Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite!
Dazzling lightning pierced through the rain curtain, streaking across dozens of meters in an instant.
Yet just as he was about to pierce Tsunade, a sudden burst of smoke completely engulfed the Third Raikage.
With a thunderous crash, he felt his body plunge into a strange, gelatinous, sticky substance. The Lightning Release Chakra coating his entire body was constantly being corroded by some highly corrosive bodily fluid.
What appeared before everyone was a gigantic blue-and-white slug over thirty meters tall, nearly covering the entire forest clearing.
Tsunade, her entire body covered in the Strength of a Hundred Seal, crouched atop its head and called out loudly:
"Lord Katsuyu!"
"Please hold this guy down for as long as you can."
"Mm."
From beneath her came the gentle, magnetic voice of the unimaginably enormous monster, carrying a hint of helplessness:
"Lord Tsunade, I may not be able to hold him for very long."
Bang—
As soon as she spoke, the lightning-wreathed figure suddenly burst out from the other side of her body.
Acidic chakra still clung to the surface of his Lightning Release Armor, surrounded by rising clouds of acidic mist that gave off faint sizzling sounds.
But such a minor problem did nothing to hinder the Third Raikage's speed.
The only fortunate thing was that Kunugi Mokume's large-scale Earth Release had already been completed.
Almost the instant he emerged from Lord Katsuyu's body, the Third Raikage fell into a deep pit dozens of meters across, like an abyss.
He struck the bottom with a muffled boom.
"Damn it!"
Tsunade had no time for words. She ran across Lord Katsuyu's body at full speed, charging toward the Third Raikage.
However, one figure was several times faster than she was.
Whoosh—
Ando Ooyama, a scroll clenched between his teeth, sprinted toward the base of the stone wall at blistering speed while drawing the twin blades at his waist.
Few people knew that he was actually the fastest member of Tsunade's Team.
Leaf Style: Willow!
The genjutsu formed from flashing blade light entered his vision. Yet the Third Raikage, who had just landed, merely gave a disdainful smile.
A crackle of lightning flashed across the surface of his wild mane, completely breaking the visual genjutsu.
Then, he charged forward again like a ferocious beast.
Bang!
Rubble exploded beneath his feet.
Yet Ando Ooyama merely narrowed his eyes, sidestepped, and swung his blades with the momentum.
A violent crackle of lightning scorching the air tore past his ear. A thick, black arm brushed past his cheek, bringing a faint sting.
The wind howled as the two katana struck his broad chest almost simultaneously, their bodies sliding past each other with their momentum.
Clang—
The Wind Release Chakra-wreathed blades cut into flesh, but only produced a sound like metal striking metal. Two showers of sparks mixed with lightning quickly vanished.
Harder than expected?
Before he could think further, another sweeping arm came down diagonally from above like a massive axe.
Boom!
The moment he dodged, it crashed into the ground, splitting a several-meter-long trench.
"Very impressive speed!"
The Third Raikage's praise was oppressively heavy. "But it isn't enough."
Almost the instant he finished speaking, the arm pressed against the ground propelled his massive body upward. He spun like a windmill and sent Ando Ooyama flying with a sweeping kick, rolling and crashing more than ten meters away.
Heavenly Foot of Pain!
He had perfectly seized the timing. In the instant before Tsunade landed, he dashed sideways.
Rumble!
The explosively powerful strike left a crater spanning more than ten meters underground.
"What remarkable talent."
The Third Raikage watched the scene with a smile. "By relying solely on your mastery of techniques, you've recreated thirty percent of that person's former prowess?"
"But what a pity!"
Suddenly, the already wild Lightning Release Armor around him swelled several times larger under an explosive influx of chakra. His voice turned icy.
"Even if that person from back then were still alive, they might not dare claim they could break through my defenses with bare fists alone!"
"Little girl, what do you amount to?!"
The moment he finished speaking, his speed abruptly surged to its peak.
The impact that burst forth in an instant formed a brilliant stream of light before them, shooting straight toward Tsunade.
