UK:GSW Chapter 434 – The Fourth Raikage, Gone in an Instant
In the blink of an eye, there were only six days left until the release date of The Last Ninja.
On this very day, at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Fields, the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud went to war.
This was not a sudden event, but something that had shown signs beforehand.
Under the will of the Fourth Raikage, Hidden Cloud shinobi deliberately provoked the Hidden Leaf and forcefully demanded that they hand over the Two-Tails, Yugito Nii, claiming that it was a tailed beast belonging to the Hidden Cloud, and that since the Hidden Leaf had obtained it from the Akatsuki, they were obligated to return it.
Naturally, the Hidden Leaf shinobi sternly refused. Not only were the ordinary shinobi unaware of the truth about the Akatsuki, but even if they did know, they couldn't back down.
The ordinary shinobi of the Hidden Leaf had never lacked the courage to fight or the instinct for battle. This was the pride and spirit of the victor of multiple Shinobi World Wars—the strongest Hidden Village since the founding of the ninja system.
In the past, due to the village's weakened position, the Hidden Leaf's shinobi could only choose to endure and swallow their resentment under the will of the higher-ups—sometimes choosing a mix of rage and humiliation over open defiance. The Hyuga incident was exactly such an example, a source of deep shame for every Hidden Leaf shinobi who knew of it.
Under such circumstances, the Hidden Leaf had long harbored deep resentment toward the Hidden Cloud—bordering on outright hostility.
With such sentiments, the Hidden Leaf's leadership was now being extremely hardline, choosing to directly confront the Hidden Cloud.
The order from the Hidden Leaf high command to the front lines was simple: Do not strike first.
The unspoken meaning was: as long as the Hidden Cloud struck first, no matter the reason, the Hidden Leaf forces could immediately launch the strongest counterattack.
Thus, during these days of standoff, the Hidden Leaf displayed a level of aggression rarely seen in years. Even though they had fewer numbers, they treated the Hidden Cloud with extreme arrogance—sometimes outright provocation.
The Hidden Cloud shinobi were bewildered; they had long grown accustomed to the Leaf's weakness and had not expected such a firm stance this time.
Still, the Hidden Cloud was the Hidden Cloud—full of hot tempers. After the initial confusion, they quickly became furious, adopting the mindset of "The Leaf dares to be this arrogant? This is outrageous! Not only are they refusing to kneel and apologize, they dare to provoke us?!"
This time, they vowed to crush the Leaf's arrogance. In their eyes, the Leaf—so weak and easy to bully—should be on their knees licking the Hidden Cloud's toes!
And so, under orders from the Fourth Raikage, the Hidden Cloud's frontline commander Darui deliberately allowed his subordinates to counterattack, and the atmosphere became increasingly charged.
Finally, today, when a hot-headed, musclebound Hidden Cloud shinobi lost his temper after a cocky Leaf grunt looked down his nose at him and taunted him with trash talk, the clash erupted.
The moment the Hidden Cloud struck first, every Leaf shinobi who saw it felt their spirits surge, their eyes flashing with joy before turning predatory.
The next moment, the Leaf shinobi roared loudly, cursing the Hidden Cloud for daring to attack, proclaiming it "unforgivable" and announcing that the Leaf would deliver the "harshest and most righteous" counterattack.
This was standard battlefield rhetoric—a signal to inform any Leaf shinobi who hadn't seen the incident that the excuse to fight had been secured, and it was time to grab their weapons.
Kunai and shuriken flew, ninjutsu of all kinds erupted, and the assault rushed toward the Hidden Cloud forces.
The Hidden Cloud shinobi were stunned—they had not expected the Leaf to actually fight back, and with such decisiveness and speed. They were completely unprepared.
Thus, the battle began in earnest, and the Hidden Cloud immediately suffered losses, several shinobi going down in the initial barrage.
The clash escalated.
Darui, shocked but quick to react, ordered a counterattack, and the fighting intensified.
Both sides had temporary forward bases prepared during the standoff, so supplies flowed in, and wounded were quickly evacuated to the rear for treatment.
