Deep within Kumogakure, the Third Raikage stood inside an empty underground training chamber, his muscular upper body bare as he continued his relentless training.
The humiliating defeat he had suffered several years ago remained carved into his memory. Not a single day had passed in which he allowed himself to forget it.
The Third Raikage was known for his fierce temper and occasionally reckless approach, but he was far from unintelligent. When it came to battle, his instincts and judgment were exceptional.
Ever since he had been defeated and captured, he had repeatedly gone over every detail of his fight against Kizaru, searching for some way to counter him.
In the Third Raikage's eyes, there had certainly been a difference in their overall strength. However, that had not been the only reason for his defeat.
The greater problem was that he had known almost nothing about Kizaru.
He had not understood Kizaru's abilities, his fighting style, or the nature of his techniques. As a result, he had entered the battle completely unprepared and paid a devastating price for it.
After Kumogakure paid the price necessary to secure his release, the Third Raikage immediately took steps to ensure that such a defeat would never happen again.
A special five-man analysis team was formed for one purpose alone.
Every day, their sole responsibility was to examine every piece of information Kumogakure possessed about Kizaru and search for possible weaknesses or countermeasures.
Of all the intelligence the village had gathered, the most valuable source was still the Third Raikage himself.
He was one of the few people in the shinobi world who had fought Kizaru directly and survived.
Using his recollection of the battle, the analysis team managed to draw several conclusions that the Third Raikage considered extremely important.
The most critical of them concerned the technique that had allowed Kizaru to ignore his attacks.
According to the analysis team, it was not simply genjutsu.
It was some form of extremely advanced ninjutsu that allowed Kizaru to transform his physical body into an elemental state.
The Third Raikage strongly agreed with that conclusion.
After his defeat, he had carefully reconsidered every exchange between them.
He clearly remembered striking Kizaru.
His fist had undoubtedly connected, yet it had caused no damage whatsoever. The sensation had been almost identical to punching empty air.
However, the Third Raikage could guarantee one thing.
At the exact moment his attack passed through Kizaru, he had sensed an enormous amount of chakra within the body in front of him.
That meant the figure he had struck had not been an illusionary projection or a false image created by genjutsu.
It had been the real Kizaru.
And yet, despite being real, Kizaru had still suffered no damage.
That detail supported the analysis team's conclusion.
Kizaru had likely developed a technique similar in principle to the Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique. The difference was that instead of transforming his body into water, Kizaru transformed himself into light.
That realization was incredibly significant to both the Third Raikage and Kumogakure as a whole.
More than anything, it restored some of the confidence and morale that had been crushed by Kizaru's seemingly invincible abilities.
It proved that Kizaru was not truly untouchable.
He merely combined his elemental transformation with highly advanced genjutsu, creating the illusion that no attack could ever reach him.
The result made him appear less like a man and more like an untouchable phantom.
Once the Third Raikage understood that, excitement surged through him.
For the first time since his defeat, he felt as though he had found the correct path.
Kizaru was not invincible.
There had to be a way to defeat him.
During their previous two encounters, the Third Raikage had been overwhelmed by frustration and despair.
It was not simply that Kizaru was too fast to hit.
That alone would have been easier to accept.
The real despair came from successfully striking him, only for the attack to pass through his body without causing the slightest injury.
A battle in which one side could attack freely while the other could do nothing but endure was enough to crush anyone's fighting spirit.
However, with the analysis team's help, the Third Raikage had finally begun to understand the reason behind Kizaru's apparent immunity.
That knowledge alone was enough to restore his willingness to face Kizaru again.
Of course, understanding the nature of Kizaru's ability did not mean the Third Raikage had discovered a reliable way to overcome it.
Once they identified the possible cause, the Third Raikage and the analysis team began searching desperately for a method to counter it.
Kizaru's skill with genjutsu was formidable, but genjutsu could still be resisted through sensory ninjutsu, chakra control, or techniques designed to disrupt illusions.
The true problem was Kizaru's ability to transform into light.
The Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique was troublesome, but even that could be countered by using the correct chakra nature.
Lightning Release, for example, was highly effective against a body transformed into water.
But what could restrain light?
What could damage light?
How could a shinobi strike something that possessed no conventional physical form?
To answer those questions, the Third Raikage even recruited several prominent researchers from across the Land of Lightning and ordered them to assist the analysis team.
