112: High-end game: Kage-level players fighting each other, tailed beasts adding to the fun, and gods mediating!

Boom—!!!

A blue bolt of lightning, tearing through the night sky, streaked across with a speed beyond the limit of vision!

Following closely behind was a terrifying sonic boom that seemed to shatter eardrums!

That wasn't Ninjutsu; it was pure speed born from extreme rage, the personification of the Land of Lightning's highest will.

The lightning suddenly converged, and the Fourth Raikage's imposing figure slammed into the ground, which instantly cracked, spiderweb-like fissures spreading wildly in all directions. He was enveloped in a violent Lightning Release Chakra Armor, boiling blue electrical arcs wildly jumping, ionizing the rocks beneath his feet with a sizzling sound, and a pungent burnt smell permeated the air.

The entire battlefield trembled under his god-like presence.

The Fourth Raikage's bloodshot eyes swept over the ravaged Village. The enormous, mirror-smooth hole in the Raikage Building, the half-erased remains of the medical department, and the comrades lying in pools of blood, unable to rise again…

One of his subordinates, whose name he knew, was half-buried in the rubble, eyes still wide open, staring in the direction of home.

Even though all of this was part of his plan, a necessary cost to lure Iwagakure into the trap, witnessing the devastation firsthand still instantly incinerated all his rationality with an overwhelming fury at the invasion.

Plan? Cost? To hell with it!

“Ōnoki—!”

A roar that seemed to tear down heaven and earth, wrapped in endless thunderous might, burst from his chest.

It was this roar, this sudden terrifying aura, that caused Ōnoki, who was staking everything in mid-air, to tremble violently.

The “Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World” in his hand, which he could no longer control, went awry.

The pure white light beam, originally locked onto Darui, showed an almost imperceptible deviation.

Buzz—

The white light beam, carrying the will to annihilate all things, swept past Darui's body with a fierce roar. Where the light beam passed, time and space seemed to be devoured; there was no sound, no explosion, only a deathly silence of nothingness.

A building that was accidentally hit was silently and completely erased from Kumogakure's map, leaving only a cylindrical void, demonstrating the horror of this forbidden Jutsu to the world.

Darui was ice-cold, cold sweat instantly soaking through his clothes. He could even feel a few strands of hair at his temples turning into nothingness the moment the white light swept past, leaving no ash behind.

“You damn old geezer! How dare you attack my Village!!!”

The Fourth Raikage completely ignored the world-destroying Dust Release; he had only one target.

He suddenly pushed off with his legs, the ground beneath him exploded, and he shot into the sky like a bolt of lightning.

“Lightning Release: Lariat!”

Piercing thunder tore through the sky.

On the Fourth Raikage's hand blade, high-density Lightning Release Chakra had condensed to a visible, solidified state; that deep blue electric light seemed to slice through space itself.

The speed was so fast there was no afterimage.

The sound remained in place.

His figure had already appeared before Ōnoki, who was rigid from releasing the forbidden Jutsu.

“Father!”

Kitsuchi's eyes were bloodshot, and without thinking, he flashed in front of Ōnoki.

“Earth Release: Super Weighted Boulder Jutsu!”

Without the slightest hesitation, he slammed his palms against his chest.

Thud!

A dull thud, as if a giant bell rang inside his body.

Kitsuchi's body visibly became heavy and solid at a rapid rate, and the air around him twisted due to the sudden massive increase in mass. The rubble beneath his feet was instantly crushed to dust, and he himself was like a mountain descending from the sky, forcefully wedging into the earth.

He intended to use his own flesh and blood to forge the strongest defense.

“Idiot! Get out of the way!”

The Raikage's roar was deafening, but the movement of his hand did not hesitate in the slightest.

In his eyes, anything that stood between him and Ōnoki had only one outcome.

That was, to be crushed!

Crack—!!!

A teeth-grinding shattering sound replaced the anticipated violent explosion.

That wasn't the sound of rock shattering.

It was bone.

Kitsuchi's proudly solid body was as fragile as tofu before the Fourth Raikage's enraged Lariat.

High-intensity Lightning Release Chakra violently invaded his body, brutally tearing his muscles and destroying his meridians. He could even clearly feel his sternum being completely pierced and shattered by that hand blade in an instant!

“Pfft—”

A mouthful of blood mixed with internal organ fragments spewed from Kitsuchi's mouth.

His consciousness rapidly blurred amidst the numbness of the lightning and the excruciating pain of shattered bones.

“Old man… hurry…”

Before he could finish speaking, his entire body flew backward like a smashed pebble, crashing into a surviving building behind him, and was completely buried by dust and rubble.

“Kitsuchi!”

Ōnoki had just recovered from the side effects of Dust Release, and what greeted his eyes was the tragic sight of his son taking a fatal blow for him, his life unknown.

A surge of anger and heartache, even greater than the failure of his plan just now, shot straight to his head.

“This brat… truly doesn't make things easy.”

The old man muttered subconsciously, but his eyes instantly turned red.

However, the Raikage's attack did not stop there.

Kitsuchi's self-sacrificing block only delayed his hand blade by one-hundredth of a second.

