The Purple Gold Hall Mist Mountain Temple in the Land of Hot Water was more oppressive than usual tonight. It was past midnight, and the tallow candles inside crackled and popped, casting flickering Kakkō on the lightning patterns on the stone walls, but they could not dispel the chill that filled the shrine.
The Third Raikage A, and Mikado Lightning Armor were firmly seated on the central stone throne, their knuckles white from excessive force, veins bulging like coiling dragons. Their Lightning Release Chakra flowed uncontrollably, purple-blue lightning crackling and leaping wildly through the gaps in their armor, like ferocious beasts about to explode. The high-ranking officials of the three kingdoms seated in the hall all wore solemn expressions; these were all key figures whose every move could shake the very foundations of their respective kingdoms.
On the Land of Lightning, seated on the left was the Grand Yotsuki Rairyū, the uncle of the Third Raikage and Peak Kage Level powerhouse. He was hunched over, his dragon-headed cane tapping lightly on the ground with a dull thud. On the right, the Military Affairs Minister Yotsuki Yūfū, dressed in a black outfit, had a scar on his face faintly visible in the candlelight, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the short sword at his waist. The Finance Minister Amakusa Raimei, pushed up his glasses, his fingers trembling as he looked at the account scrolls before him. The Anbu Chief Kurotama Mushin, wore a half-eye patch and sat silently in the Yin Shadow, like an emotionless statue.
In mid-air before them floated an urgent report sealed in blood. The red wax seal bore the Thunder Emblem of the Land of Lightning, and the words "Comprehensive Record of Casualties of the Three Nations Allied Forces in Fifteen Days" on the scroll were shocking.
The Third Raikage A, finally broke the silence, his hoarse voice sounding as if it had been sanded. "Back during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Konoha and my Land of Lightning could at least hold their own, the battles were back and forth. But now?" He slammed his hand on the armrest of his stone seat, and purple lightning exploded with a "crack!" "From a force of fifteen million, only twelve million remain. Every day, fighter jets bombard us from above, and we're losing two to three hundred thousand men every day! Gentlemen, can anyone tell me how to deal with this—what kind of monster has Konoha created in these past ten years?"
The hall fell silent once more, broken only by the flickering candlelight and the crackling of lightning emanating from Raikage's body.
Military Affairs Minister Yotsuki Yūfū took a deep breath and raised his hand to form a seal. A pale blue scroll unfurled, and a faint light gathered at his fingertips, gradually forming a light screen. The scroll clearly displayed a topographical map of ten miles north of Azure Dragon City, with mountains and valleys clearly visible.
"My lord, please take a closer look." His voice was low, with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.
On the light screen, the area that should have been ten miles deep was now filled with countless scarlet "X" marks, so densely packed that it made one's scalp tingle.
"The outermost layer, a 300-mile airspace, is their fighter jets' domain." Yotsuki Yūfū's fingertip touched the top of the light screen. "Three hundred ' Thunder Falcon Type III ' rune fighters patrol and bomb around the clock like a swarm of bees; not even a bird can fly in. Each fighter carries four Crimson Lightning Guided Bombs. These things are incredibly strange; they can automatically track targets with the highest Chakra concentration on the battlefield—to put it bluntly, they're specifically designed to hunt down Kage Level or higher powerhouses."
His fingertip moved downwards, pointing to the treeline area in the center of the light screen. "The middle layer, from the treeline to the canyon area, is the territory of five hundred ' Heavenly Chief Type II ' rune mechs. These iron lumps are ten zhang tall, can cover ten zhang in a single stride, and run faster than galloping horses. What's even more deadly is that each mech is piloted by Kage Level expert, the 'Machinery Department,' and with the ' Sensory Disruption Barrier ' they've set up, our ninja's Sensory Ninjutsu is useless. We can only see them with the naked eye, and we can't detect them with Chakra. It's like they're invisible; there's simply no way to lock onto them with the lightning cannons."
Finally, his fingertip landed at the bottom of the light screen, near the location of Azure Dragon City: "The innermost layer, ten miles from the city wall, is the headquarters of the Azure Dragon Corps's elite ninjas—they have three special attack brigades: ' Spectral Fang,' ' Star Shatter,' and ' Dragon Binding.' Each brigade has ten companies, each company has ten squads, and each squad consists of ten elite ninjas. Every member of each squad is at least Elite Jonin, and the squad leaders are all Kage Level or higher."
