From the moment Danzo led his army toward Moon Lake, a trap targeting Keiko had slowly begun to take shape. From the initial all-out charge, to the later attacks on the supply lines, to the Three Legendary Ninja personally guarding the grain route—everything had been meant to lure Keiko into this trap. Then kill him.
"Your Danzo is really ruthless. To kill me, he was willing to sacrifice so many people. But even without me, you'll still lose this war."
Keiko spoke coldly to the crowd. As a commander, Danzo had ignored logistics and flanks, marched over two thousand two hundred li, and launched continuous attacks for three days regardless of casualties. It was undoubtedly madness. According to incomplete statistics, Konoha had lost more than two thousand ninja, all for one person! Truly, beneath every successful general lay ten thousand dead bones. No ordinary madman could have done something like this.
"No, you're being too modest. You're more formidable than you think." Danzo appeared from nowhere.
"As a leader, you are qualified—no, outstanding. I specifically studied your records and everything you did after taking office. Your overall style is farsighted, your judgment precise, and your actions decisive and capable. Back when you served as Shamon's guard, you had already earned the recognition of Sunagakure's major clans and every faction, and you held tremendous prestige among frontline ninja. Before the war began, you strongly opposed it because you knew a major power would inevitably intervene. After becoming Kazekage, you defeated Hatake Sakumo alone on the western front, then decisively withdrew from the Night-Cry Sand Sea on the northern front. Someone without vision could not have made such judgments. You have cohesion, prestige, foresight, and ability. Your strength is also unfathomable. You are a Kazekage far more difficult to deal with than Shamon, and someone capable of changing the course of the war. So, I'm sorry. Though I admire you as a ninja, for the sake of Konoha's future heirs having one less powerful opponent, you must die here today. As for sacrifice... heh. What ninja doesn't make sacrifices?"
That final sentence made all three of the Three Legendary Ninja glance sideways.
"What if I represent Sunagakure and form an alliance with Konoha?"
Danzo froze for a moment, then his mouth twitched into a grin.
"You've just given me another reason I absolutely have to kill you."
"Damn, what was that?"
"You're shameless. Someone like you can accomplish great things if he stays alive."
"But what if you can't keep me here?" Keiko rubbed his shoulder, which had nearly been bound numb from lack of blood flow.
"Do it now!" Nara Shikacho's expression changed drastically.
Before his words had even faded, the Iron Sand clinging to the curved iron towers changed. It became black iron rings that floated up and down, wrapping around Keiko one after another in a single column and pulsing rhythmically. Part of the Iron Sand formed several bizarre patterns, and crackling sounds seemed to fill the air, like static electricity when taking off a sweater in winter.
Looking again at Keiko, every hair on his body within the iron towers stood on end like a hedgehog's spines. His eyes glowed, making him look like a god. The iron rings moved even faster, while a massive black iron sphere rose to the top of the towers.
Crackle! A bucket-thick bolt of lightning shot out from the iron sphere and struck Nara Shikacho dead on, instantly turning him into a charred corpse.
"Danzo, thank you for fulfilling my long-cherished wish. I've wanted to play with this for ages, but I never had the money. Take a look. Feel it. The Soviet Magnetic Pulse Coil!"
With Keiko's furious roar, countless arcing currents burst from the black sphere! Like the roar of a monster!
As a transmigrator born in the 1980s, Red Alert was undoubtedly an eternal childhood memory. As a Soviet fan who always turned his head to the right, he naturally knew traditional defensive structures like Magnetic Pulse Coils inside out. Moreover, in some Chinese bootleg game called Red Dragon's Roar, this electromagnetic defense tower had been designed with another bizarre shape. Build two or three of them, and enemy ground troops basically couldn't get through. That shape was extremely similar to the five curved magnetic towers trapping Keiko!
