The battlefield was silent.
The Cloud Village Ninja never imagined that one day, the Fourth Raikage A and Killer Bee would be defeated so swiftly at the hands of an enemy, even falling to their own signature Jutsu.
"Lord Raikage and Lord Killer Bee…"
"Were crushed by the enemy…"
The Cloud Village Ninja involuntarily swallowed. It was their first time witnessing the Fourth Raikage A and Killer Bee in such a disheveled state, unable to even mount a decent defense or counterattack.
Uehara Naraku stood in front of the Fourth Raikage A, twisting his wrist and softly said, "Alright then, since you've been defeated, I will unceremoniously take this Eight-tailed Jinchuriki beside you!"
After speaking, Uehara Naraku reached out to grab the fallen Killer Bee, but in the next moment, a massive octopus tentacle suddenly shot out from Killer Bee's body, wrapping around Uehara Naraku!
The lower half of Killer Bee's body transformed instantly into massive tentacles supporting him as he stood up. The Eight-tailed Jinchuriki pulled a face at Uehara Naraku and taunted teasingly, "Foolish brat, this mighty me hasn't lost yet!"
Killer Bee's upper body transformed rapidly as well, instantly entering full Tailed Beast Transformation. The gigantic Eight-tailed Gyuki glared menacingly at Uehara Naraku, who was trapped by its tentacle!
"What a nuisance…"
Uehara Naraku rubbed his forehead, his body vanishing instantly from within the tentacle, only to reappear atop the head of the Eight-tailed Gyuki: "Why can't you Tailed Beasts just lay down obediently and let me capture you?"
With those words, Uehara Naraku kicked toward the head of the Eight-tailed Gyuki!
The enormous Tailed Beast was struck squarely on the head, the Gyuki's head twisting, and in the next moment, it was sent hurtling away!
Uehara Naraku's figure vanished again, flashing to the spot where Gyuki was thrown, raising his fist for another punch directly to Gyuki's head!
The Eight-tailed Gyuki was blasted to the ground by his punch!
Yet, the body of the Eight-tailed Gyuki seemed tougher than Uehara Naraku had anticipated. Despite enduring two heavy blows, it resolutely rose again.
Uehara Naraku slowly flexed his fist, chuckling lightly, "Compared to the Five-Tailed Kokuo, your body is indeed tougher…"
This was true.
Most of the other Tailed Beasts couldn't withstand a couple of punches from him. The Eight-tailed Gyuki still seemed relatively okay, managing to hold on.
"Bastard!"
The Eight-tailed Gyuki gritted its teeth, fixating on Uehara Naraku.
The combat style of this smiling enemy reminded it of the Third Raikage from the Hidden Cloud, whose formidable power left no room for defiance…
No, wrong.
This enemy was stronger than the Third Raikage!
"If it were before, perhaps I might have thought about having a proper fight with you, to enjoy the thrill of using a Tailed Beast as a sandbag."
Uehara Naraku rubbed his fingers, walking slowly toward the Eight-tailed Gyuki, softly continuing: "Unfortunately, I'm a person who doesn't like octopuses…"
"Bastard!"
The Eight-tailed Gyuki cursed furiously, its eight octopus tails driving it toward Uehara Naraku!
The Gyuki's mouth seemed to gag, with intense coughing followed by a sudden shower of Energy Bullets aimed at Uehara Naraku!
"Are you crazy?"
Uehara Naraku frowned, stretching out his palm to rapidly swat away the incoming Energy Bullets!
Taking advantage of Gyuki's shock, Uehara Naraku dashed to Gyuki's side, clenching his fist, delivering a blow to Gyuki's body!
The Tailed Beast was once again sent flying!
"Earth Release: Giant Stone Hand!"
Uehara Naraku abruptly spread his palm, and under his Earth Power manipulation, large brown stone hands shot out from the ground, seizing the Eight-tailed Gyuki's head and all its tails beneath.
Whenever the Gyuki managed to struggle free from one stone hand's grip, another hand would emerge, repeating the cycle, quickly pinning Gyuki onto the ground with the multiplied stone hands.
Anyone present could see.
The Eight-tailed Gyuki was utterly powerless against Uehara Naraku.
The Fourth Raikage A watched this with a grim expression, trying desperately to get up from the ground, but the severe injury in his chest forced him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
Among the Cloud Village Ninja crowd.
The Fourth Raikage's secretary Mafui became increasingly tense, her gaze slowly settling on a certain Cloud Village Ninja: "Darui, now we…"
"We don't have any options but to keep fighting."
Darui, with his deadpan eyes, slowly stared at the distant Uehara Naraku, casually saying, "In the past, it was always Lord Raikage and Lord Killer Bee who risked their lives to protect us. Now, it's finally our turn to protect them with our lives…"
Darui spoke with a hint of indifference.
