Chapter 244: The Shield and The Spear
The Land of Fire, Border Forest.
The Land of Fire's eastern border, a dense, ancient forest known for its treacherous terrain and deep shadows, was suddenly broken by the sound of rapid movement.
Hundreds of figures—a tide of chakra and muscle—sped through the dense foliage, leaping from branch to branch with explosive speed.
The leading figure, a towering behemoth wreathed in blue, crackling lightning, was particularly ferocious. Every step he took crushed the earth beneath him.
It was the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village), Ay!
Behind him surged five hundred elite Kumogakure assault troops—the absolute pinnacle of Kumo's close-combat forces.
"Faster! We must be faster!" Ay roared, his voice amplified by his lightning chakra, a sound like grinding thunder.
"Intelligence shows that Uchiha Akira has already led Konoha's main forces to attack Sunagakure! They're buried in the desert!"
"Now is when Konoha's defenses are at their absolute weakest! Their treasury, their resources—all exposed!"
"We must turn the Land of Fire upside down before they can possibly react and pull their forces back!"
"OH OH OH OH OH—!!"
Five hundred Kumogakure ninja roared in unison, a guttural, terrifying sound. Their morale, fueled by their leader's confidence and the promise of easy plunder, reached its absolute peak.
In their arrogant opinion, this lightning-fast raid was foolproof! Konoha, having lost its main forces and its god-like Hokage, was like a toothless tiger—nothing to fear!
However.
Just as Ay led his vanguard troops into the Land of Fire's deepest border forests, crossing the invisible boundary.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A counter-force materialized out of the dense green forest ahead, blocking the path like a newly risen mountain range.
The troops, arrayed in a disciplined, tight formation, were led by a group of shinobi all bearing the distinct, fan-shaped emblem of the Uchiha Clan.
Raikage Ay's figure, moving at terminal velocity, suddenly stopped. The five hundred Kumogakure ninja behind him also halted abruptly, scattering across the branches and ground, their momentum checked.
They watched vigilantly the enemies who had suddenly, perfectly, appeared in front of them.
"Uchiha?"
Raikage Ay frowned, the lightning around his body pulsing with annoyance. He let out a loud, disdainful snort.
"Hmph. Just a bunch of glorified guard dogs raised by Konoha. I expected more from their perimeter defense."
Uchiha Fugaku, Clan Head and father of Sasuke, stood at the very front of the Konoha formation, his posture rigid and formal. His voice, though calm, was cold as ice.
"Fourth Raikage."
"This is the sovereign territory of the Land of Fire. You are trespassing."
"By direct order of the Fifth Hokage-sama, Uchiha Akira, I am here to block all invading enemies, be they S-rank or a thousand-man army."
Fugaku's voice carried no inflection, no fear. "Retreat immediately. This is your only warning."
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Ay burst into wild, explosive laughter, throwing his head back. It was a sound of pure, unbridled arrogance, as if he had heard the funniest joke imaginable.
"Uchiha Fugaku! What are you, a civilian police commander, to dare speak so presumptuously before me, the great one, the Raikage?!"
Ay's face twisted into a snarl. "You think a few hundred of your pathetic guard dogs can stop me and my elite assault force?"
"Don't think that just because Uchiha Akira became Hokage, your Uchiha Clan can suddenly rise again from your dark corners!"
"In my eyes," Ay spat the words out like venom, "you will always be a bunch of pathetic wretches only fit to stay confined to dark corners! Your time is over!"
The blue electricity on Raikage Ay's body surged violently! The Lightning Release Chakra Mode intensified!
Blinding, crackling Lightning Release Chakra frantically flowed across his entire body, making his muscles swell and his hair stand on end.
"Today, I'll show you what true, dominant power is!"
The moment his words fell!
Boom—!!!
The ground beneath Raikage Ay's feet instantly exploded into a deep, jagged crater! He propelled himself forward with raw, terrifying force.
"So fast!"
This was the Fourth Raikage! The man who had developed the Lightning Release Chakra Mode to its absolute peak, possessing the Ninja World's top undisputed speed! He was a lightning bolt given human form!
Uchiha Fugaku's expression remained utterly unchanged. His calm was absolute.
His eyes snapped open.
The black pupils instantly swirled, and the three tomoe of the Sharingan merged, forming the four-pointed star pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan!
"Susanoo."
Boom—!!!
A deep, powerful, and immense chakra suddenly erupted from Fugaku's body! The purplish-black, violent energy transformed into gigantic skeletal ribs, rising from the earth beneath him!
The ribs then grew flesh. A half-body giant, easily tens of meters tall, rose from the ground in an instant, forming a protective, armored shell that firmly shielded Fugaku's small figure within its chest.
This was the Third Stage: Susanoo!
[Inorin's Note: Susanoo is the ultimate dōjutsu of the Mangekyō Sharingan, manifesting a colossal, ethereal chakra being. Fugaku is showing a level of power previously unseen outside of Madara and Itachi.]
"Lightning Release: LARIAT!!"
Only then did Ay's roar, filled with violent, annihilating intent, arrive belatedly!
He transformed into a focused, blue bolt of lightning, his arm outstretched like a battering ram, carrying immense, destructive force. He slammed heavily, head-on, into the chest of the purplish-black giant!
Thud—!!!
A muffled, world-shaking crash! It was the sound of irresistible force meeting an immovable object!
The terrifying shockwave transformed into a visible white air current, a massive circle of pressurized air that ripped wildly through the surrounding trees!
