Dawn broke with an unwelcome companion—rain.
What began as a gentle drizzle quickly transformed into a torrential downpour. The dim morning light struggled to penetrate the curtain of water, turning the battlefield into a blur of gray shapes and shadows.
Rain fell in sheets, creating a veil between the two armies that stood hundreds of meters apart. Despite the distance and poor visibility, killing intent hung so thick in the air it seemed almost tangible.
The sudden weather change disrupted everyone's carefully laid plans.
Ninja on both sides struggled against the deluge. The rain came down so heavily that keeping one's eyes open became a challenge. Many found it difficult just to maintain their footing on the rapidly forming mud, let alone prepare for combat.
For Konoha, the situation was particularly dire. Their forces contained a high percentage of Fire Style specialists—ninja whose techniques would be severely hampered by the water-saturated environment.
"Naraku," Nara Shikaku approached through the downpour, raising his voice above the rain. "Should we postpone the engagement? These conditions put us at a severe disadvantage."
"Asking me won't change anything," Shihouin Naraku replied, his gaze fixed on the Cloud forces across the field.
Through the rain, he could see Cloud shinobi advancing rather than retreating. Their posture radiated newfound confidence—the weather had given them exactly the advantage they desperately needed.
Naraku's reputation as a Fire Style master had clearly weighed heavily on Cloud morale. Now, with nature itself seeming to side with them, their spirits had visibly lifted.
"This weather is a gift from the heavens for Cloud," Naraku observed. "The Raikage won't waste such an opportunity."
"True enough," Shikaku agreed, his tactical mind already working on alternatives.
But while Shikaku pondered countermeasures, Shihouin Naraku's lips curved into a confident smile.
"When the heavens bring rain," he declared, stepping forward, "I shall become the sun."
"I will transform any battlefield that dares stand against us!"
Without waiting for a response, Naraku strode alone toward the center of the battlefield, leaving the safety of Konoha's lines behind.
Flames erupted from beneath his feet with each step. Despite the torrential rain, fire clung to his body like a living thing, burning ever brighter in defiance of nature.
Every eye on the battlefield—Konoha and Cloud alike—turned to watch this impossible sight.
The flames surrounding Naraku suddenly surged skyward. With him as the epicenter, fire bloomed across the waterlogged ground. It spread outward in a perfect circle, transforming mud and standing water into a sea of flames that seemed to mock the very concept of rain.
The downpour continued, but each droplet evaporated instantly upon contact with the supernatural fire. Steam tried to form but was annihilated by the intense heat before it could even properly exist.
Standing at the heart of this inferno, Naraku drew every gaze like a magnet. The flames began to gather around him, compressing with terrifying intensity. Even ninja stationed far from the battlefield felt a primal unease as the energy condensed.
Then it erupted.
A pillar of fire connected earth to sky, so massive and intense it shattered the storm clouds above. The torrential rain ceased instantly, dispersed by the sheer force of Naraku's power. The chill air turned warm, then hot, as if summer had arrived in seconds.
The sun emerged from the newly cleared sky, adding its own light and warmth to the transformed battlefield.
In mere moments, a stormy morning had become a clear, bright day.
One man against the forces of nature itself—and nature had lost.
The display transcended normal jutsu. This was power on the scale of natural disasters, wielded with casual precision.
"Incredible!"
"Lord Naraku is amazing!"
"Such strength!"
Konoha forces erupted in cheers, their morale soaring to unprecedented heights.
Across the field, Cloud shinobi stood in stunned silence. Despite the Fourth Raikage's commanding presence at their forefront, despair crept across their faces like a plague.
How could anyone fight such power?
There was no ignoring what they had just witnessed. Shihouin Naraku hadn't merely used a powerful technique—he had rewritten the laws of nature to suit his preferences.
In the battlefield's center, the sea of fire gradually subsided. Naraku clenched his fist, and the remaining flames compressed rapidly, condensing into a palm-sized phoenix of pure fire.
The tiny bird hopped onto his shoulder, preening wings made entirely of flame. It appeared almost cute in its movements, though the occasional gouts of superheated fire from its beak served as reminders of its lethal nature.
"Kill."
Naraku's command wasn't shouted, yet it reached every Konoha ninja with crystal clarity.
Like a dam bursting, Konoha forces surged forward with battle cries that shook the air. Cloud shinobi, still reeling from the display of power, reacted a heartbeat too slowly. Despite their shattered morale, they had no choice but to meet the charge—their villages and families depended on them.
The two armies collided like tsunamis meeting in the open ocean, throwing up a spray of violence and death.
The first impact alone claimed dozens of lives.
Battle cries mixed with death screams as the organized formations dissolved into chaotic melee. Ninja fought with desperate intensity, holding nothing back in their efforts to survive and kill.
Jutsu of every element filled the air while weapons flew in deadly clouds. The battlefield became a meat grinder where even jonin could fall to a genin's lucky kunai. In such chaos, only the truly elite could guarantee their survival.
After solving the weather problem, Shihouin Naraku remained stationary at the battlefield's heart. Occasionally, a Cloud ninja would attempt to attack him—driven by desperation or delusions of glory. Without Naraku lifting a finger, the phoenix would incinerate these fools with casual streams of fire.
Konoha forces clearly held the upper hand. Despite Cloud's numerical advantage, their repeated psychological blows had shattered their fighting spirit. Low morale made them no match for Konoha's confident elite.
While the Cloud ninja who dared approach Naraku showed admirable if foolish courage, the vast majority who gave him a wide berth displayed the broken spirit that guaranteed their defeat.
How could ninja who had lost all confidence display their true abilities? Their inevitable crushing by Konoha forces surprised no one.
Thus, even standing perfectly still, Naraku served as both ultimate deterrent to Cloud and supreme inspiration to Konoha. His mere presence shaped the battle's flow.
Both sides' leadership understood this dynamic perfectly, but Cloud had no solution. To change the equation, someone would need to defeat Shihouin Naraku—an obviously impossible task.
A Cloud ninja attempted a sneak attack from behind. Without looking, Naraku kicked backward, sending the attacker flying. The phoenix chirped almost cheerfully as it set the screaming ninja ablaze mid-flight, creating a brief human torch against the morning sky.
"The outcome will be decided soon," Naraku observed, his Observation Haki sweeping across the entire battlefield.
Ninja warfare moved at incredible speed. Most conflicts were squad-level skirmishes that ended in minutes. Even massive battles like this rarely lasted more than hours once fully engaged. The Ninja World Wars themselves had only spanned days of actual combat.
"Hmm?"
Naraku's eyebrow rose as he detected movement in the Cloud ranks. "It seems the Fourth Raikage has reached his limit."
Across the battlefield, the Fourth Raikage's body underwent a dramatic transformation. Muscles bulged with power as electricity coursed across his skin. Lightning crackled around him in a visible aura while his hair stood completely on end from the electrical charge.
"Lightning Style Chakra Mode—the ultimate Lightning Armor!"
In this state, the Fourth Raikage's defense reached near-invulnerability while his speed transcended normal human limits. Even the Mangekyo Sharingan struggled to track his movements when fully unleashed.
From the very start, the Fourth Raikage had activated his trump card. This was no measured battle—this was a fight to the death.
Naraku's Observation Haki locked onto the transformed Raikage, tracking his movements with genuine interest. The real battle was about to begin.
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