Guided by the reconnaissance ninja, Third Raikage arrived at Renjiro's corpse. He then knelt beside the body to examine its cause of death.
To someone like Raikage, hardened by endless battles, the final moments of Renjiro immediately took shape in his mind.
At that time, this spy had been in a terrible state. He tried to launch an attack, but without warning, an arrow struck him from behind, dropping him with one shot. At the very spot where Raikage now knelt, an enemy wasted no time plunging a long blade into Renjiro's throat. His analysis was spot-on, yet just as he thought this, Raikage abruptly stood up—nearly slapping himself.
What's wrong with me? What good is inspecting a corpse going to do?
"So what you're telling me is," Third Raikage suppressed his rage and asked, "excluding B, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, none of our people survived? In fact, we don't even know exactly what happened here?"
No one could answer his question because among the Cloud shinobi who had fought in this battle, not a single witness remained—Renjiro had actually been the most intact body left.
Thanks to the Eight-Tails' destructive force, the rest were reduced to scattered limbs; if you really wanted to, picking them up here and there might let you assemble a few rough human shapes.
"Has the Sealing Team taken action? Can they reseal the Eight-Tails?" After an awkward silence, Raikage asked another question others could answer.
"Yes, Lord Raikage."
Under heavy escort from many ninja, eight sealing specialists carrying large white scrolls were already approaching the Eight-Tails. Their mission was to repair the "Iron-Clad Sealing Formula" on the Jinchuriki.
However, after several failed attempts, this hopeful plan fell apart.
Firstly, the Iron-Clad Sealing Formula wasn't the top-tier tailed beast sealing technique—it had flaws. Secondly, while Kumo shinobi could indeed reseal the Eight-Tails, the problem was that even if the beast got sealed again, its chaotic chakra wouldn't calm down, breaking the seal once more. Lastly, the Jinchuriki himself might have been part of the issue since his chakra couldn't properly concentrate toward the position of the Iron-Clad Sealing Formula, meaning the sealing technique couldn't continue functioning effectively.
Together, these factors made it practically impossible to seal the beast back into the same Jinchuriki.
The Kumo sealing specialists gave it their best effort, but some things were simply beyond reach. Half an hour later, they had no choice but to report this helpless situation to Raikage.
Upon hearing the report, the enraged Third Raikage instantly calmed down, then fell silent. In Kumo, B had always been A's right-hand man—more than just a partner, he was like a true brother despite having different parents. Now, however, only two choices remained before Third Raikage.
The first was to kill the Jinchuriki outright—but then the tailed beast would die too, and sometime afterward, it might resurrect somewhere else in the world, possibly never to be reclaimed by Cloud.
The second was to completely release the sealing formula on the Jinchuriki. This would result in his death, but the tailed beast could remain alive.
The Raikage wasn't heartless—it's just that, now, his emotions couldn't interfere with his rational decisiveness… Actually, when there are only two straightforward choices clearly laid out before him, as long as one remains calm, anyone could figure out what the next step should be.
[Sealing Release Technique!] "Release the Iron-Clad Sealing Formula and liberate the Tailed Beast," the Raikage didn't take long to issue this order.
But here came the same issue again—if this had been the Land of Lightning instead of Frost, Kumo's decisions would've been far calmer. Unfortunately, this was undeniably the Land of Frost.
With the state of the Ninjutsu World now changed—even the legendary immortals and unbeatable titans were gone—no village could risk losing their Tailed Beast anymore. Besides, it seemed like Cloud had already lost the Two-Tails, making the Eight-Tails even more crucial.
The Sealing Team's ninja silently nodded. So… the team had now evolved into a Sealing-Release Unit.
As long as they were professional sealing ninjas from a major ninja village, equipped with systematic methods and a deep understanding of Tailed Beast seals… breaking a seal was always easier than casting a new one.
Certainly easier than letting some Uchiha show up trying to break it.
A group of Cloud shinobi skilled in sealing approached the Eight-Tails, then unfurled the scrolls in their hands once more. After activating a specific technique, they quickly pulled back.
