At the same time, on the border of the Land of Fire, the Third Raikage fled toward the Land of Lightning with fewer than a hundred survivors.
His face was dark enough to drip ink.
This raid had failed so completely it was humiliating.
To think he'd been toyed with by a shadow clone…
It was his own carelessness—otherwise Kazuki never would've gotten an opening.
And worst of all—
Gyūki was still in Konoha.
"Konoha… I'll be back," the Third Raikage growled through clenched teeth.
"Give me another chance to face Kazuki… and I'll tear him apart!"
Just then, a Cloud ninja behind him screamed, "Raikage-sama!"
"Huh?"
The Third Raikage looked up—
and froze.
Someone stood directly in his path.
…A young man with calm eyes.
Kazuki.
"Kazuki!"
The Third Raikage's rage detonated. Without a word, lightning exploded across his body, hair lifting as if charged by the sky itself.
The Cloud survivors instantly scattered, leaving a wide open space.
Kazuki watched him approach with a faint smile.
"Lightning Release: Black Lightning!"
A leopard-shaped bolt of black electricity surged out—locking onto Kazuki and branching outward, meant to seize the body and disrupt movement.
Kazuki vanished.
Flying Thunder God.
The black lightning tore through empty air.
Kazuki reappeared behind the Third Raikage.
The Third Raikage didn't hesitate.
"Hell Stab: Four-Finger Assault!"
Chakra condensed into four fingers, piercing power sharpened to the extreme—his famed "strongest spear."
Kazuki snapped seals.
"Wood Release: Wood Ingot Wall!"
Wooden pillars arched up like a shield—
—and the Hell Stab punched straight through, carving clean holes through the defense.
Kazuki's expression didn't change.
His hand erupted with violent lightning.
"Chidori!"
BOOM—!!
The clash detonated like a cannon.
The earth buckled, then ripped upward, rubble and stone blasting into the air like shrapnel.
The spectators' faces were sliced by flying gravel, blood spurting.
Cloud shinobi stared, eyes bulging.
This was Kazuki's real body.
And he was trading blows with the Third Raikage head-on.
"So strong…" someone whispered, voice trembling.
The Third Raikage's eyes blazed.
"You're strong—again!"
He surged forward.
"Lariat!"
Lightning chakra formed a roaring armor around his arm as he slammed in—straight-line brutality at absurd speed, pushing beyond what looked human.
Kazuki narrowed his eyes and shifted techniques—
"Water Release: Water Arm Technique!"
A secret technique of the Hōzuki—compressing water through the arm into a cutting force that could split iron and stone.
The Third Raikage's Lariat crashed into it.
Kazuki's body snapped backward, lightning and compressed water colliding and exploding outward—
and for a moment it looked like the Third Raikage had won clean.
Cloud shinobi erupted into cheers.
"RAIKAGE-SAMA—!!"
But Kazuki burst into smoke.
A shadow clone.
The cheering strangled itself mid-breath.
The Third Raikage didn't smile.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
His right hand trembled faintly.
Even though he'd "won," he'd taken damage… from a clone.
A cold unease spread in his chest.
This kid was too strong.
Terrifyingly strong.
"Move—now," the Third Raikage barked.
If he didn't get away, more shadow clones would appear, and he might truly be pinned down.
He didn't know what was happening back at the meeting… or with A and B.
But something in him said—
Something is wrong.
As the shadow clone dispersed, everything it saw and learned flowed back to Kazuki.
[Lightning Release: Chidori] rose to Lv.5 in an instant.
Kazuki's eyes sharpened.
So the fastest way to level techniques really was live combat.
The stronger the opponent, the faster the growth.
Minato leaned forward, eyes hungry.
"Where is he?!"
Minato was done being the pack mule this trip. Kazuki had eaten all the spotlight—at minimum, Minato wanted one bite of the leftovers.