"Get out of the way!"
Before Tsunade could meet the attack head-on, Ando Ooyama's utterly solemn voice rang beside her ear.
At his warning, Tsunade almost instinctively rolled toward the other side.
Pfft—!
The next moment, a muffled sound of flesh being pierced by a heavy object rang out beside her.
The steel-hard lightning hand pierced cleanly through Ando Ooyama's abdomen.
Blood sprayed out.
Yet the man who seemed more samurai than ninja wore a savage smile.
Rrip!
The scroll in his mouth was suddenly torn open by his teeth.
The Third Raikage's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively tried to fling him away.
Splash!
Black water composed entirely of Sealing Jutsu burst outward like rain, while his arms clamped tightly around the Third Raikage's wrist.
Blood filling his mouth, Ando Ooyama nearly roared:
"Everything, for Konoha!"
Tsunade stared at him in shock, her eyes wide.
"Haah!"
But his frail arms and body could not possibly restrain the Third Raikage's terrifying body, which was more fearsome than a tailed beast.
With a single pull and tear, the Third Raikage ripped Ando Ooyama, who had given everything for a single chance, cleanly in half like a sheet of paper, flinging away the broken limbs and remains.
Then he swiftly retreated.
Until his final moment, the man kept his eyes fixed on him.
But all he could see was the Third Raikage leaping away like lightning.
Bzzzz!!
Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique
A black sphere instantly swallowed every substance within ten meters of Ando Ooyama.
In only a moment, the surrounding area became a hollow void.
In that same blink, a person who had once existed left behind not even the smallest fragment.
"Huff... huff..."
The Third Raikage looked with lingering fear at the hemispherical blank space in the ground.
That Sealing Jutsu from before was not something mere sturdy Chakra Armor and a strong body could withstand.
Konoha's ninja truly could not be underestimated, not a single one of them.
"Bastard!"
Yet before he could recover, Tsunade was already charging toward him as if risking her life.
Bang!
Their four palms locked together.
The immense chakra accumulated by the jutsu formula and the Yin Seal formed Monster Strength, clashing against a body tempered through countless battles of life and death and blessed with innate power.
Though the difference in their builds was horrifying, their contest of strength entered an almost bizarre stalemate.
Creak, creak, creak—
The continuously surging chakra even caused tiny stones and dust beneath their feet to float upward.
Watching the scene silently from within sensing range, Dan Katō crouched behind a tree trunk, his hands held in the Hand Seals position and his eyes shut tight.
He had waited so long for this very moment!
Spirit Transformation Technique!
The chakra that erupted suddenly became pillars of flame, as though igniting his entire body.
As that ultimate spiritual energy gathered, Dan Katō, now completely transformed into an intangible soul, shot out of his body.
Formless, silent, and traceless.
Even special ocular techniques could not observe him with the naked eye after he had taken soul form.
Yet in his vision, everything became incomparably clear.
But he could not maintain this state for long.
Therefore—
"Die!"
No one could say how fast a soul was.
Even in Dan Katō's own perception, his soul crossed the distance of more than two hundred meters in a single instant and completely entered the Third Raikage's powerful body.
Infiltration, disruption, annihilation.
As the supreme technique of the soul realm, the Spirit Transformation Technique possessed ultimate power far beyond mental techniques such as Mind Body Switch Technique, directly affecting the enemy's mind.
The Third Raikage's body suddenly stiffened.
The instant she noticed that detail, Tsunade's eyes lit up.
Dan, did he succeed?!
Yet that thought had only just surfaced in her mind—
"Heh."
The Third Raikage's lips slowly curled upward.
Crackle—
Within the spiritual world Tsunade could not see.
The instant Dan Katō, in soul form, completely invaded the Third Raikage's spiritual realm—
A massive sealing array appeared in Dan Katō's soul vision, spreading in all directions like a spiderweb and completely covering the Third Raikage's brain.
Almost the instant he charged forward in spirit form, the enormous seal ignited his soul.
"Not good!"
