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Unfortunately, no matter how intense his emotions or how high his spirits, there was no way to change the disparity in strength.
After only flying out for a moment, the Third Raikage slowly climbed out of the crater.
He stood there quietly, seemingly staring at the Konoha Ninja in front of him with extremely furious eyes, as if he finally understood something.
"What a bunch of ignorant fellows."
The Third Raikage's voice was utterly calm and indifferent, but the other three present felt a sense of threat that made all their hairs stand on end, their eyes fixed on him.
Even Sawara Kiri gradually put aside his initial disdain and turned to look at him.
That punch just now, for some reason, seemed to suddenly enrage the Third Raikage, or perhaps it was simply the influence of the Tailed Beast Chakra, giving him the illusion of being severely humiliated by a weed he had never considered, causing all his Chakra to climb at an extremely terrifying speed.
Faintly, everyone seemed to hear the joyful roar emanating from the Third Raikage's body, like the Eight-Tails Ox Demon was letting out.
The surging Chakra pressure made the surrounding air seem to solidify and become heavy in that instant, making everyone present feel as if a heavy stone was pressing on their hearts.
The Third Raikage's mouth gradually spread into a grin, and his already dark skin continuously corroded and tore under the extreme Tailed Beast Chakra, turning into a lava-like color.
Even his face transformed into a triangular shape like a wild beast, with two horn-like arcs protruding from his head.
The tails behind him began to increase.
Two, three, four...
His entire body immediately entered a half-Tailed Beast state.
However, even in this state, the Third Raikage seemed to maintain his sanity, relying on his terrifying body and powerful willpower.
His four limbs were all on the ground, and a violent Chakra storm swept around him, continuously spreading outward, even the four tails were pulled straight by the wind.
The words coming from his mouth, however, seemed to be layered.
"Just you insects..."
"Are you even worthy of hitting this old man?!"
Sawara Kiri's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he abruptly stepped forward, standing in front of everyone.
Namikaze Minato and the others also simultaneously sensed the source of this immense danger, their pupils highly constricted.
The next moment, a Chakra reaction, like countless vibrant colors converging to the extreme, suddenly condensed into wisps of indescribable specks in the half-Tailed Beast Third Raikage's mouth, then shrunk into a ball.
Swallowed, then spat out.
At that moment.
Blazing light suddenly engulfed everyone's vision; Namikaze Minato felt as if countless suns suddenly flashed before his eyes, emitting a light that ordinary people could not look directly at.
Extremely violent and frantic Chakra converged into a stream, suddenly spraying towards Sawara Kiri, forming a trajectory that was almost black yet shone like white, with a terrifying, unwatchable temperature that vaporized the entire ground it passed through into fine particles.
The immense recoil was so strong that even the Third Raikage himself could not withstand it, being pushed back several meters, his already claw-shaped limbs deeply embedded in the ground.
In the last moment he could see in his blurred vision, Sawara Kiri suddenly spread his hands.
"Boom—!"
Deafening.
Sawara Kiri still stood firmly in place, with the "Limitless" expanding around him from his center, forming an invisible, colossal wall standing like a city wall.
It forcefully blocked between them and this jet-like Biju Bomb.
Unimaginable hot air rushed onto Namikaze Minato's face; although he still maintained his defensive posture, he still felt as if his facial skin had been scorched, and the violent wind made his golden hair flutter wildly, his feet unconsciously swaying with the tremors.
When the aftershocks dissipated.
Namikaze Minato slowly opened his eyes.
Then, he saw that apart from the path behind them, centered on them, the ground on both sides had all turned into huge ravines, sinking an unknown number of meters downwards.
At the bottom of the ravines, faint, steaming, hot air still emanated.
This level of attack...
Namikaze Minato watched this scene, feeling in his heart that for the two of them to have survived in front of the Third Raikage just now was like winning the lottery.
Even Sawara Kiri's expression gradually became serious.
He looked earnestly at the Third Raikage in front of him and said without hesitation:
"Minato."
