Chapter 102: An Astonishing Record, Shocking the Hidden Cloud Village!

"Lord Dodai, one of the shinobi responsible for escorting supplies from the front lines has returned."

A Hidden Cloud Anbu came to report.

Dodai finally breathed a sigh of relief, but his brows soon furrowed again.

Why was it the shinobi responsible for escorting supplies who had returned?

Shouldn’t there have been someone specifically responsible for communication and reporting?

Very soon.

Dodai met the shinobi who had been carrying out the escort mission.

After listening to him speak in a panicked and disorganized manner, Dodai was completely dumbfounded.

Killer B had been captured?

The Raikage had been crippled?

The expeditionary force had been completely wiped out by a Konoha shinobi controlling Killer B?

How was that possible?!

With the Raikage and Killer B—the A-B Combo—leading so many elite Hidden Cloud shinobi, how could they possibly have been defeated by Konoha so easily?

No.

It wasn’t even a defeat.

They had been completely annihilated!

"What nonsense are you talking about? Lord Killer B is a Perfect Jinchūriki! How could anyone possibly control him? And Lord Raikage was crippled by someone? How could that be possible?!"

A Hidden Cloud Anbu angrily rebuked him.

The Hidden Cloud shinobi who had barely managed to escape and return was still completely panicked, looking like someone who had narrowly escaped death.

"It’s true!"

"I don’t know how that Konoha shinobi did it, but he put some strange golden armor around the Eight-Tails."

"Our people were completely powerless against him. Even when they tried to flee, they were blown to pieces by an attack similar to a Tailed Beast Bomb!"

Recalling the Eight-Tails wrapped in golden armor that he had seen from afar, he still felt a lingering fear.

Boom!

Suddenly, an enormous tremor shook the entire area!

The buildings throughout the Hidden Cloud Village trembled violently!

The enormous body of the Eight-Tails suddenly appeared inside the Hidden Cloud Village, right beside the Raikage Building!

"What happened?!"

Dodai hurried to the window of the Raikage Building to look outside.

Why had the Eight-Tails suddenly appeared inside the village?

Could it be...

Could everything the shinobi had just reported actually be true?

Had Killer B really been captured and controlled by a Konoha shinobi?

"Whoever has authority to speak for the Hidden Cloud, come out and answer me!"

Standing atop the Eight-Tails’ head, Reiji held a corpse in one hand and spoke coldly.

"Lord Raikage..."

Dodai’s eyes widened.

The corpse Reiji was holding was none other than the Fourth Raikage’s corpse!

Both arms had been severed, and his entire body was covered in horrifying wounds.

It looked as though he had suffered some inhuman torture before his death.

"You bastard! You actually killed Lord Raikage!"

The Hidden Cloud Anbu beside Dodai couldn’t contain his rage after his brief shock and roared.

He hadn’t believed the earlier report that the Raikage had been crippled.

But now that he was directly looking at the Raikage’s corpse, he had no choice but to believe it.

Damn Konoha shinobi!

They had actually killed their Raikage!

Reiji’s brows furrowed.

He opened his Sharingan and, from his position high above them, released a genjutsu.

Instantly!

The Hidden Cloud Anbu who had just shouted froze.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, he pulled out a kunai and slit his own throat.

Blood sprayed into the air as his corpse collapsed to the ground.

"Looks like some people still don’t understand the situation."

"Can’t you people be a little more obedient?"

"If I wanted to, I could flatten your entire village right now!"

Reiji sneered.

"Please, wait! Sir, please calm down!"

Dodai hurriedly spoke up to stop him, cold sweat running down his forehead.

From such a great distance, a single genjutsu had instantly controlled an elite Anbu and forced him to kill himself!

That level of genjutsu, combined with those Sharingan...

There was no doubt.

This was definitely Uchiha Reiji, the one who had killed Sarutobi Hiruzen!

But!

Even though the Uchiha were renowned for their genjutsu, there was no reason they should have been able to control a Perfect Jinchūriki.

How had he done it?!

"I am Dodai, the Raikage’s aide of the Hidden Cloud Village. What is your purpose in coming to the Hidden Cloud Village this time?"