While scrolling through short videos once, he seemed to have come across a clip saying that scientists during the Soviet Union's Brezhnev era had actually researched a similar weapon. At an electrical testing ground, it could fire high-voltage electromagnetic pulses of up to seven hundred thousand volts. However, its attack range was limited, and once deployed, it had trouble distinguishing friend from foe. Its practical value was far inferior to conventional weapons like T-72 main battle tanks and Su-27 fighter jets, so the project had been halted. But Keiko happened to glimpse the design blueprint. He had thought the complicated circuit diagram possessed a strange sense of technological beauty, so he downloaded it and made it his laptop wallpaper. After transmigrating, Keiko, having mastered Magnet Release, had experimented based on memory. But the old problems remained: it could not distinguish friend from foe, its range was limited, and its cost was absurdly high—mainly the cost. Naturally, he had abandoned the plan. But today, Danzo had generously provided both funding and the stage. How could Keiko not give it a proper try?
You thought a few lousy magnets could suck up all my Iron Sand? What a joke! Every grain of my Iron Sand is a magnet. Playing with magnetism? You haven't even finished elementary school! Do you know Oersted's Law? Do you know Faraday's Law? Have you mastered one slow movement with the left hand and one with the right? Know your limits.
Just as the electromagnetic coils charged up again and were about to erupt, Tsunade rushed forward, her face covered in the Hundred Healings Mark as she ignored the scorching lightning. Several bolts struck her, instantly blackening her snowy-white skin before it rapidly regenerated. Then, with one domineering punch, she knocked down one of the magnetic towers, and all the electric light went out at once.
"You're an incredible person. You could become Hokage." Keiko gave Tsunade a thumbs-up.
Keiko's entire body was enveloped in blue Lightning Release Armor, and he vanished before everyone's eyes, leaving only an afterimage...
"He can use Lightning Release too... Isn't that Hidden Cloud's Lightning Release Armor?" Danzo muttered.
After returning to the camp, Keiko suffered a hair-dryer-like verbal assault from the Elders' Council led by Chiyo. Only after repeatedly apologizing, acting meek, and promising never to play with such dangerous things again was he finally spared. Before anyone could even take a sip of tea, Keiko dropped another bombshell.
"What? You want to form an alliance with Konoha?!"
"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Keiko asked with a smile.
The room immediately erupted again. Some said, "Second Kazekage Shamon's bones aren't even cold yet, and the Third Kazekage is already doing this—it will break everyone's hearts." Others said, "So much blood has been spilled. We can't just let this go." Still others said, "The situation is favorable now. We should press on and strike directly at Konoha." Every one of them was filled with righteous indignation, practically ready to slam tables and smash chairs.
Only Elder Chiyo had been warned beforehand. She slapped the table and snapped, "The Kazekage hasn't even finished speaking, and you're already chattering away. What kind of behavior is this?" Everyone immediately fell silent.
Keiko still wore a smile as he spoke unhurriedly. "In this world, there are no eternal enemies and no absolute friends. There are only eternal interests." Those few words stunned everyone into silence like elementary school students. Chiyo secretly gave him a thumbs-up. Keiko truly had been born to be Kazekage material. Even a casual remark from him sounded so impressive.
"We have actually already won this war. But what benefits can we gain from it? Killing a few more Konoha ninja? Such actions are meaningless to Sunagakure. They will only deepen the hatred between both sides and create a situation where neither side can rest until the other is dead. That kind of situation is unfavorable to Sunagakure." Keiko looked around. Good, everyone was listening carefully. So he continued.
"Konoha has deep foundations. Their number of ninja is roughly three times ours, and their resources are even more beyond comparison. Being able to win this war already means we have gained a huge advantage. If Konoha loses this one, it can still fight another. But us? Heh. Let me tell you privately: the Land of Wind's daimyo has already stopped issuing our war funds. We no longer have the money to fight another war."
Everyone was instantly shocked upon hearing this. Then the room broke into uproar.
"Furthermore, intelligence indicates that Hidden Stone Village, Hidden Mist Village, and Hidden Cloud are all sharpening their weapons and preparing their forces. A new great war in the Shinobi World is already unavoidable."
The uproar grew even louder. Keiko tapped the table, signaling everyone to quiet down.
"Our Sunagakure is poor and weak, with limited strength. Before a full-scale war spreads everywhere, I believe we should take the initiative to withdraw from the war, recuperate, and use the war to develop our own strength!"
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