The Terrifying Raikage, Shisui's Considerations

Shisui was on his way to the fifth mission site.

Like Ryosuke, he hadn't followed the plan and simply "scouted" the area. Instead, he had wiped out all the Cloud Ninja Anbu stationed there.

That had slowed him down. Otherwise, he should have been on his way back by now.

But the battle plan they'd agreed on earlier had only been meant to keep Ryosuke out of danger.

To end the war, Shisui had to make the Cloud Ninja feel the pain.

Otherwise, just as Ryosuke had said, even if they made it back alive, they would only stoke the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha, or become sacrifices Konoha offered up in exchange for peace.

At the thought, Shisui stopped.

He jumped into a tree and took out some rations.

The battles so far hadn't been particularly difficult, but they had still used up a fair amount of chakra.

"The rest of the fighting probably won't be so easy. The Cloud Ninja must have realized something's wrong by now."

After a short rest, Shisui continued on his way.

The next target was still about twenty miles away. It would take him roughly fifteen minutes to get there.

But a sudden pang of dread made him stop.

"Damn it, Ryosuke is in danger."

Before parting ways with Ryosuke and the others, Shisui had placed a mark on all three of them.

The special mark would activate whenever the person bearing it was in danger.

Without hesitation, Shisui sped back, no longer caring about the three remaining targets.

At last, after nearly two hours, he found Ryosuke still resting.

"Are you all right, Ryosuke?"

Shisui jumped to Ryosuke's side and examined him carefully. He saw a gaping hole in Ryosuke's chest, as if he'd been pierced through, and his clothes were stained with blood.

Yet there was no wound on his back.

"Teacher Shisui? What are you doing here? Have you finished your mission targets?" Ryosuke asked, looking surprised.

His teacher had eight targets, while he was only just about to head for the third.

"I still have three target locations left to scout. How are things on your end?" Shisui asked.

"I scouted two locations, but I was attacked by an enemy, so it took me a while. This is what they did to me," Ryosuke said, telling half the truth.

He couldn't say he had been the one to take the initiative. He could only claim he'd been ambushed.

That would also dispel Shisui's suspicions.

Sure enough, Shisui only relaxed after confirming that Ryosuke wasn't injured.

With just five target locations left, the two decided to work together.

But they hadn't gone far when a bolt of lightning suddenly crashed down from the sky.

Then a terrifying presence spread through the area.

Shisui and Ryosuke both activated their Sharingan.

They immediately spotted a person inside the lightning.

They both knew him: the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure.

"The Fourth Raikage? What's he doing here?" Shisui exclaimed, stunned.

Ryosuke furrowed his brow too.

He could guess that the Fourth Hokage had used his secret technique, the Heavenly Transfer Technique, to transport the Raikage here.

The Heavenly Transfer Technique had strict requirements and could generally only transport nonliving objects. But with a strong enough body or powerful enough regenerative abilities, it was possible to force a living person through.

The Fourth Raikage's Lightning Release: Lightning Armor met those requirements.

"I've finally caught you two Uchiha rats."

Wrapped in arcs of electricity, the Fourth Raikage strode toward Shisui and Ryosuke.

"Ryosuke, get out of here. I'll handle this," Shisui said, making his decision at once and ordering Ryosuke to leave.

"Teacher Shisui, I want to fight too," Ryosuke insisted.

"Don't be ridiculous. I don't stand a chance, and if you stay, you'll only hold me back. Go!" Shisui said, his voice harsher than ever.

"Neither of you is getting away."

The Raikage suddenly turned into a streak of lightning and appeared in front of Shisui in an instant.

His fist, as big as a sandbag, swung out, and Shisui burst apart on the spot.

"Hm? A Shadow Clone? No wonder they call you Body Flicker Shisui. But you, brat—you die first!"

The Fourth Raikage glanced at Ryosuke and swung his fist again.

But halfway through the punch, he suddenly stopped.

The Fourth Raikage looked down in surprise and saw that his own shadow had climbed onto him, binding his body.

"A cheap trick!"

The Fourth Raikage roared and strained. The shadow immediately snapped back to the ground.

He had broken the Shadow Possession Jutsu through sheer strength.

The backlash from the ninjutsu forced Ryosuke to stumble backward twice.

That moment's delay had given him enough time to escape.

Ninja Art: Thousand-Fold Illusion!

Countless shadows emerged from Ryosuke's body and flew off in every direction.

The Fourth Raikage snorted. Unfazed, he walked straight toward Ryosuke's real body.

"Brat, you think a little parlor trick like that can fool me? Die!"

He swung his fist again.

But when it struck Ryosuke, the boy didn't shatter into pieces as expected.

Instead, Ryosuke deflected the fist—bigger than his own head—with just one finger.

"What's going on?"

The Fourth Raikage's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

He attacked Ryosuke again and again, but his blows had little effect.

It was as if a whole world lay between them, rendering the force of his strikes useless.

Shisui turned around and saw, to his surprise, that the Fourth Raikage was standing motionless in front of Ryosuke, his eyes open as if he were asleep.

He activated his Sharingan and examined the Raikage's chakra flow, immediately realizing that the Fourth Raikage had fallen under a genjutsu.

"Ryosuke, did you do this?" Shisui asked, jumping over.

Ryosuke nodded weakly.

"Teacher Shisui, can you finish him off now?"

Shisui shook his head.

"He's only under the genjutsu temporarily. If anything jolts him, he'll break free at once. The Lightning Armor around him will be very hard to get through."

"And even if I could, I wouldn't. If the Raikage dies here, war with the Land of Lightning will be even harder to avoid."

"True. We should get out of here first. Now that the Raikage has arrived, reinforcements from Kumogakure can't be far behind," Ryosuke said sensibly.

Shisui nodded, and the two hurried away.

Half an hour later, the Fourth Raikage's body finally began moving again.

He roared, "Uchiha rats! I'll never let you get away with this!"