Yotsuki Yūfū paused, then lowered his voice even further. "They are also equipped with top-tier rune equipment, and the ninjas in the team all possess forbidden-level Ninjutsu. They know techniques Flying Thunder God and the Space-Time Sealing Blade, and they can even use forbidden techniques like Sage Art... Konoha calls this place the ' Azure Dragon's Jaws,' meaning that anyone who goes in will be bitten and swallowed whole."
"Outrageous!" Yotsuki Rairyū slammed his snake-headed cane into the ground, cracking the stone bricks. His old eyes were bloodshot. "Back when I fought the Second Hokage, the battle raged until the sky darkened, but I never saw such a dense killing formation! This isn't a battlefield; it's a slaughterhouse set up by the Azure Dragon Corps!"
The leader of the Anbu Kuroha Mushin, had been sitting silently in the Yin Shadow. At this moment, he slowly raised his head and removed the black eyepatch from his left eye. There was no eyeball under the eyepatch, only an empty, bloody hole. The skin around the eye was still tinged with an unhealthy red, clearly a fresh wound.
"That was three days ago. I led thirty of my most elite ' Raikage Guard ' to try and forcefully break through the mech array with ' Lariat ' to open a path for the army. The result—" His voice was flat, yet it carried a chilling aura that went straight to the bone.
Yotsuki Yūfū manipulated a recording screen, switching the recording to the canyon three days prior. Kuroha Mushin transformed into a bolt of lightning, rushing forward with lightning speed, followed by thirty afterimages. But just as they were about to rush into the mech group, with a "buzz," a semi-transparent barrier suddenly appeared in front of them, rippling like water.
The next instant, space twisted violently, and three ninjas wearing blue patterned cloaks appeared out of thin air, forming a triangle around Kuroba, each holding Kunai Kuroha shimmered with runes.
" Sealing Jutsu - Three-Way Seal Formation!" The three shouted in unison, their Kunai forming a barrier in a crisscross pattern.
The lightning on Kuroha's body was instantly locked. He watched helplessly as three kunai pierced through him at the Kunai time, his left arm, left leg, and left eye all being pierced simultaneously, blood spurting out in a mist. Before he could react, a tremendous force threw him ten miles away, slamming him heavily in front of the allied forces' camp, leaving him unconscious.
" Kage Level expert would be surrounded and attacked by at least three ninjas of the same or even higher rank if they went in." Kuroha Mushin put on his eyepatch, concealing the horrifying blood-soaked hole. "That's not a battle, it's an execution. They know our Ninjutsu and tactics inside and out, while we can't even touch the Kakuzu of their clothes."
A deathly silence fell over the hall once more, even the lightning on the Raikage's body dimmed slightly. If Kage Level expert was like a lamb to the slaughter there, what chance would ordinary soldiers have? They wouldn't even be left with ashes.
Yotsuki Yūfū manipulated the light screen, switching the scene to the battlefield at dawn on September 6th. His voice was hoarse. "Tang Yu Mujiu, the daimyo of the Land of Hot Water, has been driven to a dead end. Yesterday morning, he unleashed the Land of Land of Hot Water's trump card— the Jashin Immortal Corps."
On the screen, ten thousand red-robed followers of the Jashin god ran barefoot. Their pupils were pitch black, devoid of any spirit, and they chanted strange incantations in eerie voices. These were assassins modified by the blood of the Jashin; their severed arms could grow back, and their shattered heads could be restored. They were the Land of Land of Hot Water's trump card, the elite legion that had once routed the Land of Water's army.
However, the ten-mile-long forbidden zone of Azure Dragon City soon bared its fangs.
In the airspace, the rune fighter squadron swooped down, dropping a dense barrage of "fireballs." A torrential rain of golden-white fire fell upon the Immortal Corps; the flames grew rapidly in the wind, specifically targeting evil and malevolent entities. Those undead touched by the flames let out shrill screams as their bodies melted like wax, leaving not even bone fragments behind, utterly reduced to ashes, with no chance of regeneration.
