A, however, was once again disappointed.
Seeing that A had stopped chasing him, Senju Mori simply remained where he was as well.
His hawk-like gaze swept across the chaotic battlefield and instantly locked onto a small detail—a Hyūga clansman from Konoha being driven into a corner by two perfectly coordinated Kumo jōnin.
Indeed, up until now, Mori's attacks had primarily targeted clusters of chūnin. Genin were too weak—even the more experienced ones weren't worth his direct attention. Jōnin, on the other hand, were too strong and difficult to kill in one strike.
But everything has its exceptions.
"Wind Release: Flowing Breeze!"
Mori formed a seal with his left hand inside his sleeve, and casually flicked his right hand outward.
A gentle breeze swept by. One of the Kumo jōnin felt a sudden chill at the back of his neck—
as if it had been pierced by thousands of fine senbon.
His movements froze instantly.
Seizing this moment, the Hyūga struck with a Gentle Fist blow infused with massive chakra—
"Puh—!"
Blood mixed with crushed organs spewed out of the jōnin's mouth as the light faded from his eyes. His body toppled backward like a felled tree.
His partner whirled around in shock. Though he narrowly avoided the fatal strike to his neck, a sudden burst of blood erupted from his wrist—
the pain causing him to drop his kunai.
Senju Mori's attack was insidious and precise.
He had created tiny, transparent wind needles and let them drift silently with the breeze, only commanding them to strike once they neared their targets.
He never targeted sensitive vital points like the heart or eyes.
Instead he aimed at less perceptive areas—
the nape of the neck, the waist and kidneys, the wrist, the ankle.
Unless one had exceptional sensitivity to air movement or belonged to a chakra-sensing type, detecting such an attack in the chaos of battle was nearly impossible.
And in the instant of confusion he created, Mori sank back into the earth, causing A's furious returning strike to hit empty ground.
When he resurfaced, it was near a small Kumo rally point by the mountain wall.
"Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction!"
With one hand pressed to the rock face, chakra surged forth.
Rumble—!
The entire cliff groaned under the strain and then collapsed with explosive force!
Massive boulders crashed down like a landslide, burying the Kumo shinobi below in an instant—
leaving no movement, no survivors.
A arrived a moment later, but his lightning-infused strike only blasted apart a patch of muddy ground.
Mori appeared again elsewhere—this time near a muddy pit formed from their earlier jutsu exchange. A squad of Kumo shinobi stood upon it using chakra to stay afloat.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
With a touch of Mori's palm, the ground turned into a deadly mire.
Sticky, living mud coiled around the legs of more than ten Kumo shinobi, dragging them down relentlessly.
Konoha shinobi nearby quickly threw kunai and shuriken.
Amid anguished screams, the immobilized Kumo shinobi became metal-studded hedgehogs within seconds.
A finally stopped.
He no longer blindly chased Senju Mori's flickering silhouette.
His blood-red eyes swept across the battlefield, chest heaving.
Suddenly, A burst forward again, slicing off the heads of several Konoha ninja with lightning-fast chops.
He snapped his gaze upward—only to find Mori watching him.
Not alarmed.
Not distressed.
Indifferent.
Mori stood atop a high cliff, leisurely spitting high-pressure water bullets from his mouth.
Each shot was precise, efficient, and instantly lethal—
like a killing machine superior to any weapon.
They were far apart, yet A could clearly see the mocking glint in Mori's expression.
In that moment—
A's remaining rationality evaporated completely.
"Senju Mori——!"
A let out a beast-like roar and charged straight toward Senju Mori.
Mid-sprint, he suddenly leapt, soaring toward the high cliff, gathering raging lightning into his fist and smashing it forward.
But this time, Senju Mori did not evade.
His right arm was instantly wrapped and swollen by dense rock, turning into a massive stone fist.
He jumped down from the cliff—
Not dodging.
Not retreating.
But meeting that golden bolt of lightning head-on.
"BOOM——!!!"
The two fists—one massive, one small—collided with a deafening explosion.
Mori's stone fist shattered instantly, but A was also blown backward by the impact!
A's sanity returned at once.
Protected by his Lightning Release Armor, he wasn't injured—only stunned.
Senju Mori used the recoil to land back atop the cliff, looking down at A with a grin.
With the Senju clan's physical strength, enhanced by the Monster Strength Technique, and the added weight of the Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique, in that instant of pure power clash, he was not at all inferior to the Raikage known for his monstrous physique.
Even if A managed to get close again, the only thing Mori needed to be wary of was that "Hell Stab—Four-Finger Nukite."
But more importantly—
Mori's hand slowly reached behind him and gripped the strangely shaped Bashōsen—
One of the Six Paths' treasured tools, allowing him to unleash any elemental attack without forming seals.
The two stood over a hundred paces apart.
Though Mori's voice could not be heard over the chaotic battlefield, his intention was unmistakable.
The cliff Mori stood upon sat directly at the battlefield's center—
a vantage point he created himself using Earth Release.
Following Mori's line of sight, A looked around the battlefield—
the carnage, the devastation—
and recalled each horrific tragedy Mori had engineered as the two fought.
He had to admit a brutal reality:
Compared to himself—who specialized in close combat—
Senju Mori, a pure ninjutsu artillery platform, had terrifyingly high killing efficiency.
With just a few hand seals each time, Mori unleashed wide-range, lethal jutsu.
He might even still have plenty of chakra left…
A looked back toward the cliff.
Mori's robes fluttered in the wind, his expression calm.
His crimson armor was undamaged—no sign of chakra depletion at all.
Of course—this bastard always used the environment to cast jutsu.
No matter how destructive the technique, how much chakra could it possibly cost him?
At last, A understood:
This entire battlefield was chosen and built by Senju Mori as a killing trap.
The heavily fortified Konoha camp,
the roaring river at its flank,
and that overwhelming storm-water composite jutsu—
All of it existed to forge the perfect killing field.
In a muddy wasteland full of puddles and swamps,
Mori's mobility and killing power reached their peak.
A and the Kumo forces had no chance of winning against Konoha here.
This wasn't a war.
This was a meticulously planned conspiracy.
A gradually calmed down,
a powerful urge to retreat rising within him.
The words retreat now flashed through his mind—
But before he could speak them,
a series of shrill screams erupted nearby.
He spun around.
Mori had vanished from the cliff—
like a stone dropped into water,
his presence rippled out again among the Kumo ranks,
bringing death with every wave.
A could no longer endure it.
He gathered chakra in his throat and roared:
"RETREAT!!!"
"All Kumo shinobi—!"
"Regroup on me! Cover each other—!"
A no longer cared about chasing Mori.
He knew he could not stop the massacre.
Instead, he plunged into the fray and began slaughtering Konoha ninja to open a path.
Only by carving a way out could more of his people hope to escape.
As the Raikage's command spread, many Kumo shinobi attempted to withdraw—
but many also died the moment they turned their backs.
Such losses were the price of forced retreat,
and Kumogakure could only endure it.
Senju Mori immediately ordered pursuit,
leading Konoha's forces to bite hard at Kumo's heels.
Only after another heavy round of casualties did Kumo's main force finally break away.
A personally led the jōnin to cover their army's retreat.
Only then did Mori finally order his forces to halt.
He watched in silence as the remnants of Kumo retreated with A at their head…
The heavy stench of blood hung in the air.
Senju Mori stood alone atop the corpse-littered wasteland he had created,
gazing at the bodies Kumo had been forced to abandon.
He had not defeated the Raikage—
but he had won the war.
In the most brutal, direct,
and effective way possible.