The Tsuchikage Who Nearly Died

"Roar!!"

By the time Ōnoki sensed the danger, it was already too late. A furious roar rang out, and it felt as though thunder had struck directly above his head, leaving his mind utterly blank.

In his daze, he could not even maintain the Super Lightweight Rock Technique and fell straight downward.

His battle-hardened will finally brought Ōnoki back to his senses at the last moment, keeping him from crashing into the ground.

But by the time he recovered, a blue figure had already appeared before him.

Ōnoki felt every hair on his body stand on end. How could he not know what happened when a long-range mage let a berserker get close?

Knowing there was no way to retreat, the skin across his body immediately darkened slightly. Without forming a single hand seal, he activated the Earth Spear Technique. At the same time, he clenched his fist and threw a punch with a terrifying howl of wind!

"Boom!" His fist struck the opponent's chest with a deafening crash, and enormous cracks instantly spread across the ground beneath the Cloud Shinobi's feet.

"Smack!" The Cloud Shinobi, who had not retreated even half a step, grabbed Ōnoki's arm. "Earth Spear, Rock Fist, and Heavy Rock Technique. Not a bad combination!"

"But you think that's enough to break my Lightning Release Armor? Don't underestimate the Cloud Shinobi's Lightning Release Ninjutsu!"

Ōnoki tugged twice, but he could not pull his arm free at all. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead. He had thought that attack would at least force his opponent back a few steps and buy him some distance. Instead, the enemy's Lightning Release Armor was so profound that he had not moved a single step.

"You done hitting me? My turn now!" The Cloud Shinobi sneered as the hand gripping Ōnoki's arm suddenly tightened.

Ōnoki felt boundless force seize his arm. He could not stabilize himself at all, and his small body was instantly yanked off the ground.

"Secret Technique—Heaven and Earth Return!"

This is bad... The thought had barely crossed Ōnoki's mind before he was intimately reunited with the earth.

"Boom, boom, boom!" A series of thunderous impacts rang out as Ōnoki was slammed around like a rag doll. If he had seen the Avengers, he and Loki would surely have had plenty in common.

"Lord Tsuchikage!" The Shadow Guard, arriving belatedly, finally reached the scene. The moment they saw their Tsuchikage being brutally thrown around, their eyes nearly split with rage.

"Earth Release—Yellow Springs Swamp!"

One of the sharper guards hurriedly cast Yellow Springs Swamp. The ground transformed into a swamp, greatly reducing the impact.

"Hehe, I'll give him back to you!" The Cloud Shinobi stopped holding onto Ōnoki, grinned, and kicked him. Ōnoki immediately flew toward the Iwagakure shinobi like a ball.

Several Iwagakure shinobi rushed forward and caught Ōnoki, only to see several burning Explosive Tags stuck to his body.

A young Iwagakure shinobi's pupils contracted. Without a second thought, he tore off Ōnoki's clothes. Seeing that the Explosive Tags were about to detonate, he wrapped himself around the garments without hesitation.

"Puff!" The Explosive Tags let out a muffled blast. The Iwagakure shinobi had hardened his entire body with the Earth Style Hardening Jutsu and held the tags tightly, confining the explosion within an extremely small area.

But the price was that this Iwagakure shinobi, whose mastery of the Hardening Jutsu was so great that he would normally suffer only light injuries even if caught in an Explosive Tag blast, was blown open, his intestines ruptured and flesh scattered everywhere. He clearly would not survive.

"Gari! Damn it!"

"There's no time! Lord Tsuchikage's injuries are too severe!"

Ōnoki was not Loki. He did not have Frost Giant blood or an exceptionally tough body. Getting slammed around like that was not merely a matter of superficial wounds.

If he had not instinctively kept the Earth Spear Technique active the whole time, he probably would not even have had an intact corpse left. He would have received the same treatment as Suikazan Fuguki and needed to be collected with a shovel.

Even so, his internal organs had ruptured, and multiple bones throughout his body were broken. His breath was faint, and he was not far from death.

Barely opening his eyes, Ōnoki felt grief fill his heart. "This is bad. If we are truly wiped out this time, the Cloud Shinobi's scheme will succeed!"

At this point, Ōnoki had a vague guess. The Cloud Shinobi's target was likely himself. That roaring ninjutsu from earlier had clearly been aimed at his Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique. This must have been planned for a long time.

And once everyone here was dead, no one would know that the Cloud Shinobi had acted. Every Iwagakure shinobi would believe it had been the Konoha White Fang.

"We can only rely on Shū. Only he guessed the truth. I hope he can keep the people in the village steady. We of Iwagakure cannot take the lead in attacking Konoha."

"Damn it... Iwagakure... has no suitable successor. If only I had known..."

As for escaping alive, Ōnoki no longer entertained such thoughts. He knew his own injuries. He could only hold on a little longer; there was no saving him now.

Under these circumstances, the Shadow Guard had even less chance of escape. The Iwagakure shinobi were all short-legged, and their speed was far too different from that of this high-speed Cloud Shinobi.

Sure enough, blue light flashed, followed by endless screams as members of the Shadow Guard fell one after another.

"Heh heh, Ōnoki, you Iwagakure shinobi are pathetic! You barely have any experts at all. How did you lead them?"

"Cough, cough... Cloud Shinobi... you... bastards..."

"Fine, looking at you, you're still a Kage," the Cloud Shinobi said, raising the "White Fang Dagger" in his hand again. "I'll be merciful and send you on your way!"

A streak of white light flashed past. Ōnoki did not feel the short blade pierce flesh. Instead, the blade in the Cloud Shinobi's hand snapped into two.

"Konoha White Fang!" the Cloud Shinobi roared. A white-haired young man with a short blade in hand and an indifferent expression stood before Ōnoki.

"I never expected to lure out the real Konoha White Fang. Looks like I'll have another achievement added to my record!" The Cloud Shinobi immediately understood why the Konoha White Fang had appeared.

"Lord Tsuchikage, how are you doing?"

"That old man is about to breathe his last! Even if Princess Tsunade were here, she probably couldn't save him. Once I kill you and make it look as though you perished together with Iwagakure, Iwagakure will have no choice but to believe it!"

Ōnoki was already on the verge of death. Hearing those words, panic immediately rose in his heart. If the Cloud Shinobi truly succeeded, there would be no undoing it!

"You can try." Hatake Sakumo answered coldly. Wind Release Chakra instantly wrapped around the short blade in his hand. Its sharp edge flickered as it became a cold streak of light that stabbed straight at the Cloud Shinobi.

The Cloud Shinobi roared and charged forward. The two were like bolts of lightning, crossing back and forth as they clashed on the plain.

Dazed and filled with regret, Ōnoki suddenly saw another white-haired figure appear before his eyes. A tube of red medicine brimming with vitality was then poured into his mouth.

Immediately afterward, he felt the injuries throughout his body rapidly improve. His internal organs and bones, wounds that had been utterly beyond saving, healed at an astonishing speed. Within moments, he had recovered completely.

Ōnoki's eyes widened. Just as he was about to speak, Hatake Sakumo's Shadow Clone gave him a look. He immediately understood and continued to appear half-dead.