"Transformation Jutsu: Adamantine Staff!"
Seeing the urgency of the situation, Enma wasted no words. He instantly transformed into the Adamantine Staff, extending at extreme speed while held in Sarutobi Shinnosuke's arms, smashing a huge hole through one side of the barrier.
At the same time, a hand extended from the staff and grabbed Shinnosuke, preparing to pull him out first.
Shinnosuke immediately seized Shimura Izumi's hand, dragging her along as they rushed toward the opening.
"Stay!"
A flash of lightning streaked past. The Third Raikage charged in and kicked Shinnosuke hard, sending him flying.
But before being knocked away, Shinnosuke hurled Izumi through the gap in the barrier, where Shimura Danzō, waiting outside, caught her.
Danzō had already fled far away and had essentially given up on the others. But the moment he saw the Adamantine Staff punch through the barrier, he realized there was still hope and immediately turned back.
"Shinnosuke!"
Izumi cried out in panic and tried to rush back, only to be knocked unconscious by a single chop from Danzō.
"Raikage! Uzumaki!"
Danzō glared viciously at the rapidly repairing breach in the barrier, then carried his daughter away at full speed.
They had lost this battle.
And it wasn't the Raikage or the Cloud ninja who defeated them—it was the Uzumaki clan.
He had never expected Uzumaki shinobi to appear at the last moment.
If not for the barrier and the sudden interference of the Uzumaki, he wouldn't have lost an arm even if the Third Raikage had forcefully boosted his power—he could at least have avoided that blow.
Damn the Uzumaki clan!
At the same time, seeing Shinnosuke kicked away, Enma immediately reverted from the Adamantine Staff and lunged forward, trying to grab Shinnosuke and use reverse summoning to take him away.
At the very least, he wanted to save Shinnosuke and spare Hiruzen the pain of losing his son.
What met him instead were two pairs of three-tomoe Sharingan.
They were implanted in the eyes of two people, their ocular power linked—clearly a matched pair.
It was the twin brothers who had been watching Shinnosuke all along.
They formed hand seals simultaneously, using their Sharingan as a medium to cast a genjutsu together.
The moment Enma saw those three-tomoe Sharingan, he realized something was wrong. He tried to cancel the summoning—but it was already too late.
His body crashed heavily to the ground, and the image of three tomoe appeared reflected in his eyes.
"These eyes are way too hard to use!"
The twins' faces instantly turned deathly pale, showing just how severe the chakra drain was.
Even as jōnin specializing in genjutsu, they could barely withstand the Sharingan's consumption—especially since each had only one eye implanted. If they had both eyes, the burden would have been even greater.
"Can you still hold on?"
The Third Raikage stepped over after knocking Shinnosuke unconscious with a knife-hand strike, his tone unusually concerned.
These two were precious assets—he couldn't afford for anything to happen to them.
"We can hold on, Raikage-sama!"
The twins nodded in unison after downing a bottle of medicine. Then they poured a large bottle of medicine straight into Enma's mouth, helping sustain the genjutsu and maintain control.
"Then begin Phase Two."
The Third Raikage glanced at the shadow clone of Uzumaki Ashina approaching and nodded to the twins, signaling the next stage of the plan.
Without hesitation, the twins used the Sharingan's ocular power to deepen their control over Enma, simultaneously probing his memories.
"Treat the Raikage's wounds immediately!"
Dodai's shadow clone arrived with a medical ninja and waved them forward.
Though the injuries were only skin-deep and hadn't reached the muscle, a significant amount of blood had already been lost.
Moreover, Lightning Release Armor stimulated the body aggressively, accelerating blood loss.
"Putting on an act is exhausting."
The Third Raikage grumbled as he squatted down to receive treatment.
Yes—he had been acting the whole time.
Although the earlier battle against the Mist ninja had consumed a fair amount of chakra, his combat power had not declined much. Crushing Danzō head-on wouldn't have been a problem, even considering Wind Release's partial advantage over Lightning Release.
But they had gained far too much from this operation.
If they appeared too strong, the result could be the four great villages uniting against Kumogakure.
So he had deliberately feigned weakness.
"You'll still need to publicly condemn the Third Hokage for his despicable and underhanded actions."
Dodai's shadow clone walked over, smiling. The performance wasn't over yet.
This operation had been enormously successful:
They had gained Uzumaki survivors, acquired the complete Uzumaki sealing art inheritance, and annihilated nearly a thousand Mist ninja.
Because they had deployed only elites—and with the Third Raikage personally entering the battlefield, Lightning Release countering Water Release, and Uzumaki support—their own casualties were minimal.
It was a perfect operation.
They had even successfully pinned the blame on the Third Mizukage and destabilized Kirigakure.
Going forward, the Mist Village would be wracked with internal cZairos and have no strength for retaliation. Konoha's internal conflicts would also intensify.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi really is despicable."
The Third Raikage held nothing but contempt for Hiruzen.
Always relying on schemes and tricks.
Understandable, perhaps—given his lack of absolute strength.
Hiruzen was strong, yes, but that so-called "Strongest Hokage" title was pure nonsense.
Combining the Five Nature Transformations only provided limited gains.
Back then, Hiruzen and his group had fled in disgrace from the Gold and Silver Brothers, yet the Raikage himself had personally killed them.
That was the difference in strength.
His title as the Strongest Raikage was earned.
Hiruzen's reputation was watered down—severely.
When strength wasn't enough to suppress everything, only conspiracy and intrigue remained—used to weaken others, even to kill one's own.
"Summoning Jutsu: Contract Scroll!"
At that moment, the twins—now in deep control of Enma—forced him to form seals and summon the Monkey Clan's contract scroll. At the same time, they transmitted everything they had extracted from Enma's memories about the Monkey Clan directly into the Third Raikage's mind via genjutsu.
Uzumaki Ashina's shadow clone stepped forward and unfurled the scroll.
A long list of names appeared—members of the Sarutobi clan, including Sarutobi Shinnosuke and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"The Third Hokage…"
Ashina's shadow clone fixed his gaze on that name, hatred freezing his expression.
He had seen the fire erupting from the village earlier. The situation there was clearly dire—almost certainly the work of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō.
He wanted nothing more than to drag Hiruzen out and carve him into pieces.
"Senior, please act according to the plan."
Dodai spoke calmly.
"Even if we reverse-summon Hiruzen through Enma and kill him now, it would accomplish little. In fact, Hiruzen's death would only make Konoha stronger.
We must plan for the future of the village—and the Uzumaki clan."
Although they could use Enma to drag the Third Hokage here and kill him, it didn't align with Kumogakure's long-term interests.
If Hiruzen died, Konoha wouldn't collapse.
With Uzumaki Mito, the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki and wife of the First Hokage, still alive—and with the Senju clan's power and prestige, plus the pressure of external wars—the Senju would quickly seize control.
Konoha would become even stronger.
Thus, keeping the Third Hokage alive actually served their interests better.
In fact, letting Danzō escape earlier had been deliberate.
They wanted Hiruzen and Danzō to continue weakening—or even destroying—the Senju and Uchiha clans from within.
Hearing this, Ashina's shadow clone forcibly suppressed his hatred. He raised his hands and formed seals, using a Contract-Sealing Technique to seal away the long list of Sarutobi clan names.
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