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A/N:Guys... if you are liking the story. Do Review. if it reaches 10 reviews. I will release a bonus chapter. Thank you for Power stones. Thank you silent readers.
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The two shadow clones leapt forward, seals burning bright, hands outstretched to grab the Raikage.
But after Ay knew what the old man was tiring. His body flickered, and his went full force with Hell Stab speared through the back of one clone before it could touch him. The clone dissolved in smoke. The second met the same fate an instant later.
Hiruzen's real body staggered back, stunned.
The Raikage's laughter boomed. "You dare come at me with bare hands? Don't forget, Sarutobi—I already know your trick. That seal on your stomach is blatantly visible. You cannot surprise me with it." He lifted the scroll of the Shiki Fūjin for emphasis, mocking him with stolen knowledge.
Hiruzen's heart sank. A waste. His greatest jutsu, undone.
The Raikage's gaze sharpened. "It seems even the Professor has limits. Without your little ghost god, you have no way to stop me."
Hiruzen's fists clenched. His eyes flicked toward Ay—the younger Raikage, still fresh with blood from a thousand kills, the one who had seized the chakra ore mines. The real threat to Konoha's future wasn't the father. It was the son who will take over kumo.
"If I cannot seal you," Hiruzen growled, voice dark, "then I will seal him."
--
The last shadow clone flickered behind young Ay, Enma in his monkey form battering the young ay with a flood of strikes. Distracted, young Ay snarled, blocking blows with brute strength. For just a moment, his guard slipped.
The clone's eyes flashed. Genjutsu. Ay's movements stuttered as the illusion clouded his mind.
Hiruzen lunged, real body closing the distance, his palm pressing against young Ay's chest.
"Shiki Fūjin!" he roared.
Young Ay's eyes widened in shock as he felt it—the pull at his very soul. His body stiffened, lightning cloak sparking wildly, fighting against the invisible grip. He screamed, muscles bulging, refusing to be dragged away.
Hiruzen strained, face contorted with effort. The Shinigami loomed behind him, its spectral hand clawing into Ay's chest, tugging. But the young ay's will was ferocious. His durability, his raw chakra, resisted the pull but the professor didn't back down either.
Sweat poured down Hiruzen's brow. His body screamed in agony as the Shinigami's grip immobilized them both. Neither could move. Neither could break free.
It was a stalemate—but a stalemate meant death on a battlefield.
--
"AY!" The Third Raikage's roar cracked the air. His lightning flared like a second sun.
He charged, Hell Stab gleaming, aimed straight for Hiruzen's head.
Enma threw himself between them, his monkey body intercepting the blow. "HIRUZEN!"
The Raikage snarled, muscles bulging as he shoved Enma aside with brute force. The Monkey King was hurled back, skidding across the battlefield, blood spraying from his mouth.
Hiruzen's heart sank. His bluff had failed. He'd told the Raikage anyone touching him would also be sealed, but the giant didn't care. He'd risk his own soul to save his son.
So this is it, Hiruzen thought, sorrow heavy in his chest. Tobirama-sensei… is this how you felt, throwing your life away for the next generation?
The Raikage's hand pierced forward.
--
The Hell Stab rammed through Hiruzen's skull, puncturing his brain in an instant. His eyes widened, blood streaming down his face. The Shinigami flickered, the seal unraveling, Ay's soul snapping back into his body with a scream.
Hiruzen sagged, the jutsu collapsing, his body crumpling to the ground. The light faded from his eyes.
The Professor of Konoha...third of the Hokage... had fallen.
The Raikage stood over him, lightning still crackling, his chest heaving with fury. His son staggered beside him, trembling from the near-death experience, eyes wide with shock. For a moment, there was silence. Even the battlefield seemed to still, the weight of Hiruzen's death pressing down on all. And then the Raikage spoke, voice low and venomous.
"You fought well, professor. You were greatest opponent till date. Konoha will remember this as the day their Professor died… and the day their future crumbled. With this the plans are set in motion."
--
The battlefield had quieted, the dust of Hiruzen's final stand still lingering in the air. The Third Raikage, cloak of lightning now dismissed, walked with heavy but deliberate steps toward his immobilized son. Young Ay was still trembling from the Shinigami's grip, his muscles spasming, his lightning cloak flickering wildly as he tried to stabilize himself.
"Father…" he breathed, his voice hoarse. "I thought it was over. His jutsu… it was tearing my soul away. But when the Hokage died, it all… snapped back. I am OK--"
The Raikage looked down at him, silent for a long moment, eyes cold and heavy with judgment. Then his massive fist tightened, veins bulging across his forearm.
"Don't be distracted in the battlefield," he said flatly.
The fist sank into Young Ay's stomach like a hammer. The young Ay's eyes bulged, breath tearing from his lungs as the force sent him skidding backward across the ruined ground. His lightning cloak sputtered, then cut off entirely. He landed on his knees, coughing, clutching his abdomen. Ay thought he had received more damage from his father's raw power than the entire battle.
He looked up, eyes wide, searching for some hint of acknowledgment, some recognition that he'd endured what no other shinobi could have survived. But the Raikage only turned away, already issuing commands.
"Enough. Jounin!" the Raikage barked, voice like thunder.
Several Kumo shinobi appeared at once, hardened veterans, their faces tight with awe at the sight of Hiruzen Sarutobi's body lying broken on the ground.
"Take the Hokage's corpse back to Kumo," the Raikage ordered. "It will serve as proof. And a reminder to the world of Kumo's supremacy. We can bargain for resources or use it for research."
The shinobi bowed, moving to carefully lift Hiruzen's fallen form.
--
As the Raikage watched, his broad shoulders relaxed slightly. But his mind did not rest. He began walking across the cracked earth, every step a reminder of the strain of battle. He had killed the Hokage. But something about the fight nagged at him.
And then… that moment.
His brow furrowed. He remembered at one time minato teleporting, not to his marked kunai, but directly beside Hiruzen. He had seen the pattern of the Yellow Flash countless times by now, but that was different. Not a kunai, not a trap mark on the trees. It was Minato teleporting to the Hokage himself. He stopped walking, the realization digging into his thoughts like claws.
So… it's not just kunai. He has used a marker on hiruzen.His lips curled into a grin, slow and cruel. He turned his head slightly toward the jounin carrying Hiruzen's body.
"Wait," he commanded, his deep voice freezing them in their tracks.
--
A/N: Here I wanted to show raikage's recklessness in trying to touch hiruzen for his son. The Hokage's bluff could have been true but the Raikage didn't care for his own life.
And no one can see the shinigami behind hiruzen. But the hiruzen's attempt to touching and the seal on his stomach is visible.
What is Raikage planning in stopping the jounin?
--
Minato escaped and that is what hiruzen sacrificed himself for.
With hiruzen gone. There is a scary minato wanting to kill raikage for what he did to hiruzen and kidnapping kushina. He alone is enough for kumo to keep themselves on toes.
There is still 4th hokage. Unlike hiruzen, who wanted to end everything peacefully. He will do anything for konoha and it will be bad for kumo.
if you think konoha went downfall then you are very wrong. In fact with hiruzen gone, konoha will not longer be easy go village like it used to be.
There is still kakashi. Imagine a scary minato and kakashi with no moral... Damn that's scary.