Moreover, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki was retreating at extreme speed.
Even if they wanted to pursue now, catching up would likely be difficult.
"Hiss—"
At this moment, the Konoha ninjas looked at Li Anshi with a trace of awe.
When Li Anshi killed the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, most were too far away to clearly see how he did it.
Now, Li Anshi had clashed with the Third Raikage right before their eyes and had actually defeated him.
The Third Raikage was a terrifying existence whom even their combined efforts couldn't harm.
Although the Third Raikage had been carried away by the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, preventing them from confirming his exact condition, the severed index finger left on the ground and the scattered blood indicated his injuries were undoubtedly severe.
Like these Konoha ninjas, Li Anshi himself felt quite surprised by this outcome.
He had previously thought that in the current ninja world, the Third Raikage, Kagami Uchiha with his Mangekyo Sharingan, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Mito Uzumaki, were individuals his flying dagger couldn't kill.
But judging from the current result, he had underestimated the unique characteristic forged by his Little Li Flying Dagger.
After mastering the Little Li Flying Dagger, Li Anshi had assumed the white chakra glow on the dagger was merely on par with the chakra nature transformations achieved by Jonin.
At the time, he felt this characteristic wasn't particularly useful to him.
Aside from those few individuals and the Tailed Beasts, Li Anshi didn't need the dagger's special property to kill any other ninja.
Little Li's Flying Dagger never misses – that wasn't a joke.
And if he encountered those few, a dagger imbued with mere chakra nature transformation probably wouldn't suffice anyway.
Li Anshi had approached mainly intending to use the deterrence gained from killing the Two-Tails Jinchuriki to make the Third Raikage wary and retreat.
He hadn't expected the Third Raikage to suddenly erupt and attack him.
However, this clash also gave Li Anshi a more accurate assessment of his own strength.
The Third Raikage could arguably be said to have the strongest physical defense below the level of the Sage of Six Paths.
The body trained by the Lightning Release Chakra Mode was the "Strongest Shield."
The Hell Stab: One-Fingered Thrust was the "Strongest Spear."
In the future, the Third Raikage fought the rampaging Eight-Tails multiple times. During one instance, while using the "Hell Stab," his arm was struck by the Eight-Tails, causing his own "Strongest Spear" to hit his "Strongest Shield" body, leaving a wound on himself.
But even that was merely a "graze."
Clearly, at this stage, the Third Raikage's defense was considerably stronger than his offense.
Since Li Anshi could sever the Third Raikage's finger and pierce his body, the attack power of the "Little Li Flying Dagger" could almost be called the "strongest in the ninja world" at this stage.
As for whether it could break through a "Truth-Seeking Orb," that could only be verified in the future.
At least for now, Li Anshi didn't know anyone else who could withstand a single throw of his dagger.
"Pity. Due to the pull of our auras, my dagger wasn't aimed at the Third Raikage's neck, but collided with the strongest point of his aura, the 'One-Fingered Thrust'. Otherwise, I might have achieved the feat of slaying a village Kage today!"
After shaking his head with a hint of dissatisfaction, Li Anshi suppressed the rising corner of his mouth and addressed the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Lord Hokage, since the enemy has retreated, I shall take my leave as well."
Without waiting for any instructions from Hiruzen Sarutobi, he turned and departed.
Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his hand, opened his mouth, wanting to call Li Anshi back.
But, to Hiruzen Sarutobi's dismay, he searched his memory of Konoha ninjas and couldn't find a name matching Li Anshi.
He didn't even know the man's name; how could he address him?
If the other party realized that he, the village Kage, didn't even know the name of a powerhouse within his own village, how would the other ninjas view him?
The other ninjas also wanted to build rapport with Li Anshi, but seeing that the Third Hokage didn't ask him to stay, they felt it wasn't their place to speak up.
Moreover, like the Third Hokage, they had no strong impression of Li Anshi.
Even if they wanted to connect, they would have to wait until they gathered information about Li Anshi and visited him later.
"Alright, everyone."
"We won this battle."
"In this fight, the Cloud ninja forces suffered immense losses."
"They not only lost at least four hundred ninjas but also suffered casualties exceeding ten Jonin."
"Furthermore, their highest combatant, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, was killed by one of our Konoha ninjas."
"In the short term, the Cloud ninjas lack the capability to launch another large-scale attack against Konoha."
Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke gravely, "Therefore, I plan to leave a portion of ninjas here to defend against potential Cloud attacks. The rest will accompany me to reinforce the battlefield in the Land of Earth."
"Who do you all think would be best suited to remain here?"
The group of Konoha Jonin lowered their heads in contemplation.
Before the battle, the Third Hokage had already stated his intention to crush the Cloud ninjas decisively and then move on to the Land of Earth.
Now, although they had achieved victory and, thanks to the appearance of that unknown Konoha ninja, even killed the Cloud's Two-Tails Jinchuriki.
But as the Third Hokage said, the Cloud ninjas hadn't lost their ability to fight back.
Once the Third Hokage took a large number of ninjas to reinforce the Land of Earth battlefield, if the commander left behind couldn't withstand the Third Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, all the remaining Konoha ninjas would be in grave danger.
They were aware of their own strengths.
Indeed, compared to Chunin, they possessed overwhelming power.
But compared to Kage-level powerhouses like the Third Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, they were practically insignificant.
Before knowing who would be taken to reinforce the Land of Earth, they wanted to secure a reliable commander for themselves.
"Lord Hokage, the only ones here qualified to command a front line are yourself, Clan Leader Sarutobi, and Lord Kagami Uchiha."
"Now that the Cloud side has lost the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, at least two of you three must remain here."
"Otherwise..."
This Jonin's words quickly gained the agreement of the others.
Indeed, the Land of Earth battlefield was much more severe than this one.
But these Jonin wouldn't accept being left here to die just to reinforce the Land of Earth battlefield.