"In—"
Kazuki started to answer—
when a distant BOOM shook the air, followed by deep, beastlike roars.
Kushina and Mikoto went pale.
Kazuki's expression dropped.
He formed seals, refined chakra, and expanded his senses.
In an instant, he felt it—
Three massive chakra signatures inside Konoha.
Each one more terrifying than the last.
Minato's face changed. "Something happened in the village?!"
The system chimed again inside Kazuki's mind.
[Ding. Based on the host's current situation, three choices are available!]
[Option 1: Ignore Konoha's crisis and kill into Kumogakure.Reward: S-rank Character Card — Second Raikage (A)]
[Option 2: Take advantage of Kirigakure's weakness and seize the Hidden Mist.Reward: S-rank Character Card — Mifune]
[Option 3: Return at full speed and rescue Uzumaki Mito.Reward: S-rank Character Card — Uchiha Itachi (ANBU)]
Kazuki didn't hesitate.
Rescue Mito-sama.
That option existing at all meant Konoha was in real danger.
And Mito was in danger.
He didn't need a second thought.
"Back to the village—now!"
Kazuki took off at full speed, vanishing in a blur.
"Sensei, wait for me!" Obito shouted, still hauling a shinobi corpse.
Kazuki glanced back once. "You're not fast enough. Take your time."
And he disappeared from Obito and Kakashi's sight.
"Ugh! Sensei's the worst!" Obito snapped, instantly convincing himself this was "training."
In reality, Kazuki was absolutely using them as porters.
As he flew, Kazuki checked the S-rank card he'd just received:
Uchiha Itachi (ANBU): Awakened the Sharingan at eight, lived through endless tragedy. Beyond genjutsu and dōjutsu, his taijutsu and ninjutsu were also exceptional. His view of life and death was forged in brutality.
Quote listed beneath:
"People live bound by what they accept as correct and true… that's what they call reality."
Small note below:
Collect Itachi (Massacre Night) and Itachi (Akatsuki) and fuse all three to form SSS-rank Card — Itachi (Susanoo).
Kazuki's eyes widened.
"Damn… first time I've seen upgradeable cards."
Three S-rank Itachis into an SSS?
That was ridiculous.
He burst out of the Forest of Death—
and Konoha came into view.
Kazuki's expression turned ugly.
A gigantic Demonic Statue of the Outer Path stood over the village, towering higher than the outer walls.
The center of Konoha was flattened.
And in front of the statue's maw—
Matatabi and Kurama were being dragged by thick chakra chains.
The moment Kazuki saw the statue, he knew who it was.
Uchiha Madara.
"Even Kurama got ripped out… then Mito-sama…"
Kushina, sprinting behind him, saw Kurama and went bone-white.
"Mito-sama… she has to be okay!"
Konoha burned.
Civilians were already evacuating, flooding out of the gates.
The clans didn't dare approach.
Anyone who got close earlier had died.
Hiruzen was still the strongest on the field—but he wasn't "fine."
He was battered, both arms damaged, gritting his teeth through seals with sheer will.
"Five Style Combo: Massive Bullet Barrage!"
"It's useless."
Madara sneered—and fired a Tailed Beast Bomb.
A single blast shattered Hiruzen's strongest technique.
Then a massive surge of lightning from the statue's back tore into Hiruzen.
"Gah—!"
Hiruzen flew backward and slammed into the ground, body scorched.
Medical ninja rushed in.
"Hokage-sama!"
Madara didn't even bother finishing him. He looked down at Hiruzen like a disappointment.
"The Hokage of this era isn't worthy of the name."
"You're nowhere near him."
"The one whose power rivaled a tailed beast… the one who could erase everything with a single strike."
Even the Uchiha were stunned.
That man…
Was he really—
Uchiha Shisui stepped forward, shaken.
"Are you… really Madara-sama?!"
Madara's gaze slid to him.
"An Uchiha brat. What's your name?"
