Chapter 473: The Allied Forces Defeated, Konoha's Counterattack Begins
High above the main battlefield, the colossal form of Gamahiro eclipsed the sun. The giant toad plummeted from the sky, his twin katanas slashing downward with the crushing momentum of a collapsing mountain.
"Earth Release: Added-Weight Rock Technique!" The Third Tsuchikage's voice cut through the roaring wind.
An ordinary boulder jutting from the earth instantly hardened, its density multiplying exponentially to form an indestructible aegis. Deafening screeches of metal grinding against stone erupted as Gamahiro's twin blades slammed into the rock. Sparks showered the battlefield like a localized meteor shower. The sheer kinetic rebound surged up the toad's arms, numbing his massive hands and forcing the colossal summon to stagger two heavy steps backward, shaking the earth beneath his webbed feet.
"Sage Art: Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
Jiraiya refused to give the old Tsuchikage a single second to breathe. Standing atop Gamahiro's head, the Toad Sage drew in a massive breath, his chest expanding to its absolute limit. Senjutsu chakra ignited in his lungs. He exhaled a roaring, crimson fire dragon that tore across the battlefield toward Ōnoki. The sheer heat warped the air into a shimmering mirage, the edges of the surrounding boulders already glowing a molten, sluggish orange.
"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"
Ōnoki's eyes narrowed into cold, calculating slits. He slammed his wrinkled palms together. A blinding, geometric construct of pure white light materialized between his hands, expanding into a devastating pillar of energy. The white beam and the crimson fire dragon collided violently in mid-air. There was no explosion. Instead, the moment the roaring flames touched the Dust Release, they were silently erased, broken down into their most primitive atomic state and vanishing into the wind.
"What a troublesome old geezer." Jiraiya clicked his tongue, his brow furrowing beneath his spiky white hair. Even with Sage Mode coursing through his veins, pinning down a target like Ōnoki—who possessed sustained flight and an absurdly lethal area-of-effect—was proving to be a grueling task on such a chaotic battlefield.
Down below the titanic clash, the meat grinder of the frontline raged on. The combined main forces of Iwagakure and Kumogakure threw themselves at the Konoha defensive perimeter in relentless, crashing waves.
"Hold the line!!"
"We absolutely cannot let them cross this point!"
Konoha shinobi screamed over the din of clashing steel and detonating explosives. They hurled kunai and unleashed elemental ninjutsu with desperate abandon, burning through their chakra reserves to keep the barricades intact. The soil beneath their boots had long since turned into a thick, crimson mud.
Just as the slaughter threatened to grind into an unbreakable stalemate, a black blur tore through the chaos. Moving with the speed of a lightning strike, a Konoha Anbu operative vaulted onto the high ground at the dead center of the battlefield. The masked shinobi drew a ragged breath and roared, his chakra amplifying his voice to echo over the sounds of war.
"Victory Report!!!"
The sheer volume and authority in that cry caused an involuntary pause across the frontline. Weapons halted mid-swing. Hand signs froze. Thousands of eyes snapped toward the lone figure standing on the ridge.
"The enemy Commander-in-Chief! The Fourth Raikage, A!" The Anbu's voice cracked like a whip. "Has been defeated by our Jonin, Might Guy!! Captured ALIVE!!!"
A suffocating, eerie silence slammed down over the blood-soaked valley. The wind itself seemed to stop.
Captured alive.
The words echoed in the minds of the Allied Forces like a death knell.
"No... No way, right?" A Kumogakure Jonin whispered, the kunai slipping from his trembling fingers to clatter against the rocks. His eyes glazed over in absolute denial. Raikage-sama? The man built like a mountain, possessing the raw power of a tailed beast? The shinobi hailed as the fastest, most unstoppable force in the world... defeated? And taken alive?
"Impossible!!" Hovering high above the stunned armies, Ōnoki whipped his head around, his aged face contorting in sheer disbelief. 'Although that brute Raikage is a muscle-brained fool, his combat strength is absolutely top-tier!'the Tsuchikage thought, his mind racing.'How could he have fallen so quickly?'
His immediate instinct screamed that this was a trick. A calculated psychological strike by Konoha to shatter their morale.
"Don't listen to their nonsense!!" Ōnoki barked, amplifying his voice to project across the valley. "This is a cheap enemy trick! How could the Raikage possibly—"
The words died in his throat.
From the direction of the distant Konoha main camp, a heavily guarded procession emerged. Bound in layers of restrictive chakra-sealing chains and flanked by elite Anbu, the towering, bruised, and battered form of the Fourth Raikage was dragged into plain view.
Ōnoki's jaw locked. His weathered face flushed a deep, sickly purple.
He really... lost?
"Boss!!"
An agonizing, guttural roar of grief and absolute fury ripped from the Kumogakure ranks. Darui's eyes turned bloodshot, the veins bulging against his temples. The Lightning Release chakra cloaking his body violently surged out of control, crackling and snapping the earth around him.
"Damn Konoha!!" Darui screamed, drawing his massive cleaver sword. "All Kumogakure forces! Charge with me!! We must rescue Raikage-sama!!"
Reason had completely abandoned him. The Raikage was not merely their military leader; he was the beating heart and soul of the Hidden Cloud. If he fell here, the very sky over their village would shatter.
"Kill!!!"
