The death of the Third Raikage

Across the vast plains of the Land of Iron, endless battle smoke had long since stained the sky lead gray.

As far as the eye could see, a black tide of more than ten thousand Iwagakure Ninja surged in from every direction, their kunai and Earth Release slowly eating away at Kumogakure's last position.

The surviving Kumogakure troops were drenched in blood, struggling for breath within an encirclement like an abyss of despair. Every counterattack seemed utterly powerless.

The Third Hokage Raikage stood at the very front of the position. Fine wounds covered his muscles, which seemed cast from steel, yet his mountain-steady presence had not wavered in the slightest.

He turned his head toward the Kumogakure commander, whose bloodied face and eyes were filled with grief and anger, and spoke in a low, resolute voice.

"Pass on my order. Everyone is to abandon this position immediately and retreat at full speed. Here... I'll hold them off alone."

"Boss!" The commander's voice was hoarse with terror. "There are ten thousand ninja out there! Ten thousand! Even if you're the Raikage, surrounded by that many..."

"Shut up!"

The Third Hokage Raikage roared, Chakra erupting around him. Dazzling blue lightning formed a roaring suit of armor, blasting several approaching Iwagakure Ninja away.

He looked back, his commanding eyes holding the solemn gravity of a man entrusting everything to them.

"This isn't a discussion. It's an order! This is the... final order I give you as the Third Hokage Raikage!"

The commander's lips trembled as he tried to speak. His eyes reddened at once, but not a single word came out.

"When you get back, tell A," the Third Hokage Raikage said, turning once more to face the ten thousand enemies bearing down on him like a crushing tidal wave. A bold smile actually appeared on his lips. "From today onward, he's Kumogakure's Fourth Raikage. He'd better damn well shoulder the village's future!"

Lightning gathered wildly at his fingertips. The power known as the "Strongest Spear" was taking shape.

"Retreat! Get the hell off this battlefield while I'm still standing!"

His roar shattered the sky. Under the horrified gazes of ten thousand Iwagakure Ninja, the Third Hokage Raikage became a raging bolt of lightning that tore through the darkness, charging without hesitation into the sea of death.

"Prepare... everyone, retreat!"

Holding back heart-rending grief, the Kumogakure commander screamed the order to withdraw.

He knew this path to survival had been torn out of a hopeless death trap at the cost of their leader's life.

Ten thousand elite Iwagakure ninja massed in layer upon layer like a tide, forming an inescapable cage of death.

And at the center of that dark sea of bodies, the Third Hokage Raikage stood like an iron tower that would never fall, his body already soaked in blood.

"Hah!"

The Third Hokage Raikage let out a thunderous roar. The Four-Finger Nukite of his right hand had become the One-Finger Nukite.

Lightning concentrated to its utmost limit became an unstoppable blade. Every thrust brought the screams and deaths of dozens of Iwagakure Ninja.

High in the sky, Ōnoki hovered with a grim expression.

His clouded eyes were filled with shock and fury. Between his palms, a white cube of light abruptly flared to life.

"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"

A translucent white beam plunged from above, carrying the terrifying power to annihilate all matter, locked onto that darting blue afterimage.

Wherever the beam passed, the earth silently disintegrated, leaving a cylindrical pit so deep its bottom could not be seen.

Yet just before the Dust Release could touch him, the ground beneath the Third Hokage Raikage exploded. Driven by lightning's tremendous speed, he forced himself several yards sideways.

"Old man, a sluggish technique like that can't catch lightning!" The Third Hokage Raikage's voice had grown as rough as sandpaper, but the fighting spirit in his eyes burned brighter still.

Ōnoki gritted his teeth and launched several more surprise attacks with Dust Release, even engulfing some of his own ninja who failed to dodge in time. Yet each attack was narrowly evaded at blinding speed.

The battle raged from daylight into darkness, then from the dead of night until dawn.

An entire day and night.

Iwagakure corpses piled into mountains across the Wasteland. The army that had numbered ten thousand had now lost nearly half its strength. Blood gathered into streams, soaking the Land of Iron's frozen earth into a dark red mire.

Finally, as the first faint light of morning pierced the clouds, the thunder that had raged all day... fell silent.

Ōnoki slowly descended to the ground. Around him, the Iwagakure Ninja clutched their kunai and approached with trembling caution.

