The air itself seemed to bow beneath the Third Raikage's arrival. The sheer, crushing presence that slammed down onto the ravaged street was heavier than the mountain peaks surrounding Kumo.
Renjiro, a whirlwind of lethal intent just moments before, froze. Raiju who was pinned, felt the breath punch from his lungs, not from injury, but from the overwhelming density of the Kage's chakra.
It wasn't heat or cold; it was pure, unadulterated pressure, like the sky itself had condensed into the form of a man and decided to stand ten feet away.
Renjiro's remaining clone was simply dispelled with a soft puff, unable to withstand the proximity. The Raikage didn't even glance at the dissipating chakra. His gaze, sharp as honed steel and crackling with contained lightning, locked onto Renjiro himself.
"So, you are the one who killed my Jinchuriki a few years ago."
Silence. Thick, heavy, charged. Renjiro offered no retort, no sneer, no justification.
Raiju saw the subtle tremor in the Uzumaki's fingers.
'He's afraid,' the thought bloomed in Raiju's mind, a fragile flower of vindication pushing through the agony of his wounds.
'He can't even speak. The Raikage… he's really here.'
A wave of dizzying relief washed over Raiju, so potent it momentarily dulled the sharp edges of pain radiating from his body. The impossible had happened.
Yet, even through the euphoria, a sliver of ice traced Raiju's spine. 'Why him? Why now?'
Protocol screamed in the back of his tactical mind. The Raikage never deployed first; he sent shinobi, teams, and entire battalions.
For him to appear personally, it felt… off. But the sheer, visceral reality of the man before him, the way Renjiro froze… it smothered the doubts like a heavy blanket. The Raikage's presence was a lullaby to fear, a promise of absolute security. The questions faded, replaced by pure, unadulterated awe.
'He came. For us.'
Renjiro moved. Not to attack, but to flee.
His body blurred, a desperate attempt at the Body Flicker technique, but before the displacement could complete, lightning erupted. Not from the sky, but from the Raikage himself. A cage of pure, crackling blue energy, silent and terrifyingly fast, snapped into existence around Renjiro, grounding him mid-motion.
The lightning barrier hissed mere inches from his skin, preventing any summoning seals. Raiju saw the Uzumaki's eyes widen, the Sharingan spinning frantically, analysing, finding only dead ends.
The primal scream of Renjiro's instincts was almost audible in the sudden stillness – a silent, internal shriek of 'RUN! RUN NOW!'
The Raikage wasn't just strong; he was a predator who had effortlessly cut off all retreat.
Driven by that raw terror, Renjiro pushed harder.
"Shunshin!"
He vanished again, a streak of desperate motion heading towards the village outskirts. But the Raikage was a thunderclap given form.
"CRACK!"
He appeared in front of Renjiro before the Uzumaki's form had fully materialised, a massive fist lashing out with deceptive speed. Renjiro twisted, barely avoiding the blow that cratered the stone street where he'd been aiming to land.
"BOOOOM!"
Rubble sprayed like shrapnel. Again, Renjiro flickered – left, right, high towards the rooftops. Each time, the Raikage was there, a relentless blue-white shadow, blocking, herding, his movements economical bursts of impossible speed that made the air snap with displaced pressure.
He wasn't just chasing; he was corralling, ensuring Renjiro couldn't leave Miyahira, couldn't endanger anyone beyond this contained arena of destruction.
Raiju's heart hammered against his ribs, 'Yes! Toy with him! Make him feel the helplessness he forced on us! Trap him, corner him, just like he did with us!'
Seeing escape futile, Renjiro's expression contorted into one of feral defiance. A visible shockwave of chakra exploded outwards from him.
"WHUMPF!"
His skin flushed crimson, veins bulging like cables, steam erupting from his pores.
"First Gate: Gate of Opening! RELEASE!"
The shout was guttural, raw. The surge intensified.
"Second Gate: Gate of Healing! OPEN!" Another wave of pressure.
"Third Gate: Gate of Life! RELEASE!"
Raiju gasped, feeling the oppressive heat radiating even from a distance. Renjiro became a blur of crimson steam and violent intent. "Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain! OPEN!" The air screamed around him.
"FIFTH GATE: GATE OF CLOSING! RELEASE!"
The final burst was seismic. Renjiro vanished, moving faster than Raiju's battered senses could track, a streak of red heat and agony-fueled speed.
The battle escalated into a terrifying ballet of destruction Raiju could only perceive in fragments. Blurs of blue-white and crimson-red clashed across the ruined street, up the walls of damaged buildings, across the rooftops. Impacts sounded like continuous thunderclaps shaking the very foundations of Miyahira.
Raiju strained his eyes, his Sharingan aching with the effort, catching only glimpses.
Yet, despite the terrifying power Renjiro now wielded, the Raikage moved with an unhurried, terrifying efficiency. He wasn't overwhelmed; he was containing Renjiro.
'He's still playing with him,' Raiju realised, 'He's letting him burn himself out. Just like Renjiro, let us exhaust ourselves against his clones.'
Cornered, Renjiro made his stand. His Sharingan pulsed, the tomoe spinning, merging, transforming into a complex, unfamiliar pattern.
"Enough!" Renjiro spat. From his back, chains erupted. These were corrupted, coated in writhing, emerald-green flames that burned without heat, radiating malice and decay.
The chains whipped through the air like spectral serpents, whistling with unnatural speed, aiming to ensnare the Raikage, to pierce his legendary defences with their chakra-disrupting, soul-scorching flames.
The Raikage didn't dodge. His Lightning Release Chakra Mode flared brighter than the sun, turning him into a pure bolt of divine wrath. "ZZZRRRAAAAKKK-KOOOM!"
He met the chains head-on. The chains shrieked on contact against the overwhelming force of the Raikage's chakra. One chain shattered like glass under a hammer blow from his forearm. Another he grabbed mid-lash. With a grunt of contemptuous effort, the Raikage yanked, pulling Renjiro off balance.
In that split second of vulnerability, the Raikage's fingers extended and wreathed in the most intense concentration of lightning Raiju had ever witnessed.
"Hell Stab."
Time seemed to slow. Raiju saw Renjiro's transformed Sharingan widen in genuine, final terror.
"THWUP-SIZZLE."
It was the sound of flesh parting, of bone vaporising, of a heart ceasing instantly under the voltage of a god.
Renjiro's body convulsed once, suspended on the Raikage's arm. The silver chains and green flames dissipated into nothingness like smoke. The Raikage withdrew his arm, letting the body crumple bonelessly to the ravaged earth with a soft, pathetic thud.
A sob of pure, unadulterated relief tore from Raiju's throat. It was over. The monster was dead. Slain by their Kage. Tears, hot and uncontrollable, streamed down his dusty cheeks.
'He did it. He saved us. The Raikage… he…'
The thought died mid-sentence. The comforting sight of the Raikage, standing tall over Renjiro's corpse amidst the ruins of Miyahira's street… it flickered.
Raiju blinked. He was back inside the Miyahira watchtower's command room. And besides him… were his comrades, frozen under a Genjutsu.
Renjiro looked at him, "Leaving so soon?" the jonin asked, "How terribly rude."
"The party has only just begun."
Honda finally arrived at the Watchtower. He pointed a finger at Raiju, at the others, their faces still frozen in that eerie, blissful rictus. "Renjiro-san…" Honda stammered, his gaze fixed on the unnatural smiles.
"Why… why are they smiling?"
"Why, Honda?" Renjiro replied, "Perhaps, it's because it feels like the hundredth time they've seen the Raikage kill me."