The smoke and dust slowly cleared.
The sight in the center of the battlefield left all five hundred Kumogakure ninja completely dumbfounded.
The Susanoo giant still stood in place. Unmoving. Its feet remained planted.
On its massive chest armor, cracks like a spiderweb were slowly spreading outwards from the point of impact.
However, before the Kumogakure ninja could even begin to cheer their leader's success, those cracks were instantly sealed. The damage was repaired immediately by Uchiha Fugaku's newly injected ocular power!
The armor returned to its pristine, purplish-black state!
And the Raikage? Struck by the immense, focused recoil of his own attack, Ay was sent hurtling backward dozens of meters before he could barely stabilize himself, skidding to a halt and kicking up dust.
Ay looked up at Uchiha Fugaku's colossal, defiant Susanoo. His face, usually a mask of supreme confidence, was filled with shock and disbelief.
His full-power, lightning-fast Lariat attack... had only... caused a slight, temporary crack in the opponent's armor?
And then it was instantly repaired?!
"The Uchiha Clan... The power of the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Ay's heart was in turmoil. This was not the broken Uchiha he was expecting.
"If the previous attack wasn't enough," Ay roared, refusing to accept defeat, his warrior pride dominating his shock, "then I'll increase the power! I'll push past the limit!"
Ay suddenly raised his right hand. All the Lightning Release Chakra in his body began to frantically converge towards his fingertips!
One finger! Two fingers! Three fingers!
Finally, he extended four fingers, concentrating the crushing electrical force into a single, deadly point!
This was Lariat: Four-Fingered Thrust!
"Uchiha Fugaku!" Ay roared.
"Don't get too cocky! I refuse to believe that your turtle shell truly has no limits! I will find the breaking point!"
As his words fell, Ay's figure charged at Uchiha Fugaku once more, faster than before!
Fugaku's eyes narrowed behind the chakra avatar. His Mangekyō spun rapidly.
He could feel the terrifying, focused penetration of this specific attack.
The Susanoo's giant, armored arm suddenly rose defensively. Its massive five fingers spread wide, blocking directly in front of Fugaku's main body.
Screech—!!!
Raikage Ay's focused, deadly Four-Fingered Thrust actually pierced directly into the center of the Susanoo's massive hand, which was composed of high-density chakra!
Crack! CRACK!
Dense, visible cracks began to appear on the Susanoo's giant arm, emanating from the lightning-wreathed fingertips, as if the arm could completely shatter at any moment!
A trace of wild, triumphant joy flashed in Raikage Ay's eyes!
Indeed! It isn't invincible!
As long as I push a little harder, I can completely pierce through this hand and directly kill Fugaku's main body inside!
However, just as Ay was about to draw upon the last reserves of his energy to continue the push...
Screams of agony and chaos erupted from the dense forest behind him.
"Ah—!"
"HELP!"
"My eyes! I can't see! What did they do to my eyes?!"
Ay's peripheral vision swept over the scene. His entire body felt as if it had plunged into a deep, freezing ice cave!
While Ay had been confronting Fugaku's powerful shield...
The other side of the battlefield had already turned into a bloody slaughterhouse.
"Kill!"
Hundreds of Uchiha Clan elites, their own Mangekyō activated, their three-tomoe Sharingan spinning, had actively charged towards the flank of the five hundred Kumogakure ninja!
"A bunch of guys looking for death!" Kumogakure Chūnin roared, confident in their superior taijutsu and lightning speed. "Crush them! They're just eye-users!"
They met the charge head-on.
But soon, the cruel, terrifying reality of the Uchiha's dominance gave them a resounding slap in the face.
Puff! Puff! Slash!
Blooms of crimson blood continuously blossomed within the Kumogakure ranks.
Kumo's elite troops—their predictable moves, their linear Lariat attacks, their powerful-but-simple Taijutsu—became an utter, helpless joke in front of the Uchiha elites, who possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
Every movement. Every attack trajectory. Every subtle shift in chakra flow of the Kumogakure ninja... was seen clearly! Predicted. Copied. Countered!
Even the fastest speed lost its meaning when the enemy knew where you were going to be half a second before you got there!
"Genjutsu! It's Genjutsu!" a Kumogakure ninja suddenly let out a horrified scream, his eyes glazed over.
"Watch out for their eyes! Don't make eye contact with them! They'll trap you!"
SHINK! The panicking ninja abruptly turned around and plunged the kunai in his hand fiercely into the body of his nearby comrade!
"You... what are you doing?! Stop!" the stabbed comrade cried out in disbelief, staring at the knife buried in his gut.
And the Kumogakure ninja who launched the attack simply stood there, his eyes vacant, drooling faintly from the corner of his mouth, giggling foolishly—clearly having fallen into a powerful Genjutsu and unable to extricate himself.
Panic, blinding and infectious, spread wildly through the Kumogakure ranks!
In less than five minutes!
More than a hundred of the five hundred elite assault troops had already been slaughtered, killed either by the Uchiha's precise strikes or by the devastating effects of being trapped in Genjutsu!
As for the Uchiha Clan? Their casualties were less than twenty, and most of those were just negligible minor injuries that were quickly healed by their embedded medical-nin.
"Retreat... quickly retreat! We're being massacred!"
Finally, a Kumogakure ninja completely broke down, dropping his weapon and turning to run.
That single person's breakdown instantly triggered a catastrophic chain reaction!
The entire Kumogakure formation completely fell into utter, disorganized disarray!
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