On the battlefield, time seemed to freeze for a moment.
Everyone turned to look at the sudden scene. As blood sprayed through the air, the dark-skinned giant of a man punched away several rocks covering him. With a series of crackling sounds, several Konoha Ninjas who had crept closer under cover, trying to launch a sneak attack, could only scream before they were charred to a crisp.
"Danzo?"
Looking at the familiar yet strange old opponent before him, the Third Raikage shook his head in confusion.
"What's wrong? Are you really that surprised by my arrival?"
As Guo Wang spoke, he drew the twenty-centimeter blade in his right hand. A sharp gust of air spread out, slicing seven Kumogakure Ninjas in half at the waist and staining the path he walked along at an unhurried pace red.
"Stand back. This old schemer may have a rotten character, but his strength is at least roughly on my level."
As the Raikage spoke, he had already put aside his doubts and summoned his Shadow Guard.
Rumble!
On the other side, Jiraiya had already engaged the young AB Duo.
The giant toad was a killing machine on the battlefield. One swing of its ten-meter-long short sword sent heads rolling, its efficiency nearly matching that of Danzo and the Raikage combined.
"Yo! A giant toad! How about a pure swordsmanship showdown with me?!"
Killer B had barely finished speaking when A slammed a heavy fist into his head, pounding a crater into the ground.
"Idiot! Didn't you see that guy kill so many of our comrades? On the battlefield, it's a fight to the death!"
"Got it, Big Bro!"
Standing atop Gamabunta's head, Jiraiya faced the two brothers who had suddenly appeared before and behind him. His long white hair kept growing, turning into countless sharp needles that stabbed toward them.
"Double Lariat!"
Accompanied by a piercing peal of thunder, the two crossed arms twisted around the back of Jiraiya's neck. Then the Konoha side saw a white head fly through the air.
"That brat has grown up without me even realizing it."
A contemporary of the Raikage, Guo Wang imitated Danzo's tone as he commented on the AB Duo. Within a one-kilometer radius of the two men, only a handful of people remained standing. The other Ninjas had either fled far away or were now corpses on the ground.
"That feeling of having someone carry on your legacy is something you'll never understand, you old dog who's been single your whole life."
Of their generation, the Raikage despised Danzo and Ōnoki the most. The former used all kinds of underhanded tactics to weaken his enemies, while the latter broke his word, lied through his teeth, and cared only about his own interests. So whenever they met, they either fought or traded insults.
"My love is boundless. The Ninjas of Konoha are all my children. A boor like you will never understand."
At Danzo's words, Shikaku Nara and the others standing behind him couldn't help twitching their mouths. The Raikage across from them had long since lost patience. With a piercing crackle, a hand blade wreathed in black lightning Chakra struck down before their eyes.
"Vacuum Wave!"
Facing one of the strongest people in the world, Guo Wang didn't take him lightly. He performed Hand Seals and unleashed the Wind Release Ninjutsu this body knew best. It clashed with the Raikage's Nintaijutsu, unleashing the most terrifying shockwave on the battlefield.
"Scatter!"
A clash between Kage Level fighters wasn't just a contest between two individuals—it was a collision between entire combat teams.
"Lightning Illusion Flash of Lightning Pillar!"
A sun seemed to appear on the battlefield, blinding the Konoha side.
"He's using this move to split us up and block my Shadow Imitation Technique at the same time. But it's also my chance."
Shikaku Nara's mind raced. He pulled a Kunai from his ninja tool pouch and stood with his two companions in a well-practiced defensive formation.
"If I remember right, this move is still a Genjutsu, mainly used to create an opening in the opponent's defense. But the moment it's activated, the shadows will grow to their strongest. I've already caught them."
With a smile, Inoichi Yamanaka sent a three-dimensional image of the enemies' positions in his mind to four Konoha Jonin and Danzo.
"Damn it, those Kumogakure bastards!"
The blinding light faded. The Raikage and two other Ninjas wielding greatswords had already charged toward Danzo. Their respective Nintaijutsu struck at Guo Wang's head, chest, and right hand.
"Guillotine Drop!"
"Lariat!"
"Liger Bomb!"
These three A-rank Nintaijutsu from Kumogakure were so powerful that even the Third would have to avoid their edge. In the Shinobi World, no one besides the Raikage himself could survive taking all three head-on.
Namikaze Minato could dodge them, and Jiraiya wouldn't give his opponents the chance—but how had Elder Danzo, with all his combat experience, made such a mistake as soon as he arrived?
Shikaku Nara smiled bitterly as his hands formed Hand Seals without pause. In the blink of an eye, a dark shadow emerged from a crack in the ground, connected to one of the Kumogakure Ninjas, and immobilized him.
His hands were fast, but someone else was faster: Inoichi Yamanaka, who had been monitoring the entire battlefield with his mind. His mind technique ignored distance, and he seized control of another Elite Jonin from the Raikage's guard.
Both men knew their limits. Their control techniques would barely tickle the Raikage, so they left this most troublesome move to Danzo.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Facing the Raikage's merciless, descending kick, Guo Wang took a deep breath and formed Hand Seals. Then he opened his mouth and spat out a huge gust of compressed air, like a cannonball.
"Gale" and "Thunderbolt" collided!
Invisible ripples spread across the battlefield in widening circles.
With a slight tremor of the earth, the Raikage's massive body flew into the air. He spun several times before crashing heavily to the ground. After crushing several Ninjas who hadn't managed to dodge in time, he left behind a trench half a man deep before finally coming to a stop.
On the other side, Guo Wang looked somewhat surprised. The ground around him had caved in, forming a hemisphere.
That was the result of him using a Wind Release secret technique to scatter the force of his opponent's powerful blow into the air. If he hadn't done that, he would have been buried deep underground by the kick.
"Danzo, as an opponent I can just barely acknowledge, I'll give you one last warning. Your Vacuum Series Wind Release techniques can't hurt me in the slightest anymore."
As the Raikage spoke, his Chakra suddenly surged. His long hair, which had been streaming behind him, abruptly stood on end, bristling over his head like a hedgehog.
"Wind Release? That was just my way of saying hello."
After saying this, Guo Wang unwound the bandage around his right eye.
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