Chapter 183: The Fourth Hokage Takes to the Battlefield
Minato's chest tightened, a cold knot of dread forming heavily in his stomach. Why did his master's words sound so ominously like a final farewell?
"I'll be leaving in a moment," Stelle said, her voice carrying a practiced, melancholic weight. "Do not slack off in your training. If you're interested in the notes and scrolls in my room, feel free to study them. I'm leaving them all to you anyway. Oh, and keep the emergency funds in the lockbox safe. Do not let Kurama find that money. No matter how much is in there, that stupid fox could blow through it all in a week on gambling and snacks."
Minato's panic spiked. Stelle turned on her heel, her white Hokage haori billowing behind her, and walked away without a shred of hesitation.
"Master...!" Minato chased after her, his sandals slapping frantically against the wooden floorboards.
Stelle paused, glancing over her shoulder. Minato had forced his expression into a mask of control, but the raw, red rims of his eyes betrayed his terror.
Taking the blonde prodigy as a disciple had been a complete accident, but since she had him, she might as well play the tragic mentor role to the hilt. It was free emotional damage, after all.
"Don't be afraid, Minato," Stelle murmured, her tone sickeningly gentle. "Everyone is bleeding on the front lines to protect our home. As the Hokage, it is my absolute duty to stand at the vanguard and fight for its protection."
"But... your injuries," Minato choked out, his fists trembling at his sides. "They haven't healed."
He knew the logic, of course. If she were at full strength, he wouldn't be this terrified. But she had only been discharged from the hospital two days ago. The chief medical ninja had practically begged him to ensure she took her medication, stressing that her internal chakra network was still dangerously fragile.
"It's just a minor scratch. I'll be fine," Stelle lied smoothly, offering a soft, reassuring smile that only made Minato feel worse.
"Where the leaves of Konoha dance, the fire shall burn eternal," she quoted, her voice echoing with manufactured reverence. "The shadow of the fire will illuminate the village, allowing new leaves to sprout. I must go to the battlefield to shield young sprouts like you. This is the burden of the Hokage. One day, you will understand."
...
Meanwhile, on the Land of Lightning battlefield, the fighting over the past forty-eight hours had been unexpectedly smooth.
In the brutal meat-grinder between Konoha and Kumogakure, Konoha held a suffocating advantage. The vanguard had carved a bloody path straight through the border, pushing steadily into enemy territory. They had handled a treacherous canyon and spilled out onto a vast, rocky plain.
If they pushed just a little further past this plain and crossed through the Cloud Thunder Gorge, they would be able to see the massive crater-lake left behind by the legendary clash between the First and Second Hokage against the World Destroyer.
Deep in the Konoha encampment, Kagami rested against a boulder. Ever since returning to the village and being injected with the Ocular Power Soothing Agent, the agonizing, burning strain in his eyes had diminished to a dull ache.
More than just soothing his Mangekyo Sharingan, the mysterious serum had fundamentally altered his physiology. His chakra pathways felt wider, his reflexes were razor-sharp, and his spiritual energy thrummed with newfound vitality. It was as if his very cells had undergone a qualitative evolution.
'Is this serum truly this miraculous?' Kagami wondered, turning a spare glass vial between his calloused fingers. It defied all medical logic. A single dose had eradicated years of Uchiha genetic deterioration.
Once this bloody war concluded, he swore he would corner the Senju Clan Leader and demand to know exactly how this miracle drug had been synthesized.
The brief respite shattered after nightfall.
Kumogakure, having feigned a retreat, violently reversed their momentum under the cover of darkness. The Third Raikage, abandoning his previous skirmish tactics, personally took the field alongside Blue B and a massive battalion of elite Cloud shinobi.
The earth quaked. Blue B, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, instantly tapped into his Tailed Beast Mode. Dark red chakra bubbled and expanded, forming a grotesque, colossal beast that unhinged its jaw. A sphere of hyper-dense, black-and-purple chakra—a Tailed Beast Ball—condensed in seconds and fired straight toward the heart of the Konoha formation.
Kagami's eyes spun into the complex pinwheels of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Emerald-green chakra erupted from his body, crystallizing into the towering, skeletal ribs and armored arms of his Susanoo. The ethereal giant swung its massive arm, batting the apocalyptic sphere off its trajectory and sending it detonating harmlessly into the distant mountains.
The battlefield instantly descended into pure chaos. Elites from every major Konoha clan clashed with the Cloud vanguard. Torifu Akimichi expanded his body to the size of a small hill, crushing enemies underfoot, while Might Duy became a blur of kinetic violence at the very front.
Deafening explosions, the sharp screech of kunai against steel, and the blinding flashes of elemental ninjutsu tore through the night sky.
Strangely, the Third Raikage refused to engage Kagami directly. Cloaked in his crackling Lightning Release Chakra Mode, the massive man darted around the periphery, using his blinding speed to weave past the Susanoo's devastating, wide-arc swings.
Deep within the Kumogakure backline, the Eight-Tails reared its ugly head again. Another Tailed Beast Ball, even larger and more unstable than the first, formed at its maw. With a thunderous roar, it launched the sphere toward a dense cluster of Konoha shinobi.
Before Kagami could pivot to intercept, the air pressure dropped.