The Kumogakure shinobi, previously frozen in despair, suddenly erupted with the terrifying, suicidal momentum of a cornered beast. Formations dissolved. Tactical positioning was abandoned. Disregarding their own lives, they surged forward like a pack of rabid wolves, throwing themselves blindly toward the Konoha camp where their Kage was held.
"Come back!!" Ōnoki watched the suicidal charge, his white beard trembling with sheer rage. "Idiots! All of you, get back here!!"
What good was charging now? The Raikage was already in chains! Throwing themselves into enemy lines without a coordinated plan would only split the Allied Forces, allowing Konoha to surround and butcher them piece by piece.
"Tsuchikage-sama! That is our Kage!!" Darui whipped his head back, his bloodshot eyes glaring daggers at the floating old man. "You Iwagakure cowards can retreat if you want, but we Kumogakure will never abandon our own!"
"You..." Ōnoki choked on his fury.
This was the exact nightmare scenario he had dreaded. The Allied Forces were nothing more than a fragile coalition built on mutual convenience. The moment true disaster struck, the cracks shattered into chasms. He made a ruthless, split-second calculation. He was not going to let his people die alongside these Kumogakure lunatics.
"All Iwagakure forces!" Ōnoki bellowed, his voice devoid of any previous camaraderie. "Provide covering fire! Full-speed withdrawal!!"
"Tsuchikage! You dare betray us?!" Darui roared in disbelief, watching the disciplined ranks of the Stone shinobi immediately break off their engagement and begin an orderly retreat backward.
Ōnoki didn't even spare him a glance. The old fox had survived three great wars by knowing exactly when to cut his losses. The battle was lost the second A was captured in chains. Bleeding his village dry for a doomed rescue mission was out of the question.
"Jiraiya! I will remember this debt!" Ōnoki glared one last time at the Toad Sage standing tall upon Gamahiro. His wrinkled hands blurred through a rapid sequence of hand signs. "Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!"
The ground between the retreating Iwa forces and the advancing Konoha shinobi violently swelled upward. A colossal, towering earthen wall erupted from the crust, forming a massive barricade to block any immediate pursuit.
"Retreat!"
The moment Iwagakure pulled back, the once-impenetrable frontline of the Allied Forces shattered. The crazed Kumogakure shinobi, completely abandoning their defensive formations and now stripped of Iwagakure's heavy earth-jutsu cover, were left entirely exposed to Konoha's concentrated firepower.
"What a chance!" A sharp, predatory glint flashed in Jiraiya's eyes. There was no room for mercy in war, and he certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to beat a drowning dog. He thrust his hand forward. "Everyone! Counterattack!! Make sure these Kumogakure scoundrels are left here for good!!"
"Kill—!!!"
The battlefield dynamic inverted in a heartbeat. Morale surging to explosive heights, the Konoha shinobi vaulted out of their blood-soaked trenches, their battle cries shaking the heavens. The previously terrifying Ninja Allied Forces had devolved into a fragmented, chaotic mess.
The slaughter had begun.
Miles away, on an entirely different section of the battlefield, the air itself seemed to be tearing apart.
Streaks of blinding golden light danced frantically across the terrain. Every sudden flicker was followed by a concussive sonic boom that kicked up violent shockwaves of dust and debris.
"Flying Thunder God Second Stage!"
Minato Namikaze's figure vanished into thin air, materializing instantly in the blind spot directly above Naruto's head. A swirling sphere of condensed chakra—the Rasengan—howled in his palm, emitting a terrifying, high-frequency whine as he drove it ruthlessly toward his son's exposed back.
"I saw that coming!!"
Naruto spun on his heel, his eyes burning with fierce determination. The bubbling, golden Nine-Tails chakra cloaking his body flared outward, instantly manifesting into a massive, dense chakra claw that swatted upward to intercept the strike.
The grinding, destructive force of the Rasengan slammed into the golden claw, sending a violent shockwave rippling through the cratered earth. Before the dust could even settle, Minato's figure dissolved into a golden flash once more, vanishing from the point of impact.
"Tch, that move again." Naruto dropped to a crouch, his boots sliding against the dirt as he exhaled a heavy, ragged breath. He wiped a bead of sweat from his chin. His father was an absolute nightmare to pin down. 'Is this really the strength of the Fourth Hokage?'
Inside his mindscape, the deep, rumbling voice of the Nine-Tails echoed. "Naruto, this can't go on," Kurama warned, his massive tails swishing in the watery cage. "Minato's speed is too fast. If you rely purely on reaction, you will always be passively taking hits. You're letting him dictate the pace."
"I know!" Naruto gritted his teeth, his blue eyes locking onto the scattered kunai littering the battlefield. "If he can run everywhere... then I'll just make sure Dad has nowhere left to run!!"
He slammed his hands together in his signature cross-shaped hand sign. A wild, almost manic grin stretched across his face.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A massive, rolling cloud of dense white smoke instantly swallowed the battlefield. As the wind tore the smoke away, the sheer scale of the jutsu was revealed. Hundreds upon hundreds of golden-cloaked Narutos stood shoulder-to-shoulder, packing every single inch of the rocky terrain. Every single clone was blazing in the full glory of the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
In the distance, Minato Namikaze materialized beside a marked kunai. Despite the cold, emotionless control of the Edo Tensei binding his mind, a distinct flicker of deep shock widened his dark, reanimated eyes.
The sea of golden clones raised their fists, their voices overlapping into a singular, deafening roar.
"Then let's see if Dad can run faster, or if I can attack faster!!"
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