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Just as Aoki Yoru and his team were fighting Killer Bee, the battle between Kakashi and the Raikage on the main battlefield also reached a fever pitch.
Two bolts of lightning collided fiercely across the battlefield, and the shockwaves from their fight sent surrounding Ninjas flying, with some unlucky ones being caught in the blast and torn to shreds.
At this moment, Kakashi struggled to keep his left eye open, panting heavily as he barely managed to keep up with the Raikage's pace.
"Is this the end?" Kakashi thought helplessly, his Chakra reserves already bottoming out.
Sensing that Kakashi's speed was dropping, the Raikage smiled.
"Is that all? To have fought me for this long, you have enough to be proud of, Kakashi Hatake."
As he spoke, the muscles in his arms bulged, veins popping, and his Chakra surged as he struck viciously toward Kakashi's chest.
"I can't block it." His Chakra was no longer sufficient to reinforce his Lightning Style: Lightning Armor to provide effective protection.
"Crack!"
The armor on his body was shattered, and the blow slammed heavily into his chest.
"Pfft—" Kakashi spat out blood and flew backward, snapping several trees before crashing hard onto the ground.
"Kakashi!" The Ninjas on the battlefield were stunned by this sudden turn of events.
Ino–Shika–Chō, Asuma Sarutobi, and others saw this and their attacks instantly became fierce as they tried to break away from their opponents to provide support.
But their opponents would not let them succeed and immediately entangled them.
As long as they killed Kakashi, the enemy's morale would surely plummet and their military spirit would collapse; combined with the now completely liberated Raikage, the enemy would have no power left to resist!
At this moment, the Raikage walked slowly toward Kakashi, filled with killing intent.
"It ends here. Now go down and join my friend in the afterlife."
Lying on the ground, Kakashi struggled to lift his head, watching the Raikage approach, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
Opening his weary left eye, the scarlet Sharingan tomoe spun and twisted rapidly, instantly transforming into a Mangekyo Sharingan.
This was something he discovered after being taken down by a single glance from Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan. Realizing that the three-tomoe Sharingan was not the end, he delved deeper into his own Sharingan and discovered that he, too, had awakened the Mangekyo.
His pupils constricted, his gaze locked tightly onto the approaching Raikage. He exerted his ocular power without reservation, squeezing out his remaining Chakra, and blood began to flow from his eye socket—
"Kamui!"
The Raikage, who was preparing to deliver the killing blow, realized that the space where he stood suddenly twisted, collapsed, and twisted violently, with black cracks in the void spreading wildly.
Feeling a fatal threat, the Raikage spun his Chakra wildly throughout his body, pouring out all his physical Chakra to fiercely resist the vortex.
"Pfft—" A chunk of flesh from the Raikage's left arm vanished into thin air, and blood poured out.
In that critical moment, the Raikage forcibly yanked himself out of the distorted space, with only his arm being grazed by it.
"Did I fail?" Watching his final trump card only cause his opponent to lose a chunk of flesh, Kakashi smiled with relief.
Lying helplessly on the ground, his Chakra was exhausted, and his life was nearing its end.
Looking at the gloomy sky, memories of the first half of his life flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
"Father, Teacher, Obito, Rin… I'm coming to join you."
Looking at the completely incapacitated Kakashi, the Raikage sneered and prepared to step forward to finish him off.
"Roar—" A massive sound echoed across the battlefield, and people turned to look in the direction of the noise.
In the distance, a colossal, ink-blue octopus beast was roaring, its Eight-Tails thrashing wildly in the air.
"Bee!" The Raikage clutched his head with both hands, his face full of disbelief. "That bastard actually dared to sneak out. I won't let him get away with this."
"Tutai, go watch over Bee. Don't let anything happen to him."
Tutai, who was dodging Nara Shikaku's shadows, heard this and immediately put distance between them, taking his trusted subordinates and rushing toward the Eight-Tails.
"Kosuke, you take the Third Squad and go check it out as well."
Homura Mitokado looked troubled. The Eight-Tails had appeared right next to the camp; he hoped those little ones wouldn't get into trouble.
Maruboshi Kosuke nodded upon hearing this and led his men in pursuit of Tutai.
At this moment, on the edge of the battlefield, Aoki Yoru's shadow clone looked at the dying Kakashi, gritted his teeth, and opened a sealing scroll, revealing White Zetsu cells fused with Natural Energy.
This was his latest research achievement, designed to recover from fatal injuries and allow the body to accept Natural Energy.
Although the possibility of being discovered by Black Zetsu while wrapped in Natural Energy was extremely small, what if? Any trace that defied logic would be heavily investigated by Black Zetsu, which is why he had never dared to use it.
Now he couldn't care about that anymore. If he was discovered, he could only pray that Obito's feelings for Kakashi were deep enough.
Taking advantage of everyone's attention being drawn by the sudden appearance of the Eight-Tails, Aoki Yoru immediately channeled his mental energy, carefully wrapping a mass of warm cellular energy and slowly sending it into Kakashi's wound.
Afterward, the clone retreated quietly to the edge of the battlefield. He had done all he could; the rest would depend on Kakashi's own fate.
At this time, Kakashi was still reminiscing about the little moments with his companions, the roar of battle blurred in his ears, while his consciousness sank bit by bit.
"Obito, Rin… I'm coming to join you."
Just then, a warm current flowed through his limbs and bones, spreading out from the wound.
His organs, which were on the verge of collapse, began to recover slowly under the guidance of this power, and even his broken ribs began to knit and regrow amidst a tingling, aching sensation.
At this moment, Kakashi's mind suddenly and quietly perceived his surroundings—the flow of the wind, the breathing of the plants, the pulse deep within the earth, and tiny, almost invisible specks of light in the air, like countless fragments of silver radiance, slowly wrapping around his skin.
By now, the Raikage had recovered from the surprise of the Eight-Tails' appearance and looked toward Kakashi, who was lying on the ground.
"Kakashi, I admit you are strong, and those strange techniques of yours are hard to defend against. I won't give you another chance."
The Raikage leaped into mid-air, lightning surging violently across his body, his right leg wrapped in raging Lightning Release as he slammed downward toward Kakashi.
"Lightning Straight: Heavy Thunder Axe"
"Boom—" The ground instantly crumbled, cobweb-like cracks exploded outwards, and rocks and soil were sent flying into the sky by the violent shockwave.
At this moment, the Raikage frowned; he didn't feel the sensation of kicking a human body.
As the dust settled, a huge crater appeared on the ground, with cracks spreading from the center to the surroundings.
"He actually dodged it."
The Raikage turned to look, his brows furrowing tightly. The violent fighting spirit on his face instantly froze, replaced by an expression of astonishment and shock.
"What on earth happened?"
He saw that Kakashi, who had just suffered fatal injuries, had his Chakra completely exhausted, and could barely even turn over, had not only dodged the fatal blow but his wounds were also healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"No matter what happened to you, you have to die."
Then, Chakra flashed wildly all over his body as he threw a punch toward him. To prevent any accidents, he put his full strength into this blow.
Just as the fist was about to strike—Kakashi vanished before his eyes.
"Bang—" The Raikage's heavy, powerful punch missed completely, slamming hard into empty air, the violent force of the punch blasting out a shockwave.
Seeing that Kakashi had instantly vanished before his eyes, his face was instantly filled with astonishment and disbelief as he slowly turned his head to look.
At this moment, two symmetrical, ink-black Sage Mode markings slowly appeared between Kakashi's eyebrows and around his eyes.