'Father!'
Just as the Third Raikage was still reeling in disbelief over the fact that he was somehow still alive, A's voice snapped him out of his shock.
'Iron Fist, what are you trying to do?'
Gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, the Third Raikage dragged his broken body out from the pile of shattered wood and forced himself to his feet.
"Weren't you going to have the Cloud declare war on me? Then let me see your resolve, Third Raikage."
As he spoke, Garp casually flicked a finger and tapped A, who was still in a daze.
Bang!
A didn't even have time to react.
He barely managed to let out a miserable scream before his body was sent flying over a thousand meters, crashing straight into the stone statue of Hashirama that Tsunade and the others had only recently worked together to restore.
'Ah!'
After finally catching his breath, A instinctively tried to struggle free from the stone.
At that moment, a black branch shot through the air from afar. If not for the black lightning coiling around it, it would have looked like nothing more than an ordinary, broken tree limb.
The entire branch pierced straight through and buried itself deep in his abdomen.
As the son of the Third Raikage, A had inherited an incredibly tough physique, along with the terrifying defensive power of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Yet in front of this branch, all of that might as well have not existed.
'A!'
The Third Raikage tried to rush over in panic.
But after taking only two steps, an overwhelming wave of weakness surged through his body, and he collapsed face-first onto the ground.
"Since the Raikage of the Cloud thinks he's knelt long enough, doesn't want to kneel anymore, and wants to stand up again…
Then let me see what gives you the right to walk a path that even the First Raikage never dared to take.
With his physical constitution, even if he's nailed there without food or water, he should be able to last at least a week.
So you'd better not tell me you've only just stood up for a few days and you're already kneeling again. That would really disappoint me."
After nailing A to the statue at the Valley of the End, Garp showed no concern whatsoever about the Third Raikage or any other Cloud ninja coming to rescue him.
He simply turned around and left.
"Should we leave him here?"
Orochimaru looked at the Third Raikage, who was struggling back to his feet, his body covered in wounds.
A flash of killing intent flickered through his snake eyes before quickly fading away.
Since Garp hadn't moved to kill the Third Raikage, Orochimaru wouldn't dare act on his own initiative.
'It's a pity to miss such an opportunity, but a village leader who's already entered the countdown to death isn't worth bothering with.
Even if this old man doesn't make a move, he and the Hidden Cloud are finished.'
Danzo had harbored similar thoughts, but in the end, he also abandoned them.
Even though the Third Raikage had nearly killed him on the battlefield before, after weighing everything carefully, Danzo still chose to give up on killing him.
"Old man, what should we do now?"
Faced with the sudden and drastic turn of events, Jiraiya frowned deeply.
He had thought that with Garp bringing the Third Great Ninja War to an end, the ninja world might not become completely free of conflict, but at the very least it would enjoy a long period of peace.
Yet at such a critical moment, assassination attempt had occurred.
"Third Hokage, I think we should do our best to defuse this war. Destroying the hard-won peace over a single A just isn't worth it."
After a brief moment of thought, Minato spoke up.
"Foolish!
What war? It's nothing more than a village on the brink of death. What is there to fear?
Since they're looking for death by provoking Garp, why are you trying to hold them back?"
Danzo snorted coldly.
He knew very well why Hiruzen, who ranked above him among the council members, had suddenly found his position as Third Hokage unstable.
With the seat of Fourth Hokage practically waving at him, there was no way Danzo would do anything that might displease Garp.
"Even if this peace was hard to come by, it wasn't something our village fought for on its own. We just picked it up by following behind Garp."
Orochimaru sneered coldly, causing Minato's expression to change slightly.
"Orochimaru's words may not sound pleasant, but they are the undeniable truth.
Not to mention that the peace of our village was won by Uncle Garp with his own fists, this entire incident is clearly the Hidden Cloud's fault.
They submitted a letter of surrender with one hand, then turned around and carried out an assassination attempt with the other.
If it weren't for Uncle Garp, Konoha ninja here would've already gone to meet the past Hokage generations."
Hearing this, Tsunade also voiced her support for Orochimaru.
"Third Hokage, even after something like this happened, Lord Garp still didn't pursue the Cloud relentlessly. He only chose to execute the chief culprit.
Things have escalated to this point solely because the Third Raikage refused to let it go."
Shikaku let out a sigh. The other Konoha ninja who had nearly been blown to death by Killer B's Tailed Beast Bomb also voiced their support for Orochimaru and Tsunade's stance.
"But…"
Seeing that so many of his old friends and classmates were all advocating for war and opposing him, Minato felt momentarily stunned.
"Enough, all of you, stop arguing. Didn't Lord Garp say that A could still hold on for about a week?
Since there's still time, let's return to the village first and discuss things further."
Hiruzen had never been a particularly resolute or decisive man. Faced with the current situation, his mind was in complete turmoil, and he didn't know what to do.
He was more inclined to Minato's proposal, after all, the Third Raikage wasn't just declaring war on Garp, but also on Konoha.
That was the real reason he couldn't sit still.
But if he truly had to step forward for the sake of A and try to stop Garp, he simply didn't have that kind of courage, let alone the lofty self-sacrifice.
It was true that he feared war, but even fear had its limits, and it depended on who one was facing.
Following behind Garp, Konoha had reaped the spoils of victory from the Third Great Ninja War.
At this moment, even if it wasn't stronger than ever before, it certainly had no reason to fear a single Cloud Village.
...
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