Despite extensive research and repeated experiments, however, they were eventually forced to acknowledge that the problem had no simple solution.
First, Kizaru was not merely a beam of light.
He could freely shift between light and a physical body.
Second, even without relying on his light-based techniques, Kizaru was still one of the most powerful close-combat fighters in the entire shinobi world.
That had already been demonstrated during the Chūnin Exams, when he fought a rampaging Eight-Tails jinchūriki at close range.
Finally, the light Kizaru created was not ordinary sunlight.
His attacks took the form of concentrated lasers capable of producing extreme heat and devastating explosions.
At one point, someone suggested placing mirrors across the battlefield to reflect Kizaru's attacks.
The proposal was quickly rejected.
Even ignoring the sheer difficulty of arranging enough mirrors across an active battlefield, ordinary reflective surfaces would never withstand the heat of Kizaru's lasers.
The instant one of his attacks struck a mirror, the glass would shatter or explode, injuring the surrounding Kumogakure shinobi instead.
After countless analyses and experiments, the Third Raikage's team finally reached a conclusion.
If they wanted to counter Kizaru's transformation into light, their only realistic options were sealing techniques or space–time ninjutsu.
Unfortunately, both fields were exceptionally rare and difficult to master.
Worse still, the village with the greatest knowledge of sealing techniques and space–time ninjutsu was Konoha—the very village Kizaru belonged to.
Attempting to defeat Kizaru using either field was almost completely unrealistic.
Among all the sealing techniques and space–time ninjutsu currently possessed by Kumogakure, not one was capable of reliably restraining Kizaru or inflicting damage upon him.
There was only one possible exception.
The Kohaku no Jōhei.
The Amber Purifying Pot was one of the treasured tools left behind by the Sage of Six Paths. It had once been wielded by the Gold and Silver Brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and it was the only one of their Six Paths Treasured Tools that Kumogakure had managed to recover.
The Kohaku no Jōhei was an exceptionally powerful sealing vessel.
Once the holder called out a target's name, anyone who responded would be sealed inside the pot.
As long as Kizaru remained unaware of its ability, it could be used to catch him off guard.
However, there would only be one opportunity.
The moment Kizaru discovered the pot's existence and understood how its sealing condition worked, it would become useless against him.
The Third Raikage intended to use the Kohaku no Jōhei during the planned alliance between the major hidden villages to surround and eliminate Kizaru.
It was his greatest trump card.
In the Third Raikage's estimation, Kizaru had a strong chance of falling for it.
Kizaru had no knowledge of the artifact, and during battle, he had a habit of answering his opponents with that same infuriatingly relaxed manner of his.
If someone called his name, he would likely respond without thinking much of it.
Furthermore, Kumogakure had never allowed any information regarding the Kohaku no Jōhei to leave the village.
There was no possible way Kizaru could know about its ability.
As far as the Third Raikage was concerned, the plan was nearly flawless.
As long as the allied villages successfully trapped Kizaru within a barrier, the Third Raikage would be able to use the Kohaku no Jōhei to seal that monster away.
Even so, he refused to place all his hopes on a single Six Paths Treasured Tool.
Ever since Kumogakure had gathered more information about Kizaru, the Third Raikage had devoted himself to even harsher training.
Kizaru's transformation into light remained difficult to counter, but the Third Raikage was determined not to fall prey to his genjutsu a second time.
For more than three years, he had trained relentlessly in sensory ninjutsu and methods for detecting and disrupting illusions.
Whenever Kizaru fought seriously, an enormous amount of chakra surged through his body.
That chakra was comparable to the reserves of a tailed beast.
No matter how advanced his genjutsu might be, concealing such an overwhelming presence completely would be extremely difficult.
That realization gave the Third Raikage another possible method of countering Kizaru.
He would strengthen his sensory abilities.
Kizaru could hide his appearance with genjutsu, distort his opponent's perception, or make himself seem invisible.
But he could not erase the chakra flowing through his body.
The Third Raikage did not need to completely dispel the illusion.
All he needed was the ability to sense Kizaru's chakra and follow its movement.
His fists tightened as lightning crackled across his powerful frame.
The humiliation of his previous defeat burned within his chest.
The next time they fought, things would be different.
Even if he still could not defeat Kizaru, he refused to be toyed with again.
I will never suffer such a miserable defeat again.
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