Danzo floated mid-air, calm but cold-eyed. With deliberate focus, he formed hand seals. His chest expanded as he inhaled deeply, chakra pooling in his throat.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"
A torrent of slicing wind-blades shaped like giant sickle-weasels surged toward Kaito.
"These Kamaitachi aren't ordinary," Danzo sneered. "They can sever chakra itself—your Lightning Style is useless!"
Kaito didn't flinch.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you?" he replied coolly, "When your strength reaches a certain height, tricks and strategies become meaningless. The same goes for my Lightning."
Behind him, dozens of pitch-black thunder spears manifested, buzzing with concentrated chakra. The air warped from their energy as they launched—one after another—like arrows drawn from a divine bowstring.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Each thunder spear tore through the sky and collided with the sickle-weasel winds. The atmosphere cracked with violent pressure. Though fine wind-chakra needles riddled the spears, they held firm—unstoppable.
The sickle-weasels disintegrated into raw wind chakra, swept into a wild vortex. The remaining force of the black thunder spears continued toward Danzo without pause.
From afar, Hiruzen Sarutobi dodged a thunder strike from the Black Tortoise, his expression tightening with surprise—and hope.
"That's Danzo!" he said, eyes narrowing. "He's still alive!"
But what caught his attention next made his heart leap. Kaito had stepped away from the thunder sea, separating himself from the Four Thunder Beasts.
As the former Hokage, Hiruzen understood the battlefield well. "Strike the leader and the beasts will fall," he muttered, forming a shadow clone to stall the Black Tortoise. Then he leapt—ground breaking beneath his feet as he propelled himself into the air toward Kaito.
He wasn't alone.
Jiraiya and Namikaze Minato, thinking the same, moved at once. Jiraiya left two heavily wounded toads—Gama Bunta and Gamaken—behind as he joined the attack.
"Tch. Jiraiya!" Gama Bunta snarled, his palm burned and blistered. "You owe me a barrel of sake when we're done!"
Gamaken, charred all over, huffed. "I'm going back to Mount Myoboku the moment this ends."
Koharu Utatane, meanwhile, was on the verge of collapse. One arm hung uselessly as she barely dodged Suzaku's flaming strikes. She was clearly reaching her limit.
---
Above the battlefield, Kaito hovered, thunder spears crackling behind him like a divine arsenal. In an instant, he appeared in front of Danzo—speed surpassing all comprehension.
Whoosh! Buzz!
Suddenly, a kunai whirled through the air—Minato's signature marker.
A flash of light.
Minato appeared behind Kaito in a burst of white mist, a Rasengan spinning violently between his palms, aimed at Kaito's back.
This could kill a normal shinobi outright.
But Kaito didn't panic.
As if sensing the ambush, he twisted his body mid-air, avoiding the attack. Before Minato could react, Kaito's fist crashed into his stomach.
Boom! Pfft!
Minato coughed blood, the force of the punch sending him crashing to the ground like a falling meteor.
"Minato!" Jiraiya roared in alarm.
His fingers flashed through a set of hand seals. "Fire Style: Flame Bullet Barrage!"
Flaming spheres erupted from his mouth like cannon shells, surging toward Kaito with blistering speed.
Kaito raised one finger. Chakra whirled around it—Wind Style infused.
Rasenshuriken!
The spinning blade collided with Jiraiya's flames mid-air.
KABOOM!
A violent explosion shook the battlefield. Smoke and fire churned in the air behind Kaito—unworthy of his attention.
He moved again, surging toward Danzo with renewed fury.
---
Meanwhile, Sarutobi Hiruzen tried to intercept. But Kaito, sensing the interference, condensed black lightning into his palms.
He swept his hands down.
From the storm clouds above, razor-sharp thunder blades rained down like arrows.
The volley was aimed directly at Hiruzen.
"Damn it!" the aging Hokage growled.
He dodged to the side, but before he could even recover, he spotted another attack—Minato's Rasengan, flying through the air with wind-element chakra infused.
"That brat..." Hiruzen muttered. "He completed the elemental variant... Impressive."
He dodged again, narrowly avoiding the attack.
KRAKOOOM!
The explosion below was deafening, but no one paid it any mind. All eyes turned skyward—to Kaito.
Jiraiya had been stopped by Kaito's Rasenshuriken.
Hiruzen was blocked by Kaito's black arrow storm.
Minato was already down, unconscious or worse.
And now... Kaito was nearly face-to-face with Danzo.
---
Danzo's voice cracked with rage. "You really think I'm that easy to take down?!"
He inhaled deeply again. "Wind Style: Vacuum Great Ball!"
A massive, pressurized wind sphere launched from his mouth, tearing through the sky like a giant cannonball.
Kaito's eyes stayed emotionless. As the sphere neared him—
He vanished.
"What!?" Danzo gasped, shocked. "Even mid-air…? He's this fast?!"
"Fall."
A voice whispered behind him.
Danzo's instincts screamed, but it was too late. Kaito struck with brutal force—his lightning-infused palm crashing into Danzo's back.
WHOOSH!
Danzo plummeted like a comet, following Minato's path—straight into the shattered battlefield below.
BOOM!
Dust clouds erupted.
Kaito's gaze swept across the battlefield. He locked eyes with Sarutobi Hiruzen, then Jiraiya.
"It's time to end this."
With those words, he became a streak of black lightning—vanishing into the heavens.
---
Below, Homura Mitokado struggled to fend off the colossal thunder beast in front of him. But suddenly, his eyes widened in pain.
A thunder-charged palm burst through his back.
The last thing he saw was Kaito's piercing eyes as the force sent him hurtling into the ground.
---