at the very least, they could slice him up and study him. The offensive and defensive combat systems of every generation of Raikage were highly similar; perhaps studying the Third's body could reveal some critical weak points or breakthrough methods.
With the corpse safely sealed, the real question arrived: how the hell was Hagoromo supposed to escape now?
It wasn't until he had finished his business that the Hidden Stone ninjas finally snapped out of their daze. Wait, the Raikage was just... dead?
In the center of the battlefield, the crimson blood mist whipped up by the unknown Lightning Style still lingered in the air.
The ground was practically carpeted with the corpses of Hidden Stone ninjas, layer upon layer.
The gazes of Kitsuchi and every other frontline ninja locked onto the Anbu standing right in front of them.
Beads of blood coalesced on his icy white mask, gathering weight before slowly dripping down.
His white hair had long since been dyed a completely different color; it was essentially red with white highlights.
"The Third Raikage is dead!"
"We killed the Raikage!"
The ninjas finally processed what had happened, and a wave of triumphant roars erupted!
Even the most cold-blooded, composed ninjas, faced with the sudden elimination of such a terrifying enemy, couldn't help but roar in ecstatic celebration once the initial shock wore off.
A thought sparked in Hagoromo's mind, and he had an idea.
He deliberately made a sweeping gesture to look around the battlefield, then thrust his right fist high into the air, shouting with a voice as booming as thunder: "The Raikage is dead! Victory to the Hidden Stone!"
His voice carried across nearly the entire battlefield.
...Right. He was attempting to bluff his way through, seamlessly blending back into the ranks of the Hidden Stone ninjas so he could look for a chance to slip away later.
As a Hidden Stone ninja, he obviously had every right to be immensely proud of personally slaying the Raikage, and naturally had to cheer for the Hidden Stone's glorious victory.
He needed to act like a true "hero"... but practically speaking, this was an incredibly ridiculous performance.
There were actually a few dimwitted ninjas who looked ready to rush forward and hoist their new hero onto their shoulders.
But the moment Hagoromo's voice fell, a much deeper, far more oppressive voice... essentially, a voice significantly louder than his own loud voice, cut through the cheers.
"MAINTAIN! YOUR! FORMATION!"
The voice carried authority, confusion, suspicion, and even a hint of fury.
The excitement of the Hidden Stone ninjas was doused with a bucket of ice water. They obviously recognized that voice...
What was going on? The vast majority of them couldn't immediately grasp the situation.
But regardless, battlefield orders held absolute priority. The Stone ninjas reigned in their emotions and quickly returned to their assigned positions.
The tiny sliver of an opening in the encirclement that had just appeared was instantly sealed.
Hagoromo was still completely surrounded, ring after ring. Trying to bluff his way out? It wasn't going to be that easy.
The one who issued the order was the battlefield commander, the Jonin Kitsuchi. His intellect was fully online, and he wasn't going to be blinded by such a clumsy performance.
The ninja standing in front of him had way too many glaring inconsistencies.
The battlefield fell into a dead silence once more.
Kitsuchi stepped forward, confronting Hagoromo directly:
"Anbu ninja, remove your mask, state your Anbu codename, your ninja registration number, your assigned squad number, and the codename of your captain or division commander."
Hostility. Hagoromo could obviously feel the sheer, palpable hostility radiating from the man.
Busted?
His spur-of-the-moment idea to blend back in with the Stone ninjas really wasn't very smart... Honestly, it was a terrible idea.
An army of ten thousand men couldn't do a damn thing to the Raikage, but a random Anbu suddenly pops up and instantly deletes the boss? Ha. Ha. Ha.
Well, Atleast he tried.
"Remove my mask? State my identity? Wouldn't that mean I lose my job in the Anbu?"
Even as he said this, Hagoromo reached up with one hand and lightly pulled his mask down just a few centimeters, revealing exactly enough to show the forehead protector tied around his brow.
In a mere fraction of a second, he snapped the mask back into place.
But that was more than enough.
Because that wasn't a Hidden Stone forehead protector. It belonged to Konoha.
Why could he blast his own allies into bloody pulp without blinking an eye? Because Hagoromo hadn't been attacking his allies in the first place.
"Maintain formation! That is not our comrade; it's an enemy ninja from Konoha! Do not let him escape!" Kitsuchi commanded once again.
Assassination or not, any ninja capable of instantly deleting a battle-ready Raikage could not be underestimated.
The Hidden Stone ninjas transitioned seamlessly from a state of relaxation back into full combat readiness, but internally, they were having a complete mental breakdown.
What the hell was going on? A Konoha ninja who infiltrated their ranks had killed the Raikage? So their entire celebration just now was completely pointless?
Since it wasn't one of their own who secured the kill, the Stone ninjas naturally weren't excited anymore. On the contrary, most of them looked like they had just been forced to swallow a mouthful of dead flies.
"Konoha ninja, someone capable of eliminating the Raikage is certainly no nobody. Before you die, you are permitted to state your name," Kitsuchi said.
Before you die, of course. A ninja executing an operation like this was obviously a suicide operative. Did he really expect to break out of this encirclement alive?
"I don't..."
Hagoromo had zero intention of leaking his own intel. He wasn't an idiot. What, announce his name just so he could be endlessly hunted by the Hidden Cloud?
The Third Raikage was the Fourth Raikage's actual father, after all.
But as the words reached his lips, Hagoromo closed his mouth. He suddenly remembered something.
For a long time now, Kushina had harbored a small, rather trivial wish. Since her dream of becoming Hokage seemed entirely impossible to realize at this point, her competitive nature demanded that she at least surpass Minato in fame and reputation just once.
She had even complained to Hagoromo about this very thing... Of course, she was definitely just joking, and never actually expected him to do anything about it.
But Hagoromo didn't see it that way. He took it seriously.
Because hidden within Kushina's half-joking wish were things she desired on a much deeper level—things like freedom, and genuine recognition.
Thinking of this, Hagoromo smiled.
He changed his mind. Give them a name? Fine. He straightened his posture and used his loudest possible voice to announce his identity to the nearly ten thousand Hidden Stone ninjas surrounding him:
"The Third Raikage fell by the hands of an Uzumaki descendant—the disciple of Konoha Jonin, Kushina Uzumaki!"
Helping Kushina achieve what she wanted was the one thing he truly desired to do in this war. To Hagoromo personally, doing this held far more meaning than the act of killing the Raikage itself... It was probably the most meaningful thing he had ever done.
As for what kind of trouble this might bring Kushina? Not much at all.
First, Kushina would strictly remain inside Konoha.
Second, the one who killed the Raikage wasn't Kushina herself, but Kushina's disciple.
Because of the sheer shock value of this initial impact, he had no doubt that the entire ninja world would soon know that The Raikage died at the hands of Kushina's disciple.
Kushina would undoubtedly achieve skyrocketing fame.
But as for who the Hidden Cloud would direct their burning hatred and vengeance toward? It would absolutely be the"disciple, not Kushina. Furthermore, using Kushina as the starting point, investigating the true identity of her disciple would be incredibly easy.
So, in reality, Kushina gets all the fame and glory.
And Hagoromo takes the blame, paints a massive target on his own back, and walks straight into hell... even if it was a mess of his own making.
This ultimate flex was dedicated entirely to his sensei. What a display of fearless, selfless dedication! Truly a shining example of conduct in the industry.
In a ninja world heavily steeped in a culture of betraying and murdering one's own master, Hagoromo's actions proved he was truly Konoha's Best Disciple.
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