Chapter 18: AB Combo to the Battlefield
Since the Battle of Kikyo Pass in Konoha Year 50, the Third Shinobi World War had effectively ended.
Over a decade separated the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars.
But now, only a short three years after the Third War, the clouds of war once again loomed over the ninja world.
Never mind the small nations, even the Five Great Nations hadn't had a chance to catch their breath.
The Daimyō of the great nations and the leaders of the ninja villages all felt their hearts pound upon receiving intelligence from their spies.
However, once they understood the cause of the incident, who knows how many were cursing Konoha and the Cloud.
The Cloud actually tried to snatch the Hyūga main family heir right under the Hyūga clan's nose!
As expected, the Cloud ninja was killed, and the Cloud then used this as a pretext to force Konoha to hand over the Hyūga clan head's corpse!
Iwagakure, Tsuchikage's Office.
"Idiots! Brainless idiots! The Fourth Raikage is even stupider than his old man! Ouch! My old back!!"
Kirigakure, Mizukage's Office.
"...Interesting."
Sunagakure, Kazekage's Office.
"Fight! Let them fight! Those with nothing to lose aren't afraid! (Lit: The barefoot aren't afraid of those wearing shoes!)"
Meanwhile, in the Raikage's office in Kumogakure, a violent crash echoed.
BANG!!
"What? How dare Konoha?!"
The solid wood desk was directly smashed by a sturdy, dark-skinned fist. Papers and documents scattered, and the impact even left web-like cracks on the floor.
The Fourth Raikage was enveloped in lightning, his hair standing on end, his face a mask of fury and shock.
A vivid demonstration of slamming the table and rising in fury, hair bristling with anger.
"Are those old geezers in Konoha's leadership insane? How dare they frame us with such an unbelievable excuse that even a dog wouldn't believe!"
Claiming the Cloud dispatched the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki to attack a Konoha outpost, killing nearly a hundred Konoha ninja, proactively tearing up the peace treaty, and that Konoha resolutely fights against the dark and evil forces of the ninja world to the end.
Their tone was so confident and certain; if he hadn't personally locked Killer Bee in the Cloud Thunder Gorge, he almost would have believed it too!
Standing beside him, the Raikage's secretary, Mabui, couldn't help but sigh.
When it comes to excuses, they and Konoha are pretty much the same.
Anyway, they were both as fake as could be, obviously fabricated at first glance.
"Mabui! Immediately assemble the Cloud Village's forces! We're going to war with Konoha! I'll personally go to the front lines!!" the Fourth Raikage roared at Mabui, eyes wide.
Too much!
Simply bullying others too far!
"Lord A, please calm down. Konoha has already presented evidence. Countless people witnessed someone using the Tailed Beast Cloak and the Lariat. Public opinion outside has already tilted towards Konoha."
Mabui wiped the sweat from her forehead, saying in a low voice: "If we dispatch troops now, the good reputation we've built over the years might completely collapse."
Honestly, Konoha's move this time was too ruthless, truly too ruthless.
Even she, the proposer of their original plan, never expected Konoha would actually do something like this.
That wasn't just one Konoha squad; it was nearly a hundred Konoha ninja!
They actually 'sacrificed' them just like that!
If anyone found proof of this, if even the slightest oversight occurred, all of Konoha's high officials would be nailed to the pillar of shame for life!
"This is definitely not the Third Hokage's doing! That old fox can't play such insidious and ruthless tricks! It must be that rat-man Shimura Danzō!!"
The Fourth Raikage was currently frustrated to the extreme.
Konoha's move – using a small force to deflect a large one, finding life in desperation, turning their own methods against them – was simply too disgusting!
The conflict originally within Konoha had now been directly shifted onto the Cloud.
Some villagers actually believed it, thinking the Cloud was in the wrong first and should hand over the culprit to Konoha for disposal, that one person shouldn't drag down the entire Cloud Village and start another Shinobi World War.
"Konoha has already seized the initiative, occupying the moral high ground in public opinion. No matter how we explain, the outside world will be predisposed to think we are just quibbling, especially since Konoha's evidence is so comprehensive."
Mabui rubbed her aching temples: "If I hadn't personally confirmed Lord Killer Bee was still in the Cloud Thunder Gorge, I would suspect he really did sneak out to play around."
She absolutely couldn't understand how Konoha managed this.
It had only been three years since the previous Nine-Tails Jinchūriki died; the new one definitely hadn't matured yet.
So who was the person wearing the Tailed Beast Cloak?
And the Lariat is a top-secret Cloud ninjutsu; how could it possibly be learned by someone from another village!?
"...Damn it! Can't we use the Hyūga incident to make some trouble?!"
The Fourth Raikage gnashed his teeth in anger, his chest heaving violently, lightning crackling (pilipala) around his body.
"It's too late. We can demand they hand over the corpse of their culprit, but they can also demand we hand over the corpse of ours, but..."
Mabui didn't finish, but the Fourth Raikage understood her meaning.
Their 'culprit' was the Fourth Raikage's brother, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Killer Bee.
The Fourth Raikage's already dark face instantly became even darker.
"No! I can't swallow this!"
Boom!
As his voice fell, before Mabui could say anything, he smashed a hole through the wall with his fist.
"Prepare the Heavenly Transfer Technique! I'm going with Killer Bee to personally attack the Land of Fire's defensive line!"
With that, he leaped out directly.
Mabui looked at the large hole in the wall and the smashed desk, covering her face as the corner of her mouth twitched.
"...Lord A, couldn't you use the door?"
Two hours later.
The Fourth Raikage appeared inside the Raikage building's teleportation array, holding a muscular man wearing sunglasses.
Killer Bee still looked a bit dazed, but that didn't stop him from rapping: "Yeah~ Yo yo, this lord..."
Smack!
"Shut up!"
The Fourth Raikage was still fuming. Now, with his ears being assaulted, he slammed his fist hard onto Killer Bee's head.
Mabui asked with a serious expression: "Coordinates calculated. Lord A, are you ready?"
"Relax, my current physique is sufficient to withstand it," the Fourth Raikage nodded seriously.
The Heavenly Transfer Technique – this jutsu could instantly teleport targets to a designated location via high-speed movement.
It wasn't Space-Time Ninjutsu, just high-speed movement, so it generated intense friction with the air.
Normally used to transport supplies, if used on ordinary people, they would die from being torn apart due to being unable to keep up with the excessive speed.
But the Fourth Raikage was no ordinary person. He was one of the few Nintaijutsu practitioners in the ninja world, having trained his body almost to the absolute limit.
Mabui raised her hands and formed seals: "Heavenly Transfer Technique!"
A white light flashed brilliantly, followed by dazzling lightning covering the two within the array.
Immediately after, the lightning shot skyward, and the two figures within the array instantly vanished.
"Whew!"
Mabui let out a long breath, unsure why a sense of ominous foreboding suddenly washed over her.
"I hope everything goes smoothly."
Meanwhile, a flash of light appeared in the forest of the Valley of the Moon, followed by the appearance of two figures.
"Yo yo~ Big Bro~ Fool~ Bakayar..."
Smack!
The Fourth Raikage interrupted Killer Bee's performance with a punch, his face exceptionally serious and grim.
A thick, foul stench filled the air around them.
Roll roll roll~
A severed head rolled past his feet, its expression still frozen in terror.
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