That hand, wrapped in destructive lightning, still pressed towards Ōnoki's chest with irresistible force.

The shadow of death had never been so clear.

Kitsuchi's defense lasted less than a second before being overwhelmingly broken. The stone armor on his body shattered inch by inch, and he flew backward like a broken kite, blood spurting from his mouth in a mournful arc, heavily crashing into a house, his life unknown.

“Kitsuchi!” Ōnoki let out a hoarse cry of anguish.

But the Fourth Raikage's attack did not pause in the slightest; his eyes were fixed only on the old fox who had to be torn apart.

Just then.

A cold and majestic voice, devoid of any emotion, clearly reached the ears of everyone on the battlefield from the mysterious figures suspended in the night sky.

“Enough.”

“This meaningless slaughter ends here. After your battle, the two-year Ninja World War should also end.”

The voice was not loud, but it possessed an irresistible magic, even causing the Fourth Raikage's violent assault to falter.

End the war?

Who is he? By what right?

The same questions arose in everyone's minds.

“Yo yo! The battlefield party is at its climax, how can it be without my Killer Bee's dance! Fool! Idiot!”

A unique rap tune came from afar; Killer Bee had finally arrived.

But when he saw the scene before him, his rap abruptly stopped.

Broken walls and collapsed buildings, blood flowing like rivers.

Kitsuchi, lying in the rubble, his life unknown, comrades covered in blood, and especially his elder brother's crazed appearance, as if he wanted to perish with the enemy, instantly erased his unique hip-hop accent.

Under his sunglasses, a beast-like glint of ferocity flashed in his eyes.

“You bastards… messed up someone else's home… big time!”

Killer Bee's rap tone was completely gone, leaving only cold killing intent.

Roar—!!!

Amidst a sky-shattering roar, crimson Chakra erupted like a volcano, instantly enveloping his body. Muscles, bones, and flesh reformed wildly with crackling sounds, and a massive creature with bulging muscles and eight octopus tentacles roared into existence!

Eight-Tails: Gyūki!

A colossal shadow covered nearly half the Village, and each swing of its eight thick tentacles stirred up hurricanes that tore apart buildings; the very ground of Kumogakure groaned under this power.

Despair, like a plague, spread among the Iwagakure Ninja.

They looked at the legendary monster, feeling the Chakra fluctuations that threatened to crush their souls, and even the hands holding their kunai lost all sensation.

Gyūki opened its massive mouth, and Yin-Yang Chakra gathered at a visible speed.

A high-density, destructive black sphere of energy began to condense in its mouth. The air twisted, and light was sucked into it.

Tailed Beast Ball!

“It's over…”

“It's the Eight-Tails… We're doomed…”

Ōnoki looked at the enormous Gyūki, feeling the terrifying energy emanating from the Tailed Beast Ball, enough to wipe Kumogakure and all of them from the map. His wrinkled old face completely lost its color.

He knew Iwagakure had lost, lost miserably.

Humiliation, anger, unwillingness… all sorts of emotions churned in his aging chest, finally burning away the last shred of rationality, turning into a suicidal madness.

If they couldn't leave, then no one would leave!

He slowly raised his hands, his cloudy old eyes showing only the resolute determination to destroy everything. He would use his life to put the most tragic end to Iwagakure's crushing defeat!

“Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World!”

This was no longer Ninjutsu, but a final forbidden Jutsu, staking his life and soul, to drag the entire battlefield, along with the Eight-Tails, the Raikage, and those mysterious figures, into a dust hell!

“Stop! Father!”

Kitsuchi, buried in the rubble, found strength from somewhere, struggling to extend a bloody hand, letting out a desperate roar.

He would rather die in battle himself than see his father completely fall into the abyss for that twisted pride!

In the night sky, the mysterious third party, looking at the apocalyptic tragedy about to unfold below, let out an almost imperceptible sigh, seeming somewhat bored.

The next second.

His figure vanished from where he stood.

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

When he reappeared, he was behind Ōnoki.

A hand, a slender, even delicate hand with distinct knuckles, reached out from behind him without warning, gently covering his withered, veiny old hands that were fully channeling Dust Release, forcibly interrupting Ōnoki's hand seals.

“For your age, you're quite hot-headed.”

The cold and flat voice sounded almost against his ear, with no discernible emotion in its words, only an unsettling indifference, as if commenting on a trivial matter.

The entire battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

The Fourth Raikage, who was charging in a furious rage, suddenly stiffened, and the violent electrical arcs on his Lightning Release Armor seemed to freeze.

The majestic Eight-Tails Gyūki, its Tailed Beast Ball halted in its mouth, its massive single eye staring intently at the suddenly appearing figure, showing unprecedented caution.

Hey hey, that guy's entrance was way too cool, wasn't it? Even more attention-grabbing than my grand entrance! Fool! Idiot!

Killer Bee's thoughts flashed through Gyūki's mind.

Everyone stared blankly at this scene.

Watching the mysterious man who had effortlessly stopped the Third Tsuchikage's suicidal forbidden Jutsu.

In the air, the killing intent that had been boiling just moments ago was now like a blade instantly frozen, sharp, yet still.

The man slowly withdrew his hand, as if merely dusting off his sleeve.