Dodai did not try too hard to stop him. Ziyun was simply too fast: before Dodai could even open his mouth to stop him, Ziyun had already turned into lightning and vanished.
"Every ninja who still has the strength, attack! Yeyue Ziyun got away, but we absolutely cannot let the Third Raikage escape too!"
Meanwhile, inside Konoha Village, the Third Raikage had been fighting the Konoha Ninja for a full day and night.
Damaged buildings and houses lay everywhere, along with the corpses of Konoha Ninja.
The Konoha Ninja still had not managed to break through the Third Raikage's defense, which he had trained to the utmost.
But the Third Raikage's speed and strength had both declined severely.
After all, his stamina and Chakra were not limitless. Even the Third Raikage grew tired.
"Although we let Yeyue Ziyun escape, if we can kill the Third Raikage, all our efforts over these past days won't have been in vain."
On the battlefield, Hiruzen Sarutobi wore his combat gear, but he had not taken much part in the fight against the Third Raikage.
He had exchanged blows with the Third Raikage, whose offense and defense were simply too terrifying. Hiruzen could barely scratch him.
So Hiruzen Sarutobi withdrew and sent the Konoha Ninja in instead.
Now they only had to use their superior numbers to wear the Third Raikage down. Once he ran out of Chakra, it would all be over.
They could even take advantage of the chaos in Kumogakure after the Third Raikage's death and start a war, crushing the village once and for all.
After all, the Hidden Cloud Village was now short of talent. Once the Third Raikage was dead, the only one who could be considered Kage Level would be the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Blue B.
"There's no need to hesitate. As soon as the Third Raikage dies, send our forces against the Hidden Cloud Village."
"Things have already come to this. If we don't kill Yeyue Ziyun, he'll definitely come after us for revenge once he's grown stronger."
Danzo walked up to Hiruzen Sarutobi and spoke.
Yeyue Ziyun's talent was far beyond anything they had imagined.
"Mm, you have a point... We really can't let a genius like that grow stronger."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, already considering the use of force against the Hidden Cloud Village.
"But the Hidden Sand Village is still watching us like a hawk. If we send our forces against the Hidden Cloud Village, there's no way the Hidden Sand Village will sit back and do nothing."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was still somewhat worried. The Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Sand Village lay on opposite sides of Konoha, to the east and west, which would stretch their front lines too thin.
What the hell are you afraid of, you old coward?
Danzo wanted to curse Hiruzen Sarutobi out, but he still did not dare. He could only hold back his anger and say:
"There's no need to fear a mere Hidden Sand Village. We could even offer them a few benefits to ease our conflict with them, then deal with the Hidden Cloud Village first."
"Mm, I'll leave the Hidden Sand Village to you, then. As soon as the Third Raikage dies, I'll have Hatake Sakumo lead our forces against the Hidden Cloud Village."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, settling on Konoha's next course of action.
"You two old dogs are discussing something so confidential without even finding somewhere private. Do you really look down on the Hidden Cloud Village that much?"
Just then, a familiar voice came from behind the Third Hokage and Danzo.
It was unmistakably Yeyue Ziyun.
They turned around, and sure enough, Yeyue Ziyun had disguised himself as a Konoha Ninja and slipped in behind them.
"Damn it, you actually dared to come back!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura were no pushovers. They completed their Hand Seals almost in the blink of an eye, and two Ninjutsu flew straight at Ziyun, but they had no effect.
"Konoha is just a toilet to me. I come and go as I please. Which one of you can stop me?"
Ziyun laughed, and his hands moved just as quickly.
"Divine Judgment!"
With a wave of one hand, two pillars of lightning surged from Ziyun's body and flew toward Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura.
Bang! Bang!
Two clouds of white smoke rose as both men used the Substitution Technique to dodge the fatal blow.
Hiruzen and Danzo appeared dozens of meters away and hurriedly directed the Sealing Squad.
"Only Sealing Jutsu works on him! Sealing Squad, attack!"
"Hmph, how interesting. Looks like we won't need to send out our forces after all. Today, we'll kill Yeyue Ziyun and the Third Raikage right here!"
