Chapter 238: Iwagakure's Surname is Also Nara Now!
"Kirigakure! Kumogakure! They're all a bunch of useless bastards!" Ōnoki cursed as he flew through the sky at top speed. "Why did that little bastard, the Shadow of Darkness, show up so fast?!"
Although he had initiated this campaign and had brought a squad of his elite Lava Corps to the Land of Hot Water, the wily old Tsuchikage had never blindly trusted his "allies." His primary objective was to recapture the Five-Tails. If that failed, his backup plan was to kill it with his Dust Release. He absolutely could not allow it to become a weapon for Konoha. He wasn't confident he could seal it, but he was very confident he could kill it.
But the entire plan hinged on Keisuke and Kokuō being separated. After suffering defeat at Keisuke's hands so many times, even the iron-willed Tsuchikage was terrified of him, especially now that he had a "Tailed Beast Bomb-like" attack that his own earth jutsu couldn't block. He had only come because he was assured that the "Shadow of Darkness" and the "Yellow Flash" were both tied up on the Kumo front.
So... why was the Shadow of Darkness here, with the Five-Tails?! "Is the Third Raikage dead?!" Ōnoki muttered, constantly checking below him. "He couldn't even tie down his opponent? And Kiri is useless too! The plan and reality are completely different!"
While the Tsuchikage was fleeing, down on the ground, Kokuō had already turned around and was now gleefully chasing him. Hey, old man of Iwa! Never thought I could call for backup, did you?! The Five-Tails was overjoyed, its running speed increasing. The tables had turned!
In the open sky, Ōnoki's flight speed was fast, but it was nothing compared to a Raikage's Lightning Armor. And against Kokuō's powerful, ground-based gallop, the distance between them steadily shrank.
Once they were close enough, Keisuke raised his right hand and fired a black pellet into the sky.
Spiraling Shadow Imitation Bullet!
The supersonic projectile streaked across the sky, aimed with a slight lead to intercept Ōnoki's flight path. Under the cover of night, its trajectory was almost impossible to see. But Ōnoki was prepared. He instantly altered his course, dodging to the side.
Poof! The bullet exploded in mid-air, and a Shadow Doppelganger appeared. It was about to lock onto Ōnoki's new position and fire again, but Ōnoki's own attack was already on its way. He was a "traditional ninja" who needed hand seals, but he had already found a counter for this particular jutsu. If the clone's seal-less ninjutsu is too tricky to deal with, then just don't let it use ninjutsu at all!
The instant the clone appeared, Ōnoki spat a small, earth-yellow pebble from his mouth. "Earth Release: Rock Gun Technique!"
The pebble expanded in mid-air, becoming a cannonball-sized boulder that slammed into the helpless clone. The clone, a mere construct of chakra, was instantly destroyed.
Pop!
Ōnoki was thrilled. 'I've cracked his strategy!' He stopped fleeing and hovered in the air, his mind racing. 'If he tries that again, I can just destroy the clone. To fight me, he'll have to come up himself! And then, he'll be separated from the Five-Tails. That might be my chance to kill it!'
"Keisuke, the Third Tsuchikage has stopped," Kokuō said, also halting its pursuit. "He's just floating there... How about we use our combination jutsu?" It was, of course, referring to Kirin. The Tailed Beast held no love for the ninja of Iwa, and it would gladly "repay" them for its decades of suffering.
"You mean Kirin?" Keisuke said, having just received the memory from his "destroyed" clone. He looked up at the sky. "No need to be so troublesome."
He was baffled by Ōnoki's behavior. He had been prepared to possess the old Tsuchikage, just as he had the Raikage, to loot Iwagakure's secrets. But if Ōnoki insisted on running, it was a waste of his time. And yet... now he was just hovering there, a sitting duck.
'Gentlemen, I love information warfare.' Keisuke looked at Ōnoki like a lamb waiting for the slaughter.
The "Rock Gun" had indeed destroyed the first clone. But just before the impact, that clone had used the Shadow Doppelganger and Shadow Invisibility techniques to transfer its consciousness and chakra into a second, invisible, intangible clone. And that second clone, using the Shadow Transformation technique to fly, had silently floated right up behind the triumphant Ōnoki.
'Third Tsuchikage...' Keisuke's thought came from the invisible clone, its fingertip now glowing with a dark light as an almost-invisible shadow thread shot out and connected to the Tsuchikage.
'I guess I'll be him for a while, too.'
Shadow Manipulation Technique!
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