Dodai couldn't spare a moment to wipe his face, his voice trembling and tearful: "Lord A... this is bad!"
"Iwagakure... it's Iwagakure!"
"That old bastard Ōnoki tore up the Non-Aggression Pact!"
"Iwagakure assembled an army of ten thousand Ninja and launched a surprise attack on the Raikage's Main Camp!"
"Now the Raikage, to cover the retreat of the troops, stayed behind alone to hold them off..."
"He has been surrounded!!!"
Boom!!!
This news struck A like a bolt from the blue.
Ten thousand Iwa Ninja.
Surrounding one person.
Even if that person was the Third Raikage, known as the Strongest Spear and the Strongest Shield, it would be impossible to survive that scale of Ninjutsu bombardment.
This was a death trap.
"Ōnoki!!!!!"
The Fourth Raikage A violently threw back his head and let out a heart-wrenching roar of fury.
The sound was filled with boundless rage, regret, and killing intent.
Terrifying Lightning Release Chakra instantly ran wild, shattering the surrounding ground.
"Big Brother!" Killer Bee also panicked, the usual playful grin completely gone from his face.
"Retreat!!!" A shoved Dodai aside and turned, roaring at the Kumogakure Army still engaged in the fray.
His voice, like thunder, spread across the entire Battlefield.
"Everyone! Disengage immediately!!"
"Full speed back to reinforce!!"
The Ninja of Kumogakure were stunned.
They were clearly in fierce battle, with casualties on both sides, so why the sudden retreat?
And a retreat like this, risking their lives?
Exposing their backs to Konoha like this—wasn't that courting death?
"Didn't you hear me?! Retreat!!!" A roared again, his eyes bulging at the corners.
Having said that.
He turned his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Minato Namikaze and Aokawa in the distance.
That gaze no longer held the previous Battle Intent, only the desperate resolve of a wounded beast.
He was gambling.
Gambling that Konoha wouldn't kick them while they were down.
Or rather, he was prepared to fight his way back, even if it meant risking half his life should Konoha pursue.
Minato Namikaze took a deep breath and raised his right hand.
All the Konoha Ninja looked at him.
"Listen to my command."
"All Konoha forces, retreat five hundred meters! No pursuit!"
Whoosh—!
Although the Konoha Ninja were confused, out of absolute trust in the Yellow Flash, they quickly carried out the order.
An extremely bizarre scene appeared on the Battlefield.
The two armies, which had been locked in a fierce, inseparable struggle, rapidly separated toward the two sides, like receding tide water.
A took a long, hard look at Minato Namikaze.
The blonde man stood on the rock, showing no signs of making a move.
A clenched his jaw and gave a stiff nod.
"Dodai, I'm leaving the command here to you; bring the main force and follow!" A turned and shouted.
"Bee, let's go!"
Boom! Boom!
The two figures instantly transformed into streaks of lightning, rushing madly northward at a speed faster than they had used in battle.
"We have temporarily ceased fighting with Iwagakure. They gathered a large army and moved east to ambush Kumogakure, so they must have engaged the Raikage," Minato Namikaze suddenly said.
So that was it.
Aokawa suddenly realized.
No wonder they spared no effort, committing their entire army just to hold back Kumogakure.
It seems the incident where ten thousand Iwa Ninja fought the Third Raikage for three days and three nights has already occurred.
Aokawa stood beside Minato Namikaze, watching the two streaks of lightning vanish into the horizon, his bow and arrow slowly lowering in his hand.
He gently shook his head, his tone carrying a subtle, inexplicable meaning.
"That old lion probably won't be coming back this time."
The wheels of history ground forward fiercely at this moment.
The turning point of the Third Great Ninja War quietly arrived amidst this dramatic scene.
"Aokawa, if it were you..." Minato Namikaze asked.
"Would you pursue them?"
Aokawa glanced at the struggling Kumogakure Army retreating, then looked north.
A playful curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Me?"
"Kumogakure and Iwagakure have now formed a deadly feud. Pursuing them now would be helping Ōnoki bear Kumogakure's hatred."
"If I had known earlier, I should have even healed the Fourth Raikage A before letting him go."
"A Kumogakure that is too weak won't be able to take much of a bite out of Iwagakure."
Minato Namikaze turned his head and looked at the overly precocious youth beside him, his gaze complex.
"You don't seem like a recently graduated student at all. Your talent, strength, and strategic vision make you simply a perfect Ninja."
"A Perfect Ninja?" Aokawa suddenly laughed: "Minato, actually, in the eyes of many, you are The Perfect Ninja!"
...Under the black night sky, the wilderness on the border of the Land of Lightning was stained blood red.
Boom!
A black lightning bolt, as thick as a bucket, swept across, instantly exploding the bodies of a dozen Iwa Ninja, their scattered remains mixed with shattered rocks flying everywhere.
The Third Raikage stood atop a pile of corpses, the lightning-bolt scar on his chest rising and falling violently with his breath. Blue Lightning Release Chakra flowed over his entire body, making him look like a manifested God of Thunder.
Before him was the Iwagakure Army, stretching across mountains and plains, endless to the eye.
Ten thousand people.
A number large enough that if every person spat once, they could drown a man.
"Monster... this guy simply cannot be killed!"
The hand of an Iwagakure Jonin holding a Kunai was trembling. In the previous round of simultaneous Ninjutsu attacks, hundreds of Explosive Tags blew up right in his face, yet when the smoke cleared, the man didn't even have a scratch.
The Strongest Shield.
The value of these four words was built upon thousands of lives.
On the high ground behind, Iwagakure Commander Mo Yan's expression was as dark as water.
"Don't let him break your spirit!"
Mo Yan's voice echoed across the field through Amplification Ninjutsu: "Human strength has its limits. His Chakra is finite! Even a Tailed Beast can be worn down and killed!"
"Earth Release Squad, change the terrain! Block his speed!"
"Shuriken Squad, long-range coverage! Don't give him a moment to breathe!"
As the orders were given, the earth began to rumble.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Yellow Springs!"
Hundreds of Iwa Ninja simultaneously formed hand signs and slammed the ground. The originally hard wilderness instantly transformed into a giant swamp several kilometers in circumference. The Third Raikage's foot sank; the viscous binding sensation made him feel trapped in glue.
"Do you intend to bury this old man in a place like this?"
The Third Raikage snorted coldly and looked behind him. The figures of the Cloud Hidden Ninja had long since vanished into the darkness along the narrow mountain path.
As long as he stood here, this pack of mad dogs from Iwagakure wouldn't think of passing.
"Since it's a swamp, I'll just blast it dry."
The Third Raikage slightly bent his knees, his entire body compressing the lightning to the extreme, the surface of his skin even emitting a strained crackling sound.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Self Bomb!!"
Boom—!!!
His entire body transformed into a human nuclear bomb, slamming violently into the ground. The ferocious high-temperature lightning instantly evaporated the mud and water, and the swamp within a hundred meters was forcefully blasted into scorched earth.
Using the recoil, he charged into the Iwagakure crowd like a cannonball.
In this moment, he was the wolf, and surrounding him were ten thousand sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
"Stop him!!"
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