Then, the Eight-Tails let out another deafening roar. It seemed even more enraged than before. Yet if someone could read the beast's eyes, they might have noticed its self-awareness had returned… at the moment the seal broke, its empathic link with the Jinchuriki had also been severed.
The Eight-Tails successfully freed itself from Haseo's consciousness-based seal.
"Raikage-sama, the Eight-Tails has been released," someone reported to the Raikage.
"Hmm." The Raikage tore off his cloak, revealing his muscular torso—more like a berserker than a typical ninja. Then, a wildly different type of Lightning Release chakra radiated from him, entirely unlike Haseo's refined style. This was the legendary Lightning Release Chakra Mode passed down through generations of Raikages.
Next, the seemingly calm Raikage caused the ground beneath his feet to instantly soften, rippling outward like waves on water spreading across the battlefield.
As soon as the Third Raikage shot forward, the counterforce exploded outward from where he'd stood, sending shockwaves rippling across the battlefield like an earthquake.
"Oi, Eight-Tails, get the hell out of here!"
With one brutal, rage-fueled punch, the Third Raikage smashed straight into the head of the Eight-Tails, sending the massive beast crashing sideways toward one end of the battlefield.
Even though they were all ruthless ninjas, not only Haseo had a heart in this world—everyone did, in their own way. Even though Bee was gone, at least a part of him still lingered here.
That's why the Third Raikage didn't want this place—the spot where the Eight-Tails stood—to become the battlefield.
The ninja brought by the Third Raikage were first thrown off balance by the shockwave, but they only suffered minor bruises and dirt stains. Soon after, they swiftly reorganized themselves into their proper positions. Even the sealing specialists who had retreated earlier had already summoned a containment vessel used for capturing a Tailed Beast.
Then, after a pause, they tried to move forward again.
But at this moment, a more experienced ninja raised his hand to stop the sealing team from advancing. "No rush. Let the Raikage have his release," he didn't finish the sentence, but the meaning was clear.
......
Actually, on that day, three great conflicts erupted in the Ninja World—the duel between the Second Mizukage and the Second Tsuchikage, the Frostfield Battle between Haseo and the Kumo shinobi, followed by the Raikage's furious assault on the Eight-Tails... The final sparks of the Great Ninja War burned out within just a single day.
Kumo had bad luck, but if the Raikage had known someone else was even worse off, maybe it would have slightly improved his mood.
Regardless, the First Great Ninja War seemed to reach its final conclusion on this very day.
Meanwhile, back in Konoha.
After being remembered by others, Chichio was finally brought back to the village. She then reported everything to the Hokage and other Konoha leaders.
She explained how her squad had tracked the Second Mizukage's group into the Land of Waterfalls, where eventually the Second Mizukage and the Second Tsuchikage met in battle. According to intelligence later gathered by Katsuyu—who remained behind to monitor the situation—both the Second Mizukage and the Second Tsuchikage perished during the fight.
At the time, the expressions on the Third Hokage and Konoha's leadership looked like this: w(°Д°)w (a classic wide-eyed shock face).
They couldn't figure out what strategy the Second Mizukage could have been thinking, traveling so far only to throw his life away like that.
Next, Chichio described the battle between Haseo and the Kumo forces. The outcome? Haseo ended up critically injured, while the entire Kumo unit was wiped out, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki killed, and the Eight-Tails completely ran wild.
Once again, the faces of the Third Hokage and Konoha's leadership remained unchanged: w(°Д°)w.
They still couldn't understand how Haseo managed to pull off such a move.
Finally, Chichio emphasized that the root cause of all these events was because an intelligence-gathering ninja within her own scouting team had actually been a deep-cover spy planted by Kumo inside the village.
This time, the Hokage and Konoha's leadership weren't surprised—the presence of spies wasn't particularly rare, after all. But given the absurdity of everything that came before, their expressions still betrayed some lingering bewilderment.
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