A soul felt no pain.
Yet the terror of losing nearly half his spiritual energy in an instant swallowed every one of Dan Katō's instincts in the blink of an eye.
Bang.
The next moment, his transformed spirit body was violently ejected from that body.
"Gah—"
A miserable scream rang out from deep within the distant woods, agonizing beyond words.
Tsunade could not help but freeze.
"Hmph, hmph hmph hmph, hahahaha."
Watching this, the Third Raikage laughed uncontrollably as though he had discovered an amusing toy. He shook his head with seeming helplessness. "You people... don't tell me you thought this old man came alone into a trap without making any preparations?"
Tsunade stared straight at him, not noticing that her face had already turned deathly pale.
The Third Raikage kicked her away with a bang, curling his lips. "You must be wondering why this old man has such a rare soul-defense formula engraved on him, aren't you?"
His smile grew more disdainful as he explained every detail. "Some of your Konoha higher-ups sold us information our spies had failed to obtain despite countless efforts, for a mere twenty million ryo."
"They told us everything: your mission, your numbers, your team composition, even the trump card that is Dan Katō."
"That is why the patrol units, the outpost's location, and even the jutsu formula on this old man's body were prepared in advance."
"Only that boy with the Fuinjutsu was a minor surprise."
"Ha."
"This old man simply cannot understand."
"What exactly are you fighting so desperately for?"
Every word the Third Raikage spoke felt like a heavy blow drilling into Tsunade's heart.
By the end, all color had drained from her face.
Tsunade desperately told herself that this was merely the Third Raikage, her enemy, launching a psychological attack against her.
Yet everything she had experienced these past days told her otherwise.
—Was all of this real?
Seeing her expression of utter self-doubt, the Third Raikage's smile became even more malicious.
As he listened to the distant screams gradually fade, he suddenly felt something faintly wet slide down the tip of his nose.
The soul seal within his mind had vanished.
Clearly, Dan Katō's desperate strike had not been entirely ineffective.
He narrowed his eyes.
If he got hit by another one, things would truly become dangerous.
Wary of that possibility, he immediately cast aside the opponent before him and made his decision.
In an instant, his body turned into a dazzling bolt of lightning, blasting up from dozens of meters underground and shooting toward the source of the voice.
Tsunade was half a beat too slow before suddenly snapping awake and chasing after his retreating figure with all her strength.
Yet she could not catch up to the Third Raikage at all.
"Stop!"
Kunugi Mokume, standing guard above, drew his tanto, but in a one-on-one fight, he fared little better than Andō.
After only five or six exchanges, a heavy elbow slammed into his abdomen, driving him into the ground as though his whole body were about to split apart. Blood kept pouring from his mouth.
Lightning Torrent.
At that moment, Dan Katō was struggling to endure the agonizing pain rising from the depths of his soul, as well as the rusty stench constantly flooding from his nose and mouth. Even so, with the posture of someone fighting for his life, he laboriously raised his kunai toward the incoming lightning.
Yet all he could see was a bleak blur.
His consciousness was constantly draining away through the wound in his soul.
But his hands still maintained the Hand Seals for the Spirit Transformation Technique.
Even if his life was about to end, he still had to use his last strength, his final—
Unfortunately, before he could unleash this life-burning strike—
"Lightning Release: Lariat!"
That familiar voice rang out within Dan Katō's fading consciousness.
This final moment before death seemed to stretch on endlessly.
But Dan Katō realized that he no longer had time to think about anything.
Only an overwhelming sense of guilt and apology remained in his heart.
I'm sorry, Tsunade.
"Scht—"
In an instant, a hand blade formed entirely from blazing lightning cut through his waist, slicing him cleanly into two.
Blood splattered across the ground.
The Necklace with Blue Crystal quietly fell to the ground.
Thanks to readers Early-Finishing Reaper, Xici., and Starry Sky Ghost Death for the monthly tickets!
To minimize the feeling of a break in the plot, I posted both big chapters.
Today's update is over 7k words! Still asking for votes.
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