" The Raikage is dead?"
Shu Shiraishi took the report.
With a flick of the fingers, several deep, creases were formed along the edge of the parchment.
He tossed the folder back onto the table. The papers slid across the surface, knocking over an empty ink bottle.
Orochimaru stood to the side, his long black hair stained with engine oil.
"My heart stopped beating at midnight last night." Orochimaru's voice was a little hoarse.
Shu Shiraishi stood up. "Let's go take a look."
Basement level two. Power room.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of antifreeze.
Behind the thick bulletproof glass is a three-meter-high cylindrical culture tank.
There was no water in the tank, only a dense network of metal pipes.
The Third Raikage was firmly pinned to a stainless steel plate by dozens of thick cables.
The once strong and muscular man is now just a skeleton covered in skin.
Sunken eye sockets. High, prominent cheekbones.
His brown skin clung tightly to his bones like withered tree bark, devoid of any luster.
The sunken chest no longer rose and fell.
Not a single drop of Lightning Release Chakra could be squeezed out.
Shu Shiraishi stared at the mummified corpse.
"The people of the Land of Lightning have a strong constitution. They held out for two months."
Orochimaru was taking notes on the data.
"The gap in the aircraft carrier's independent power room is too large. An ordinary ninja could be stuffed in and dried up in seconds."
"Now that the ship's weight has increased, it requires a massive and continuous source of Chakra."
Shu Shiraishi turned his head. "Are there any spare batteries left in the village?"
"No. Nine-Tails is overloading its power supply." Orochimaru shook his head.
"Go find some if it runs out of power." Shu Shiraishi his cuffs.
" The Shinobi World has no shortage of large batteries."
Orochimaru licked his dry lips. "You mean the Tailed Beast?"
" Iwagakure already has two ready-made ones." Shu Shiraishi looked at the mummified corpse in the glass jar.
The Land of Earth.
The Four-Tails Jinchūriki Roshi. The Five-Tails Jinchuriki Han.
Orochimaru closed his notebook. "That old man Ōnoki is very protective. His Earth Release defense is also very strong. He's not easy to catch."
"Use airships," Shu Shiraishi ordered.
"Let Aburame Shikuroo the team. They'll be carrying the latest batch of Nano-Sized Venomous Insects."
"Equipped with two guided missiles."
Shu Shiraishi walked back, stepping on the metal mesh. "I want to see them alive or dead, with their bodies intact. As long as the Tailed Beast haven't dissipated, we can extract them to generate electricity."
Border of the Land of Earth. Kitsuchi desert wasteland.
The wind whipped up sand and gravel, which rustled against the rocks.
Roshi wore a tattered straw hat, and his red beard flew wildly in the wind.
He carried his bag and Earth Flow, his steps uneven.
He disapproved of Ōnoki's ways and had just left Iwagakure to travel.
Thirty meters behind.
Han wore red Steam Armor. His tall figure resembled an iron tower.
Ōnoki was worried and sent him to chase after the person.
"Senior Roshi, Lord Tsuchikage's orders are to return to the village." Han's voice came through the mask, muffled.
Roshi didn't turn around. "Let him live his life guarding the stone by himself."
The wind direction suddenly changed.
A continuous roar came from overhead.
"Buzzing."
Roshi stopped and looked up.
The clouds high in the sky were ripped apart.
Two gray airships, each fifty meters long, emerged from the clouds.
The enormous propeller spun wildly, with two dark, heavy pods hanging from its belly.
"What is that?" Roshi frowned.
Inside the first cabin of the airship.
Aburame Shikuroo adjusted his sunglasses and stared at the radar screen.
Two red, high-energy lights are flashing.
"Target locked." Shikuroo pushed open the red lever next to the control stick.
"Release insects."
The airship's belly. Four hatches pop open.
Black mist poured down.
Those were hundreds of millions of tiny poisonous insects. The swarm of insects blotted out the sun and swept across the wasteland with a piercing sound of flapping wings.
"Insects?" Roshi sensed danger.
Quickly clasp your hands together.
" Lava Release: Scorching River Rock Technique!"
He spewed out several balls of scorching lava from his mouth, slamming them into the insect cloud.
The lava exploded, burning a large number of poisonous insects to death. The air was filled with the stench of burning protein.
But the insect cloud was too large.
They avoided the high temperatures and surrounded us from all sides.
High-pressure steam suddenly spewed out from the exhaust vents on Han's body.
Boil Release: Unparalleled Strength!
The high-temperature steam drove away the approaching insects.
" Roshi! Something's wrong! Retreat!" Han shouted.
The two stood back to back.
The swarm of insects did not launch a strong attack. Instead, it hovered about five meters away from the two people.
The tail of the Nano-Sized Venomous Insects ruptured, releasing a colorless and odorless neurotoxin.
The poison gas was firmly pressed to the ground by the airflow from the airship.
Roshi took a sip; his throat felt sweet.
His legs buckled, and he knelt down on one knee on the sand.
"It's poisonous..." Roshi gritted his teeth, trying to stand up, but his muscles wouldn't obey him.
The Han dynasty had Steam Armor filters, so the situation was somewhat better.
He had just bent down to lift Roshi up.
A shrill whistle came from overhead.
"Call out--"
The two wings of the airship.
Four guided missiles, trailing plumes of fire, plunged down.
The infrared sensor locked onto the Tailed Beast Chakra within the two individuals.
"Scatter!" Han shoved Roshi and then fell to his right.
"Boom!"
The missile exploded where the two men had just been standing.
The wasteland was blasted into a crater more than ten meters deep. The shockwave, carrying shrapnel, swept across like a tsunami.
The Han's Steam Armor was cut open in more than a dozen places, and white smoke leaked out.
He crashed heavily into a giant rock. The rock shattered.
Roshi rolled more than ten meters away, his face covered in blood.
The intense pain stimulated the nerves.
A violent red light flashed in Roshi's eyes.
The Four-Tails 'Chakra began to run rampant.
A dark red Chakra Cloak seeped from his pores. Three tails quickly took shape behind him.
The sand on the ground melted into a glassy substance due to the high temperature.
On the Han side, Five-Tails of white steam also billowed out.
The two Tailed Beast prepared to forcibly take over the body.
In the sky.
Aburame Shikuroo stared at the off-the-charts Chakra reading.
Press the yellow button on the front panel.
"Power grid deployment."
Two specially made metal nets, each ten meters square, were lowered from the hull of the airship.
Dozens of cylindrical batteries were listed online.
The metal mesh was precisely placed over Roshi and Han.
"Sizzle!"
The instant it made contact with the skin, hundreds of thousands of volts of high voltage were released.
Blue and white arcs of electricity leaped wildly across the wasteland.
The air was ionized. It smelled strongly of ozone.
The dark red Tailed Beast Cloak flickered violently under the high voltage.
Two seconds later, the Chakra Cloak was shattered and retracted back into the body.
Roshi and Han let out a piercing scream.
The muscles spasmed violently. The bones creaked.
Ten seconds later, the power grid went out.
The two men lay sprawled on the scorched sand, billowing black smoke.
He completely lost consciousness.
The airship descended.
The propeller's airflow sent sand and gravel flying everywhere.
Two transport airships dropped thick steel cables.
The alloy hooks at the ends of the steel cables are precisely fastened to the four corners of the metal electric grid.
The winch turned, emitting a dry, metallic grinding sound.
The steel cable is tightened.
The unconscious Roshi and Han were tightly wrapped in a high-voltage electric fence.
Like two large fish that have been caught.
He was hoisted into the air.
With a deafening roar from the propellers, it was dragged directly back towards Konoha.