Not Over Yet

"That's incredible. He actually defeated the Raikage."

"Not necessarily. He only cut off one finger. The Raikage can still fight."

"But Aoba wasn't hurt either."

"That's right. That record alone is already astonishing. This was a head-on one-on-one fight. Even Lord White Fang might not have been able to do this back then."

"So strong. Our Konoha really is the strongest."

"Wake up. It's not Konoha that's strong—it's Aoba."

Listening to the discussions among the Konoha shinobi behind him, Aoba curled his lips almost imperceptibly.

The two Life Potions he had downed in one go had not been wasted. It seemed the results of this battle had been achieved.

Naturally, these people did not know that Aoba's chakra was already nearly exhausted. If the Raikage wanted to keep going, he would turn around and run.

But none of that mattered now, because reinforcements had arrived—real reinforcements.

Across from him, the enraged Raikage clearly had no intention of letting things end there. Beside him, Killer B was also beginning to give off a faint, terrifying aura.

If the two brothers joined forces, Konoha's so-called reinforcement force would probably be nothing more than a joke.

But just as they were about to make their move, a massive shadow descended from the sky.

With a thunderous crash, a gigantic creature appeared between the Cloud Shinobi and the Konoha shinobi. Pervy Sage Jiraiya had finally arrived.

"Lord Raikage, ambushing Konoha's shinobi on the territory of the Land of Fire is not something a Kage should do."

"Hmph. In war, any means are fair game. Konoha used plenty of such methods back then as well."

"Is that so? When Konoha used them, our two villages were at war. So, has Kumogakure officially declared war on Konoha now?"

Jiraiya was surprisingly good at talking people down. In just a few words, he seized the initiative.

The Raikage really wanted to say, "Yes, we've declared war. So what?" But he knew he could not. As the Raikage, once he said that here, it would amount to an official declaration of war. It meant that Konoha would also use every possible means against the Cloud Shinobi, just as they had.

Thinking about it carefully, the situation was rather ironic.

The reason the Raikage dared to swagger into the Land of Fire to kill and wreak havoc was because he knew Konoha followed the rules. As long as he did not openly declare war, Konoha could not bring itself to fight him to the death.

What he was doing was the classic bullying of honest people. He would come up, beat you up, and take advantage of you. If you fought back, he would run. If you dared to hit him, then it became a mutual brawl.

And if, during the fight, he discovered that the other side was too weak, he would simply escalate to murder and destruction, taking things to the extreme.

The purpose of this operation had been to reduce Konoha's fighting strength and prepare for the war to come. Unfortunately, this tactic had failed.

Not only had they failed to truly damage Konoha's fighting strength, they had instead ended up at a disadvantage themselves.

It might sound cruel, but in terms of value, the more than twenty Konoha shinobi who had been killed or wounded earlier might truly not have been worth as much as one of the Raikage's fingers.

If he still dared to directly declare war now, the Konoha Sannin before him would likely fight him to the death.

The Raikage had lived through the Third Shinobi World War. He knew perfectly well that Konoha's Sannin were genuine Kage Level experts. Against Jiraiya, even he could not say who would win.

And the other side had the advantage of fighting on home ground. If this dragged on, his entire group would be doomed.

Jiraiya did not press him. He merely stood at a high point, silently exerting pressure on the Cloud Shinobi.

As one of Konoha's few high-end combatants, he had spent years wandering outside, pursuing the so-called Child of Prophecy.

Why Jiraiya was unwilling to return to Konoha was something many people knew, but no one wanted to say aloud.

Yet when it mattered, he would still give the Third Hokage some face. Faced with the Cloud Shinobi threat this time, he had still returned in time.

Standing atop the enormous Gamabunta, Jiraiya's entrance was as flashy as could be. That was his usual style, but this time, Aoba felt a trace of discomfort at it.

Because Jiraiya's arrival had completely stolen the spotlight from him. The Konoha shinobi throughout the battlefield were now all calling out for Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin.

Aoba had stepped forward earlier because, at its core, he wanted the attention. One reason was to disgust Konoha's higher-ups, while the other was to lay the groundwork for his future plans.

But now, the results of his bloody battle had been cut in half by Jiraiya's arrival.

Jiraiya seemed to sense something and turned to glance at Aoba. Aoba knew that Jiraiya had noticed. As the last shinobi in Konoha who understood Sage Mode—

Others might not have seen it, but Jiraiya would certainly have sensed that Aoba had drawn upon Natural Energy earlier. Though it had only lasted a short time, its intensity had been considerable.

But clearly, now was not the time to discuss it. Jiraiya merely cast him a glance before continuing his standoff with the Raikage and Killer B.

At full strength, Jiraiya alone would not have been able to defeat those two. His Sage Mode took too long to activate, and against a high-speed shinobi like the Raikage, he basically could not use it.

But after fighting Aoba, the Raikage had not come away unscathed. On top of that, he had lost a finger. His strength had genuinely been diminished. Though Killer B was there to back him up, Killer B was not invincible. Konoha had Tailed Beasts too.

Although Konoha's Tailed Beasts could not actually be deployed so casually at this time, the Cloud Shinobi did not know that.

The Raikage did not want to give up, but the guards at his side were already urging him to leave.

Jiraiya's arrival signaled that more Konoha shinobi would soon follow. This was the Land of Fire, and they only had this many people.

Once they fell into the encirclement of Konoha's army, the elite squad led by the Raikage might be completely wiped out here.

Their previous tactic had been to concentrate their superior forces, deal massive damage to Konoha quickly, and withdraw before the other side could react.

But now, their blitz strategy had failed. It was time to retreat.

The Raikage understood that as well. He simply could not accept that his carefully crafted plan had ended in such an embarrassing defeat.

Whether strategically or in personal combat, he had lost completely. And all of it was thanks to that Konoha shinobi named Aoba Kamikawa.

A powerful impulse rose within the Raikage. He wanted to kill Aoba here at any cost.

He had a feeling that if Aoba was not killed today, he would inevitably become a great threat to the Cloud Shinobi in the future.

From Aoba's series of actions just now, the Raikage could clearly see that Aoba was an entirely different kind of creature from Konoha's other "rule-abiding" shinobi.

This man was powerful, and his mind was deep. He was countless times better than trash like Hiruzen Sarutobi. If he became Hokage in the future, Konoha might become exactly what the Raikage least wanted to see.

With that thought, the Raikage spoke.