Kumogakure was not the only village studying Kizaru. Iwagakure and Kirigakure were doing the same.
Had Sunagakure not been crippled by Konoha, thrown into turmoil by the struggle for power among its leadership, and pushed toward surrender under Chiyo's direction, it would likely have organized its own investigation into Kizaru as well.
It was often said that shinobi were limited by the training they received from childhood. Outside warfare, their understanding of politics, economics, culture, scientific research, and other fields tended to be narrow.
When it came to combat, however, shinobi were anything but foolish.
Gathering intelligence on an enemy, identifying their weaknesses, and developing countermeasures were fundamental skills expected of any competent shinobi.
If Kumogakure could uncover the secret behind Kizaru's apparent immunity to physical attacks, there was no reason Iwagakure could not reach the same conclusion.
After studying the intelligence gathered by the village and witnessing Kizaru fight with his own eyes, the experienced Ōnoki arrived at the same conclusion as Kumogakure's strategists.
Kizaru avoided damage by transforming his body into light.
That discovery was both extremely valuable and almost completely useless.
The reason was simple.
Once Kizaru transformed, his body became light itself.
How were they supposed to strike light?
More importantly, how could they restrain it?
Ōnoki found himself facing the same problem as the Third Raikage. Once Kizaru turned into light, there was no reliable way to stop him.
How was anyone supposed to attack a beam of light?
For the shinobi of this era, such a thing was practically impossible.
Faced with that problem, Iwagakure's strategists eventually produced the same answer as Kumogakure's: sealing techniques and space-time ninjutsu were the only methods that might be capable of restraining Kizaru.
It was hardly a satisfying answer.
Still, even an incomplete possibility was better than having no answer at all.
Unfortunately, when it came to sealing techniques and space-time ninjutsu, Konoha stood far above the other villages. What little knowledge the other villages possessed was fragmented and largely ineffective.
As for space-time ninjutsu, aside from summoning techniques and Kumogakure's Heavenly Transfer Technique, the other villages possessed almost nothing of real value.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure had both developed sealing techniques of their own, but another problem remained.
After transforming into light, Kizaru could move at a speed that was nearly indistinguishable from teleportation. Even if they developed a sealing technique capable of containing him, they would first have to trap him inside it.
Of course, it was not as though Iwagakure possessed no means of harming Kizaru.
The Dust Release kekkei tōta wielded by the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, could theoretically kill him in an instant.
Dust Release disintegrated anything caught within its boundaries at the molecular level, erasing its target almost immediately.
Its destructive power was more than sufficient. If Kizaru were struck directly, even he would be unable to withstand it.
But that only brought them back to the same problem.
No matter how powerful an attack was, it meant nothing if it could not hit its target.
Kizaru's speed and mobility were regarded as the greatest in the shinobi world. Dust Release was devastating, but it still required time to prepare and aim.
Against someone who could move at the speed of light, even the strongest technique was useless if it never connected.
For several years, Ōnoki had considered what he could do if Iwagakure ever went to war with Konoha.
How could he defeat Kizaru?
Or, failing that, how could he at least keep him occupied?
After years of thought, Ōnoki had only devised two possible methods.
The first was to use Earth Release techniques that manipulated weight and gravity to restrict Kizaru's movements, then strike him with Dust Release.
Ōnoki held little confidence in that plan.
At best, it might succeed if Kizaru became careless and underestimated his opponents.
The second method was to gather several powerful shinobi and have them restrain Kizaru long enough for Ōnoki to prepare Dust Release.
Compared to the first plan, Ōnoki considered the second far more practical.
That was also one of the reasons he had agreed to join the alliance of shinobi villages proposed by Kirigakure.
Konoha had become far too powerful.
Worse still, Kizaru was both exceptionally young and overwhelmingly strong.
Something had to be done to suppress their rise. Otherwise, the future of the shinobi world would inevitably belong to Konoha.
It was because Ōnoki understood this so clearly that he had accepted the enormous risk of joining the alliance.
The coming siege of Konoha would decide the fate of the three nations and shape the balance of the shinobi world for the next hundred years.
If the alliance won, the three villages would rise together while Konoha declined.
If they lost, everything would end.
Konoha would stand unchallenged at the summit of the shinobi world.
Hovering before the stone that represented the spirit of Iwagakure, Ōnoki held a small oval stone in his palm. Its surface had been polished smooth after years of handling.
The time agreed upon by the three great shinobi villages to launch their surprise attack on Konoha was drawing closer.
Yet an uneasiness continued to linger within Ōnoki's heart.
For the first time since making his decision, he found himself hesitating.
Where would his choice lead Iwagakure?
Would the village emerge stronger?
Or would it be driven into an even worse position?
There was no way to know.
But one thing was certain.
If Iwagakure allowed this opportunity to pass and did nothing, its future would undoubtedly be bleak.
Konoha...
Again and again, it was always Konoha.
The village possessed the richest land and produced more talented shinobi than any of its rivals.
It was difficult not to envy them.
Ōnoki rolled the smooth stone between his fingers before looking toward the larger stone displayed upon the pedestal.
Once again, he remembered the lesson his grandfather, the First Tsuchikage Ishikawa, had taught him.
The true treasure enshrined by Iwagakure was not the stone itself.
It was the Will of Stone embodied within it.
To remain resolute.
To remain unmoved.
To endure, no matter how great the pressure placed upon you.