"You take Hatake Sakumo and Lady Tsunade and leave here first."
"I'll deal with this guy alone."
Namikaze Minato was startled by the words.
At this moment, he seemed to finally understand the feeling Uchiha Megumi had when she quietly watched Sawara Kiri fight from a distance before.
That strong emptiness composed of weakness, humility, and powerlessness.
Namikaze Minato hesitated for a moment.
However, Hatake Sakumo, who was beside him, was much more mature than him.
Hatake Sakumo looked deeply at the student who was shielding him, his teacher, and had profoundly realized the chasm-like power gap between himself and them.
Staying here would only cause trouble for Kiri's battle.
"Minato."
He called out softly.
Only then did Namikaze Minato immediately react, looking somewhat unwillingly at the Third Raikage and Sawara Kiri in the distance, and nodding forcefully.
On the contrary, Tsunade, who was standing behind, seemed to have full confidence in Sawara Kiri.
"You brat, don't you dare die."
Although she said this, the somewhat gleeful smile that had appeared on her face at some point, and her unwavering gaze even after her glasses were blown off by the earlier wind, made it seem as if she wasn't talking about life and death at all.
"I made a bet with that scoundrel Orochimaru."
—As long as Sawara Kiri appeared, everything would be taken care of.
Tsunade's gambling almost never won.
On the rare occasions she did win, something depressing would always happen.
But today, she suddenly wanted to win once.
"Then you'll have to treat."
"Treat you to a big meal!"
Tsunade broke into a bright smile.
Sawara Kiri tilted his head and smiled confidently at her.
The next moment, Namikaze Minato grabbed both of them and instantly vanished from the spot.
On this scorched battlefield, only he and the Third Raikage remained.
Sawara Kiri turned his head, the smile on his face already replaced by a cold expression:
"See?"
"You heard."
"Someone's waiting for me to come back for a big meal."
"Let's end this quickly."
Listening to his words, as if he didn't put himself in his eyes at all, the laughter from the Third Raikage's mouth grew more intense, until it was deafening.
"Then why don't this old man treat you first!"
Almost at the instant these words fell, the half-Tailed Beast figure of the beast suddenly shot out, clinging to the ground and transforming into an elongated crimson streak of light, its giant claws suddenly expanding.
"Thud—!"
The force of his entire body slammed directly into the "Limitless" barrier in front of Sawara Kiri.
Sawara Kiri frowned; through the amount of Chakra consumed, he could clearly feel how heavy the Third Raikage's blow was.
But it wasn't enough!
Using this almost infinite distance, the half-Tailed Beast Third Raikage pressed down and distorted his claws, his entire body immediately stretching several meters as it traced a whip-like arc in mid-air, piercing through the earth with a piercing whoosh and plunging straight into the ground beneath.
The extended claws then suddenly tried to burrow out from under Sawara Kiri's feet.
However, just as it was halfway out, a large foot suddenly stomped on it.
The flexible, rubber-like giant claw was pinned at the wrist, Sawara Kiri's foot suddenly pushed off, and his body surged forward, a fist subtly wrapped in heavy air swung out, exploding with a breaking wind sonic boom, parting layers of waves.
But the Third Raikage's body seemed to have no fixed form, instantly caving inward by half a circle just before the punch landed, perfectly dodging Sawara Kiri's heavy blow.
However, the knee strike that followed immediately jabbed him in the chin, causing his head, wrapped in the Tailed Beast cloak, to snap back and extend with a crack, almost touching his back.
Yet, a Jinchuriki in a Tailed Beast state cannot be judged by common sense; even though his head was almost severed, his waist could still twist with extreme rigidity along the impact, the tail whips behind him drawing dark red arcs as they slammed towards Sawara Kiri, while the head, almost touching his back, subtly exuded traces of Biju Bomb Chakra from its front.
But before he could complete his action, Sawara Kiri had already reached out, grabbed the tail that abruptly stopped in front of him, and spun it in mid-air, pulling the Third Raikage's body with the inertia, dragging him in a full rotation through the sky.