However, the Hidden Cloud had not truly prepared for a full-scale war, so their supplies and medical teams were limited—and the fighting was taking place far from the Land of Lightning, making logistics difficult.
The Hidden Leaf, on the other hand, had prepared for a real battle from the start. Their logistics were fully set up, and since the battlefield was still within the Land of Fire, their resupply was smooth and plentiful.
As a result, from the outset, the Leaf's thousand-strong force pushed the Hidden Cloud back, injuring Darui early in the fight and leaving the Cloud at a severe disadvantage.
For the first time, Darui and many Hidden Cloud shinobi truly understood the depth of the Hidden Leaf's power, and how terrifying their might could be when unleashed.
And this was after the Nine-Tails' attack on the Leaf—how much stronger would they have been without it?
Darui's perception of the Leaf changed completely.
At the same time, he felt relieved, because the wise Fourth Raikage had made the correct judgment: he would launch a surprise attack on the Leaf's frontline commander, Kakashi Hatake.
Once Kakashi was dead, the Leaf's forces would collapse, and the Hidden Cloud could reverse their disadvantage and gain a huge strategic edge—directly threatening the Land of Fire.
When that happened, the Leaf would have no choice but to bow their heads, perhaps even sacrifice one of their own to apologize, and pay heavy reparations—just like they had done over a decade ago.
Darui could hardly wait.
To set this up, he showcased his strength on the battlefield, then deliberately challenged Kakashi to a one-on-one "general vs. general" duel—a classic shinobi battlefield tradition.
In the world of shinobi, this was not seen as foolish. Strong fought strong, and leaders often faced leaders—Second Mizukage vs. Second Tsuchikage, Third Tsuchikage vs. Third Hokage, the Fourth Great Shinobi War's Kage battles against the reanimated Kage and later against Madara Uchiha.
It was the natural flow of the superhuman world.
And so, Darui's challenge was perfectly reasonable.
If not for one other factor.
That factor was the Fourth Raikage himself.
The muscular veteran had been lying in wait, and now seized his chance.
In his Lightning Release Armor full-power mode, the fastest man in the known shinobi world burst forward like lightning—too fast for anyone to react—appearing at Kakashi's side with a lethal strike.
At the same time, Darui attacked from the front with the Hidden Cloud's sealing jutsu, aiming to restrict Kakashi's movements and block lifesaving techniques like the Substitution Jutsu—ensuring the Raikage could kill him in one blow.
Even if not in one blow, the Raikage would follow with relentless attacks, never giving Kakashi a chance to breathe.
Today, Kakashi had to die—no one, not even the Sage of Six Paths, could save him.
With this intent burning in his eyes, the Fourth Raikage moved to end the future of the Leaf.
At that instant—Kakashi's eyes changed.
In addition to his trademark right Sharingan, his left eye suddenly became a Sharingan as well—both transforming into Mangekyo Sharingan at the same time.
In that moment, twin Kamui activated, twisting his body into intangibility.
The Raikage saw the change, but having already committed to his full-speed strike, could not stop. He plunged straight into the Kamui vortex.
In the next instant, both Kakashi Hatake and the Fourth Raikage vanished from the battlefield.
The sudden turn left the field silent.
Then, all at once, the Leaf shinobi seemed to receive a signal, resuming their assault on the Hidden Cloud.
At the same time, a large group of Hidden Leaf reinforcements charged in from the distance—forces that had been hidden and prepared well in advance.
The situation flipped immediately, leaving the Hidden Cloud in dire straits.
Darui felt a growing sense of dread. It seemed they had walked into a trap designed to target none other than the Fourth Raikage.
"What's going on? How does the Leaf dare this? Do they want to start another Shinobi World War!?"
If the Fourth Raikage was harmed, this would surely trigger the Fourth Great Shinobi War—just as the Third had begun with the disappearance of the Third Kazekage.
And then—it happened.
The strange space-time vortex that had swallowed Kakashi and the Raikage reappeared.
Three figures emerged: Kakashi, a man covered in strange white material with a mask-like whirlpool over his face and Byakugan visible through the eyehole… and the Fourth Raikage—now a corpse.
Darui felt his heart stop. His blood turned to ice.
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