Facing the Raikage

How strong was the Raikage? Aoba knew better than most. One of his eyes was still covered, thanks to the man.

Moreover, the Raikage was exactly the kind of opponent Aoba hated facing most.

Most ninja had high offense and low defense. But the Raikage was different. He had both high offense and high defense. He was basically a humanoid tank.

Even with a divine weapon like the Kusanagi Sword in hand, Aoba could not guarantee he could inflict a fatal wound on him.

Most importantly, the Raikage was faster than him.

For agile assassins like ninja, greater speed was an incomparably huge advantage.

At the same time, the Raikage possessed a one-hit-kill capability that ordinary taijutsu ninja lacked. Facing this man, one moment of carelessness could cost him his life.

If Aoba entered Sage Mode, he should be able to keep up with the man's strength. But he still fell short in a prolonged fight. His chakra reserves were nowhere near as great as the Raikage's.

If he used Lightning Release: Flash, the Raikage naturally would not be able to block it. But that move was not instantaneous. It required time to charge up. Against a ninja like the Raikage, that was far too fatal a weakness.

Back then, he had broken one of the Raikage's fingers because the Raikage had underestimated him. He had not believed Aoba's Lightning Release ninjutsu could hurt him, giving Aoba a chance to charge.

But after failing to take him down that time, the Raikage would certainly be on guard. This time, he would not easily give him another chance to charge.

That was why intelligence was so important in a ninja battle. If Aoba had not fought the Raikage a year ago, and the information about Lightning Release: Flash had not leaked, he would have had at least a seventy percent chance of leaving the Raikage here forever today.

But reality had no what-ifs. If he went all out with every trump card he had now, he would probably have only a thirty to forty percent chance of winning.

He felt some regret. If he had completed the Hashirama Cells transplant by now and made up for his weakness, he definitely would not be facing such a situation today.

The Raikage's appearance undoubtedly placed enormous pressure on Konoha. The key was that Konoha had no one whose status or strength could match his.

At that moment, someone unexpected appeared: Shimura Danzō.

Aoba had not expected him to personally lead this reinforcement force. But thinking about how he had stayed hidden until now, it really was the Pot Kage's style.

"Raikage, this is the heartland of the Land of Fire. You dared come here alone. Are you trying to start an all-out war with Konoha?"

"Tch, sewer rat. You're not qualified to speak to me. Where's Hiruzen Sarutobi? Has he gotten so old he can't move anymore, too scared to come out and fight me?"

At this point, Hiruzen Sarutobi probably really could not defeat the Fourth Raikage. After all, age was not on his side.

The Third was a ninjutsu-type ninja. But with age, his chakra was probably far inferior to what it had been in his youth.

The Raikage, meanwhile, was in his prime, brimming with physical strength. More importantly, he was fast and hit hard. If the Third let his guard down for even an instant and got grazed, he would probably drop dead on the spot.

Even if the Third had enough tricks up his sleeve, a move like the Reaper Death Seal might not be able to catch the Raikage.

No matter what, though, the situation was extremely awkward. Konoha had more than three times as many people as the other side, yet their momentum was being suppressed instead.

As he had said, they had no Kage Level ninja capable of confronting the Raikage head-on. Naturally, they could not muster any confidence.

Ninja were super-soldiers whose power rested in themselves. Ninja villages were pure military organizations. How could Konoha's ninja not wish that their own Kage was the one standing before them right now?

"Lord Raikage, does your hand still hurt?"

At that moment, Aoba stepped forward. He understood Shimura Danzō's intentions. Stall for time? He could do that too.

In this situation, whoever stepped out would gain prestige. Shimura Danzō had wanted to gain some, only to be shut down by the Raikage calling him a sewer rat.

That was also the Pot Kage's greatest weakness. The Raikage was right: he really was a sewer rat. Everything Root did was classified. Although Shimura Danzō had some name recognition among the Jonin—

Across the entire ninja village, let alone being well known, there were not many people who even knew he existed.

Aoba truly could not understand how someone like that had actually set his sights on the position of Hokage.

If you wanted to rule this village, the villagers had to at least know who you were. Never mind sayings like, "He who wins the people wins the world." In a world like the Shinobi World, where individual power reigned supreme, that saying was not entirely correct.

Of course, whether it was correct or not did not matter. Danzo did not have the people's support anyway.

The moment Aoba appeared, both the Cloud Shinobi and Konoha's ninja stirred with a small commotion.

The Kumogakure side was agitated. That was only natural; dozens of ninja had died at Aoba's hands.

The main reason was that this was not wartime. It was not as though countless people had died on both sides, with most victims never knowing who had killed them.

Over the past three years, Aoba had personally killed that group of Cloud Shinobi. And those Cloud Shinobi surely had relatives and friends back in their village.

As a result, half of the Kumogakure ninja who had come to attack held personal grudges against Aoba. Not to mention that he and the Raikage also had deep grievances between them.

In truth, Aoba's feat of escaping from the Raikage back then while breaking one of his fingers was already exceptionally impressive in the entire Shinobi World.

It could not compare to the Yellow Flash's feat of defeating the Raikage head-on, but it was still an accomplishment worth boasting about.

In today's Shinobi World, anyone who could fight the Raikage head-on and even injure him was no small figure.

Yet interestingly, Aoba had gained the title Wind-Chasing Sword. But that title was used only outside Konoha.

Very few people within Konoha knew of it. In fact, after three years, not many people in Konoha even recognized him.

Forget the title Wind-Chasing Sword—within Konoha, he was practically invisible.

There was no need to say whose handiwork that was.

Come to think of it, Aoba really did resemble the White Fang of Konoha from back then. Both used swords, and both were high-speed ninja specialized in instant kills.

Just how afraid was Shimura Danzō of Konoha producing a second White Fang? He had directly suppressed every one of Aoba's achievements.

Aside from the files seen by the Hokage's side, only a few close friends such as Kakashi and Might Guy knew of Aoba's grudge with the Cloud Shinobi.

Aoba had originally had no intention of stepping forward. But when he saw Danzo get rebuffed, he suddenly changed his plan.

Since no one else was going to claim this wave of prestige, he might as well claim it himself. Though in Konoha, prestige was not exactly a good thing. For civilian ninja especially, it was practically a death sentence.

But Aoba was not the White Fang of old. Danzo's old trick would not hurt him the way it had hurt the White Fang.

Besides, Aoba had already been planning to cultivate his own power within Konoha. He might as well use this opportunity to make a start.

If they could not keep stalling, he had already decided to activate Sage Mode and confront the Raikage head-on.

If he was going to play, he would play big.