"Uchiha Shisui…"
Madara smiled. "So you're the clan head now?"
"Do you want to be Hokage?"
Shisui's heart hammered.
"K-Konoha's Hokage…?"
"Kill that old man," Madara said casually, nodding toward Hiruzen. "And the seat is yours."
"T-That… no. I can't."
He hesitated—one second.
That was all it took.
A black rod-like strike from the statue smashed down—
and Shisui was turned into a pulp.
"Shisui!"
The Uchiha went white with terror and stumbled back.
Madara's smile was cold.
The Uchiha were still as stupid as ever.
Forty years ago, he'd already given up on them.
They weren't worth saving.
At that moment—
Kazuki entered the village.
The instant Kazuki appeared at Konoha's gate, Madara saw him too.
"Different face," Madara murmured, eyes narrowing.
"But that feeling… there's no mistake."
"Hashirama."
Kazuki ignored him and rushed straight to Uzumaki Mito.
Mito's breathing was barely there.
Tsunade's eyes were red—she'd been treating nonstop, with no effect.
"I've got her," Kazuki said.
Tsunade immediately moved aside without question.
Kazuki pressed his palm down.
"Mystical Palm Technique!"
But the chakra sank into Mito like water into sand—no response.
Kazuki looked up.
Kurama was almost entirely inside the statue's mouth.
A jinchūriki dies when the tailed beast is extracted.
Unless—
In the stories, Naruto survived because chakra was reinjected.
Killer B survived because he had leftover chakra.
It had to be tailed beast chakra.
The system confirmed.
[Ding. The host's assumption is correct. Three choices are available!]
[Option 1: Increase Mystical Palm output.Reward: Mito survives but becomes vegetative.]
[Option 2: Use blood infusion to boost Mystical Palm.Reward: Mito survives but has one day left.]
[Option 3: Inject Nine-Tails chakra into Mito, then use Mystical Palm.Reward: Mito survives and retains her lifespan.]
"Do I even need to think?"
Kazuki formed seals.
A massive wood dragon erupted and shot into the sky, biting down on Kurama.
Madara laughed. "Only now you want to act? Too late."
But Kazuki wasn't aiming for Madara.
He was aiming for Kurama.
The wood dragon clamped onto one of Kurama's tails—
and tore it off.
Kurama screamed, the sound splitting the air.
Most of its body was already inside the statue.
The statue immediately fired a Tailed Beast Bomb.
"Wood Release: Wooden Dome Wall!"
A layered wooden barrier erupted up.
BOOM—!!
The barrier cracked—held—then the bomb dispersed.
Kazuki grabbed a dense clump of Kurama's chakra from the torn tail—
and shoved it into Mito.
Then his palm dropped again.
"Mystical Palm Technique!"
Mito's eyes fluttered.
Slowly… she opened them.
Tsunade's face broke.
"Grandma!"
"Mito-sama—leave the rest to Tsunade-hime," Kazuki said, standing.
He turned.
Hands sealing.
And in an instant—
Kazuki entered Sage Mode.
Red markings spread around his eyes.
A red circle formed on his forehead.
His pupils sharpened into golden slits.
Madara had already absorbed the Demonic Statue's power into himself.
A pseudo–Ten-Tails jinchūriki.
Not complete—only partial absorption.
But even so, Madara's body visibly rejuvenated—gray hair darkening, old flesh tightening into brutal strength.
Two black Truth-Seeking Orbs floated behind him.
Incomplete.
Half-formed.
But terrifying.
Kazuki felt pressure like he'd never felt before.
Even incomplete, this "pseudo Six Paths Madara" was the most dangerous enemy Kazuki had ever faced.
Madara smiled, savoring it.
"Finally… I can fight at full strength."
"Only this body gives me that boiling feeling."
"For the first time since Hashirama…"
"My blood is hot again."
"Susanoo."
A massive blue chakra skeleton rose from the ground.