"Hmph! Arrogant brat. From the look of you, you must be that Kakashi Hatake fellow, right?"
The Fourth Raikage sneered. "Forget you-even if your father, Hatake Sakumo, came back to life, I wouldn't give him a second thought! A wet-behind-the-ears brat like you dares talk to me like that?"
He was clearly bluffing.
If Konoha's White Fang were still alive, how would Kumogakure dare act so arrogantly?
"All muscle and no brains, huh?"
Shinichi looked at him mockingly and said flatly, "Sorry, you got it half right. I'm not Kakashi. I'm his older brother, Hatake Shinichi. Besides, a small fry like you thinks he's worthy of even mentioning Konoha's White Fang?"
"You're dead!"
Even if the Fourth Raikage didn't understand Shinichi's wording, he could guess it was nothing flattering.
Crackle, crackle.
Violent blue lightning instantly enveloped the Fourth Raikage, flickering with terrifying, intimidating power.
"Lightning Release Chakra Mode!"
The Fourth Raikage certainly lived up to his title. His mastery of Lightning Release Armor was flawless.
He turned into a streak of lightning and appeared before Shinichi in an instant, shattering his body with a single punch!
Bang.
Smoke burst out, and a wooden log fell to the ground.
Substitution Technique!
"What's the rush?"
At some point, Shinichi had appeared ten meters away, his signature lazy smile on his face. "I don't mind fighting you, but we should at least put something on the line!"
"You little bastard! What are you getting at now?"
The Fourth Raikage roared.
In truth, he was secretly shocked. When he launched a surprise attack at that speed, only a handful of people in the entire shinobi world could react in time.
Yet Shinichi had used the Substitution Technique without him even noticing, evading his thunderous strike. That response alone proved his opponent possessed at least the combat strength of an elite jōnin!
"If I beat you, you'll take your people and crawl back to the Land of Lightning. How about it?"
Shinichi chuckled.
With his strength, wiping out this group from Kumogakure wouldn't be difficult. But their fighting power would still be needed in the Fourth Shinobi World War, as well as against the Ōtsutsuki Clan in the future. Those forces were indispensable.
So his goal this time was merely to drive them back, not slaughter them all.
"Fine! If you can beat me, I'll do whatever you say!"
The Fourth Raikage gave a sinister smile and said coldly, "But if you lose, brat, your life ends here!"
"No problem!"
Having heard the answer he wanted, Shinichi dropped his playful attitude entirely.
The Fourth Raikage was only in his thirties at this point, his body at its strongest. Even if his strength hadn't yet reached its peak during the Fourth Shinobi World War, it was probably close.
To defeat an opponent of this caliber, even Shinichi would have to reveal a few of his trump cards!
"Lightning Release! Lariat!"
The Fourth Raikage once again became a terrifying streak of lightning. Fearsome electricity coiled around his thick arm as he closed in on Shinichi at a speed almost impossible to see, aiming straight for his neck!
If that strike connected, any ninja below Kage level would likely die on the spot!
The Fourth Raikage wasn't holding back in the slightest. He truly intended to kill!
It was hardly surprising that he wanted Shinichi dead so badly. An unknown, wet-behind-the-ears brat had repeatedly provoked him. With his explosive temper, how could he possibly tolerate that?
His very first move was a killing blow!
"Not bad, but you're still a little slower than Konoha's Yellow Flash!"
At the critical moment, Shinichi unleashed an equally astonishing burst of speed, dodging the Fourth Raikage's attack in an instant. Not only that, he still found time to taunt him, every word striking a sore spot!
Everyone knew that the Fourth Raikage's greatest rival was Konoha's Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
As long as Minato Namikaze lived, this blue lightning bolt could never be the fastest man in the shinobi world!
"You little bastard! Are you that eager to die?"
Shinichi's constant provocations really were driving the Fourth Raikage to the brink of madness.
Worse still, his opponent was actually this fast, and it seemed to be pure physical speed. This brat's mastery of taijutsu might even surpass his own!
Bang!
The Fourth Raikage drove his legs hard against the ground and leaped upward, fearsome lightning coating his hand as he chopped down viciously!
Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop!
The Fourth Raikage had once used this very move to sever the Eight-Tails' left horn himself!
Its power was no small matter!
"Fire Release! Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Narrowly avoiding the strike, Shinichi immediately mobilized the chakra within him. An enormous fire dragon, many times more powerful than its counterpart in the original story, appeared out of thin air, creating a sea of flames that engulfed the entire battlefield!
"How can his Fire Release be this powerful?!"
The Fourth Raikage was stunned.
How could he have known that the terrifying attribute bonuses from Shinichi's various talent traits made every ninjutsu he used dozens of times more powerful than an ordinary ninja's?
"Lightning Release! Chidori!"
Immediately afterward, he saw lightning rapidly gathering in Shinichi's palm, its incessant buzzing grating on his nerves.
What shocked the Fourth Raikage most was that Shinichi's black eyes had somehow turned scarlet, with three particularly prominent tomoe in each!
The Sharingan!
"Fuck! What kind of freak is this brat? He even has the Sharingan!"
The Fourth Raikage couldn't help swearing.
Were all members of the Hatake Clan this bizarre?
Kakashi Hatake having one Sharingan was one thing, but now some Hatake Shinichi had appeared out of nowhere with a pair of them!
Whoosh!
The flames produced by the Great Dragon Fire Technique were so hot that even the air burned. Rising air currents surged upward, and masses of rain clouds began gathering overhead, lightning flickering ominously within them.
"It's time."
Shinichi glanced up at the sky, a faint smile curling his lips.
"Lightning Release-Kirin!"
The S-rank Lightning Release Ninjutsu that Uchiha Sasuke had created in the original story was now unleashed to its fullest by Shinichi.
A colossal creature slowly emerged in midair-a divine kirin formed entirely from terrifying lightning. It let out an extraordinary roar that resounded across heaven and earth!
This divine kirin was more than ten times larger than the one in the original story!
It was nothing short of a natural-disaster-level ninjutsu!
Shinichi's offensive grew increasingly fierce. Even with his terrifying speed, the Fourth Raikage struggled to cope, inwardly groaning. For a time, he was completely suppressed, without even a chance to strike back.
"Strongest Lightning Release Armor!"
Seeing such a terrifying ninjutsu about to descend, the Fourth Raikage no longer dared underestimate his opponent. He pushed his Lightning Release chakra to its absolute limit, forming his strongest Lightning Release Armor around his body!
This was his strongest form!
His explosive power, speed, and even defense all reached their absolute limits in this ultimate Lightning Release form!
That alone showed just how far Shinichi had pushed him!
Bang!
With his strongest technique activated, the Fourth Raikage seemed like a different person. He became a streak of blue lightning and charged straight at the divine kirin. His punch seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth, and he actually shattered the creature head-on!
When he landed, the Lightning Release chakra enveloping him had diminished considerably, but there wasn't so much as a scratch on his body.
This was the true strength of the Fourth Raikage A!
Once he fully activated his Strongest Lightning Release Armor, he moved so fast that even Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan couldn't follow him. His defense was even more absurd-far beyond what an ordinary person could break through.
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