Perseverance.
Endurance.
Ōnoki repeated those words silently.
Little by little, the hesitation and uneasiness within his heart faded.
He had already made his decision.
What purpose was there in doubting it now?
When had he become so afraid of failure?
When had he begun to fear facing Kizaru and Konoha?
He could not allow himself to continue thinking that way.
The shinobi of Iwagakure could die standing, but they would never survive by kneeling before another village.
If they won this war, then there would be nothing more to say.
If they lost, they would endure.
Even if Iwagakure was forced into the same position as Sunagakure—paying compensation and swallowing humiliation—the village could still survive.
As long as it survived, there would always be hope that it could rise again one day.
With that thought, Ōnoki's heart finally settled.
War was approaching.
He could not allow fear to overcome him before the battle had even begun.
For the sake of his village's future, even death was an acceptable price.
Long ago, he had stood before Uchiha Madara and witnessed the man's overwhelming superiority.
Madara had crushed his teacher and treated Ōnoki as though he were nothing more than an insect.
Yet even after suffering such a devastating defeat and unbearable humiliation, Ōnoki had endured.
He had survived.
There was no reason he could not do so again.
"Is that really the best you can manage?"
A cold voice echoed across one of Kirigakure's training grounds.
"With skills like those, you expect to face Kizaru? Pathetic. Every last one of you."
Using a physical clone fashioned from the body of a White Zetsu, Uchiha Madara stood in the center of the training ground.
A gray wooden mask concealed his face.
Before him, four Kirigakure shinobi stood at the corners of a rectangular formation as Madara regarded them with open contempt.
All four came from the Yuki clan, the Ice Release kekkei genkai clan of Kirigakure.
The name "Minazuki" was merely a fan-created designation.
Just as Kumogakure and Iwagakure were searching for ways to restrain Kizaru, Uchiha Madara was also making preparations of his own.
When Madara had encountered and fought Kizaru, he had confirmed that Kizaru's apparent immunity to physical damage came from his ability to transform his body into light.
Because Kizaru became light after elementalizing his body, it was difficult to counter him through ordinary elemental advantages.
Madara had also considered using mirrors to reflect the light, but ordinary reflective surfaces would never withstand the intense heat produced by Kizaru's lasers.
That was why Madara had turned his attention toward the Yuki clan and its Ice Release.
Among the clan's secret techniques was the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, a technique capable of creating ice mirrors from specially formed crystals.
Madara spent a considerable amount of time developing a new barrier technique.
He used the Four Red Yang Formation as its foundation—a powerful barrier ninjutsu that required four Kage-level shinobi to perform and was capable of containing even a tailed beast.
He then combined its principles with the light-refracting properties of the Yuki clan's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.
The result was a new barrier technique Madara named the Four Ice Crystal Formation.
Since the Yuki clan did not possess four Kage-level shinobi capable of maintaining the Four Red Yang Formation, Madara reduced the new barrier's defensive strength to lower its chakra requirements.
In exchange, the walls of the Four Ice Crystal Formation were made from specially reinforced ice crystals capable of reflecting light.
Madara also greatly increased their hardness, allowing the crystals to endure extreme heat and powerful attacks without immediately shattering.
In theory, any laser Kizaru fired inside the formation would be reflected by the mirrored walls.
More importantly, the barrier would prevent Kizaru from escaping after transforming into light.
That second function was the one Madara valued most.
He could not be certain that even the Four Red Yang Formation would be capable of containing someone whose body had become light.
The Four Ice Crystal Formation removed that uncertainty.
If Kizaru transformed into light and attempted to pass through the barrier, the mirrored surface would reflect him back inside.
If he returned to his physical form, the barrier itself would prevent him from breaking through.
It was a double layer of containment.
After completing the Four Ice Crystal Formation, Madara instructed the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, to select four elite jōnin from the Yuki clan and have them train exclusively in the technique.
Madara personally took responsibility for teaching them.
To conceal his identity, he appeared before them as a sealing-technique specialist recruited by the Fourth Mizukage and appointed as an adviser to Kirigakure.
The four elite jōnin had trained under Madara for a considerable amount of time.
By now, they were capable of activating the Four Ice Crystal Formation.
However, neither their casting speed nor the stability of the barrier met Madara's standards.
His relentless criticism had nearly turned him into a living source of pressure for the four shinobi.
On several occasions, the Yuki clan jōnin had expressed their dissatisfaction. They believed that Madara was no longer instructing them and was simply insulting them.
Had it not been for the direct pressure exerted by the Fourth Mizukage, all four of them would have abandoned the training long ago.
Their complaints only irritated Madara further.
From his perspective, there was nothing particularly difficult about ninjutsu.
Observe the technique.
Understand its principles.
Form the necessary hand seals.
Then perform it.
Was that not all there was to it?
Once someone had learned a technique, should it not be natural for them to bring it to its highest possible level?
What part of that was supposed to be difficult?
Madara certainly did not find it difficult.
He had created the Four Ice Crystal Formation in only a few days.
The four Yuki clan jōnin had spent more than a month merely practising it, yet they still could not perform it to his satisfaction.
To Madara, they were little more than a group of hopeless fools.
A collection of useless trash.
Madara did not believe he was insulting them.
He was merely stating the truth.
And if his honest assessment sounded like an insult, that was hardly his fault.
After all, how could speaking the truth be considered an insult?
•••
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