Chapter 24: The Might of the Leaf; The Sorrow of the Cloud
The Eight-Tails, Gyūki, roared at the heavens.
The demand for blood echoed through the night, vibrating through the mountains and shaking the very foundations of the village.
"BWEEEEEE—!"
Emergency sirens wailed, jolting Kumogakure from its slumber.
"Emergency squads, fall in! The Eight-Tails has breached containment!"
"The monster is loose! Evacuate the sector!"
The village dissolved into chaos. The Eight-Tails' unique chakra—a suffocating miasma of ink and pure malice—spread through the air like wildfire, stoking the primal fears of every Cloud ninja.
Rampages had happened before, but they were usually contained leaks. Kumogakure's sensors were top-tier; normally, they'd suppress a host the second the seal flickered. But a full, unbridled transformation in the dead center of the village? This was unprecedented.
"So, this is a Tailed Beast in its true form? Quite a spectacle," Orochimaru whispered, his voice smooth and clinical. He slammed a specialized Sealing Formula onto the forehead of the dead Blue B.
He needed to preserve the brain for memory extraction.
As the Eight-Tails thrashed in blind rage, Orochimaru used the Kusanagi Sword to carve a sample of the beast's regenerating flesh—a literal pound of meat from a god. He then signaled a giant snake to emerge from his sleeve and swallow the former Jinchuriki whole, securing their primary trophy.
The Kurama clan's Genjutsu is fascinating, Orochimaru noted.
The Eight-Tails was trapped in a hallucination of pure hatred. It was screaming at the village and pulverizing buildings as if fighting an invisible army. Even when Orochimaru's blade bit into its flank, the beast barely flinched, its focus locked onto the phantom enemies Genzo Kurama had planted in its mind.
"Time to go. Genzo says the illusion won't hold much longer," Orochimaru hissed. He flickered away into the shadows.
On the Village Perimeter.
Danzo Shimura stood over a fallen Cloud Head Ninja, his Wind Style: Vacuum Sword still humming with chakra. He had run the man through before he could even draw a kunai.
Behind him, the Anbu strike team had shredded the Cloud's external defenses. With Hizashi's Byakugan acting as their radar, it had been a perfect, silent slaughter.
When Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Genzo arrived at the rendezvous point, they found a clear path to the border.
"Mission accomplished?" Danzo asked, his voice a low rasp.
"Seamlessly. I see you've been busy too," Orochimaru smirked. "Should we take these bodies with us? They seem high-ranking enough to hold decent intel."
Danzo's face darkened. Damn brat. Back in the Root, he was just a tool under my command. Now that he's Hiruzen's favorite again, he's lecturing me on field protocols?
"It's already being handled," Danzo snapped.
"Orochimaru, you'll regret your arrogance," Danzo muttered under his breath. But his body move instinctively to supervise the Anbu as they bagged the Cloud corpses and masked their tracks.
I can't let my personal feelings jeopardize the mission, Danzo reminded himself. Hiruzen is watching. I'll do my job perfectly—and then I'll report Orochimaru's 'attitude' the moment we get back.
Orochimaru watched Danzo with genuine surprise. He didn't take the bait? He's actually acting like a professional?
It seems the 'Old Man' really did put some sense into him, Orochimaru thought. I'll have to keep a closer eye on Danzo. A smart Danzo is far more dangerous than a loud one.
Suddenly, Hizashi Hyūga called out, "Wait! There's a massive chakra spike... is that a Tailed Beast Bomb?!"
The team looked back toward the heart of the Cloud Village.
Gyūki was gathering an orb of pitch-black, unstable chakra in its maw. The density was terrifying, a sphere of compressed destruction that was growing by the second.
Danzo's eyes lit up. If that goes off inside the village, the Land of Lightning is finished.
But then, a streak of yellow-white lightning cut through the darkness. A man, wreathed in a crackling aura of electricity, charged the beast with suicidal speed.
"That's the Third Raikage," Danzo whispered.
To everyone's shock, the Raikage didn't dodge or use a long-range jutsu. He thrust his hand forward, fingers extended like a spear, and punched the Tailed Beast Bomb while it was still forming.
"Is he insane?" Hizashi gasped.
"He's preventing the blast from expanding," Orochimaru analyzed, his eyes wide. "He's forcing the explosion to happen at the point of impact to save the rest of the village."
BOOM!
The night sky was vaporized into blinding white light. A shockwave of pure force slammed into the Konoha team, even miles away.
When the light faded, the Eight-Tails let out a shriek of agony. The Third Raikage was still standing, his Lightning Style Armor glowing with a blinding intensity. He lunged again, engaging the mountain-sized beast in a brutal, hand-to-hand brawl.
Man and Beast collided—flesh against ink, lightning against rage.
"What a monster," Jiraiya whispered, genuinely awed.
"That Lightning Armor... it would take a master-level Wind Style just to scratch him," Orochimaru licked his lips. "I wonder if his soul is as durable as his skin? There's always a way."
"I need to talk to Sensei about this."
Orochimaru thought of Hiruzen's "Obsidian Spear" technique. Sensei is building a similar tank-build, but he's getting older. Could he replicate the Cloud's Nintaijutsu? It might be too taxing for a man of his years, even with his rejuvenation.
The sight of the Raikage's power didn't discourage Orochimaru; it thrilled him. The Ninja World was overflowing with legends. If Konoha didn't keep evolving, they'd be crushed by the next generation of monsters.
Beside him, Danzo was silent. The Raikage's strength had served as a cold wake-up call.
Hiruzen was right. Killing the Jinchuriki wasn't enough. We need the data. We need to dissect their strength to make it our own.
"Let's move," Danzo commanded. "We have what we came for."
Ten Days Later. The Hokage's Office.
The strike team had returned in secret. The bodies of Blue B and the Cloud Head Ninja had been delivered to the Intelligence Division for the Yamanaka clan to pick apart.
Hiruzen sat at his desk, hunched over a scroll detailing the Cloud's Lightning Style Nintaijutsu. He was reading with an intensity that ignored the passage of time.
He was waiting for the final report. He wanted to see if his students had merely brought back a head, or if they had brought back a future.