Clang!
A deafening clash of steel erupted!
The serrated greatsword struck the neck wrapped in lightning, bursting into a dazzling spray of sparks.
The shockwave spread in a ring, carving a deep trench into the ground!
But the Third Raikage didn't budge.
He stood his ground, his body covered in a dense layer of blue lightning that constantly flowed and crackled.
It was the Lightning Shield, the pinnacle of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode—hailed as the Shinobi World's strongest defense!
Zaraki Kenpachi's blade struck it, yet failed to penetrate even an inch.
It left only a faint white mark, which the flowing lightning repaired in an instant.
"What?!" Namikaze Minato's pupils contracted.
He had seen it clearly. The destructive force behind that slash had been enough to cleave a small mountain in two!
Yet when it hit the Raikage's neck, it hadn't even broken the skin?!
So this was the strength of the Strongest Shield?!
The Kumogakure shinobi watching from the sidelines recovered from their initial shock and erupted into fervent cheers:
"Lord Raikage is invincible!"
"A mere blade thinks it can break through the Lightning Shield?!"
"That defense can withstand a Tailed Beast Bomb!"
However, Zaraki Kenpachi's reaction was beyond everyone's expectations.
There was no frustration in his eyes, not even the slightest hint of discouragement.
The half of his face hidden behind the eyepatch looked stunned for a moment.
Then his mouth split into a grin so wide it nearly tore the corners, his delight reaching its peak.
"Ha... hahahahahaha!!!"
His unrestrained laughter echoed through the valley, even drowning out the roar of Lightning Release.
"Now this is interesting! So interesting!" Zaraki Kenpachi's golden, slit-pupiled eyes blazed with excitement.
"I can't cut through it! I actually can't cut through it!
Hahaha! Now that's more like it! You're finally worth fighting!"
He yanked his Zanpakuto back and took a step away.
Gripping the hilt in both hands, he tensed every muscle as his Reiatsu erupted like a volcano!
"Again!!!"
This time, the blade was no longer wrapped in pure brute force.
Instead, it was enveloped in crimson Reiatsu, condensed to its utmost limit.
Kenpachi charged forward again, moving even faster than before!
His Zanpakuto tore through the air with a shrill whistle, slashing straight at the Third Raikage's head.
The Third Raikage's eyes narrowed.
The force behind the previous slash had already surprised him, but this one...
It was faster and more concentrated, and it even made him feel a faint sense of danger!
"Lightning Release: Heavy Flow Violence!"
He stopped holding back. His lightning-wreathed right fist shot out in a fierce punch, meeting the blade head-on!
BOOM------!!!
The explosion was even more violent than before!
The entire valley floor sank dozens of meters. The rock walls split apart, and shattered stone rained down like a storm.
Several Kumogakure Chunin caught in the blast were flung away, spitting blood.
Through the thick dust, two figures flew backward at the same time.
The Third Raikage flipped in midair and landed steadily, cracking the ground beneath his feet.
He looked down at his fist. A fine crack had appeared in the Lightning Shield wrapped around it!
Zaraki Kenpachi stumbled back more than a dozen steps, each one leaving a deep footprint in the ground.
Yet his grin only grew more savage, and the fighting spirit in his eyes boiled like magma!
"Lord Raikage blocked it! Lord Raikage blocked it!" The Kumogakure shinobi cheered again, though their voices now carried a barely perceptible tremor.
That eyepatched madman... had only taken a few steps back after Lord Raikage's Heavy Flow Violence, and he looked completely unharmed?!
What kind of monster was he?!
"Minato-senpai."
A calm voice sounded beside him.
Namikaze Minato turned sharply and saw Uchiha Ryūha standing at his side. He had no idea when the boy had arrived.
Ryūha adjusted his glasses, calmly watching the battlefield.
"Ryūha-kun? You said just now..." Minato looked at him with a complicated expression. "That man... is your master?"
He simply couldn't understand it.
Uchiha Ryūha's fighting style was calm and precise, and he was good at controlling the entire battlefield.
But that wild man who had suddenly appeared was his complete opposite—savage, bloodthirsty, a beast born purely for battle!
How could the two of them possibly be master and pupil?!
"Yeah." Uchiha Ryūha nodded, his gaze still fixed on Kenpachi. "My master... is a little unusual.
The stronger his opponent, the more excited he gets."
The previous Uchiha Ryūha had been a nobody, so no one had paid him any attention.
That also conveniently explained why he'd risen so quickly: he'd had a renowned master to teach him.
He paused, then added:
"As for his strength... he should be no weaker than the Five Kage."
Minato's heart gave a sudden thump.
No weaker than the Five Kage?!
Judging by the battle unfolding before him, that wild man must have strength beyond the Kage Level.
No wonder he could clash head-on with the Third Raikage!
In the middle of the battlefield, the Third Raikage shook out his numb fist.
He had used ninety percent of his strength in that Heavy Flow Violence.
An ordinary Kage Level shinobi who took that punch head-on would have ended up with shattered bones and torn muscles.
But his opponent had not only taken the blow—he had actually cracked the Raikage's Lightning Shield!
Even more alarming was his speed. He looked like a fighter who relied purely on strength, yet the instant he charged, he had moved fast enough to almost keep pace with the Third Raikage in Lightning Release Chakra Mode!
And then there was that strange energy... It wasn't Chakra, but something more violent, filled with a desire to destroy!
"Who are you, exactly?" the Third Raikage asked gravely. "Seireitei... I've never heard of that organization!"
"Hahaha! If you want to fight, then fight! Why waste so much breath?" Zaraki Kenpachi advanced step by step, his Zanpakuto resting on his shoulder and the bells jingling.
"My name's Zaraki Kenpachi, and I'm here to cut people down! As for Seireitei... I'll tell you after you're on the ground!"