This is just his personality; his laziness rivals that of Konoha's Hatake Kakashi, yet it doesn't affect his strength in the least.
Just as the other Cloud Village Ninja nodded, indicating they were convinced by Darui, his figure suddenly flashed and vanished!
The next moment, Darui, the ninja heavily anticipated by the Fourth Raikage, was already charging forward at high speed, suddenly extending his hand and shooting beams of light towards the Eight-Tailed: "Storm Release: Laser Circus!"
The beams of light penetrated the Giant Stone Hand directly!
After shattering a Giant Stone Hand, other Cloud Village Ninja charged forward alongside Darui, and under the assault of the Storm Release Bloodline Ninjas, a series of Giant Stone Hands were shattered, quickly freeing the Eight-tailed Gyuki!
With the Fourth Raikage A and Killer Bee defeated, the upcoming battle was going to be fought by their entire Hidden Cloud Village!
Darui's strength fell short compared to the Fourth Raikage A.
However, his ability to mobilize forces was clearly superior because he was not yet the Raikage, so he didn't have to care much about issues of face. Thousands of Cloud Village Ninjas stood densely on the wide platform, facing the Akatsuki's four-member team.
"Hey, Darui!"
The Fourth Raikage, assisted by someone else, walked to Darui's side and instructed with a frown: "Take your people and withdraw immediately, I'll hold the enemy off while you use the Chakra Cannon to flatten this place!"
This is where the Raikage's boldness comes in.
If they encounter unbeatable foes on the battlefield, they don't hesitate to sacrifice their own lives to perish together with their adversaries.
The Third Raikage A fought tenaciously against tens of thousands of Stone Ninjas to cover his troops' retreat, fighting until he exhausted his strength and died.
The Fourth Raikage A as a successor was no less valiant; he always charged ahead in war and retreated at the last moment. Even dangerous tasks were personally executed by him; it was only natural that the Fourth Raikage would want to perish with Uehara Naraku and others now.
Darui remained silent for a while before suddenly speaking to persuade: "Raikage-sama, please leave the battlefield to us; trust in our strength to defeat the enemy!"
"That's right, Raikage-sama."
Mafui, supporting the Fourth Raikage's arm, softly spoke to persuade: "Raikage-sama, what you need now is rest and treatment..."
"...Alright."
The Fourth Raikage looked deeply at Darui, speaking softly: "Then I'll leave everything here to you, Darui!"
Darui was originally favored as a successor by the Fourth Raikage.
Perhaps it's not incorrect to assign responsibility early?
After speaking, the Fourth Raikage turned and shouted at the Eight-tailed: "Hey, Bee, follow Darui's orders in the upcoming battle, understood?"
"Rest assured."
The Eight-tailed Gyuki nodded with a guttural tone.
Under Darui's orders, the Cloud Village Ninjas quickly took action. Thousands of them divided into combat squads, surrounding the four Akatsuki members from the outskirts of the platform. If individual brute strength couldn't break through, then they'd employ numerical superiority!
Just as Uehara Naraku leisurely watched the unified movement of the Cloud Village Ninjas, he smirked and casually clasped his hands: "I understand your ignorance, just like I forgive ignorant ants for crawling across a foot..."
Seeing the anger on the faces of individual Cloud Village Ninjas, Uehara Naraku chuckled and continued: "However, I can't forgive you for sending just over a thousand people to attack me; are you trying to insult me?"
Uehara Naraku's face suddenly turned grim, staring at Darui in front of him, speaking in a dark tone: "Wind Release: Gale Cut!"
Eight blasts of wind, hundreds of meters high, emerged from around Uehara Naraku, each resembling a sword aura, leaving deep ravines in the platform, quickly piercing through the Cloud Village Ninja's formations!
In the blink of an eye, the released massive wind tore apart the formations of thousands of surrounding Cloud Village Ninjas!
No Defensive Ninjutsu had any effect in front of these overwhelming gusts.
Especially given Wind Release Jutsu counter Lightning Release.
"Alright."
Uehara Naraku looked up at the sky, speaking softly: "I don't have much time left, there's no need to continue playing with you..."
"What do you mean?"
Darui and the Fourth Raikage A frowned simultaneously; does this guy want to just leave after beating Cloud Village's leader so badly?
"The meaning is this!"
Uehara Naraku suddenly raised his finger, and a cluster of ice-blue Chakra was shot into the sky, speaking softly: "During my destruction of the Hidden Cloud Village, whether those present can survive will depend on their luck..."
Drip...
A raindrop hit the ground.
And then came the hail.
Just as the Cloud Village Ninjas frowned up at the sky, they saw the enormous hailstones falling, one hundred meters wide, crashing down onto the platform—a group of Cloud Village Ninjas was knocked away!