While still in mid-air, the Tailed Beast Ball's trajectory violently warped. It jerked upward, shooting straight into the stratosphere before detonating in a blinding, artificial sun that turned night into day.
In the lingering glare, specks of brilliant purple light materialized. They flickered and danced across the blood-soaked earth like falling stars, moving at a speed that defied human comprehension.
A singular flash of purple lightning struck the dead center of the Kumogakure ranks.
"Sealing Art: Spirit Sealing Array!"
A geometric matrix of pale golden light slammed into the colossal form of the Eight-Tails. The golden runes spun furiously, acting like a spiritual vice. They shrank with violent force, crushing the dark red chakra cloak and enveloping the beast entirely.
"Impossible! So fast!" The Third Raikage's eyes widened in horror. Realizing the catastrophic danger, he abandoned his skirmish and pivoted.
"Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite!"
Focusing all his lightning chakra into a single, piercing point on his index finger, the Raikage tore through the air, aiming straight for the figure bathed in purple flames.
He struck nothing but empty air.
By the time his devastating thrust pierced the space, Stelle had already vanished via the Body Flicker Technique, leaving behind only a fading afterimage and the scent of ozone.
In the span of a single breath, the golden sealing chains completely devoured the Eight-Tails' chakra. The massive beast dissolved, violently sucked back into Blue B's body. The Jinchuriki collapsed to his knees, gasping for air as the last of the golden runes branded themselves into his skin and faded.
"Blue B! What's your status?!" the Raikage bellowed, skidding to a halt beside him.
Blue B stared at his trembling hands, his voice cracking with absolute terror. "My chakra... the Eight-Tails... it's completely locked away. I can't mold a single drop of ninjutsu!"
The Third Raikage froze, a cold sweat breaking out across his neck. In a single, fleeting exchange, their ultimate weapon had been completely neutralized, reduced to dead weight. The Fourth Hokage was just as terrifying as the rumors claimed.
"Fire the signal!" the Raikage roared toward his rearguard.
Whoosh—BANG!
A brilliant crimson flare shot into the sky, exploding into a shower of sparks. It wasn't a retreat signal; it was a coordinated message to someone hidden in the dark.
Back on the Konoha side, the purple blur finally came to a halt atop a jagged rock spire.
The smoke cleared, revealing a slender figure draped in a pristine white haori. The battlefield fell dead silent for a fraction of a second before erupting into deafening cheers.
"It's the Fourth Hokage! Lord Hokage is here!"
Morale skyrocketed instantly. With the Fourth Hokage taking the field, the outcome of this meat-grinder was practically guaranteed. The Konoha shinobi, previously conserving their chakra for a long war of attrition, suddenly went feral. They unleashed their most destructive hidden techniques, diving into the Kumogakure ranks like starved wolves.
"Kagami. Are you holding up?" Stelle asked, dropping lightly beside the towering emerald Susanoo, her gaze flicking critically toward his eyes.
"I'm fine," Kagami replied, dismissing his Susanoo to conserve energy. He frowned, deeply confused. "Why are you here? As the Hokage, you should have sent a transmission to the command tent before deploying to the absolute front."
Stelle didn't bother answering. Her sharp eyes casually swept the dark treeline, locking onto a specific, shadowy crevice where a certain parasitic entity—Black Zetsu—was currently lurking.
A faint, mocking smirk tugged at her lips.
"Kagami," Stelle ordered, her voice brooking no argument. "Sound the retreat. Pull everyone back immediately."
"Understood!"
Kagami didn't hesitate. He didn't ask why they were abandoning a total rout. He simply turned to the Uchiha adjutants beside him and barked the order.
A shrill whistle pierced the air, followed by the official Konoha retreat flare.
The frontline shinobi, high on adrenaline and ready to slaughter, stumbled in confusion. They had the ultimate advantage! The enemy Jinchuriki was crippled, and their Hokage had arrived. With the Hokage and Lord Kagami pinning down the heavy hitters, they could have secured a flawless victory. Why fall back now?
But military discipline reigned supreme. Gritting their teeth, the Konoha forces unleashed a final, suppressive volley of fire and wind ninjutsu before disengaging, melting back into the shadows like a receding tide.
The bulk of this army consisted of the Uchiha Clan's finest, their blood-red Sharingan leaving trails of crimson light in the pitch-black night. Among the retreating figures, Stelle easily spotted Fugaku Uchiha, his 'Wicked Eye' reputation already preceding him in this brutal theater of war.
Within minutes, the Konoha forces had pulled back to a heavily fortified, temporary stronghold nestled at the mouth of a massive gorge.
Stelle stood atop the barricades, analyzing the topography.
It was glaringly obvious why every major conflict in the Land of Lightning devolved into a strategic nightmare. The terrain was a labyrinth of deep canyons and sheer cliffs. An army could easily march into a valley, only to find themselves perfectly boxed in.
Right now, Konoha's forces were occupying an open basin. The Kumogakure army was pressing in from the front, while a narrow, treacherous canyon loomed directly behind them.
If an enemy force managed to flank them through that rear canyon, Konoha would be trapped like dumplings in a boiling pot.
Of course, with the sheer concentration of Uchiha elites present, pulling off such an encirclement would require an enemy force several times their size. But Stelle knew exactly what kind of script was being written in the shadows.
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