Chapter 221 213 The Death of the Third Raikage

On the battlefield, two giant snakes—one cyan and one purple—ramped around like out-of-control trains, recklessly charging everywhere and easily tearing apart the formations of the Hidden Cloud ninja in their wake.

Both Qing Snake and Manda had the ability to participate in battles involving Kage-level experts, and ordinary Jonin were unable to stop them; they could almost be regarded as near-Kage-level experts with specialized abilities, less comprehensive means, but no obvious weaknesses.

On the battlefield, with this kind of strength, unless blocked by experts of the same tier or multiple Jonin-level or higher Ninja, they could practically move through unimpeded.

Leaving them unchecked would only lead to the deaths of a large number of Ninja.

And if multiple experts were gathered to intercept them, it would inevitably cause localized battlefield imbalances in multiple areas.

That was merely a slow death.

"Amaterasu!"

Pitch-black flames appeared out of thin air, attaching themselves to the huge dark-red Tailed Beast cloak.

Buruhibi let out a painful roar, decisively abandoning the ignited Chakra cloak, but immediately afterward, Uchiha Gen's purple Susanoo brandished its giant blade and slashed down overhead!

Being both Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Buruhibi was Buruhibi, not Killer Bee.

He was not a perfect Jinchūriki, and his opponent Uchiha Gen was not that Sasuke who had just awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan.

He inherently possessed formidable strength and could already skillfully use dojutsu, including Susanoo. His combat prowess ranked quite high even among all Kage-level experts.

Even though Buruhibi's strength was not weak, he hadn't reached the extent where the Third Raikage stacked a certain ability to the max, so against Uchiha Gen, he could only fall into a disadvantage.

Boom!

The Susanoo's giant blade cleaved Buruhibi along with the earth beneath his feet in two; had it not been for the Jinchūriki's tenacious vitality and recovery capability, this strike would have been enough to take his life.

Even so, he completely lost the power to resist, and could only gasp for breath under the frantic onslaught of Susanoo.

Had he not been a Jinchūriki, whose Tailed Beast cloak had strong enough defense and recovery, and who could avoid Amaterasu by shedding the Chakra cloak, anyone else would already have been in extreme peril.

Even so, it was impossible for him to spare even a sliver of energy to meddle in other battlefields.

What made the Hidden Cloud ninja even more despairing was that while Uchiha Gen was relentlessly hammering the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, he still had the spare energy to split off dozens of Shadow Clones.

Even if they were just Shadow Clones, Uchiha Gen's base strength was right there after all; ordinary Jonin encountering them would still face the danger of being killed.

With strong strength, a massive amount of Chakra, and fast recovery, one was qualified to be an army of one!

The scales of war were tilting toward Konoha's side.

Several hours later.

The clamorous battlefield finally returned to a dead silence, leaving only the cold wind sweeping across a scene of utter devastation.

This great battle finally came to an end.

With the assistance of Uchiha Gen's dozens of Shadow Clones, as well as Qing Snake and Manda, Konoha's side gained a huge advantage over the Kumogakure army.

As for the clash of high-end combat power, Karai died on the spot, slain by Orochimaru, leaving only Tutai holding the Bashosen to barely protect himself. Meanwhile, Uchiha Gen's main body manipulated a third-stage Susanoo, cooperating with two dojutsu to savagely beat the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki into submission.

Even though the Fourth Raikage A was extremely fast and had decent strength, he could do nothing to turn things around or change the situation.

As for the Third Raikage—

"Kagutsuchi!"

The Susanoo around Uchiha Gen dissipated, and he reached out to cover one eye, executing a dojutsu.

Accompanied by the rotation of the hexagram Mangekyō Sharingan pattern in his left eye, he retracted the inextinguishable Amaterasu flames from a tall, charred corpse.

That charred corpse maintained a posture of lunging forward even in death. It was none other than the Kumogakure's strongest shield, the Third Raikage.

Uchiha Gen looked at the piece of charcoal and calmly exhaled a breath.

"The strongest shield has shattered after all."

The Hidden Cloud ninja had already retreated.

Knowing that death was inevitable, and that Kumogakure's defeat in this battle was also unavoidable, the Third Raikage ordered the Fourth Raikage A, Buruhibi, and Tutai to take the remaining thousands of Kumogakure main forces and retreat at the last moment, staying behind alone to cover the rear.

He couldn't stop everyone by himself, but no one was willing to be chased down and killed by a peak Kage-level expert who was about to die yet still posed an immense threat.

Whichever Konoha top expert dared to pursue him, he would lock onto that person and attack.

Even if severely injured, no one wanted to take a Hell Stab, and Uchiha Gen was no exception.

Precisely because of this, the Third Raikage was ultimately burned to death by the flames of Amaterasu while being besieged and worn down by multiple Kage-level experts, fighting until the very last moment.

As for the price—

"Cousin Torifu."

The Akimichi Clan Head collapsed on the ground covered in injuries, weak and breathless, with a large hole in his chest.

His abdomen was ripped open and his internal organs were destroyed. Even if Uchiha Gen let him take a bite and then used Medical Ninjutsu, it couldn't be healed.

Even if Tsunade at this stage came, it would be the same.

"I am here—"

Akimichi Torifu's voice was also extremely weak, but he could still barely stand up.

Having swallowed the chili pepper pill, he, who was originally the most likely to die, did not die.

Instead, it was the Akimichi Clan Head who took a Hell Stab in order to save his close friend Nara Shikahira.

As for the Nara Clan Head himself, he had long since collapsed on the ground due to severe injuries.

Right now, the Akimichi Clan Head was entrusting clan affairs to Akimichi Torifu, who was a clan relative and friend.

"I understand. Leave the clan's affairs to me."

Akimichi Torifu knelt on one knee, lowering his head as he spoke.

Their clan's Multi-Size Secret Technique required burning fat to burst forth with Chakra, so every clan member would raise themselves to be very fat to accumulate fat.

The chili pepper pill just now excessively overdrawn him, causing him to use up more than ninety percent of the Chakra accumulated in his body. Had Orochimaru not administered a special Military Rations Pill after the battle ended and used Yang Release to restore the drained vitality, he probably would have died already.

Even so, Akimichi Torifu only managed to save his life; he still had quite a few injuries on his body and had shrunk from his previous stout, robust fatness into skin and bones.

"Lord Danzo! Your arm!"

An injured Root Ninja handed over the arm that Danzo had had cut off by the Fourth Raikage A's hand blade.

Danzo hesitated slightly, then turned around to look at Uchiha Gen.

He had secretly sabotaged Uchiha Gen once before.

However, in his heart, Uchiha Gen was a "successor to the Will of Fire". If he could use Konoha's greater cause as a pretext to pressure him, he wouldn't have to worry about him refusing to wholeheartedly treat him.

After all, an honorable person could be taken advantage of by playing on their principles.

However, to his surprise, Uchiha Gen actually walked up to that Root Ninja a step ahead, took the severed arm, examined it, and then shook his head repeatedly.