The Raikage Has Arrived / The Fourth Raikage Is Quite the Catch

The Cloud Village's forces advanced in an orderly manner.

But regardless of whether it was Leaf Village or Cloud Village, they all had ninja units mobilized and advancing towards the Land of Hot Water.

So the hot spring resorts in Land of Hot Water) closed again.

They can't leave it open; the restaurant owners value their business reputation highly. If a customer dies, their brand will be ruined.

However, as if they felt everyone's emotions weren't excited enough, the Fourth Raikage, who had been missing for a while, finally reappeared.

His appearance also brought even more explosive information.

The Fourth Raikage became the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and he was accompanied by four powerful ninjas who were clearly not from Cloud Village.

This information came from the Land of Rice Fields, but no one knows who discovered it; it suddenly became known to everyone.

There are even rumors that the Fourth Raikage fought one of the non- Cloud Village before setting off.

This is terrifying. It means that those four ninjas who are not from Cloud Village are not only strong, but at least one of them has reached the level of the Five Kage.

Where did this come from?

At this moment, the spectators in the Ninja World were thoroughly enjoying the drama.

Those who weren't just following the drama and genuinely hoped these two big guys could peacefully negotiate amicably were completely bewildered.

Who has this kind of lineup when negotiating a peace?!

Furthermore, are Five Kage- level ninjas becoming too common? Shouldn't everyone consider changing careers? Is it even possible to survive in the ninja world these days?

At this moment, the information brokers in the Ninja World experienced a business boom, and they were all as busy as dogs.

Meanwhile, intelligence was also flowing steadily into the hands of the Leaf Village members, led by Namikaze Minato.

"Third, look." Namikaze Minato handed Sarutobi Hiruzen the latest intelligence delivered by the ANBU.

Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at it and handed it to the others.

When the intelligence was handed over to Torifu Akimichi, the fat man said something.

"Hiruzen, this was expected."

"Yes, as expected," Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed. "The Cloud Ninja will always be like this."

"Very well." A glint of bloodlust seemed to flash in Torifu Akimichi's eyes. "Only by avenging our blood feud can we have lived a worthwhile life."

The group quickened their pace.

As fellow users of the Flying Thunder God Technique, Uchiha Shingen and Namikaze Minato exchanged a glance.

"Shingen, do you find the story of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki believable?"

"It's credible. If it were just to recruit a few experts to make a show of things, the Raikage wouldn't have bothered going all the way to the Land of Rice Fields himself."

"The speed is a bit too fast. With the Chakra of Tailed Beasts, isn't this too short a time for it to reassemble?"

"No, Lord Hokage, Tailed Beasts don't need to recover all their Chakra when they are resurrected. Even if they are sealed into a Jinchūriki immediately after resurrection, they can continue to recover their Chakra."

As longtime friends of the Tailed Beasts, the Uchiha Clan has very detailed records of the Tailed Beasts' revival mechanisms, which are far more comprehensive than those of the Senju of the Forest.

Therefore, it is clear that the claim that in the original timeline, Namikaze Minato split the Nine-Tails in two, with the father and son each possessing half of the Nine-Tails Chakra, separated by yin and yang, is actually quite problematic.

Firstly, even if half of his Chakra was taken away, more than ten years would be enough time for the Nine-Tails inside Naruto Uzumaki to recover its original Chakra level.

Secondly, the Nine-Tails inside Naruto Uzumaki can still use the Tailed Beast Bomb.

The Tailed Beast Bomb, also known as the Tailed Beast Ball, requires Yang Release to exist.

It can be seen as the prototype of the Truth-Seeking Orb.

So what exactly was the reason for Namikaze Minato's separation? Uchiha Shingen felt that it couldn't be understood simply from the literal meaning of the words.

Each person was preoccupied with their own thoughts, and there was little idle conversation afterward; they focused solely on their journey.

Finally, they entered the Land of Hot Water.

The place where Senju Tobirama first negotiated peace with the Second Raikage was a small town in the Land of Hot Water.

After decades, it will once again welcome the Raikage and the Hokage.

When the people of Leaf Village appeared in the town, the once deserted town became lively.

There are almost no ordinary people left here; the ninjas from Leaf Village and Cloud Village have temporarily relocated them.

At this moment, everyone in this town is a ninja.

However, it seems the Hokage arrived first, while the Raikage is still nowhere to be seen.

With the arrival of the Hokage, the Konoha Ninja stationed in the town began to assemble.

The Cloud Ninja also took similar actions.

The two groups of people faced each other across the street.

"Lord Hokage, I'll go ask what's going on."

