Renya's blade was just three inches from Kinkaku's left chest. One instant more would have ended the battle.
"Hell Stab: Piercing Four Fingered!"
A thunderous roar suddenly erupted from the side, accompanied by a blinding flash of lightning!
Sensing danger, Renya instinctively abandoned his killing blow and leapt back to evade.
"Boom—!"
The ground where he had just stood was pierced through by a violent Lightning Release thrust, blasting out a deep crater several meters wide as rubble flew in all directions.
Renya stabilized himself and looked up.
A burly man with long, shoulder-length blond hair stood in front of Kinkaku. His body crackled with intense Lightning Release chakra, and his heavily muscled frame looked as if it had been cast from steel. His sharp eyes locked firmly onto Renya.
Just by standing there, the long-haired man radiated a pressure that was overwhelming.
The moment Renya saw the man, his expression darkened.
That guy… was the future Third Raikage, hailed as the strongest Raikage in history!
First the old man, now the younger one...
He had just killed the future Second Raikage—and now the future Third Raikage had arrived.
"You traitor of Kumogakure! It's not Konoha's place to execute you!" the long-haired man said in a low, grim voice. His right hand remained in the thrusting posture, four fingers extended, lightning dancing between his fingertips.
Kinkaku looked at the man before him and let out a relieved chuckle.
"Heh… looks like it's not my time to die after all."
If the man hadn't arrived in time, he would've been dead.
But then he processed what the man had just said, and frowned in protest.
"Hey! Who are you calling a traitor?!"
"Don't think the higher-ups in the village don't know what you've been up to in secret..." the long-haired man replied coldly without even turning his head. "When the war ends, you'll have to atone for this."
Kinkaku's pupils shrank, his face filled with shock.
There was no doubt—their assassination of the First Raikage had been exposed.
"Oh, and one more thing..." the man shot a glance at him, Lightning Release chakra flaring violently around his body. "Don't even think about running. If you try, I'll personally kill you."
Kinkaku's expression turned extremely sour, but he didn't argue.
This long-haired man was a shinobi trained personally by that battle maniac—and he had perfectly inherited the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Even in the village, he and his brother never dared provoke him.
Because with his strength, he really could kill them...
Renya's gaze was ice-cold. His right hand clenched tightly around his blade, the knuckles whitening with strain.
Honestly, he didn't think they could handle both Kinkaku and this man together.
The title of "Strongest Raikage in History" wasn't just for show.
Although the man hadn't become Raikage yet, it wouldn't be long until he did.
Even if the future Second Raikage hadn't been killed by Renya, he would have been ambushed and killed by Kinkaku and Ginkaku in a few years anyway.
And after that, the man in front of him would ascend as the Third Raikage…
Perhaps because he was still in his prime, the Third Raikage gave off an even more oppressive aura than the Second!
If a real fight broke out, they might all die here.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Uchiha Kagami, and Mitokado Homura also wore grave expressions as they instinctively stepped up beside Renya.
Clearly, they too could feel the immense pressure this man gave off.
"Koharu, take Danzō and leave," Renya said suddenly.
Far in the distance, Koharu was still tending to the injured Shimura Danzō. Hearing this, her healing jutsu paused for a moment.
She looked up at the backs of Renya and the others, unconsciously pressing her lips together.
"Cough… cough…" Danzō's face was pale as a sheet, his voice weak. "Forget about me. Go help them."
Koharu nodded and had just begun to rise when the voices of the three men echoed out.
"Koharu, listen to Renya. Take Danzō and leave."
"You'll only hold us back if you stay here!"
"That's right. Go, don't interfere with our fight!"
"I understand..." Koharu's eyes turned red. Ignoring Danzō's resistance, she lifted him onto her back and retreated from the battlefield.
The long-haired man silently watched the scene unfold without making a move to stop them.
Under the wary eyes of the four Konoha shinobi, the man moved!
But he didn't attack them—instead, his gaze swept across the battlefield, observing the fierce fighting between Kumogakure and Konoha shinobi.
When he saw Kumo forces being slaughtered and suppressed, he frowned in displeasure.
The man cast a glance at Kinkaku and snorted coldly.
"To spark a war over personal vengeance and end up in this pathetic state… Kinkaku, you've really disgraced Kumogakure."
Kinkaku gritted his teeth, wanting to argue, but the words got stuck in his throat.
The guy wasn't wrong.
After launching a coup and taking command of the battlefield, he not only failed to defeat Konoha, but also got Ginkaku killed and lost the Banana Palm Fan...
He had lost his brother and his troops. Total failure.
The long-haired man ignored him and turned back to the four Konoha shinobi, Lightning Release chakra flaring even stronger around him.
"This ends today," he declared with unquestionable authority. "Kumogakure will temporarily cease hostilities. I expect Konoha not to pull any tricks!"
He needed time to clean up the mess left by the Kinkaku-Ginkaku brothers.
If not for those two fools acting recklessly, Kumogakure wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses.
The moment he learned they had staged a coup, he had immediately left the village and rushed to the front lines.
And in just this short time, the situation on the battlefield had already reversed.
Those two really were complete idiots.
No—now only one of them remained...
If Kinkaku didn't still have some value, he would've been killed already.
Hearing the man's words, Renya fell silent for a moment, then slowly sheathed his blade.
"Retreat."
Despite his calm appearance, it was all an act…
Others might not know how powerful the long-haired man was, but he knew very well!
He was the kind of monster who held off tens of thousands of Iwa-nin for three full days and nights before dying from chakra exhaustion!
There was no way he could win against that kind of monster right now.
Better to wait for that Ōnoki guy to make a move…
The fighting between Konoha and Kumogakure came to an end.
As the Konoha shinobi retreated, the long-haired man gave Kinkaku a cold, disgusted look.
"When we get back, you'd better give me a damn good explanation."
He had just arrived at the camp and barely had time to catch his breath before rushing here nonstop.
If he hadn't shown up in time, that idiot Kinkaku would've been killed!
Kinkaku didn't respond. His eyes glared hatefully at Renya's departing back, and he muttered softly:
"Heh... Uchiha... Renya!"
"Oh right, who was the one who killed my teacher?" the long-haired man suddenly asked.
He didn't believe that someone like Ginkaku or Kinkaku could have silently killed the First Raikage and the man who developed the Lightning Release Armor.
The long-haired man and the Raikage's personal guard weren't officially master and student—but their bond was no less than that.
After all, his Lightning Armor had been taught to him by the Raikage's personal guard.
Kinkaku's expression turned odd as he answered:
"The one who killed that battle maniac... was that Uchiha brat from earlier."
The long-haired man: "???"