Before his words had even faded, he vanished again!
It was a charge driven by pure, unrestrained violence.
The ground beneath his feet crumpled into a huge crater, and his body became a blood-red blur.
His Zanpakuto trailed behind him, its blade scraping against the air with a piercing sonic boom.
"Fool!" Lightning flared around the Third Raikage.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop!"
He became a streak of blue lightning and charged straight at Zaraki Kenpachi without dodging.
A red figure and a blue one, like two falling stars, collided with a thunderous crash.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In just three seconds, the two of them exchanged dozens of blows.
Sword flashes and fists intertwined as Reiatsu collided with Lightning Release!
Every clash triggered a localized explosion. The valley seemed to be under bombardment by countless Explosive Tags.
The ground kept collapsing, and entire sections of the rock walls crumbled.
Minato had already carried the unconscious Kushina to the edge of the valley. He raised a ninjutsu barrier to shield them from the flying rocks.
He stared at the battlefield, cold sweat beading at his temples.
Too fast!
They were impossibly strong!
This wasn't a "battle" at all—it was two humanoid beasts beating each other to a pulp.
There was no technique, no strategy, only the collision of the most primitive strength and speed!
Every clash made his heart pound. At that level, even he would die if he took a single hit.
And Uchiha Ryūha... had actually taken a monster like this as his master?!
Minato couldn't help glancing at Uchiha Ryūha again.
The boy still stood there calmly, adjusting his glasses, as if the world-shattering battle before them were nothing more than an ordinary fireworks display.
"Ryūha-kun, does your master..." Minato couldn't help asking. "Does he always fight like this?"
"Yeah." Ryūha nodded. "My master thinks the essence of battle is either cutting people down or getting cut down.
Technique, strategy, ninjutsu... those are all secondary.
As long as you're strong enough, tough enough, and can take enough hits, you can win."
Namikaze Minato: "..."
What kind of ridiculous battle philosophy was that?!
But watching that madman get more excited the longer he fought, laughing harder the more he was hurt...
Minato suddenly felt that... maybe it wasn't wrong after all.
Because that madman really was overpowering the Third Raikage!
Yes, overpowering him!
At first, the two had seemed evenly matched. But as the battle went on, Zaraki Kenpachi's speed and strength began to climb!
It wasn't that the Raikage was slowing down. Zaraki Kenpachi was simply growing stronger the longer he fought.
His Reiatsu surged as if it had no limit, and every swing of his Zanpakuto hit harder and faster than the last.
The crimson Reiatsu coating the blade seemed almost solid, and each slash left deep cracks in the Raikage's Lightning Shield.
"Hahahahaha! This is great! This is incredible!" Kenpachi roared with laughter as he took a Lightning Release attack from the Third Raikage head-on.
His chest was torn open, the wound deep enough to expose bone, and blood gushed out.
But he didn't care. He struck back with a slash to the Third Raikage's shoulder, sending him staggering backward!
"Lord Raikage!" the Kumogakure shinobi cried out.
The Third Raikage looked down at his shoulder. The Lightning Shield had been completely cleaved through, and the blade had cut half an inch into his flesh. Blood ran down through the blue lightning.
He was wounded.
He had actually... been wounded?!
How many years had it been since he had last bled, after training his Lightning Release Chakra Mode to its utmost limit?
Ten years? Twenty?
Yet today, under the blade of this madman who had appeared out of nowhere, the Strongest Shield he had always taken pride in had been broken!
The Third Raikage slowly lifted his head. All trace of disdain had vanished from his eyes.
In its place was unprecedented gravity—and a fighting spirit that had been ignited.
"Good." He exhaled a breath of turbid air laced with lightning. The electricity around him began to draw inward and compress.
The wild blue lightning gradually condensed into a deep, almost black plasma.
Bzzzz—
Amid the shrill crackle of electricity, he focused all his Chakra into the index finger of his right hand.
The sparks at his fingertip danced, compressed, and condensed furiously.
At last, they formed a single, intensely concentrated black point, radiating a destructive force.
"The warm-up is over."
The Raikage's voice rumbled like thunder:
"The strongest spear—"
He raised his right hand and pointed his index finger at Zaraki Kenpachi.
"Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite!"
As the words fell, he became a streak of black lightning and crossed a hundred meters in an instant.
Wherever that black point at his fingertip passed, even space seemed to tear, leaving behind a vacuum trail that lingered in the air!
Ultimate speed, ultimate penetration, ultimate destruction!
This was the secret technique with which the Third Raikage had dominated the Shinobi World for decades, bringing the offense and defense of Lightning Release to their absolute peak!
The technique that had once defeated the Eight-Tails Gyūki head-on—
The Strongest Spear!
Zaraki Kenpachi's golden, slit-pupiled eyes contracted.
Not in fear.
But from a thrill so intense it made him tremble!
"Bring it on!!!"
He roared, refusing to dodge. Instead, he charged straight at the black bolt of lightning.
He lifted his blindfold, and Reiatsu several times stronger than before erupted in a thunderous blast.
He gripped his Zanpakuto with both hands, gathering all his Reiatsu into its blade.
Then he brought it down in a single slash!
"Shikai!"
"Now break, damn you!!!"
The crimson blade light and the black lightning crashed into each other!
There was no sound.
The collision of those overwhelming forces had completely annihilated it.
There was only light.
A light of crimson and black, intertwining, devouring, exploding!
Then came a shock wave that swept away everything in its path.
At that moment, the valley collapsed completely.
In the distance, Uchiha Ryūha nudged his glasses. The lenses reflected the scene of utter devastation as he murmured to himself:
"One minute left."
There were only sixty seconds remaining in the summoning.
Before you continue