The sun had just risen. The villagers of Kumogakure had woken from their dreams and begun their day.
At that moment, a team of ninja rushed through the village, carrying two gravely injured comrades. Their arrival drew curious glances from the villagers.
The team was a patrol unit that regularly guarded the area around the village. The two badly wounded ninja they carried were the survivors Sarutobi Shinnosuke and the others had deliberately left behind.
The Third Raikage had just finished breakfast and was doing his morning training when he received the report from his subordinates.
Upon learning that the border had been attacked and several outposts had gone silent, the Third Raikage's first thought was that another country had started a war and launched a surprise attack on the Land of Lightning.
But then a more detailed report arrived, nearly making him explode with rage.
Two suspected Bounty Ninja had attacked several outposts. Their identities were unknown, and their estimated strength was Jonin or higher.
Bang!
One mighty punch split the table in front of the Third Raikage in half.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" The Third Raikage couldn't accept the report from his subordinates.
For starters, how could just two Bounty Ninja attack and destroy several outposts Kumogakure had set up along the border?
But even more unbelievable was the claim that the enemies were Bounty Ninja.
Who didn't know that Kumogakure of the Land of Lightning was the most domineering force in the Shinobi World? What Bounty Ninja would dare provoke Kumogakure? They must have been tired of living!
Those two enemies had to be ninja from one of the other four great Shinobi Villages. Their Bounty Ninja identities were nothing but a disguise.
"Dodai, do you think the enemies really are Bounty Ninja?" The Third Raikage didn't give his opinion outright. Instead, he asked Dodai, the representative of the village's younger generation and a Lava Release Kekkei Genkai user, who stood beside him.
"The enemies are probably from another Shinobi Village!" Dodai replied at once.
The Third Raikage nodded, satisfied with Dodai's answer. He felt the young man hadn't let him down after all the attention and training he'd given him.
"Looks like more than ten years of peace have made some Shinobi Villages underestimate us!" Feeling insulted, and with his subordinates dead, the already hot-tempered Third Raikage was furious.
"I will never forgive anyone who harms our village!" he declared, resolute and enraged, and made his decision.
"Gather the elite troops. I'll capture the enemy myself!"
"Lord Raikage, please calm down! I suspect this is a trap. They deliberately provoked you to draw you out of the village and harm you—or launch an attack on the village!" Dodai hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
Dodai's analysis made perfect sense, but the Third Raikage had already made up his mind and wouldn't agree.
Still, he took some of Dodai's words to heart and made his arrangements.
"I'll take a small number of ninja to the border to hunt them down. The main force will stay in the village to guard against an attack," the Third Raikage said, confident that he'd arranged things properly.
The Third Raikage's plan was, in fact, quite thorough.
He would lead a highly mobile elite squad to the border to hunt the enemy, while a large force remained in the village. Whichever side the enemy attacked, they would face a tough fight.
Unfortunately, the Third Raikage had miscalculated one thing. His enemy possessed not only monstrous strength beyond the ordinary, but also the greatest mobility in the Shinobi World.
With too little intelligence, the Third Raikage put his plan into action as soon as he'd made his decision.
He hastily gathered ten elite ninja and arranged for Dodai and the village elders to hold down the fort. Then he set out with his elite squad.
About a kilometer outside Kumogakure, the invisible Kizaru stood atop a rocky outcrop, watching the Third Raikage and his squad leave the village.
"How impulsive, the people of Kumogakure!" Kizaru muttered with a smile as he watched the Third Raikage disappear into the distance.
Kizaru was very patient. Even after the Third Raikage vanished from sight, he didn't act right away. Instead, he sat down.
According to Sarutobi Shinnosuke's plan, once Kizaru confirmed that the Third Raikage had left the village, he had to wait an hour before taking action.
The reason was simple: it would prevent the Third Raikage from receiving word and rushing back to reinforce the village.
Kizaru was very reliable when carrying out a mission. He didn't act on his own; he simply waited quietly for an hour.
After an hour had passed, Kizaru stood up and turned into a streak of golden light, leaving the mountain.
He landed on the ground, used the Invisibility Technique to conceal himself, and strode right into Kumogakure.
To avoid being detected by sensory ninja, Kizaru didn't use Observation Haki to scan the whole village. Instead, he calmly made his way into a remote alley.
Keeping watch on his surroundings with Observation Haki, Kizaru raised his right hand. A faintly glowing, spherical ball of Chakra appeared in his palm.
Flash Bomb!
Kizaru had developed this powerful technique by combining the Sealing Technique he'd learned from Grandma Mito, the principles behind the Rasengan, and the core power of the Glint-Glint Fruit.
Inspired by the principles behind grenades and land mines in his previous life, Kizaru's Flash Bomb could remain stable for half an hour thanks to the Sealing Technique.
During those thirty minutes, Kizaru could throw the Flash Bomb to cause damage like a combination of a grenade and a flashbang. He could also use it like a land mine or timed bomb, remotely triggering it at a set time.
After burying the first Flash Bomb in a corner of a house, Kizaru left the alley and continued through Kumogakure, choosing suitable places to cause explosions.
Hospitals, office buildings, warehouses—using the writing on the buildings and the conversations of passersby, the invisible Kizaru easily planted Flash Bombs at key locations throughout Kumogakure.
After spending twenty minutes planting eighteen bombs across Kumogakure, Kizaru made his way to the center of the village.
He stopped hiding and revealed himself. Looking around at the shocked, wary faces, Kizaru said with a beaming smile, "Have you ever been blasted by light?"
His question left everyone around him dumbfounded.
But one seasoned ninja reacted first.
"Enemy attack!"
The ninja shouted and hurled two Shuriken at Kizaru.
The Shuriken passed straight through Kizaru's body and struck another ninja behind and to his side.
"How frightening!" Kizaru said with a smile as the ninja around him launched their attacks.
Ignoring the incoming attacks, Kizaru formed Hand Seals and said, "Art is an Explosion!"
His words had barely left his mouth when enormous explosions rang out all across Kumogakure.
The explosions throughout the village plunged Kumogakure into brief chaos.
After detonating the bombs, Kizaru faced the ninja charging at him and raised his right leg, unleashing a series of slashing attacks that raised clouds of blood.
With the enemies around him cleared away, Kizaru smiled and surveyed the area. "So many people. How frightening!"
Then Kizaru used Geppo to soar through the air. Looking down, he raised both hands and unleashed Admiral Kizaru's signature technique, Yasakani no Magatama.
Countless light bullets shot from his hands, mercilessly destroying everything below!