Tsunade vs. the Third Raikage

Mountain Country was a small nation at the junction of Fire Country and Lightning Country. The entire country was filled with mountains and hills, with very little arable land and no distinctive goods, so it was extremely poor.

Moreover, because Mountain Country was wedged between two great nations, it had become a battlefield for both sides during the First Shinobi World War. This time, it had once again become a buffer zone for the conflict between the two nations.

Although it was said that Mountain Country had a shinobi village deep in the mountains, perhaps it was too weak. Shinobi from both great nations had never encountered it.

In a valley somewhere within Mountain Country, Tsunade, Dan Katō, and the others had been waiting for half a day on the only route through which Hidden Cloud Village transported its logistical supplies.

According to the information they had received, the Hidden Cloud Village forces would be passing through here soon.

The four members of the team studied the map and discussed things for a while before scattering.

Before long, a group of around ten people slowly advanced from the other end of the valley. Judging by their appearance, they should have been the target this time, because Tsunade recognized the shinobi leading them. His name was Samui, a Jonin from Kumogakure with considerable strength.

Without giving anything away, Tsunade gestured to the others nearby. Her teammates had also spotted the group and began preparing themselves.

According to the plan, Tsunade's group intended to launch their ambush when the convoy reached the middle of the valley. Traps had already been laid there, waiting for them to pass through.

However, Samui seemed extremely cautious. The logistics convoy had not traveled far before stopping, and a small squad emerged from the group and actually began inspecting the valley.

"Coward. He's being this cautious?"

Tsunade cursed inwardly and sent Dan a signal. Their tacit understanding allowed Dan Katō to immediately grasp her intentions.

Dan Katō quickly retreated to a relatively safe cave they had prepared beforehand and used the Spirit Transformation Technique. Meanwhile, Tsunade, Kunugi Mokume, and the others rushed out of their hiding places to draw attention, making it easier for him to launch a sneak attack.

Seeing two people rush down from the mountaintop, Samui secretly rejoiced. Good thing they had received word in advance. There really was an ambush here. Otherwise, this would have been bad.

But then another thought occurred to him. Who had sent them that information? Samui was certain that whoever had sent it was definitely not one of theirs—the code signals did not match!

He had not believed it much at first, but with the mindset that it was better to believe than not, he had sent people to investigate. He had not expected there really to be an ambush.

Seeing the approaching enemies, Samui shouted, "Everyone, be careful! It's Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin!"

Even as he shouted, his hands moved without pause, forming seals in an instant. "Lightning Release: Lightning Fang!"

Lightning gathered around his twin blades. A moment later, he violently swung them, and the lightning spread toward Tsunade and the others like a twisting serpent.

Seeing the incoming lightning, Tsunade rapidly formed seals, then stomped the ground. "Strength: Heaven Kick of Pain!"

The hard rocks shattered one after another and shot precisely forward, directly blocking the lightning's path.

Tsunade's expression turned serious as she bit her thumb. "Summoning Technique: Slug!"

The moment her words fell, a massive Slug appeared out of thin air and crashed down from above.

"Move!"

With a bang, the Slug smashed into the ground, making the earth tremble.

Dust flew everywhere, and the scene descended into chaos.

"What terrifying power! Is this Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin?! Is she really a medical ninja?"

"As expected of Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin! Her summoned beast is actually this huge!"

"Still, we have the numbers. It's not like we have no chance of fighting back. Besides, we only need to stall them!"

At that thought, Samui directed the Barrier Division members to prepare to send a message while ordering his subordinates to unleash attack ninjutsu. He himself continued forming seals. "Lightning Release: Lightning Gate!"

"Lightning Release: Lightning Binding!"

"Lightning Release..."

All kinds of Lightning Release ninjutsu were unleashed by the Hidden Cloud Village shinobi, dazzling the eye and leaving no time to respond.

"Lady Tsunade, I'll help you! Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!" Kunugi Mokume came to Tsunade's side, formed seals, and spat out a series of Wind Release chakra bullets.

"Slug: Sticky Acid!"

Relying on the Slug's enormous size, Tsunade ignored most of the Lightning Release attacks and directly unleashed a large-scale ninjutsu in coordination with the Slug.

A huge amount of acid sprayed from the Slug's mouth and fell to the ground. The corrosive liquid instantly dissolved a large area.

