The sky over the Land of Rain had always been an unbroken gray.
Cold rain fell from ten thousand meters above, landing on the tens of thousands of members of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
The army stood at the gates.
Tens of thousands of shinobi formed a torrent with no end in sight, standing silently at the lakeside and watching distant Amegakure.
Their combined presence formed an almost visible aura, evaporating the rain that fell on them and raising banks of mist.
"All forces!"
"Attack!!"
At the Raikage's booming command, the Allied Shinobi Forces moved.
Like a raging flood, tens of thousands of shinobi roared as they stepped onto the lake and charged toward the silent Amegakure.
However, just as the several thousand shinobi at the forefront of the charge were about to pass the center of the lake...
An invisible, violent current of air struck from ahead without warning.
The air current was far stronger than even an S-rank Wind Release jutsu. The first few ranks of shinobi had no time to react.
The force swept them bodily into the air, sending them screaming into the rear of the formation and throwing it into chaos.
The vast army halted.
Every shinobi stood tensely in place, searching for the source of the attack.
Through the curtain of rain.
Three figures slowly descended from the sky.
The first to land was a red-haired man, his long red hair covering one eye and leaving the other, a purple eye marked with concentric rings, exposed.
He swept his cold gaze across the army before him as though looking at a swarm of ants.
His toes lightly touched the water, sending out ring after ring of ripples.
It was Nagato.
Then Konan and Yahiko landed upright on either side of Nagato, one after the other.
The three stood quietly on the water, facing the tens of thousands of Allied Shinobi Forces without a trace of fear on their faces.
There was only an unruffled calm.
"You've come in force. What business brings you into Amegakure's territory?" Nagato's voice was quiet, yet it reached everyone present.
"Take another step, and bear the consequences."
A stir ran through the Allied Shinobi Forces.
In the distance, lightning coiled around the Raikage, its dazzling brilliance especially harsh beneath the gray sky. Hearing Nagato's words, he shouted across the distance in his booming voice.
"Save your breath, Akatsuki!"
"You invaded Shinobi Villages and seized Tailed Beasts. Your actions have already made you the common enemy of the Shinobi World! Not to mention your attempt to destroy the world!"
"We've come today to wipe you out completely!"
"Sworn enemies?" Yahiko laughed at that, stepped forward, and spread his arms.
"Perfect. We can use this opportunity to announce to the entire world..."
"The old age of shinobi is over. The Shinobi World is about to welcome true peace, under our leadership!"
Yahiko's fervent words rang through the rain across the battlefield.
"Arrogant fools!"
"Kill them!"
The Raikage's words instantly ignited the explosive atmosphere.
Thousands of shinobi, already unable to hold back, completed their hand seals in an instant.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet
For a moment, a sky-filling barrage of ninjutsu erupted from the Allied Shinobi Forces, howling through the air toward the three on the lake.
All this overwhelming ninjutsu was meant to buy precious time for the finishing move being prepared in the rear.
A combined ninjutsu.
Faced with an attack powerful enough to level a city...
Nagato could not even be bothered to raise his eyelids.
Konan stepped forward. Countless sheets of paper glowing with golden light poured from her body, forming an enormous paper shield before the three.
The violent ninjutsu struck the paper shield, raising nothing but ripples as every attack was neutralized, sending up clouds of smoke.
Meanwhile, Nagato watched the dozens of enormous Earth Dragon Bullets unleashed by Iwagakure in the distance.
He merely raised his right hand and gently closed it.
Shinra Tensei.
Bang!
A powerful, invisible repulsive force erupted amid the ninjutsu. The Earth Dragon Bullets abruptly stopped in midair, then burst apart.
The repulsive force crushed them into dust that filled the sky.
The three dealt with these attacks.
With ease.
"Now!"
The ninjutsu into which tens of thousands of shinobi had jointly poured chakra through a single jutsu formula was complete.
In an instant, the sky darkened.
An enormous, constantly rotating chakra sphere appeared above the Allied Shinobi Forces, composed of five colors and five chakra natures.
Inside the chakra sphere, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and lava churned.
The next instant, this natural disaster formed from the strength of ten thousand people hurtled toward the three and Amegakure behind them.
Countless burning meteorites, sandstorms, and ice that continuously disintegrated and reformed, all wreathed in lightning.
They hurtled forward like the judgment of the apocalypse.
This strike was enough to erase Amegakure, along with hundreds of miles of land behind it, from the map.
Faced with this perilous sight...
Yahiko instead wore an excited smile.
"I've finally been waiting long enough for you."
His Akatsuki cloak suddenly stirred without any wind.
Wisps of golden flame began seeping out from his chakra pathways to the surface of his body.
"Try this!"
Yahiko's hands flew through hand seals. As the succession of seals left afterimages, his presence grew ever more astonishing.
Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!
Boom-!
A tsunami tens of thousands of feet high rose out of nowhere behind Yahiko. Tens of millions of tons of lake water formed a terrifying wave behind him, blotting out the sky and sun.
This Water Release jutsu, empowered by the godlike strength of the Pero Jinchūriki...
Had long since surpassed the very concept of Water Release.
With a low shout from Yahiko, the sky-blotting wave crashed toward the chakra sphere that radiated destruction.
Under the utterly horrified gazes of tens of thousands of allied shinobi...
The two ninjutsu collided with an unstoppable, overwhelming force.
The massive combined ninjutsu was forcibly scattered and destroyed.
After the ninjutsu collided, evaporating water formed a dense, impenetrable fog that shrouded the entire lake battlefield.
Seeing their tremendous ninjutsu effortlessly neutralized by the enemy...
An emotion called despair spread through the Allied Shinobi Forces.
The Raikage saw that the situation had turned bad and the army's morale had suffered.
"Everyone, spread out and retreat! Support us!" The Raikage was the first to recover from his shock.
"Leave the battlefield to us! B, keep up!"
He roared, drove his Lightning Release Armor to its limit, and leaped into the battlefield as a streak of blue lightning.
He knew that a conventional exchange of ninjutsu had now become utterly meaningless.
Now he could only rely on his powerful taijutsu to deal with these brats with their exceptional ninjutsu.
Since they specialize in ninjutsu, their close-combat abilities probably aren't very strong.
As the Raikage joined the fray...
Ōnoki, Yagura, and the Acting Kazekage exchanged a glance, then entered the battlefield together.
The two jinchūriki, Hán and Killer B, followed closely behind, each unleashing powerful tailed beast chakra as they attacked the Akatsuki trio from two directions.
Minato glanced at Kakashi beside him and offered a word of caution.
"Be careful."
Then, with a flicker, he too vanished from his spot and joined the battlefield.
The arrival of the Five Kage and the two jinchūriki instantly intensified the battle.
These seven truly deserved their place at the pinnacle of the current Shinobi World. Although they had never fought together before, their coordination was practically flawless.
Ōnoki provided long-range support with Dust Release.
A and Killer B used the Double Lariat to attack the three from both sides.
Minato relied on his high mobility to harass them.
Yagura used Water Release to create favorable terrain or restrict their movements.
The Kazekage controlled gold dust with Magnet Release, blocking the trio's movements.
The allied shinobi also reacted swiftly, forming ranks.
They launched supporting attacks to disrupt the three under siege.
At that moment, the scales of battle seemed to tip toward the Allied Shinobi Forces.
A glimmer of delight flashed in the Raikage's eyes.
Almost there.
Before you continue