The Fourth Raikage had begun training in the ninjutsu known as Lightning Armor from a very young age. As one of Kumogakure's signature techniques, its difficulty was beyond question. Even he had spent more than a decade before reaching its second stage.
He had then remained at the second stage for nearly another ten years. There had even been a time when the Fourth Raikage believed he might never break through to the third stage in his lifetime.
Yet, to his surprise, after Killer B had been abducted by Akatsuki and Kumogakure had suffered defeat at Kirigakure's hands—after such consecutive blows—his Lightning Armor had actually broken through to the third stage.
Under normal circumstances, the Fourth Raikage would have been overjoyed. But now, he could not feel happy in the slightest, because he knew that even the third stage of Lightning Armor would not be enough to change the current situation.
After all, he had personally witnessed his father—the Third Raikage, who had perfectly mastered the third stage of Lightning Armor—being effortlessly suppressed by Kakashi.
So even though he could feel that his strength had increased considerably, he still had not the slightest confidence when facing opponents on Kakashi and Naraku's level.
"The third stage of Lightning Armor, huh!"
Naraku noticed the changes in the Fourth Raikage as well. He was somewhat surprised by this, since in the original story, the Fourth Raikage's mastery of Lightning Armor had always remained at the second stage.
"Sure enough, only pressure can make people grow faster!"
Naraku mused inwardly, having more or less formed a guess about the Fourth Raikage's breakthrough in Lightning Armor.
But he did not care. It was merely the third stage of Lightning Armor—so what?
Even the fourth stage of Lightning Armor would not make him feel the slightest