Atop the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, the Third Hokage Raikage still stood straight.

His eyes were wide open. The Lightning Release Armor he had taken such pride in had completely dissipated, and his exposed muscles were covered in crisscrossing wounds and scorch marks where Dust Release had grazed him.

He no longer breathed. His heart had long since stopped after being pushed far beyond its limits. Yet his massive body still stood firm, his right hand's One-Finger Nukite pointing unwaveringly toward the enemy formation before him. Even at the very end, he had not fallen.

"Is... is he dead?" an Iwagakure ninja asked, trembling.

Ōnoki looked at the devastated battlefield and the ninja corpses strewn across the ground. There was not a trace of victory's joy on his face, only a desolation deeper than ever before.

"We lost this battle." Ōnoki's voice sounded much older.

Though the Third Hokage Raikage had died in battle, Iwagakure's ten thousand ninja had been brutally crippled. Their losses were so severe that Iwagakure would struggle to recover for years to come.

Kumogakure, meanwhile, had lost its leader but successfully preserved its main force through the retreat.

"Pass down the order. Withdraw." Ōnoki closed his eyes, no longer looking at the Raikage's remains. "The Land of Iron... is no longer worth fighting over."

As Iwagakure's remaining forces withdrew in dejection, silence finally returned to the blood-soaked battlefield.

Kumogakure had lost the strength to fight again, while Iwagakure had suffered a blow to its very foundations.

The struggle between the two great villages in the Land of Iron ended in this utterly brutal fashion, drawing to a desolate close.

Not long after Iwagakure withdrew, two dazzling streaks of lightning tore through the air. They were A and Killer B, who had raced desperately back from the Land of Hot Water.

A bone-chilling wind swept the stench of blood into their faces.

When they stepped into the center of the battlefield, even the usually comical Killer B fell into deathly silence. The rap lyrics that normally came so easily caught in his throat, leaving only heavy breathing.

Beyond countless severed limbs and shattered rocks, that massive man still stood unbowed.

The Third Hokage Raikage's body had been ravaged by countless kunai, explosive tags, and the residual force of Dust Release. The Raikage Cloak that symbolized his authority had long since become charred scraps.

Yet though his bloodshot eyes were lifeless, they still stared ahead. His right hand remained in the One-Finger Nukite position, as if ready to break through the next wave of attacks at any moment.

He had not fallen. With his flesh and blood, he had built an impassable wall before Iwagakure's ten-thousand-strong army.

"Dad..."

A's voice trembled. His huge hands, strong enough to tear steel apart, now lacked even the strength to touch his father's remains.

He dropped to his knees in the mud with a thud, pressing his forehead hard against the icy ground.

A trail of scalding tears slid down his resolute face, dripping onto the Land of Iron's perpetually frozen earth.

"Dad... didn't you say you'd leave the strongest shield to me...?"

A remembered Rael and Ran En's sacrifices in the Jungle just earlier. He remembered Minato Namikaze's flawless speed. He remembered his father, who had fought to the death here to give the entire village a chance to live.

Grief burst its banks like a flood, but after only a few breaths, he forcibly suppressed the outpouring of emotion.

A slowly raised his head and roughly wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand.

His eyes had changed.

"I swear, Dad." A's voice was low, like magma churning beneath the earth. "For every drop of blood Kumogakure has shed, I'll make them pay a thousand times over. Ten thousand times."

He turned to look in the direction of Iwagakure's retreat, then toward the distant Konoha border.

"Iwagakure, and Konoha too... I won't spare either of them. Minato Namikaze, and those brats—the next time we meet will be the day you die."

Killer B stepped forward and gently rested his hand on his elder brother's shoulder.

He could feel that the chakra within his brother no longer surged wildly outward as it once had. Instead, it had become concentrated and deep.

A rose, removed his own tattered outer robe, and solemnly draped it over his father's statue-like remains.

He was no longer the impulsive, arrogant son of the Raikage who knew only how to meet force head-on. He had killed that impulsive self with his own hands and undergone the baptism of a leader.

"B, bring Dad. We're going home."

A took one last look at the battlefield, his tone calm and commanding.

"From today onward, I—the Fourth Raikage—will carry Dad's will."