Copying the Puppet, Third Raikage Holds the Rear

Uchiha Jun took a deep breath and adjusted his state.

The Mechanical Giant's first wave of attacks arrived quickly—it opened its enormous mouth and spat out a massive ball of iron sand over three meters in diameter, sweeping toward Uchiha Jun like a black tide!

Magnet Release: Iron Sand Storm!

Uchiha Jun's pupils contracted slightly. He immediately judged the power of the attack—he could not take it head-on.

He immediately activated the Body Flicker Technique. His real body vanished from where he stood and appeared atop a platform fifty meters behind the Mechanical Giant.

But the Mechanical Giant had clearly sensed his change in position as well.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!!"

The mechanical arms on its back turned simultaneously. Bolts of lightning, flames, ice spikes, and wind blades—ninjutsu of four different attributes—shot out at once, blanketing every possible route Uchiha Jun could use to evade like a torrential downpour!

"Is this... the firepower of two squads packed into one person? This puppet is way too nasty. Once I find the Sky Ninja Village or Sasori of the Red Sands, I'm definitely copying one for myself!"

Uchiha Jun could not help grumbling as his body twisted through a series of evasions at impossible angles, finding the sole safe path amid the barrage.

He landed on another platform and caught his breath.

"Magnet Release can attract metal... That's a little troublesome."

He glanced at the kunai and shuriken in his ninja tool pouch. If he threw them directly, the Mechanical Giant would definitely pull them in with Magnet Release. Not only would they fail to harm it, they would instead strengthen its attacks.

"But Magnet Release can attract metal. What about free lightning elements?"

The corners of Uchiha Jun's lips curled upward slightly as a plan formed in his mind.

He began using the platforms and walls as cover, constantly changing positions while secretly laying down strands of steel wire as thin as hairs across the ground and walls.

The wires were nearly invisible to the naked eye, but they could conduct Lightning Style chakra.

The Mechanical Giant failed to detect those small movements and continued firing and pursuing him.

Finally, after Uchiha Jun finished laying the last chakra wire, he stopped.

"Alright, the setup is complete!"

He took a kunai from his ninja tool pouch.

Then Uchiha Jun threw it!

"Whoosh—!"

The kunai sliced through the air and flew toward the Mechanical Giant.

The Mechanical Giant immediately activated Magnet Release. An invisible force dragged the kunai over, attaching it to the surface of its body.

At the same time, all the steel wires snapped taut!

"Activate!"

Uchiha Jun formed a seal with one hand. Lightning Style chakra surged wildly through the wires, instantly connecting every kunai, shuriken, and even the Mechanical Giant's metal armor into one enormous Lightning Style circuit!

Crackle, crackle, crackle—!!

Dazzling blue lightning burst from every part of the Mechanical Giant's body!

Its internal systems briefly went out of control under the paralysis of Lightning Style chakra, and the movements of its six mechanical arms became stiff and chaotic.

"Now!"

"Secret Scroll: Chakra!"

"Lightning Style: Kirin!"

Within the cloud-like space, an enormous bolt of lightning condensed out of thin air, transforming into a roaring Kirin that plunged straight down from the sky!

Boom—!!!

The Kirin slammed fiercely into the Mechanical Giant's core, already paralyzed by Lightning Style!

The deafening blast shook the entire fortress violently!

Countless cracks spread across the Mechanical Giant's surface. The light inside it flickered madly several times before—

It exploded with a thunderous crash!

[Clear Successful!]

[Rating: S (Remaining HP 100%, no fatal injuries)]

[First Clear Reward: Gold Coin ×50, Secret Scroll: Lightning Style: Magnetic Storm Fragment ×10, Copper Coin ×3000000]

[Current Gold Coins: 50]

[Copper Coin Balance: 22000000]

"Whew—"

Uchiha Jun let out a breath and looked around. After waiting for a moment, he realized he had not been forcibly ejected from the Abundance Chamber, leaving him slightly stunned.

He then looked at the puppet wreckage around him, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

After exiting the Abundance Chamber, Uchiha Jun's consciousness returned to reality.

He found that he was still concealed within the tree canopy, with no changes to the surrounding scenery.

"I didn't expect the higher-difficulty Abundance Chamber challenges to stop forcing you out!"

"Besides these Abundance rewards, I also copied an entire set of puppet construction data with the Sharingan. Once I find a puppeteer and privatize Shennong's Sky Ninja Village, I'll be able to build a whole 'Castle in the Sky'!"

"Shennong? Damn it, how can a lowly creature deserve such a name?"

"Fifty Gold Coins... These things are far harder to get than silver. I wonder how many Gold Coins I'd get for killing the Third Raikage."

Uchiha Jun turned his gaze back toward the distant battlefield.

At that moment, the battle had already lasted two days and one night, and the sky had once again grown dim.

The battlefield had reached the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Waterfalls. The roaring Lightning Style attacks of the kumo-nin forces led by the Third Raikage continued to intertwine with the battle cries of the Iwa-nin, shaking heaven and earth.

The battlefield had already become a slaughterhouse.

The corpses of Kumogakure and Iwagakure shinobi lay piled atop one another, forming small hills. At the heart of the cage formed by the Iwa-nin's Ten Thousand Mile Earth Flow Wall—

The Third Raikage, who was fighting the Four-Tails and Five-Tails jinchuriki, was drenched in blood. The half-armor he wore had nearly shattered under Han, the Five-Tails jinchuriki's frontal Boil Release bombardment, and numerous fine wounds had appeared across his bronze-colored skin.