Danzo sneered.
He had never expected Yeyue Ziyun to deliver himself to their doorstep again. It was exactly what he wanted.
"Pointless tricks!"
With all pretense of civility gone, Ziyun no longer had to hold back against the Konoha Ninja. He turned into lightning and unleashed his full power, cutting down the sealing ninja.
Almost in the blink of an eye, one sealing ninja fell. In less than two minutes, all forty-odd sealing ninja were dead.
Ziyun was simply too fast. Something as slow as Sealing Jutsu could not even touch him.
With these sealing ninja dead, Konoha had no real means left to stop him.
"Damn it! Someone stop Yeyue Ziyun, now!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi bellowed, and quite a few Konoha Village ninja who heard him immediately rushed toward Ziyun.
"Heh, goodbye."
Ziyun sneered. He had no intention of getting caught in a prolonged fight. He had come to rescue Uncle Raikage, and it was best not to linger in Konoha.
Though he wanted to kill all the young geniuses Konoha had at this time, rescuing Uncle Raikage was more important.
He activated Observation Haki. After this real battle, his Observation Haki had successfully merged with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and its vast range covered nearly most of Konoha.
He soon found the Third Raikage's presence, turned into lightning, and flew over in the blink of an eye.
"Uncle Raikage, let's go!" When Ziyun reached the Third Raikage, he saw that the man was already showing signs of exhaustion.
"Ziyun... why did you come back?"
The Third Raikage was delighted to see Yeyue Ziyun, but he was also a little worried.
He had already prepared himself to die.
"I came to save you," Ziyun said quickly, preparing to take the Third Raikage away.
"Don't let them escape! Stop him!"
"Even if you die, you have to stop them! We absolutely cannot let them return to the Hidden Cloud Village!"
By then, Hiruzen Sarutobi had gathered nearly every ninja in Konoha Village he could mobilize and arrived to surround Ziyun and the Third Raikage.
"Heh, Hiruzen Sarutobi, you don't have the strength to spare on me. You'd better worry about yourselves."
Looking at the furious Hiruzen Sarutobi, Ziyun sneered and raised his lightning power to its peak.
"Raigo!"
Ziyun drew upon all the lightning power in his body, his muscles swelling as the clouds all around Konoha's sky gathered together!
Then, from the joined mass of clouds, a spherical black cloud large enough to cover all of Konoha descended from the sky!
The sky instantly darkened!
At the sight of the black spherical thundercloud, which looked like a miracle, every Konoha Ninja present trembled with fear.
Anyone could sense the countless terrifying electric currents and bolts of lightning contained at the center of that thundercloud. If it came crashing down, all of Konoha would likely be destroyed!
Was this really a move a ninja could unleash?
While the Konoha Ninja were distracted, Ziyun took the Third Raikage and left.
"This is bad! Go after Yeyue Ziyun, quickly! We can't let them escape!"
At the sight, Danzo Shimura stamped his feet in anxiety.
He had seen Ziyun's speed for himself. Give him the slightest opening, and no one could catch up.
In fact, it was already impossible for Konoha to catch Ziyun and the Third Raikage, the two fastest ninja in the current Shinobi World.
Danzo had only ordered the pursuit because he still held a sliver of hope.
"Gather all our forces and neutralize this Ninjutsu first!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi gave the order at the same time.
If this attack came crashing down, Konoha Village would surely be destroyed.
The only thing to be thankful for was that Raigo was not descending particularly quickly... They still had a chance to fight back.
"Every ninja who can use Wind Release, use it now!"
"Everyone else, spread out and evacuate!"
Judging by the elemental advantages of Ninjutsu, Wind Release was relatively effective against Lightning Release.
If they gathered every ninja in Konoha who could use Wind Release, they should be able to neutralize this Ninjutsu.
Of course, all of this was merely Hiruzen Sarutobi's conjecture.
Upon hearing the order, the Konoha Ninja who could use Wind Release unleashed their Wind Release Ninjutsu together.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Blade!"
"Wind Release: Verdant Mountain's Violent Wind!"