"Boom!!!"
He slammed entirely onto the ground.
Under the terrifying and unnameable force, his incredibly resilient body was like tofu struck by a heavy hammer, and the ground beneath their feet shattered into expanding ripples.
The violent impact even caused a large concave layer of ground within a dozen meters to sink.
Sawara Kiri flipped and leaped away from his original spot, suddenly pointing his hand to the side.
"Technique Lapse: Blue"
A clear blue glow suddenly appeared in mid-air, forming an abnormal gravitational center point at an uncatchable speed, attracting all surrounding dust to converge and twist towards that center.
As the gravitational point, which continuously swept up all matter, spun around Sawara Kiri, it continuously expanded and grew larger, clearing away all surrounding trees and soil until it formed a giant gravitational rock with a diameter exceeding several meters.
Sawara Kiri's hands suddenly lifted upwards.
The gravitational point happened to spin directly above the Third Raikage, who was stuck headfirst into the ground, following his movement.
Drop!
"Boom!"
The intense tremor, the moment it spread, shattered the surrounding air.
If one were to stand a little closer, they would notice that the space where the two were located appeared as blurry, rippling water waves.
Immediately after, a rising storm spread outwards, tearing apart all trees within a hundred-meter radius.
However, Sawara Kiri's Six Eyes seemed to suddenly perceive something within it, and he sharply turned his head to the side.
A pair of dark red giant claws abruptly extended from the ground beside him.
Perhaps because he knew he couldn't touch the opponent's body, the Third Raikage simply dug out the ground beneath Sawara Kiri, excavating the young man standing on the surface along with it, and used those giant claws, whose palms alone exceeded several meters, to hurl this chunk of soil along with Sawara Kiri into the air like a baseball.
The ground beneath his feet formed a dark yellow, fountain-like trail in the air, while Sawara Kiri's figure, driven by inertia, broke through layers of sonic booms, shooting directly upwards into the sky.
The Third Raikage, who had been continuously suffering heavy blows since earlier, suddenly emerged from underground, using his giant claws as support to steady his body, and abruptly opened his massive mouth to a tearing degree.
At this time, his tails had increased from four to five.
The next moment, Tailed Beast Balls, like flying arrows, continuously shot directly towards Sawara Kiri in mid-air, like thin lines connecting the earth to the young man's figure, spewing forth like machine guns along their scorching trajectory, with ears filled with a rumbling roar, as if to shatter his eardrums.
Sawara Kiri's figure rotated, maintaining his core in mid-air, and calmly extended a barrier forward.
Those Chakra balls, each carrying world-destroying power, continuously exploded into clusters of shattered light points in the space before him, yet not a single one managed to touch his body until the very end; all were swept aside by him, continuously exploding in the distant forest, forming hemispherical blast waves.
Just as he landed, Sawara Kiri's feet slammed onto the trunk of a giant tree, and as his figure shot forward, the tree he stepped on also snapped with a bang.
Immediately after, the young man's figure appeared before the Third Raikage, who was still looking around.
Before his giant mouth could continue to spew out the small Tailed Beast Balls capable of destroying the earth, Sawara Kiri had already kicked him in the chin with a "thud," forcing him to close it.
As the small Biju Bomb exploded in his mouth, Sawara Kiri's single hand pressed down on its wide face, forcing it completely to the ground, dragging it fiercely forward, tearing a straight gully in the ground, and unleashing roars and vibrations as if to shatter the entire ground.
Finally, he suddenly flung it forward.
His other hand abruptly formed a gun shape.
A faint red dot ignited at his fingertip.
"Technique Reversal: Red"
This seemingly insignificant red glow, the moment it shot from his fingertip, erupted with a terrifying repulsive force capable of crushing mountains.
The Third Raikage, still barely maintaining his sanity, struggled to widen his eyes, wanting to adjust his body, but the immense repulsive force seemed to make him utterly unable to resist, and his entire body was continuously pushed backward in an extremely distorted posture under the blossoming of this red light.
