Upon realizing that the attacker was Kazashiro, the cross-shaped wound on the Young Ai's abdomen began to throb with pain. This wound, inflicted by Kazashiro during their last battle, was considered by him to be the greatest humiliation of his life.
"Go after them!"
Realizing that if the opponent were allowed to grow any further, he would inevitably become a threat to Kumogakure in the future, the Young Ai made a decisive decision to lead his elite forces to pursue Kazashiro, determined to leave him completely on this battlefield.
Just as he leaped over the blood-soaked ground, preparing to take a step forward, his foot unfortunately stepped on an Exploding Tag trap left by Kazashiro before he left. In a violent explosion, the Young Ai was sent flying into the sky.
"Aaaaaaah! Shimura Kazashiro, I'm going to kill you!"
With his Lightning Armor protecting him Young Ai was naturally not easily killed by the explosion, but the way he was sent flying was extremely humiliating. After falling to the ground, Young Ai stood up covered in dust, and his whole demeanor seemed to be developing in the direction of "super hero".
Ignoring the advice of those around him, Young Ai prepared to set off again, but was stopped by a Yun ninja who had just arrived.
"What's up!"
Seeing that someone still dared to stop him, the Young Ai turned around, his eyes like those of a predatory beast, sending chills down the spines of the arriving cloud ninja. Nevertheless, he steeled himself and handed the scroll to the other man. "This is a message from the village..."
The Young Ai, roughly accepted the scroll handed to him. After glancing at it twice, he unleashed an aura far more intimidating than before, and his golden hair stood on end under the stimulation of lightning.
"Dad!"
With a mournful cry, the Young Ai did not hesitate. He abandoned the Cloud Ninja he had brought and turned to run towards the direction of the Kumogakure.
The Third Raikage is dead.
Kazashiro and his group, who had expected to be relentlessly pursued by the enemy, returned to their camp without incident and learned the news from Jiraiya.
"I see. No wonder we haven't been pursued by the enemy along the way."
After reading the detailed information, Orochimaru's eyes flickered, and he began to think after saying those words.
"Yes, but the opponent was indeed powerful. He managed to withstand the siege of tens of thousands of Stone Ninja for three days and three nights before finally succumbing to exhaustion."
Jiraiya marveled at the Third Raikage's bravery, while also wondering what would happen if the old man were in that situation.
"As a ninja, the Third Raikage's strength is truly admirable."
Minato held the Raikage in high esteem.
Such tough-skinned enemies were like natural enemies to his highly mobile nature, since he had no means to break through their defenses.
"Tsk tsk tsk, as expected, flesh and blood are still too weak; mechanical ascension is better..."
Only Kazashiro muttered to himself.
"Mechanical ascension?"
The muttered words reached Orochimaru's ears, and upon hearing them, he immediately turned his gaze back to Kazashiro, who was looking down and pondering.
"An interesting idea..."
Orochimaru, sensing he had grasped something crucial, flicked his Orochimaru like a venomous snake. After giving the oblivious Kazashiro a deep look, he turned his gaze back to the map.
"Now that the Third Raikage is dead and their supply depot has been destroyed, it's the perfect time to launch an attack."
After assessing the current situation, Orochimaru believed that now was the best time to launch a counterattack.
"Minato, I need a skilled Jonin to lead the team to break through the enemy lines. For now, you'll stay with me and lead the mission according to my orders. As for the few kids you brought..."
Orochimaru glanced at Jiraiya beside him, then chose to ignore him and turned his gaze back to Kazashiro.
Seeing that the surroundings had quieted down, Kazashiro, somewhat puzzled as to what had happened, raised his head and met Orochimaru's narrow eyes.
"Uh, me?"
"Obito, if you unleash that useless Great Fireball again, I'll gouge out your Sharingan and put it in Kakashi's eye!"
Having narrowly dodged a square shuriken, Kazashiro complained irritably to Obito beside him.
Kakashi felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing these lewd words.
What would I need that thing for?
"I don't know why things turned out this way, Kazashiro, please give me another chance!"
Obito, equally disheveled, was on the verge of tears. He hadn't expected that his casually unleashed Great Fireball would not only fail to eliminate the enemy, but would also cause mist to erupt due to its collision with Water Release, almost resulting in Kazashiro being pierced by the swarming Cloud Ninja.
"I'll give you a damn chance. You can talk about it after you've survived!"
Entrusted by Minato's squad, Kazashiro glanced at Rin, who was keeping her head down and not saying a word, then at Kakashi, who dared not make contact with Toroi but still had to bite the bullet and block the enemy, and then at the pack of wolf-like Cloud Ninja behind Toroi. He began to think about whether to replicate the tactics he used when he followed Orochimaru to raid the camp.
"Alright, I'll give you one more chance. Go and hold off those guys for Kakashi, buy me some time. Rin, stay behind me!"
Leaping up abruptly, dodging another barrage of square shuriken, Kazashiro looked at Toroi with a hint of impatience. "Old Deng, why is he only throwing shuriken at me?"
Since you're willing to throw it, then I'll show you what a real shuriken is!
"Got it!"
Upon receiving Kazashiro's command, Obito immediately turned around, about to unleash the Great Fireball, when he suddenly remembered Kazashiro's words and changed the order of his hand seals, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
Small fireballs, resembling balsam seeds, scattered and flew towards the pursuing Cloud Ninja.
Sensing the intense heat behind him, Kakashi leaped away, exposing Toroi to Obito's Fire Style.
Facing Obito's Fire Style, Toroi remained calm, enlarging the square shuriken in his hand and using it as a shield in front of him.
"Giant Shuriken Body Technique!"
On the other side, seeing that Obito had successfully restrained his opponent, Kazashiro summoned a giant shuriken, left the Flying Thunder God Formula on it, and then threw it out.
Hearing the sound of the shuriken slicing through the air, Toroi calmly observed its trajectory, preparing to dodge the attack.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
As Kazashiro completed the hand seals, the single shuriken multiplied into several as it was about to reach Toroi, smashing the square shuriken in his hand away amidst a series of clanging sounds.
"This is bad."
By activating the magnetism to its fullest extent and forcibly controlling the shuriken to change their trajectory, Toroi's attention was entirely focused on the shuriken, and he did not notice at all that one of them had the Flying Thunder God Formula.
"Flying Thunder God!"
In an instant, Kazashiro Bai appeared in front of Toroi, thrusting out the poisoned Senbon in his hand and plunging them deep into Toroi's other side of the waist. Before Troy could react, Feng Bai returned to his original position.