I'm Sorry, I'm Late

The rain poured down.

Climbing from the bottom of the deep cliff back to the ground, Tsunade's golden hair was a mess behind her head, her face was grayed by the flying dust and mist, and her body was covered in bloodstains that mixed with the rainwater and stuck to her, making her feel even heavier.

However, even she, who was always meticulous about her appearance, even on the most intense battlefields, couldn't care less now. She stumbled through the puddles on the muddy ground, running towards Kato Dan.

But as soon as she got a little closer...

Tsunade's steps involuntarily slowed down, her pupils constricted sharply, and her beautiful face turned deathly pale. One could even see the blue veins beneath her rain-soaked skin.

Finally, she stood frozen in place.

Looking at the body parts brutally severed in two not far away.

Until the very end, Kato Dan had stretched out his arm, desperately trying to grasp the necklace that had accidentally fallen to the ground. Deep within his blood-filled eyes, there was now only a profound darkness.

Splash, splash

The heavy rain grew heavier.

The puddles accumulated in the pits on the ground completely swallowed the long-cherished necklace, leaving only the tip of a blue crystal exposed.

Raindrops hit the ground with a pitter-patter.

"Dan?"

It seemed she couldn't believe it, or perhaps her reason had been temporarily overwhelmed by intense emotional fluctuations.

At this moment, Tsunade seemed to have completely forgotten that she was still on a battlefield. She was uncontrollably weak all over, and even her legs were trembling uncontrollably.

The scene of Nawaki's death on the battlefield years ago, his entire abdomen blown apart by an Explosive Tag trap, played out like a slideshow in her mind.

The pain from back then, the grief she had forcibly suppressed, the memories that time had dulled, now surged back into her mind with a vengeance, forming a deep fear that penetrated her entire brain.

The dark red blood that slowly flowed down the ground's grooves with the rainwater and reached her feet became the deepest imprint in her heart.

It was a color she, as a doctor, was most familiar with.

But now, just seeing the flowing blood, Tsunade felt as though she couldn't even stand properly.

How could things have turned out like this?

"How pathetic."

"The last direct descendant of the Senju clan."

The Third Raikage stood in the rain curtain.

Having spent his entire life on the battlefield and experienced countless battles, he seemed to see through her current state at a glance. There was even a hint of sarcasm in the Third Raikage's voice.

At this moment, he was in no hurry.

Although the Hidden Cloud forces on the periphery were left behind because they couldn't match his speed, they were now within the Land of Lightning, and the entire force was slowly closing in with unstoppable momentum.

At this time, his gaze towards Tsunade was like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Hashirama Senju, who created infinite glory for Konoha back then, probably never imagined that his last remaining clan member would be ended on the battlefield in such a humiliating manner, did he?"

"What?"

"Can't move anymore!"

The Third Raikage's tall and thick body, like a brown bear, slowly advanced. His arms, thicker than a normal person's thigh, were tense, clenched into fists, and wrapped in dazzling lightning.

In the sky, where dark clouds gathered, lightning flashed.

Just the shadow as he advanced seemed to be able to completely cover the corpses and blood beneath his feet, relentlessly swallowing everything in front of him, along with the rain curtain that obscured the sky.

He carried an extremely heavy aura.

On his beast-like face, a ferocious smile spread.

"If that's the case, this old man will be coming through."

The moment his voice fell.

The lightning wrapped around his entire body suddenly exploded.

His whole being turned into a brilliant stream of light, shooting towards Tsunade. The hand blade wrapped in violent lightning was aimed directly at Tsunade's vulnerable neck, as she had completely lost the will to fight.

Tsunade watched this scene with wide eyes, but her body seemed completely rigid, refusing to obey her brain.

At this instant, having already experienced countless battles, she could fully anticipate her fate in the next second.

Is it finally over?

Strangely, there wasn't much of a struggle in her heart.

This seemingly endless war and death, salvation and slaughter, the infinite number of dead buried on the battlefield whom she couldn't save no matter how hard she studied and improved her medical skills...

She was truly fed up!

However.

Almost at the exact moment the Third Raikage moved.

"Rumble—!!"

Suddenly, a rapid roar like muffled thunder, or perhaps a sonic boom, erupted from an unknown distance away.

The violent vibrations in the air hadn't even reached the battlefield where the two stood, but the sight of vast numbers of trees collapsing and shattering in the distance had already caught the Third Raikage's peripheral vision.

That scene of reckless charge was identical to how he had appeared just moments before.

However, even judging only by the speed at which the rising dust cloud changed, the Third Raikage acutely perceived something.

That figure was definitely faster and more reckless than him!

"Who goes there?!"

Almost instinctively, the Third Raikage, who had been in a charging stance the second before, abruptly abandoned his nearby prey and instinctively adopted a defensive posture.

Before Tsunade could even understand why he had stopped.

Her scattered, damp blonde hair was pulled straight by the wild, howling wind.

The next moment.

A figure that had turned into a searing white line in the fierce wind appeared without warning right in front of the Third Raikage at an incredibly terrifying speed.

He lifted one foot.

"Thump!"

Like the resounding strike of a great bell.

Everything around them – the air, the soil, the dust, scattered branches or stones – everything seemed to be pushed by the delayed, spreading force and airflow from this single blow, forming a continuous, expanding spherical ripple outwards.

In the narrow space where the jade-like foot met the chest, circles of searing white sonic booms, decreasing in size, burst open.

Limitless Technique - Full Power Version!

The roaring explosion and hurricane that erupted nearly swept Tsunade, whose legs felt weak, off her feet.

Tsunade only managed to stay put by instinctively crouching down, relying purely on battle instinct.

But the Third Raikage, who had just been in front of her, had vanished.

"Whoosh!"

The sound of piercing through the air didn't reach her ears until the next second, as if it were half a beat late.

Glancing in the direction of the sound, she saw the Third Raikage's massive, imposing body, like a brown bear, had been sent flying straight back over a hundred meters in that instant.

Everything along the entire path was scattered by the terrifyingly extreme impact, forming a straight trench.

The heavy, gloomy rain curtain also seemed to be violently split open by a great axe.

Extending to the edge of the sky.

Tsunade stared at this scene in a daze, her expression frozen in that moment.

This scene, along with the sight of the young man as he jumped, was like a beam of light that shattered all the gloom in her heart, permanently imprinted in the deepest part of her memory.

"Whoosh."

However, before she could react, she felt her waist suddenly being encircled by that person. Her body felt light, and she was lifted into a bridal carry by the unfamiliar young man and leaped to the shade of a nearby tree.

When she looked up, what met her eyes was a Konoha Headband.

However, that overly young face felt somewhat unfamiliar to her.

Sahara Mizu gently laid Tsunade down under the tree roots, then turned to look at the scattered corpses and battle traces under the rain curtain, his voice slightly low:

"Sorry."

"I'm late."

"..."

Tsunade looked at him, her stunned mind seemingly unable to react for a moment.

Her fingers subconsciously clutched at his sleeve.

The rain was falling harder and harder, occasionally washing over her dust-covered cheeks, yet she remained in a daze, saying nothing.

However, Sahara Mizu didn't continue to look at her, instead turning his gaze further out.

A roaring thunder illuminated the sky.

The Third Raikage, whose upper coat had been kicked open, walked steadily step by step from the deepest part of the rain curtain.