Huff... huff...
After throwing countless punches, Guy finally stopped, gasping for breath.
Was it over?
Just as Guy thought he had defeated the Fourth Raikage with his Morning Peacock, a figure wreathed in lightning emerged as the smoke and dust cleared.
The Fourth Raikage's hair stood on end, and the Lightning Release Armor around his body had taken on the shape of lightning. There was no doubt that he had pushed his armor to its strongest form. Even with chakra reserves close to those of a Tailed Beast, he could hardly maintain this state for long.
Seeing the Fourth Raikage completely unharmed, Guy couldn't help feeling dejected. His proudest taijutsu technique hadn't even managed to break through the man's defenses. He was a complete failure.
Guy had no idea how furious the Fourth Raikage would be if he knew what he was thinking. The Raikage had originally planned to go on a killing spree here today.
Yet a brat who had come out of nowhere had forced him to use his Lightning Release Armor's strongest form. With results like that, Guy should have considered himself fortunate to die here.
"Kid, my turn. Prepare to face the Raikage's fury!"
The Fourth Raikage didn't wait for Guy to catch his breath. With a Body Flicker, he appeared beside him and swung a punch.
Seeing the Raikage's iron fist, Guy desperately tried to dodge, but after using Morning Peacock, his limbs were weak. Even moving was difficult. How could he avoid the Raikage's lightning-fast punch?
At the critical moment, the shrill cry of Chidori rang out behind Guy. Kakashi, Chidori in hand, rushed past him to block the Fourth Raikage.
Another figure, about the same age as Kakashi, charged in alongside him, sword in hand.
Bang! Bang!
The Fourth Raikage stopped Chidori with one hand and the sword with the other, glaring furiously at the two boys before him.
The boy who had dared to swing his sword at the Fourth Raikage was none other than Uchiha Shisui, the Uchiha Clan's current genius.
Tap, tap...
The three separated and faced off against one another.
"Kakashi, take Guy and get out of here. I'll hold him off."
With that, Shisui charged at the Fourth Raikage again, sword in hand.
As he ran, more and more Shisuis appeared: one became two, two became four, and four became eight. Soon, dozens of Shisuis stood before the Fourth Raikage.
Was this the Clone Technique?
As he wondered, the many Shisuis attacked him all at once. Feeling the force of their blows, the Fourth Raikage realized they weren't clones at all. They were using the Body Flicker Technique.
Even the well-traveled Fourth Raikage had never encountered a Body Flicker Technique so astonishing.
With his seemingly impossible Body Flicker Technique, Shisui actually managed to hold the Fourth Raikage off for a time, buying Kakashi and Guy a chance to recover.
Soon, after resting briefly, Kakashi and Guy joined the fight against the Fourth Raikage once more.
With a Sharingan, Kakashi's speed was further enhanced by the tremendous boost Chidori gave his body, allowing him to just barely keep up with the Fourth Raikage.
Meanwhile, because Might Guy had opened the sixth gate of the Eight Inner Gates, the Gate of View, his speed was several times greater than normal. He, too, could compete with the Fourth Raikage in speed.
As for Uchiha Shisui, his mastery of the Body Flicker Technique made him so difficult to deal with that even the Fourth Raikage was at a loss.
And so, with the three of them fighting together, they really did manage to hold the Fourth Raikage off.
The Fourth Raikage was utterly frustrated. He had never imagined that, with Jiraiya gone from Konoha's side, three mere brats would manage to hold him back.
If he couldn't quickly finish off these three kids and break free, his plan to destroy Konoha today would likely fail.
While the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, were both tied up, the battles elsewhere grew fiercer.
Hyuga Lan was fighting a group of Kumogakure shinobi and had been surrounded. Kunai, shuriken, and even Lightning Release Ninjutsu rained down on him. Seeing the perilous situation, Hizashi was so furious his eyes nearly split.
When he saw Lan about to be swallowed by the Kumogakure shinobi's attacks, he shouted,
"Lan!"
Then he ran toward him without hesitation, trying to save him.
With his Byakugan activated, Lan could see in every direction. He naturally saw the attacks closing in around him.
As they came within inches, Hyuga Lan began spinning rapidly in place.
Chakra streamed out from the tenketsu across his body. As he spun, the chakra gathered into a sphere around him, protecting him. It was the Gentle Fist's ultimate defensive technique.
Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation!
Thud, thud, thud...
Protected by Rotation, he deflected every attack aimed at Hyuga Lan. The astonishing display of defensive power left the Kumogakure shinobi attacking him stunned.
Hizashi arrived just in time to see Hyuga Lan deflect every attack with Rotation. Surprise and delight spread across his face.
A technique like Rotation could only be learned by the Main Family. Branch Family members weren't even allowed to study it.
Since Lan could use it, that meant he had figured it out on his own.
Hizashi had already thought as highly as possible of Hyuga Lan's talent and strength, but only today did he realize that Lan had quietly grown so powerful.
Under the barrage of attacks just now, even Hizashi would have been helpless to turn the tide and would have died.
But Hyuga Lan had survived unscathed. Didn't that mean he was far stronger than Hizashi now?
Hyuga Lan was still so young, yet he had already become someone who could stand on his own. Even Hyuga Tenji might not have been more impressive in his prime.
After blocking everyone's attacks, Lan charged straight into the Kumogakure shinobi like a tiger among sheep. Using the Byakugan's keen insight to evade attacks from every direction, he struck the Kumogakure shinobi with the Gentle Fist's tenketsu-pointing techniques.
By striking the vital tenketsu on their bodies, he took down a great many Kumogakure shinobi without expending much chakra.
Hyuga Lan drove a finger hard into the chest of a Kumogakure man before him, then curled his fingers into a fist and used a short-range punch to send him flying.
At that moment, another man who had been hiding behind him, waiting for a chance to ambush Lan, revealed himself. Thinking Lan would be caught off guard, he thrust his sword at him with all his strength.
He had no idea that Lan had anticipated the ambush. After all, the Byakugan allowed its user to see in every direction. Trying to sneak up on a shinobi with the Byakugan was pure delusion.
Hyuga Lan turned aside to dodge the man's stab and grabbed his wrist with his left hand, forcing him to drop his sword in pain. The man doubled over and cried out.
Ignoring his agonized cries, Hyuga Lan reached out with his right hand and squeezed the man's throat, slowly lifting him into the air.
"Do you want to dance too?"
As he lifted the Kumogakure shinobi by the throat, the others could only watch from a distance, not daring to attack him again.
The man in Lan's grasp had turned red in the face from lack of air.
Hizashi had watched Lan's impressive display from beginning to end. Seeing this, he couldn't help thinking how wonderful it would have been if Lan had been born into the Main Family.
Impressed by Hyuga Lan's performance, Kumogakure soon sent someone to deal with him.
"Let him go, or I'll make you pay with your life today."
Faced with the threat, Hyuga Lan squeezed hard and decisively killed the Kumogakure shinobi in his grasp. Then he calmly turned to the man who had dared to threaten him.
Using his Byakugan, he could see that the chakra inside this man was clearly different from that of those around him. Both its quantity and quality were superior.
Could he be a kekkei genkai user?