Some Hidden Cloud Village shinobi failed to dodge in time and were drenched from head to toe. They instantly collapsed to the ground, leaving not even bones behind.

"Hiss—"

The surviving Hidden Cloud Village shinobi sucked in cold breaths, chills rising in their hearts.

What terrifying acid!

At that moment, a protective barrier rose up and shielded the Hidden Cloud Village forces.

Immediately afterward, several Barrier Division shinobi rapidly formed seals and poured chakra into the prepared Heavenly Transfer Technique formula.

The moment the barrier rose, Tsunade's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous feeling surged within her. Although it was her first time seeing that formula, she still felt that something was wrong.

What worried her even more was that Dan had yet to appear. His Spirit Transformation Technique could ignore terrain and obstacles. And because he was in spirit form, his speed should have been incredibly fast. There was no reason for him not to have appeared by now!

However, Tsunade had no time to think. The receiving formula of the Heavenly Transfer Technique had already lit up, and a pillar of chakra light pierced the sky before vanishing.

Before Tsunade and the others could react, a black dot suddenly appeared in the sky.

The black dot rapidly grew larger. In almost the blink of an eye, a figure entered their sight.

With a thunderous crash, a man in a white, off-the-shoulder shinobi outfit smashed into the ground, creating a crater over half a meter deep and several meters wide.

Knotted muscles, a wild face, and dazzling blond hair—it was none other than Kumogakure's Third Raikage, A!

"He actually came directly from Kumogakure to a battlefield thousands of miles away in this way! Kumogakure has mastered an incredible ninjutsu!"

Tsunade stared at the half-crouching Raikage, momentarily dumbfounded. This was no worse than her granduncle Tobirama's Flying Thunder God Technique!

Of course, Tsunade did not know that this technique was incomplete. At present, only the Third Raikage in all of Kumogakure could withstand the pressure of teleportation. It was usually only used to send supplies and such.

"Oh? Looks like I caught a big fish. I never expected Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin, to come raid our rear lines!"

The Raikage rose to his feet, kicked his legs, and stretched the muscles tensed by the teleportation. He spoke with surprise.

"Uh..." Tsunade froze. Was she supposed to tell him she had come along because of Dan? And now Dan still had not appeared. Right, where had Dan gone?!

A trace of worry flashed across Tsunade's face. She had to find a way to disengage. She could not let the Raikage tie her down here. Otherwise, once Kumogakure's main force arrived, none of them would be able to leave!

And where was Kawaki? Why had he still not appeared?

Tsunade did not overthink it, nor did she have time to. Her hands rapidly formed seals. "Genjutsu: Body Freeze Technique!"

Tsunade suddenly cast the Body Freeze Technique at the Raikage, hoping to buy some time. She shouted, "Kunugi Mokume, go rendezvous with the others first!"

Kunugi Mokume knew that staying here would only hold Tsunade back. Without hesitation, he turned and tried to leave.

However, to Tsunade's surprise, the Raikage broke free from the Body Freeze Technique in just the blink of an eye.

"Lightning Release Chakra Armor!"

The enraged Raikage roared as his burly body crackling with lightning charged forward without hesitation.

"Slug Sage, please help stop him."

"No problem, Little Tsunade." As the Slug Sage spoke, her enormous body rolled over, blocking the Raikage's path before pressing down from above.

"Get out of my way! Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite!"

A massive amount of lightning concentrated around four fingers. At extreme speed, they pierced into the Slug Sage's body.

With a sizzle, there was almost no resistance. The Slug Sage's body was actually pierced through!

The Raikage stabbed straight through the Slug Sage's body and was about to strike Kunugi Mokume.

"Strength: Heaven Kick of Pain!"

After a brief moment of shock, Tsunade leaped down from atop the Slug Sage's head. Her chakra-coated foot descended from above, stomping on the Raikage's arm and kicking him away.

The Heaven Kick of Pain, which could ordinarily crush rocks with ease, had landed on the Raikage's arm and merely knocked it slightly off course. There was almost no visible damage to his body!

What a sturdy body!

Tsunade frowned, feeling that this was troublesome. Honestly, she had no good way to deal with a "meat shield" like the Raikage.

Seizing this rare opportunity, Kunugi Mokume rapidly widened the distance and disappeared around a bend.

