Chapter 95: The Return of the Blaze God
In times of peace, many had whispered complaints against Akatsurugi, questioning why he had to be so ruthless and disrupt the fragile peace. Now, no one dared voice such thoughts. The reason was simple: without him, they were being beaten back. With him, the entire Iwagakure army had fled in terror.
This was a level of deterrence that even the Third Hokage could not command.
As the Konoha ninjas cheered, Utatane Koharu appeared beside Sarutobi Hiruzen, her face a mask of fury. "Akatsurugi!" she snapped. "Why were you unreachable by summon? Do you have any idea how much Konoha has suffered in your absence?"
Her anger was palpable. If he had answered the call when it was sent, this desperate situation could have been averted. Now, Danzō's fate was unknown, and the front was collapsing.
The situation on the Sunagakure front was slightly better, but still grim. The One-Tail Jinchuriki had entered the fray, pushing even the talented Hatake Sakumo to his limits. Sending Mitokado En there had been a stopgap measure at best.
All of this frustration and fear boiled over within Koharu, and she directed it squarely at the returned Blaze God.
Akatsurugi's expression turned icy. "Elder Koharu, mind your words," he said, his voice dangerously calm. "My departure from the village was formally reported and approved. As for your summons, I received none. The moment my seclusion ended, I came directly to the battlefield. I eliminated Hanzo and saved the Hokage's students. Yet you, who could not even defend against the enemy's advance, dare to accuse me?"
The moment he finished speaking, even Sarutobi Hiruzen's face tightened. The implication was clear: their leadership was incompetent.
The surrounding ninja immediately found the ground intensely interesting, lowering their heads and wishing they could disappear. A public clash among the highest ranks was not a spectacle they wanted any part of.
"Enough," Hiruzen interjected, stopping Koharu before she could retort. "This is not the time for this. Akatsurugi, since you are back, your priority is to support Danzō. Drive the forces of Kumogakure out of the Land of Fire. Now."
Akatsurugi gave a single, curt nod. Now was indeed not the time for internal disputes. But as he looked at the retreating Konoha forces and the desperate situation, a cold resolve settled in his heart. This incursion by Kumogakure, the massive losses—Danzō and the Hokage's council were responsible. He would use this war not just to defend Konoha, but to seize its reins of power.
War was the perfect catalyst for a transfer of authority.
In peacetime, dislodging the Third Hokage and his advisors would be unthinkable. But now? He had disgusted the four great villages before; this time, he would position himself as the only one who could save Konoha from them. How else could they possibly refuse him?
The Third Hokage and his allies might be discontent, but what could they do? Who else could stop a coalition of four great ninja villages? He, Akatsurugi, could.
Without another glance at the fuming Koharu, Akatsurugi shot into the sky, a streak of crimson light heading north.
Sarutobi Hiruzen watched him go, his expression grave. He had seen it clearly in Akatsurugi's eyes—ambition, sharp and unyielding. They might win this war, but he feared they would lose the village in the process. Yet, with the enemy at the gates, he had no choice but to swallow his misgivings.
Akatsurugi raced across the sky, following the trail of powerful, clashing souls. He found the epicenter of the battle quickly.
There, the Konoha line was buckling under the combined assault of the Fourth Raikage, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. It was a brutal, one-sided push.
"The Two-Tails resurrected quite quickly. And Kumo found a new Jinchuriki with impressive speed," Akatsurugi mused. He didn't dwell on the mechanics of a Tailed Beast's rebirth; perhaps the Two-Tails was simply faster. It didn't matter. He was here now, and they would have to prepare to die once more.
"Hold the line!" Danzō roared, blood trickling from his mouth. He slammed a hand onto the ground, summoning a massive Baku, the Dream Tapir. The creature opened its maw, creating a powerful vacuum that pulled at the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. Danzō followed up, his hands a blur as he launched a volley of cutting Wind Style orbs.
In the distance, Uchiha ninja harried the Two-Tails with genjutsu and fire, while the Hyūga clan head led his clansmen in a desperate taijutsu struggle to contain the Fourth Raikage's blinding speed.
"Damn it! Tailed Beast Ball! Everyone, take cover!" Danzō's wind orbs had shredded the Eight-Tails' chakra cloak, but they couldn't stop the beast from gathering a sphere of swirling, black-and-red chakra.
The Eight-Tails prepared to fire.
Knowing he was a prime target and his chakra was nearly depleted, Danzō made a split-second decision. He would sacrifice the Baku. The death of a summon was preferable to the slaughter of Konoha ninja. A grim despair settled over him—without it, he had no hope of restraining the beast.
"Summoning: Quintuple Rashōmon!"
Suddenly, five immense, demonic-faced gates erupted from the earth one after another, forming a formidable barrier between the Tailed Beast Ball and the Konoha forces. The devastating sphere smashed through the first gate, then the second, and the third, but its momentum was finally spent on the fourth, exploding harmlessly against the fifth.
"What? Who...?" Danzō stared in shock. He knew this technique; it was one of the forbidden secrets from the Scroll of Seals.
His answer came as Akatsurugi descended slowly into the center of the battlefield, his presence alone causing the air to shimmer with heat.
"Kumogakure," Akatsurugi stated, his voice flat and final. "Your invasion ends here."
As he spoke, an inferno erupted from his body. The flames roared skyward, twisting and coalescing in the blink of an eye into a colossal giant of living fire that towered over the battlefield.
"Blaze God Mode," he announced, and the giant swung its arm, a flaming palm the size of a house slamming down towards the Cloud ninja like a meteor.
"Akatsurugi!" the Fourth Raikage, A, bellowed. He hadn't expected the Blaze God to appear so soon. "Full transformation! Stop him!"
Reacting instantly, the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails swelled into their complete, monstrous forms. Together, they raised their multiple tails, forming a chakra-infused shield to block the descending fist of fire.
The impact was thunderous, but they held. The two mighty Tailed Beasts had combined their strength to stop the blow.
"All forces, retreat! Now!" Dodai, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, yelled, his voice strained.
Ignoring the order to fall back, the Fourth Raikage became a torrent of blue lightning, shooting straight towards the chest of Akatsurugi's fire giant.
Akatsurugi didn't even acknowledge his charge. Instead, his hands formed a sequence of seals. "Sage Art: Heavenly Prison Seal!"
A second gigantic palm of flame materialized, this one etched with intricate sealing formulae, and shot towards the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails with terrifying speed.
"Watch out! It's a sealing technique!" A shouted in warning.
The two Tailed Beasts leaped aside, narrowly avoiding the grasping hand, which slammed into the ground where they had stood, leaving a smoldering, empty crater.
In that same moment, the Raikage's lightning-wreathed fist, carrying the full weight of his speed and power, connected squarely with the chest of the flaming giant.