"Yes, Shingen, remember to be polite."

"Don't worry, Lord Hokage."

Uchiha Shingen nodded and walked towards the Cloud Ninja's group.

As he approached, the Cloud Ninja stirred slightly.

The current Uchiha Shingen is regarded as a devil by the Cloud Ninja, who see him as utterly bloodthirsty.

"Where is your Raikage?" Uchiha Shingen walked to the front of the Cloud Village negotiation team and asked coldly, "Does your Kumogakure think that the rules of the Ninja World are set for you? Do you want too few people to die?"

"Shingen, please don't be impatient." A Cloud Ninja wearing an eyepatch over his left eye said from the Cloud Village negotiation team, "As one of the Five Kage, the Raikage will naturally arrive later than us ordinary ninjas."

"The Hokage has arrived, so the Raikage must be here too." Uchiha Shingen remained unmoved. "If we don't see him today, we'll consider the negotiations broken and see you on the battlefield."

He looked at the Cloud Ninja in front of him and discovered that the other party had a [Lightning] tattoo, but the tattoo was not on his arm, but on his eye patch.

"I mean what I say, you can try." Having memorized the face of this Cloud Ninja, Uchiha Shingen turned around and prepared to return to his own group.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Raikage Arrives

Uchiha Shingen turned back to the Leaf Village team.

As it turned out, no one took the five-person limit proposed by the Cloud Village seriously, including the Kumogakure itself.

There were large groups on both sides.

Minato Namikaze Minato said he'd only add one person, but he ended up adding a whole bunch.

From the moment the six-person negotiation team from Hidden Leaf Village left the village, the intelligence war unique to ninjas began.

The ANBU of both ninja villages mobilized in full force to probe each other's intelligence, eliminate each other's spies, and also utilize intelligence from third parties.

Depending on the circumstances, they may also destroy third-party intelligence capabilities.

Faced with this level of competition, many third-party organizations that knew they were not up to the task with withdrew, remaining only to observe and not daring to directly get involved in the covert struggle between the two ninja villages.

Meanwhile, the two major ninja villages are also making moves in the open.

The Fourth Raikage made no attempt to conceal his whereabouts, including the power he had gained and the external support he had received. Regaining the power of the Eight-Tails caused some of the covetous eyes that had been eyeing the Kumogakure to disappear.

But this doesn't include Ōnoki. It's said that after hearing the news, he spat downstairs and was then nagged by Kitsuchi.

In Leaf Village, the Jiraiya of Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, to the village has curbed the restless ambitions of many who sought to Leaf Village.

Clearly, Hidden Leaf Village still had resources and was not empty-handed, so everyone once again showed a friendly attitude.

Meanwhile, back in the town, Uchiha Shingen Namikaze Minato the elderly members of Tobirama Squad's team, began analyzing the Raikage's possible next move.

"The news about the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki must have been released by the Raikage himself." Sarutobi Hiruzen was quite particular; although he was dressed in military attire underneath, he still wore a white robe on the outside.

He also replaced the pipe in his hand with a new one.

"The purpose is nothing more than to motivate our own side and deter the enemy. In recent years, Kumogakure has become increasingly powerful, and some of the attention that originally coveted Leaf Village has shifted to Kumogakure." Sarutobi Hiruzen of his cigarette. "The Third Raikage was very good at governing the village. Since he took over, there has been no internal strife in Kumogakure. He was also very good at seizing the opportunity to launch a war. The Fourth Raikage largely continued his policies."

"The strengths and weaknesses of Kumogakure are very obvious," Mitokado Homura said. "After the deaths of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, Kumogakure's high-level martial arts relied entirely on the Yotsuki Clan and the Raikage Clan. These two clans are related, so they can be considered as one. With the return of the Eight-Tails to Cloud Village, their structure will be complete again. For Cloud Village, which has already mastered the Perfect Jinchuriki technique, the Fourth Raikage is very likely to be Perfect Jinchuriki as well."

"Perfect Jinchuriki isn't scary, as long as they're not like the First Hokage or Uchiha Madara, who can completely control the power of the Tailed Beasts. This isn't something that technology can solve," Utatane Koharu said. "Kagami also said that even if you have the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan, it doesn't mean you can completely control the power of the Tailed Beasts. Wood Release and the Mangekyo Sharingan are just means; the person who uses the Ninjutsu is the key."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

Jinchūriki are not scary; they are still within the range that humans can fight against. Perfect Jinchuriki are just difficult to deal with, but not to the point of being powerless. Only those who can completely control the power of the Tailed Beasts are scary. To deal with such a person, one's own side must also have a strong person of the same quality.