"Since the nuisance is gone, let's continue." The Raikage rubbed the spot on his upper arm where he had been struck and slowly walked toward Tsunade.

Tsunade deliberately intended to buy her teammate more time, so she took up a stance and confronted the Raikage.

"Then round two begins!"

The Raikage suddenly stepped forward and crouched low. His left foot slammed into the earth, and his right foot exploded with force as he shot out like a runaway train, roaring through the air!

The ground behind him shattered into a circular crater the instant he charged forward.

Tsunade's pupils contracted into pinpoints. With a shout, her clenched fist drove forward just as fearlessly.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

One punch, two punches, three punches...

Neither of them had any intention of retreating as they collided heavily.

The resulting air currents scattered in every direction, whipping up huge clouds of dust that spread outward from where they clashed.

Although Tsunade's monstrous strength was formidable, it was still somewhat inferior to the Raikage's body, tempered through countless trials. Before long, her hands were covered in wounds.

"Medical Technique: Healing Restoration."

Before blood could even flow from the wounds, the injuries on Tsunade's hands rapidly healed, leaving no sign that she had been hurt at all.

"Oho, you recover pretty quickly. Then how about this?!"

The Raikage roared, "Three-Finger Nukite!"

Tsunade snorted coldly. She said nothing and showed no weakness, charging forward as well.

One punch, two punches, three punches...

As the battle continued, their battlefield shifted a considerable distance. Outsiders were completely unable to interfere with the center of the fight!

"Amazing! As expected of Lord Raikage!"

"Yeah, but Tsunade-hime truly deserves to be one of the Legendary Sannin. She can actually fight the Raikage to a draw."

"That's right. Leaf Village truly is a land of outstanding people. It actually has three shinobi this powerful!"

"I heard Hatake Sakumo on the Sand Village battlefield is also incredibly strong. He has killed so many Sand Village shinobi that they flee at the sight of him."

"Hiss—really?"

"Of course it's true. Why would I lie to you?"

Although Tsunade had been trading blows with the Raikage head-on, she had constantly been searching for an opportunity to disengage. This was Kumogakure's rear territory after all. If she really got dragged down here, she would be the one to die in the end.

"Slug Sage!" Tsunade shouted when she found an opening.

The Slug Sage immediately understood. Her sweet, childish voice rang out, "Little Tsunade, I'll help you. Sticky Acid!"

"Lord Raikage, be careful! That acid is extremely dangerous." Knowing how dangerous the acid was, the Hidden Cloud Village shinobi hurriedly warned him.

"Two-Finger Nukite!"

Another finger on the Raikage's lightning-coated hand curled away. With a roar, he violently slammed his hand into the ground.

With a boom, the ground was violently raised, blocking the acid's path perfectly.

Sizzle...

The ground was almost instantly corroded into countless holes, a terrifying sight.

Taking advantage of the opportunity created by the Slug, Tsunade rapidly widened the distance between herself and the Raikage.

"These little tricks are useless against me, Tsunade-hime. If you have no other means, then stay here today!"

"One-Finger Nukite!"

Another finger on the Raikage's chakra-infused hand curled away. Even Tsunade, who was known for possessing enormous chakra reserves, felt her heart pound at the terrifying amount of chakra!

At that moment, someone came running rapidly from afar. Before he even arrived, his voice could already be heard. "Lord Raikage, something happened in the village!"

Tsunade felt slightly relieved upon hearing that. She knew Orochimaru's mission might have succeeded, but she did not dare let down her guard. Who knew what choice the Raikage would make?

The Raikage glanced at Tsunade and asked, "What happened?"

The man came to the Raikage's side and said softly, "The Eight-Tails has gone out of control at the village entrance. It's about to enter the village."

"What?!" The Raikage froze for a moment, then gave Tsunade a deep look. Knowing he could not take this woman down quickly, he turned without the slightest hesitation. "We're going back."

After saying that, the Raikage did not look back. He charged directly toward the Hidden Cloud Village camp. He needed to use the Heavenly Transfer Technique to return, or by the time he ran back to the village, it might no longer exist.

"Whew..." Watching the Hidden Cloud Village forces retreat, Tsunade let out a long breath and could not help frowning. "I never expected the Third Raikage to be this powerful. None of my techniques had any effect on him at all!"