Dodai desperately suppressed his anger and humiliation as he spoke.

There was no other choice.

Reiji had control over the Eight-Tails.

If he went on a rampage inside the village, the Hidden Cloud Village could truly be destroyed!

Even their Raikage had already been killed!

"I only came to inform you of something."

Standing atop the Eight-Tails, Reiji looked down at the people below.

"Your Raikage has been killed, and all the Hidden Cloud shinobi who invaded the Land of Fire have also been eliminated."

"As for the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Killer B, he is now my summoning beast."

His voice spread from his elevated position.

From all directions, Hidden Cloud shinobi and villagers who had noticed the disturbance also heard what he said.

"Lord Raikage was actually killed?!"

"The expeditionary force... was completely wiped out?!"

"Damn it! The Eight-Tails has been controlled by him!"

Seeing the Eight-Tails obediently standing beneath Reiji’s feet, many Hidden Cloud shinobi and villagers were thrown into a panic.

The Eight-Tails had gone berserk in the past.

But back then, the Raikage had been able to suppress it!

Now the Raikage’s corpse was being held in the enemy’s hand!

If Reiji controlled the Eight-Tails and destroyed the Hidden Cloud Village, who could possibly stop him?

"What are your intentions, sir?"

Dodai’s heart sank.

It was actually true!

The Hidden Cloud shinobi who had gone to war really had been completely annihilated!

Even the A-B Combo of the Raikage and Killer B had been reduced to one dead and one becoming a so-called "summoning beast"!

All of this combined had dealt an enormous blow to the Hidden Cloud Village!

The losses the Hidden Cloud had suffered this time were enough to offset all the losses from the Third Great Ninja War!

"Don’t worry. I have no intention of destroying the Hidden Cloud Village right now."

Reiji smiled and swept his gaze around.

"After all, if I destroy the Hidden Cloud Village, how will you have the money to compensate us?"

"After this, have the Hidden Cloud send someone to Konoha to negotiate peace and prepare your compensation."

"As for what kind of compensation you are willing to offer, you can decide that yourselves."

For the time being, he had no interest in annexing the Hidden Cloud Village.

If he really annexed the Hidden Cloud, what would happen to all the people of the Hidden Cloud?

Would he move them all to Konoha?

That would only create another pile of trouble!

"Also, to prevent anyone in the Hidden Cloud from refusing to accept reality and trying to resist, I’ll give you a little warning."

As Reiji spoke, he gave an order to the Eight-Tails beneath him.

"Fire a Tailed Beast Bomb. It doesn’t need to be too large. Just destroy the Raikage Building."

The Eight-Tails immediately opened its enormous mouth.

A black sphere of chakra rapidly condensed.

"Not good!"

Dodai’s heart immediately leaped into his throat.

He wanted to stop Reiji, but it was already too late.

He could only shout a warning to the people inside the Raikage Building before quickly jumping out of the window himself!

Boom!

A tremendous torrent of chakra erupted!

The Raikage Building, along with the mountain beneath it, was directly destroyed by the Tailed Beast Bomb!

"This is merely a welcoming gift."

"If the sincerity shown by the Hidden Cloud isn’t enough, I have plenty more gifts like this."

A smile remained on Reiji’s lips as he spoke.

Then, without paying any further attention to the people of the Hidden Cloud Village, he directly used the Flying Thunder God Technique and left with the Eight-Tails.

Dodai’s mind was in a daze as he stared at the vanished Raikage Building.

How had the Hidden Cloud suddenly fallen into such a state?

Not long ago, hadn’t they still been the second-strongest shinobi village in the entire shinobi world, surpassed only by Konoha?

Yet now, their enemy had come straight to their doorstep, and they didn’t even dare to do anything.

They could even only feel fortunate that the enemy hadn’t directly destroyed the Hidden Cloud Village.

"...Next, we’ll have to send someone to Konoha to negotiate peace and offer sufficient compensation."

Dodai’s face was filled with defeat.

Back then, they had wanted to take advantage of the situation to seize the Byakugan.

A few years ago...

This time, however, their backbone had truly been broken.

They had been forced to seek peace.

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