A-B Duo Takes the Field

Ever since the Kikyo Mountain Battle in Year 50, the Third Shinobi World War had effectively ended.

More than a decade had separated the Second Shinobi World War from the Third Shinobi World War.

Yet only three short years had passed since the Third Shinobi World War, and the clouds of war once again hung over the Shinobi World.

Forget the small nations—even the Five Great Nations had not had time to catch their breath.

The daimyō of every major nation and the leaders of every shinobi village were alarmed by the intelligence delivered by their spies.

But once they learned what had caused the incident, who knew how many people cursed Leaf Village and Cloud Village.

Cloud Village had actually tried to seize the heir of the Hyuga Main Branch right under the Hyuga Clan's nose!

As expected, the Cloud ninja was killed, and Cloud Village then used that as an excuse to pressure Leaf Village into handing over the corpse of the Hyuga Clan Head!

Iwagakure, Tsuchikage's Office.

"Idiots! Brain-dead idiots! The Fourth Raikage is even more foolish than his old man! Ow! My poor back!!"

Kirigakure, Mizukage's Office.

"...Interesting."

Sunagakure, Kazekage's Office.

"Fight! Let them fight! Those with nothing to lose fear nothing!"

Meanwhile, a violent crash came from the Raikage Building in Kumogakure.

Bang!!

"What? How dare Leaf Village?!"

The solid wooden desk was smashed to pieces by a dark, thick fist. Papers and documents scattered from the tabletop, while the residual force of his palm strike left spiderweb cracks across the floor.

Lightning wrapped around the Fourth Raikage's entire body, his hair standing on end. His face held nothing but rage and shock.

He perfectly embodied the phrase "slamming the table and rising in fury, hair bristling with rage."

"Have those old bastards among the Konoha High-Ranking Officials gone insane? How dare they frame us with such an excuse that not even dogs would believe!"

They even claimed that Cloud Village had sent the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki to attack Leaf Village's garrison, killing nearly a hundred Konoha Ninja, proactively tearing up the peace treaty, and that Leaf Village would resolutely fight the dark and evil forces of the Shinobi World to the bitter end.

They sounded utterly righteous and certain. If he had not personally locked Killer B inside Kumorai Gorge, he might have almost believed it!

Mabui, the Raikage's secretary standing nearby, could not help but sigh at the sight.

When it came to excuses, they and Leaf Village were really no better than each other.

Both were fake beyond belief. Anyone could tell at a glance that they had been fabricated.

"Mabui, immediately assemble Kumogakure's forces and declare war on Leaf Village! I'm going to the front lines myself!!" The Fourth Raikage glared as he roared at Mabui.

This was too much!

They had gone too far!

"Lord A, please calm down. Leaf Village has already produced evidence. Countless people witnessed someone using the Tailed Beast Cloak and Liger Bomb. Public opinion outside has already turned toward Leaf Village."

Mabui wiped the sweat from her forehead and said quietly, "If we deploy troops now, the good reputation we have built over the years may completely collapse."

Honestly, Leaf Village had been too ruthless this time. Truly too ruthless.

Even she, the one who had proposed the plan, had never expected Leaf Village to do something like this.

That had not been a single Leaf Village squad. It had been close to a hundred Konoha Ninja!

They had actually said "sacrifice," and just sacrificed them!

If anyone caught them over something like this, if even the slightest flaw emerged, every one of Leaf Village's high-ranking officials would be nailed to the pillar of shame for the rest of their lives!

"This definitely wasn't the Third Hokage's handiwork. That old man isn't capable of such sinister, ruthless tactics! It must have been that rat, Shimura Danzō!!"

The Fourth Raikage felt stifled to the extreme.

Leaf Village's move of using a small force to achieve great results, surviving after being driven into a desperate situation, and returning their own methods against them was utterly revolting!

The conflict that had originally erupted within Leaf Village had now been directly shifted into Cloud Village.

Some villagers had even believed it, thinking Cloud Village had been in the wrong first and should hand the culprit over to Leaf Village. They argued that the entire Cloud Village should not be dragged down by one person and plunged into another Shinobi World War.

"Leaf Village has already struck first and seized the moral high ground in public opinion. No matter how we explain ourselves, outsiders will only assume we're making excuses, because Leaf Village's evidence is simply too complete."

Mabui rubbed her aching brow. "If I hadn't personally confirmed that Lord Killer B was still in Kumorai Gorge, I would have suspected that he really had sneaked out to fool around."

She could not understand at all how Leaf Village had accomplished this.

The previous generation's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had died only three years ago. The new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki absolutely could not have matured yet.

Then who exactly was the person wearing the Tailed Beast Cloak?

And Liger Bomb was one of Cloud Village's top-secret techniques. How could someone from another village have secretly learned it!?

"...Damn it! Can't we make something of the Hyuga incident?!"

The Fourth Raikage gritted his teeth in fury, his chest heaving violently as lightning crackled around his body.

"It's too late. We can demand that they hand over the culprit's corpse, but they can also demand that we hand over the culprit's corpse. But..."

Mabui did not finish, but the Fourth Raikage understood what she meant.

The "culprit" on their side was the Fourth Raikage's younger brother, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B.

The Fourth Raikage's already dark face immediately turned even darker.

"No! I can't swallow this!"

Boom!

As soon as he spoke, before Mabui could say anything, he punched straight through the wall.

"Prepare the Heavenly Transfer Technique! Killer B and I will personally attack the Land of Fire Defense Line!"

With that, he leaped forward and jumped straight down.

Mabui looked at the huge hole in the wall and the smashed desk, covered her face, and her mouth twitched.

"...Lord A, could you please use the front door?"

Two hours later.

The Fourth Raikage appeared within the teleportation array inside the Raikage Building, carrying a burly man in sunglasses in one hand.

Killer B still looked somewhat bewildered, but that did not stop him from rapping. "Yeah~ yo yo, this great—"

Bang!

"Shut up!"

The Fourth Raikage was already furious, and with his ears now under assault, he smashed a heavy fist into Killer B's head.

Mabui asked solemnly, "The coordinates have been calculated. Lord A, are you ready?"

"Don't worry. My body is strong enough to endure it." The Fourth Raikage nodded solemnly.

The Heavenly Transfer Technique could instantly transport its target to a designated location through high-speed movement.

It was not Space-Time Ninjutsu, merely high-speed movement, so it generated intense friction with the air.

It was normally used to transport supplies. If an ordinary person were transported, their body would be torn apart because they could not keep up with the excessive speed.

But the Fourth Raikage was no ordinary person. He was one of the rare shinobi in the Shinobi World who practiced Nintaijutsu, and he had nearly trained his body to its absolute limit.

Mabui raised her hands and formed seals. "Heavenly Transfer Technique!"

A burst of white light suddenly flared, followed by dazzling lightning enveloping the two men in the array.

The electric light shot into the sky, and the two men who had stood in the array vanished in an instant.

"Whew!"

Mabui let out a long breath. For some reason, a sense of foreboding suddenly rose in her heart.

"I hope everything goes smoothly."

At the same time, a flash of light appeared in the forest of Moon Valley, followed by the emergence of two figures.

"Yo yo~ Big bro~ idiot~ fool—"

Bang!

The Fourth Raikage's fist interrupted Killer B's casting, but his own expression was unusually grim.

An extremely thick, bloody stench filled the surrounding air.

Rumble~

A head rolled past his feet, terror still frozen on its face.