At the treeline, five hundred mechs simultaneously stomped their feet on the ground, activating "Shock Release: Earth-Rumbling Barrier." The earth began to tremble violently, with the shockwave frequency instantly reaching three thousand times per second, and the air could be seen distorting with the naked eye. The undead running in front were shattered into pieces before they even touched the mechs, disappearing before the blood mist could even dissipate.
On the ground, the Azure Dragon Corps's " Star Shatter Battalion " finally appeared. Its captain, Hakukei Gekko —a Peak Super Kage Level expert—stood in mid-air, forming a hand Hand Seals, his voice clearly echoing across the battlefield. " Sage Art: Limitless Combo: Star Slash!"
The shattered fragments of earth were suddenly imbued with the will of Senjutsu, transforming into billions of crystalline blades that swept in like a tsunami, slicing the remaining undead into dust.
Even more terrifying, each crystal blade was engraved with tiny "sealing" marks. After the fragments landed, they immediately transformed into small barriers, shimmering with golden light, suppressing the remaining undead remains that had not yet been completely annihilated, preventing them from escaping even a trace of evil energy.
The entire process took less than a quarter of an hour, and the more than 10,000 Immortal Corps were completely annihilated. The 30,000 undead that the Land of Hot Water was so proud of lost a third of their number in a single day, and could never be recovered. On the light screen, Yu Mujiu suddenly coughed up three liters of blood in the royal tent, tears streaming down his face, and clutched the hand of his personal guard, crying out in anguish, " Jashin... even the power of the Jashin cannot defeat Konoha?"
Purple Gold Hall, Yu Mujiu's mournful cries seemed to still echo, and everyone fell silent. Even the undead modified by the Jashin couldn't stop them; what else could they hope for?
The candlelight in the Purple Gold Hall gradually burned out, its light growing dimmer. The other core members had already quietly retreated, leaving only Raikage A alone.
He pulled a pair of worn-out gauntlets from his pocket. These were the " Black Lightning Gauntlets " left behind by the First Raikage. The leather was worn, yet they still exuded a powerful, weighty aura. He gently stroked the lightning patterns on the gauntlets with his rough fingers, his voice low and hoarse, like a dream:
"More than a decade ago, I fought against Senju Tenpuku. At that time, we were evenly matched and fought to a standstill. But today? His youngest son Tenmei, commands the Azure Dragon Corps and has easily driven us to the brink of defeat."
He raised his head, gazing at the empty hall. Lightning flashed in his eyes, but it couldn't illuminate the despair within. "My Land of Lightning... known as the strongest in the Shinobi World, possessing the most powerful Lightning Release and the bravest warriors, yet now we can't even see the Kageko of Azure Dragon City, we can't even set foot within ten miles of the city walls..."
Outside the palace, a night rain had begun to fall, the raindrops pattering against the roof, mingling with the faint rumble of thunder in the distance. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, instantly illuminating Raikage's face.
Under the light of lightning, his reflection on the stone seat was distorted and deformed—it was no longer the face of the powerful Raikage of the Shinobi World, no longer that invincible strongman, but a face full of weariness and confusion, like an old man left far behind by the times.
The night grew darker over the Azure Dragon's Jaws, and the night fog spread like a veil, enveloping this land of death.
In the wind rustling through the treetops, the hem of the blue-patterned cloak fluttered, but no one could be seen. Only the occasional flash of runes hinted at the lurking danger.
The mechs stood silently, their eyes gleaming with a ghostly blue light, like lurking demons silently patrolling the darkness. Each movement of their joints produced a subtle metallic scraping sound, exceptionally clear in the still night.
In the sky, the engines of the rune fighters hummed low, like the heartbeat of Death God, rhythmic and cold. They weaved through the clouds, their wings cutting through the mist, leaving faint trails that wove an invisible net across the sky.
A hundred miles away in the Mist Mountain, the Mars of the Three Nations Allied Forces flickered in the night wind, their light fading as if they could be extinguished at any moment by an invisible hand. The wails of the wounded, the curses of the generals, and the sobs of the soldiers mingled together, drifting towards the direction of the Azure Dragon's Jaws, yet not even causing the slightest ripple.
The Azure Dragon Corps remained silent.
They don't need to shout, they don't need to make declarations, they don't even need to show their faces.
Death had already spoken for them. This hundred-mile-long death zone was the loudest warning, echoing in the hearts of every Allied soldier, whispering day and night.