The battlefield of the Fourth Division.
The Allied Shinobi stared tensely at the Edo Tensei Four Kage standing before them.
They knew this war was going to be brutal.
After all, with all five great nations joining forces, no one could pretend the situation wasn't dire.
But they didn't expect their opponents to be the Third Raikage, the Second Mizukage, the Second Tsuchikage, and the Fourth Kazekage.
Among all the ninja villages in the shinobi world, only the Five Great Nations had leaders worthy of being called "Kage."
They might not have been the absolute strongest in their villages, but each was definitely among the top three.
Facing enemies like that, the Fourth Division's shinobi were feeling seriously unconfident.
"I didn't expect the Fifth Kazekage of the village to be you, Gaara!"
As usual, before the fight began, there was some trash talk.
But it wasn't just stalling for time or padding out conversation—it was a way to test the opponent and shake their morale.
Of all the Allied Forces shinobi standing opposite, only one was familiar to the former Kage, so no one else could really throw shade.
So it was up to the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
"There's a lot more you didn't expect, Father."
Standing on floating sand in the air, Gaara stared at Rasa, his face emotionless.
When he was a child, due to well-known reasons, his relationship with Rasa was terrible.
It wasn't until he became Kazekage himself that he began to understand the burden Rasa had carried back then.
But understanding didn't mean forgiveness. While Gaara no longer hated him, he couldn't truly let go either.
"Is that so? Then show me how much you've grown."
Seeing Gaara's stiff, blank expression, Rasa thought his son still resented him deeply.
But in his view, as a Kage of the village, one must abandon unnecessary emotions and put the village first.
Seeing Gaara act so immaturely, as the former Kazekage, Rasa didn't bother arguing anymore and chose to test Gaara directly.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust."
With a wave of his hand, Rasa sent a massive wave of gold dust, surging toward Gaara like the sea.
But Gaara didn't back down. He crossed his arms and used chakra to fight sand with sand.
However, gold dust is heavier than regular sand. Mixing gold dust into ordinary sand slows its movement.
So under equal scale of jutsu, Rasa's gold dust had a slight edge over Gaara's sand.
But it didn't matter. Even after Shukaku was extracted from him, Gaara still had more chakra than most Kage.
Right, Sixth Hokage Hatake Kakashi?
Kakashi: ???
"Hmm?"
"Watch out!"
Gaara used much more chakra than Rasa, and before long, his sand overpowered Rasa's gold dust.
Helpless, Rasa had to retreat a little to avoid being trapped by Gaara's sand.
But under Gaara's large-scale sand assault, Rasa and the other three Kage couldn't escape in time and had their ankles caught by the sand beneath them.
"Sand Binding Coffin."
Gaara's plan was clear — use the Sand Binding Coffin to destroy their ankles, crippling their movement and bodies.
Then, once they regenerate through Edo Tensei, the main forces could seize the chance to unleash ninjutsu and take them down in one blow.
If it were just an ordinary opponent, Gaara's plan might have worked.
But the ones he's facing are the experienced Reanimated Four Kage.
Just as Gaara thought his plan had succeeded and was preparing to order the main force to attack—
The Second Tsuchikage suddenly broke free from the sand's restraints, jumped up, and fired a Dust Release attack straight at the sand in front of him.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique"
In the original story, when facing the Reanimated Four Kage, the Fourth Division had not only Gaara but also the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki.
But right now, Onoki was still at the Allied Shinobi Forces' headquarters.
When he found out that the Reanimated Four Kage included the Second Tsuchikage, Mu, he had actually wanted to head to the front lines to help.
Mu wasn't just a former Tsuchikage of Iwagakure—he was also Onoki's teacher.
Both for duty and for personal reasons, Onoki really wanted to assist the Fourth Division.
However, Tsunade and Raikage A rejected his request, citing his old age and the fact that the Fourth Division already had reinforcements.
When he thought about the reinforcements heading to support the Fourth Division, Onoki could only nod and stay put at HQ.
"Dust Release, huh? What a headache."
His plan having failed, Gaara frowned, realizing that things had gotten complicated.
He could handle one of the enemy Kage.
But could the rest of the Fourth Division take on the other three?
Gaara didn't hold out much hope.
"Let's hope reinforcements come from the rear."
Gaara muttered to himself, deciding to stall for time.
Whether or not backup arrived, he wasn't going to let his troops charge in recklessly.
As the commander of the Fourth Division, he had a responsibility to protect the lives of his comrades.
Seeing that Gaara wasn't attacking anymore, the experienced Reanimated Four Kage could roughly guess what he was planning.
"I'll take on the Fifth Kazekage. The rest of you handle the others."
"You sure about that, Fourth Kazekage?"
The Second Mizukage scratched his ear, clearly doubting the Fourth Kazekage's strength.
Rasa ignored the Second Mizukage. After giving a quick signal, he launched his attack at Gaara.
"So... shall we join in too?"
The Second Mizukage didn't really have a strong desire to fight.
In the original story, when he faced the Fourth Division, he basically held back the entire time.
But the shinobi in the Fourth Division weren't exactly top-tier.
Even when he openly explained his jutsu and weaknesses, they still looked confused, like they didn't get it at all.
That really frustrated him, and in the end, he gave up holding back and just went all out.
"So annoying. I'm going first."
The Third Raikage grunted, then released a burst of chakra, lightning crackling around his body, and charged straight at the Fourth Division.
"Everyone, scatter!"
In the Fourth Division, Temari saw the Third Raikage rushing in and quickly shouted to warn everyone.
But in truth, the Third Raikage wasn't even going full power.
Otherwise, the Fourth Division wouldn't even have had time to react, let alone scatter.
"Just so you know, I'm a Lightning Release user."
"Lightning wraps around my body, giving me speed and defense beyond the limits."
"Unless you use Wind Release to attack, there's no other way to defeat me."
Just like the Second Mizukage, the Third Raikage didn't show any killing intent.
He loudly revealed his own weakness so the enemy would have a chance to beat him.
But honestly, that weakness seemed almost useless.
"Prepare the group Wind Release technique."
Seeing the Third Raikage speak like that, Temari quickly reacted and gave orders to the nearby Wind Release ninja.
"Wind Release: Net Formation!"
Working together, the Wind Release ninja unleashed sharp wind blades that flew toward the Third Raikage like a giant fishing net.
"Sealing squad, go!"
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