All five major ninja villages study the Tailed Beasts, but their research focuses on different areas.

Experiments to study the power of the Tailed Beasts inevitably involve ethical issues, but it is an action that must be taken. Leaf Village imprisoned the Nine-Tails not because they looked down on the power of the Jinchūriki, but because the initial research direction was not Jinchūriki.

The direction of Leaf Village's research on the Tailed Beasts was to find a way to completely control Tailed Beasts power. This led to the Wood Release experiments, since given the already strained relationship between the Uchiha Clan and the Hokage Building, Wood Release was the only option.

However, after the scandal Shimura Danzō broke, the Wood Release experiments could no longer be carried out in any way.

Fortunately, the relationship Uchiha Clan and the Leaf Village Building, as well as the entire Hokage Building, has improved. The Leaf Village Uchiha Clan; otherwise, they would have had to change direction.

The way Leaf Village studies the Tailed Beasts is no gentler than that of Cloud Village, and in Uchiha Shingen's view, it is the greatest mockery of the Hokage world.

The lofty lineage, like an insurmountable chasm, divides the descendants of the Six Paths into two completely different kinds of beings.

The Chakra of Ashura and Indra further divides beings who are both descendants of the Six Paths into two species.

There couldn't be more ironic.

Only Orochimaru chose to resist to the very end on this path.

Based on this alone, Uchiha Shingen admitted that he was inferior to Orochimaru and was willing to call him the strongest.

"I just told the Cloud Ninja that the Raikage must be here today, or it will be considered a breakdown in negotiations," Uchiha Shingen said, stating the results of his previous negotiations.

"That's a bit too forceful, but it's not a big problem," Sarutobi Hiruzen said. "We need to be firm with Cloud Village; being too polite won't work."

Everyone nodded.

"What if the Raikage really doesn't come today?" Uchiha Shingen asked.

"With the Raikage's speed, even if he were still in the Land of Rice Fields, he could arrive today," Namikaze Minato said, setting the tone.

If it were just him alone, Namikaze Minato might have been more lenient, but he wasn't the only one there today.

This would be seen as a sign of Leaf Village's weakness.

The current Leaf Village cannot show the slightest weakness, even more so than the Cloud Village.

"Once the words are spoken, there's no going back." Sarutobi Hiruzen put away his pipe. "If the Raikage doesn't come, the Cloud Ninja here will be annihilated."

This former Hokage, known for his gentleness, was not gentle at heart; his indecisiveness was evident in the village.

The title "Shinobi Hero" was given to him by his enemies.

The statement that Leaf Village has had no Hokage since Senju Tobirama is too simplistic. When Sarutobi Hiruzen first became Hokage, he still personally took to the field. He stopped going into battle during the Second Shinobi World War, when Konoha White Fang and the Legendary Sannin had already begun to distinguish themselves. The golden age of the Hokage began then. Before the Third Shinobi World War, all of Leaf Village's renowned strongmen came from this lineage.

It was during this period that Sarutobi Hiruzen began to take a more back-to-the-back role, and his image became gentler.

"I understand now." Uchiha Shingen began to ponder how long it would take to wipe out all the Cloud Ninja in this town.

Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen said, a rupture means a potential war, and there's a lightning bolt here, so of course we have to take it down.

At that moment, he suddenly sensed the approach of a powerful Chakra.

"Two Hokage! Long time no see!" A gruff voice rang out, Uchiha Shingen turned around as a bolt of lightning approached from afar.

Chapter Thirty: The Fourth Raikage is a Hot Commodity

The Raikage's voice greatly boosted the morale of the Cloud Ninja.

The family-gang-like management style makes the Raikage the most united of the Five Kage, creating a cohesion in the Kumogakure that seems almost inhuman to others.

Of course, there are also side effects, namely, the quality and quantity of top-notch experts are limited.

However, upon closer examination, the reason for this side effect is entirely due to the existence of an even more abnormal Hidden Leaf Village. Compared to other villages, Kumogakure is at the peak of the ninja village system in all aspects.

Without Ōnoki, Iwagakure, their old rival, would be no match for Kumogakure.

Uchiha Shingen ignored the Cloud Ninja; the true form of their Chakra had already appeared in his Sharingan.

The two streams of Chakra intertwined on A's body, but did not interfere with each other; the Chakra belonging to the Eight-Tails was very stable.

He truly became the Perfect Jinchuriki.

His powerful body descended from the sky like a cannonball, crashing to the ground and shattering the stone slabs, raising a cloud of dust. Yet, the Fourth Raikage's feet remained firmly planted, demonstrating remarkable power and determination.