Killing the Body, Breaking the Spirit, Isolation and Destruction-Yogakure Ahead, No One Else May Pass!

"All of you, get out of here!"

"That's an order!!"

Seeing that his subordinates still refused to leave—and even seemed eager to join the fight—the Fourth Raikage roared in furious frustration.

Lightning flashed around him, stone cracked beneath his feet, and his immense chakra made the entire area seem to tremble!!

"Lord Raikage!"

"Lord Raikage!!"

"..."

Yet even after Ai made it an order, the Kumogakure ninja did not budge. They gripped their weapons, faces twisted with fury, united against their enemy.

"Go!"

"Or do you want to watch me die right in front of you!!"

The Fourth Raikage's eyes nearly split with rage as he stared at the subordinates who stubbornly held their ground.

The outcome of this battle was already clear. Even with his strongest Lightning Release mode active, he was nearly spent.

His opponent, meanwhile, had only opened the fifth of the Eight Inner Gates, the Gate of Limit. How much further he could go was obvious.

He had lost.

But he did not want his subordinates to remember him at his most wretched.

While he could still fight, he would give everything he had to carve a path for the comrades behind him!!

"Lord Raikage!"

Those bleak words broke the Kumogakure men around him. Their cries caught with sobs.

Some even raised their sleeves to wipe their eyes.

Years ago, Lord Third Raikage had held off the pursuing ninja of Iwagakure so his comrades could return safely to the village. With his own body, he had stopped more than ten thousand Iwagakure ninja for three days and three nights.

They had not yet come to terms with that tragedy, and now the Fourth Raikage was protecting their retreat in the same desperate way.

How could these overlapping memories, this scene before their eyes, leave the Kumogakure