Yet even while facing the combined assault of three Kage Level experts, along with the support of more than a dozen Elite Jonin, the Third Raikage still relied on the extreme speed and defense granted by his Lightning Release Armor, as well as the terrifying offensive power of the unstoppable Hell Stab, to move through the encirclement as though no one were there!

"What a monster." Even Uchiha Jun had to voice such a sigh.

Ōnoki, floating in the air and overseeing the battle, looked down at that "meat grinder" below and made his final decision. "Tighten the encirclement! Tietu, prepare to use the Earth Mountain Technique!"

In the distance, the Iwa-nin commander Tietu finally began to act.

He led dozens of elite Earth Release shinobi in forming hand seals at the same time!

"Earth Release: Earth Mountain Technique!!"

The entire ground began shaking violently.

Two gigantic boulders like small mountains rose from the earth, closing in from both sides toward the Third Raikage at the center!

"Lightning Style: Thunder Horizontal Chop!"

The Third Raikage roared as the active Lightning Style power around his body surged to another level. His entire figure turned into an afterimage, and the ground beneath his feet instantly cracked apart. Before the horrified gazes of the Iwa-nin, he forcibly escaped the Earth Mountain Technique's pincer attack through sheer speed!

Boom—!!

"Lord Raikage, the enemy's encirclement is about to take shape! What do we do?!"

At the same time that the Third Raikage broke free of the Earth Mountain Technique, his trusted subordinate Dodai used Lava Release to create a rubber ball, bouncing over to his side as he spoke anxiously.

They had been fighting while retreating all this time, but the Iwa-nin main force refused to stop pursuing them. They had also continuously used compound ninjutsu like the Ten Thousand Mile Earth Flow Wall in an attempt to alter the terrain and wipe out Kumogakure's elite forces in one stroke!

If the Third Raikage had not repeatedly used Hell Stab to forcibly pierce through the encirclement, the battle would have ended long ago!

"Dodai, have Blue B lead all troops through the encirclement! I'll hold the rear!!"

The Third Raikage looked at Blue B, the Eight-Tails jinchuriki currently clashing with the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, then at the Land of Waterfalls border already visible in the distance, and spoke in a deep voice.

After leading them through battle for two days and one night, they had finally escaped the depths of the Land of Earth and reached the border between the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Earth.

It was time to settle things with the Iwa-nin!

"What?! Lord Raikage! If anyone is to hold the rear, it should be us from the Shadow Guard!"

Dodai was startled and was about to object when he saw the Third Raikage raise a hand and pierce through an Iwa-nin Jonin hidden within a rock. With a grave expression, he gave his order.

"This is an order! After I die, A will succeed as the Fourth Raikage! Retreat, now!"

With that, the Third Raikage's Lightning Style chakra surged once more. Like a ferocious beast, he charged into the Iwa-nin ranks and began slaughtering them!

He forcibly tore through the encirclement that was about to close!

Seeing this, Dodai could only spread the Third Raikage's order with tears in his eyes.

Meanwhile, on another part of the battlefield.

"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling..."

"Ink Cannon!"

Whoosh—

"Tch, damn it."

In the air.

Ōnoki had originally intended to use Dust Release to severely injure the kumo-nin forces, but Blue B, the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, interrupted him with an Ink Cannon. After cursing under his breath, he decisively used Earth Release: Rock Golem to engage the tailed beast-transformed Blue B.

Although Ōnoki held every advantage in his clash with the Eight-Tails jinchuriki through his own strength and the flight-capable Light-Weight Rock Technique, the Eight-Tails jinchuriki could enter tailed beast transformation, drastically increasing his speed, physical defense, and endurance.

Combined with the recovery effect carried by tailed beast chakra, Blue B had practically turned into Captain America. As long as he did not take Dust Release head-on, he could rely on his enormous tailed beast chakra reserves to fight Ōnoki for an entire day.

Ōnoki was rather helpless about this. Dust Release was certainly powerful—touch it and die, get hit and perish—but its startup and recovery times were both extremely long, leaving massive openings in one-on-one combat.

Mu, the Second Tsuchikage and Originator of Dust Release, had relied on invisibility and division abilities to compensate for that weakness.

Although Ōnoki, as Mu's successor, had learned Dust Release, he had not inherited the Second Tsuchikage Mu's invisibility and division abilities.

His Shadow Guard had all been sent out to assist the two jinchuriki against the Third Raikage.

Without the Shadow Guard's aid, Ōnoki could only use conventional Earth Release ninjutsu to trade blows with Blue B, but Earth Release ninjutsu was not particularly suited for powerful direct attacks.

The fight was rather stifling.

"Lord Blue B! Lord Raikage has ordered you to lead the troops in retreat! Lord Raikage will hold the rear!"

"What?! ...Damn it, have all troops assemble! Prepare to break through the encirclement!"

"Yes!"

Blue B, who was fighting Rock Golem, was startled upon hearing this. But he quickly accepted reality and obeyed the Raikage's order.

There was no room for even the slightest argument on the battlefield. Only swift, decisive action would do.

Any delay would only lead to greater losses!

"Hmph, so I still can't wipe out these elite kumo-nin forces? Fine. Being able to leave the Third Raikage behind isn't a loss!"

Ōnoki in the air had also heard the conversation between Blue B and the kumo-nin Anbu.

He had originally planned to annihilate every elite kumo-nin force, including the Third Raikage and the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, crippling Kumogakure for a generation in one blow!

He simply had not expected the Third Raikage to forcibly lead his troops from deep within the Land of Earth all the way to the border despite being surrounded.

The terrain of the Land of Waterfalls was not conducive to the large-scale use of Earth Release.