Ōnoki's expression grew darker—The Third Raikage's strength had exceeded his expectations. And with so many Iwa-nin corpses nearby, if he attacked now, he'd inevitably destroy their remains. For those who died for the village, not even being left a complete body would demoralize the entire force.
Meanwhile, the Third Raikage had gone berserk from killing. Iwa-nin, watching their comrades die around them, also went mad, charging the Raikage without fear of death.
From a distance, Uchiha Yuan's group watched in silence, not knowing what to say.
Though they had fought on the battlefield for over a year, they had never seen anything like this.
"Yuan, is the Third Raikage even human?" Yamanaka Kagetsu gulped.
"The Third Raikage is indeed astonishingly strong, but he's still within the realm of a ninja. A true 'god' wouldn't have been stalled by mere underlings," Yuan replied, thinking involuntarily of Uchiha Madara's appearance in the original work.
Time passed, and nearly three days had gone by since the Third Raikage was surrounded by tens of thousands of Iwa-nin.
After three straight days and nights of battle, the Raikage finally ran out of chakra—he could no longer maintain his Lightning Chakra Mode.
Seeing this, the Iwa-nin all swarmed. The Third Raikage could no longer hold out and was finally taken down.
Ōnoki looked at the Third Raikage's corpse, standing atop a mountain of bodies, with a complex expression.
"Finally dead? That guy really was tenacious," he sighed.
Uchiha Yuan also noticed that the Raikage had been worn down to death.
"Asana, Kagetsu—withdraw now. Until now, Iwa's attention was all on the Raikage. Now that he's been dealt with, we could be exposed."
"What about you?" Hyuga Asana asked.
"I want to see if I can get his corpse. If I can obtain it and use the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques, we might learn how to train the Lightning Chakra Mode and Hell Stab."
"That's too dangerous, Yuan! Don't be impulsive! That's Ōnoki—the Third Tsuchikage!" Kagetsu said, panicked.
"Don't worry. I'm just giving it a try. If it doesn't work, I can use space-time ninjutsu to escape. You two go, don't get in my way."
Seeing he was determined, Asana and Kagetsu exchanged a glance and quietly left.
After they departed, Yuan activated his Sharingan and observed the battlefield.
At this point, the Iwa-nin had started cleaning up. Kitsuchi had left on an errand, and only Ōnoki watched the field.
Seeing his chance, Yuan transformed into a Kumo-nin and dropped from a tree.
This startled the patrolling Iwa-nin, who immediately surrounded him.
Yuan clashed with them directly. Ōnoki noticed the commotion and hesitated before flying over.
Seeing Ōnoki getting closer, Yuan decisively used three consecutive teleportations to reach the center of the battlefield, put the Raikage's corpse into his storage ring, and escaped via teleportation again.
Ōnoki realized too late that he'd been tricked and gave chase.
But Yuan's teleportation was too fast. In a flash, he was gone.
Ōnoki scowled at the place Yuan disappeared, stifling his frustration.
Still, he didn't stay angry for long—the Raikage was dead, which had been his goal. If the corpse was taken, so be it.
He ordered the Iwa-nin to quickly finish cleaning up and instructed the demolition squad and Han, the Five-Tails' jinchūriki, to retreat from Kumogakure.
Meanwhile, A, son of the Third Raikage, arrived at the battlefield with the Eight-Tails shortly after Iwa's withdrawal.
The first thing A saw was a mountain of corpses and hundreds of Iwa-nin cleaning up.
A and Killer Bee attacked without hesitation, instantly wiping out the Iwa-nin, leaving only the leading elite jōnin alive.
"Where is my father?! What did you do to him?" A shouted after failing to find the Raikage's body.
The elite jōnin, knowing death was certain, didn't answer.
A flared with lightning chakra, seemingly on the verge of exploding—but ultimately held back.
After searching again and still finding nothing, A returned to the village with the captive for interrogation.
Back in Kumo, they eventually extracted intel from the captive about the Third Raikage.
Learning that his father had fought alone against ten thousand Iwa-nin for three days and nights before dying of exhaustion—and that an unknown Kumo-nin had taken his body—left A stunned.
To him, the Third Raikage had always been a towering figure.
As his son, A had revered him with near-blind admiration. His death didn't just take away a father; it shattered A's belief system.
Killer Bee, who had known A for many years, deeply understood his pain and stayed by his side.
"Bee, you must never die!" A said seriously after a long silence.
Killer Bee nodded without hesitation.
"Alright. Now it's time to settle things with Iwa!" With the Third Raikage gone, the village was leaderless, and A couldn't afford to wallow.
A gathered all the jōnin and publicly announced the Raikage's death.
The initial reaction was disbelief, how could the mighty Third Raikage be dead?
But as A explained what had happened, silence overtook the room.
"Iwa must pay!" said Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails' jinchūriki, eyes red with grief.
Her words ignited a fire in everyone's hearts revenge was the only thought.
"Lord A, let's avenge the Raikage!"
"That's right, revenge!"
"Revenge!"
The whole village roared with one voice.
"Big bro, let's go smack those Iwa bastards!" said Killer Bee.
During this time, A had already been considering whether to seek revenge, and how to do so.
With the Raikage gone, A now bore the responsibility of protecting the village.
He wanted nothing more than to charge into Iwa's camp and avenge his father—but he had to be cautious. One wrong decision could doom the village.
After deep thought, A finally spoke:
"Everyone, calm down. I want revenge too. But think about it—if we start a war with Iwa, will Konoha get involved? I'm not as strong as my father. I can't guarantee victory against both."
"We're not afraid to die, Lord A! We'll avenge the Raikage!"
"That's right! Avenge him!"
"I know you're all brave Kumo shinobi. I'm not afraid either. And I promise—we will have our revenge. Just not now. As your leader, it's my duty to protect you."
A's words silenced the crowd.
Then a jōnin shouted, "Long live the Fourth Raikage!"
Everyone looked up at the young man above them—his figure slowly overlapping in their minds with that of the Third Raikage. Some veteran shinobi even had red-rimmed eyes. They had watched A grow up—and now, he had come into his own.
Happy New Year!!!
(To Be Continued...)