"Lord Raikage!" Nozomi and Darui's eyes widened.
Nozomi wanted to step forward to rescue him, but before she could take a step, she was paralyzed by the illusion and fell to the ground.
"Don't worry, I avoided the vital points, and the Raikage is alive. I came here only on someone's request to intimidate the Five Great Nations and test the strength of the current Five Kage. After all, the upcoming battle will be a battle of gods."
Fujiwara Kirito turned to look at the unconscious Raikage, thinking to himself, "It seems that I am still far inferior to Lord Lan. I completely abandoned the chanting of the Black Coffin, but I only unleashed less than one-tenth of its power."
Darui helped C up again and stared at Fujiwara Kirito in the distance. "C, calm down. The illusion that the Uchiha planted on you is still in effect, and even the Raikage was easily defeated. If you rush in again, you will die."
"Although it is unacceptable, for your safety and the Raikage's safety, we should wait for the Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind Kage to arrive for reinforcements."
"Damn it." C shook off Darui's hand, knelt on the ground, and punched the ground with his right fist, his face full of resentment.
At this moment, Gaara's three siblings, who had been the first to leave the meeting room after the Raikage, finally arrived.
"What the hell just happened?" Kankuro glanced at the black flames still burning on the building, then at Sasuke, who was standing in front of him with the help of Suigetsu, and finally his gaze fell on the most conspicuous figure:
Kirito, wearing a red cloud and black robe, and the Raikage at his feet.
"The Raikage was killed. Was it this monster who did it?" Temari's voice trembled beside Kankuro, and Chiyo's grandmother's advice resurfaced in his mind: never try to fight Fujiwara Kirito, run as far as possible.
Kankuro also began to retreat. He hesitantly addressed Gaara, "Gaara, we..."
Gaara folded his arms, ignored Kankuro, and took a few steps forward, responding with his actions. "You samurai, retreat! This is a battle between ninjas. There's no need for you samurai to sacrifice yourself."
"The samurai on the lower four floors are under a genjutsu. You'd better move them out quickly, or they'll be affected by the ensuing battle."
"Thank you, Kazekage-sama." The samurai cast grateful glances at Gaara and hurried to the lower four floors.
"The hateful chuunibaku has finally grown up. Gaara, no, the Fifth Kazekage."
Kirito grabbed the Raikage's hair and turned to look at Gaara.
"You bastard, let Raikage-sama go!" Nozomi shouted. Darui's expression was also terrifyingly gloomy.
"Yellow-haired man, and that black guy with the side-bangs over there, I've already given you one chance. Logically, you shouldn't get a second one, but since we're all here today, I'll give you another. Just like last time, kneel down. I'll spare Raikage-sama's life."
Kirito raised his right hand diagonally above his head, and the Raikage soared into the air.
His words resonated with the air, sending shockwaves surging through the air.
A sudden hush descended upon the scene.
Even those in Kumogakure, who hadn't yet left, paused and turned to watch.
They hadn't expected the Raikage and his two guards to have already fought Kirito, and only saved their lives by kneeling.
No wonder the Raikage hated Kirito so much.
The person who had left the scar on his back was clearly responsible.
"Damn it!" Darui and C exchanged glances. While this would erode Kumogakure's prestige within the Five Great Nations, for the sake of Raikage-sama's life, they couldn't afford to lose.
With a thud, they knelt.
"That's right." Kirito casually threw the Raikage to them.
Darui sighed softly, the situation more formidable than he thought. Suppressing his fury, he flew to catch the Raikage and brought him to Nozomi, urgently saying, "Nozomi, heal Raikage-sama!"
"I understand," Nozomi quickly unleashed her palm magic.
"Now it's your turn," Kirito said, turning to Gaara and his siblings. "Besides the time we sealed the One-Tail, this is probably our second official meeting."
Kirito's face still held a gentle smile, and his handsome features easily evoked a warm impression.
But none of the ninja or samurai present dared to treat him as a kind person.
"I suppose so," Gaara nodded, urging the samurai to leave. "What are you still doing here? Leave now."
After the samurai had departed, Gaara gazed at Kirito's slender figure, his mind reminiscing about the Forest of Death, when Naruto had urged Kirito to return to Konoha. A flicker of pain crossed his eyes.
Kirito's gaze... as if he were viewing everything from another world. Had he fallen to this level?
Out of friendship for Naruto, Gaara spoke up, trying to save Kirito and Sasuke from the 'darkness', "Fujiwara Kirito, I know something about your past. Both your parents died when you were young, but you never blamed others until you were framed by the Konoha high-ups and fell into darkness in order to protect the people you cherished, thus sacking Konoha."
"Treating revenge as the food of life will not solve any problems. I've experienced all of this. It's not too late for you now, don't be consumed by hatred, or you'll never be able to come back."
"And the same goes for Sasuke over there."
Sasuke sneered and did not answer.
Kirito smiled with interest, "Hashirama and Naruto are gay friends who have kissed each other, and Naruto is your only friend, the one who saved you from the so-called darkness."
"I understand that you want to win back Naruto. But is it really okay for you to persuade me? The rumors outside that your father, the Fourth Kazekage, died at my hands are not groundless."
"I guess Kankuro must have seen the fragments of your father's puppet when he picked up the Sasori puppet."
"I gave that corpse to Sasori. Let me tell you the truth."
"At the beginning, Orochimaru planned to kill your father, replace him, enter Konoha, and launch the Konoha collapse plan."
"In order to prevent me from ruining his plan, he took out several forbidden techniques and tried to bribe me, but I didn't ask for any forbidden techniques. I only made one request, and that was to hand over the Fourth Kazekage to my companions."
"As for why my companions wanted to kill your father. That's a long story. Scorch Release Pakura, the former hero of Sand Village, I'm sure you should be familiar with her."
"If she hadn't voluntarily given up the position of Kazekage, I'm afraid your father wouldn't have been the Fourth Kazekage."
"She, like me, was betrayed and persecuted by the upper echelons of her own village. At that time, in order to sign a peace treaty with Kirigakure, Sand Village agreed to a request from Kirigakure's elder master."
"That was to hand over Pakura, who had repeatedly defeated Kirigakure in the Third Shinobi World War."
"Your father was the same type of person as the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, even more extreme than him. In order to consolidate his position as Kazekage, he agreed without hesitation."
"Akatsuki took a fancy to Pakura's abilities and felt that she was suitable to be my partner, so they took action and saved her from the dense rain of kunai and shurikens."
"In order to avenge your father, Pakura asked Akatsuki to take revenge on your father. I respect my companions very much."
"After Orochimaru asked your father out, he stabbed him, leaving him seriously injured, and then handed him over to Pakura."
"Pakura gave your father the same fate as her, splitting into dozens of shadow clones, throwing hundreds of kunai and shurikens in succession."
(End of this chapter)