Even his internal organs, enveloped by the Tailed Beast Cloak, seemed to be utterly destroyed by this strike.
And then, he crashed with a bang into a small hill.
Sawara Kiri stood in the distance.
The straight hill, under this strike, looked as if some monster had suddenly taken a bite out of it, the remaining soil on the hilltop slowly collapsing under the pull of gravity, countless rocks and soil completely burying the large cavity beneath the opening.
The Third Raikage felt the vibrations from outside, and the will continuously eroded by the Tailed Beast Chakra within his mind, his expression growing increasingly urgent.
"Gyuki, you must have felt it too, right?!"
"This brat's power!"
"Even now, are you still not planning to cooperate with this old man?"
The voice from the depths of his heart, however, seemed somewhat disdainful, casually saying, "Anyway, I can still revive after I die, maybe I can even escape from your broken Village!"
"What does your life or death have to do with me?"
The Third Raikage's inner voice grew more urgent; he could feel Sawara Kiri rushing towards him at lightning speed.
"How can it not be related?!"
"I'm telling you, that kid is an extreme Konoha supremacist. Right now, you're sealed inside my body and can occasionally go out for a stroll. But once he grows up, if he catches you, you'll definitely be permanently sealed deep underground in Konoha!"
"He'll destroy all of us Ninja Villages and turn all the Tailed Beasts into Konoha's trump cards!"
Eight-Tails Gyuki's voice immediately became somewhat uncertain, or perhaps this ox-headed fellow was inherently a bit slow-witted, and he couldn't help but ask in confusion:
"You didn't make that up yourself, did you?"
The Third Raikage, though rough, was meticulous, and upon hearing this, he knew it was somewhat swayed, and immediately said, "Have you forgotten Senju Hashirama from back then?"
"Think about it, if a new Senju Hashirama grows up, and the Village he grew up in has been fighting with other Villages for so many years, will he continue to allow Tailed Beasts to exist in other Villages, or will he seal all of you?"
Eight-Tails Gyuki clearly had some lingering fear of the name Senju Hashirama. Upon hearing this, it immediately recalled the world-destroying scene from back then, and the Senju Great Buddha that treated it like a toy, and instantly felt somewhat insecure.
But its mouth was still stubborn: "If you're not willing to merge with me, what does that have to do with me?"
"I accept!"
The Third Raikage gritted his teeth: "As long as you can help me get rid of this brat Sawara Kiri, I'll accept anything."
At this moment, he could no longer care about anything else.
He had originally thought that with Eight-Tails' Chakra, he could handle this monster, who hadn't even fully grown, with his own strength alone.
But now, seeing this, he realized that even before reaching full growth, he could possess such capabilities.
If he were to grow up, what then?
The Third Raikage had clearly sensed the survival crisis of Hidden Cloud Village.
"Only this one time."
"Good!"
Within the mental space, two fists, one large and one small, met.
The next moment, the Third Raikage felt the intense and extreme sense of erosion that had been pressing on his heart suddenly ease.
His sanity and control over Chakra also fully returned.
If this is the case.
He can win!
Besides that.
He struggled to raise his head towards the distance.
The preparations he had made in advance should also be arriving soon.
At this moment, the Third Raikage suddenly felt somewhat fortunate in his heart for the thorough preparations he had made to deal with both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Sawara Kiri.
"Bang--"
A large amount of rocks beneath the mountain scattered, turning into gray mist in the air.
His entire body was covered in a dense cloak with an even stronger Chakra reaction than before, faintly even glowing with an unusual bright red.
Sawara Kiri's steps paused involuntarily, his brows slightly furrowed.
The opponent's Chakra reaction seemed different from the near-madness of before.
At this time, the tails behind the Third Raikage had reached a full seven.
His body also remained in a half-Tailed Beast transformation state.
However, his face still vaguely showed human features, as if he had regained his sanity.
The Third Raikage waved towards Sawara Kiri, confidently saying:
"Come on."
"Second Battle!"
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