Chapter 442: Besieging the Fourth Raikage
The day after, the three parties of Konoha, Suna, and Kumo split up, each returning to their own village.
And Ishiro, after handing over the village's defenses to Kitsuchi and Kawakita, left the village with Ōnoki, Ikura, Han, Rōshi, Koku, and an intelligence ninja responsible for communications, heading for the Land of Hot Water.
Ishiro's group hovered in the sky over the northern region of the Land of Hot Water.
He remained in Sage Mode. His Sage-enhanced Mind's Eye and Koku's Byakugan were constantly scouting.
Without Chiga's blood-tracking bug, it was very difficult for Ishiro to accurately track the movements of the Fourth Raikage and his group. Sending an intelligence ninja to track them was impossible; that was no different from seeking death. The only method he could think of was to wait for them between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Lightning.
Fortunately, both his Mind's Eye and Koku's Byakugan were divine reconnaissance tools.
The two split up. Koku followed Ōnoki to stand guard between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Moon, which was the land route back to the Land of Lightning. Ishiro took the others to patrol the northern coastline. If the Fourth Raikage's group chose to go by sea, this was the most suitable place.
From early morning, Ishiro had been scouting with Ikura, Han, and Rōshi. It wasn't until near noon that his Mind's Eye finally gave him feedback: the target had appeared.
The Fourth Raikage's group had chosen the sea route.
This was not the best choice. The optimal plan was naturally the land route. It was fast, convenient, saved chakra, and was a shorter distance. For them to do this meant that the Fourth Raikage was also guarding against Iwagakure. He had deliberately chosen to return to the Land of Lightning from the sea east of the Land of Moon, to reduce the possibility of being blocked by Iwa-nin.
Unfortunately, he was still blocked by Ishiro.
His Mind's Eye range was large enough that he had discovered the other party one step ahead of them. He did not immediately alert the Raikage, but first went to the Land of Moon to call Ōnoki.
After the two groups converged, they launched their attack on the Raikage's party, who were preparing to board a boat on the coast.
This time, Ishiro did not choose to use Tailed Beast Bombs, but opted for Dust Release to clear the field. A Tailed Beast Bomb was also a huge drain on the Tailed Beast, and the Four-Tails and Five-Tails could not use it twice in a row in a short time. He didn't want to use it right at the start. In contrast, the consumption of Dust Release and Light Release was not as great.
So, Ishiro and Ōnoki first launched a blast of Dust Release and Light Release from a great distance at the location of the Raikage's group. First, clear the field!
After the two rounds of attacks, they only saw the Raikage, carrying one person on his back, quickly rushing into the heartland of the Land of Hot Water. Apart from him, several other figures also agilely rushed out of the area covered by the attacks and fled quickly in all directions.
"Huh?" Ōnoki was taken aback.
In his and Ishiro's estimation, the Raikage should have chosen to escape by sea. Although he was not good at Water Release, once he entered the ocean and sank into the sea, their Kekkei Tōta would have almost no effect on him. And in the great sea, their Earth Release would also be almost useless. It was precisely because of this consideration that Ishiro had not let Han and Rōshi attack first, because once the Raikage entered the sea and the Kekkei Tōta became ineffective, they would still need the underwater attack of a Tailed Beast Bomb.
From the Raikage's standpoint, Yugito probably wouldn't survive, but at least he himself could definitely escape.
But if they fought on land, with the Earth Release level of Ishiro, Ōnoki, and Ikura, they could wear him down to death through attrition alone.
Ishiro also just frowned slightly and said to the others, "Speed up, pursue! Disregard consumption and get rid of him as soon as possible."
After speaking, he used his Light/Heavy Boulder Technique and porcelain flight ability at full power, rapidly chasing in the direction the Raikage had fled.
Ōnoki nodded and quickly followed.
They had originally thought they would be fighting in the sea, so they had been waiting over the ocean. Now that the Raikage was fleeing in the opposite direction, they could only chase from behind.
Last time, when Ōnoki had used his technique to pursue Pakura, Chiyo, and the others, it had been very easy. But this time, the feeling of chasing the Raikage was not so wonderful. Even though he was carrying another person, their speed was still no match for his.
After chasing for a while, Ishiro and Ōnoki exchanged a glance, then both landed on Ishiro's porcelain platform.
The next moment, they both shouted in unison, "Super Light-Weight Rock Technique!"
They not only used it on themselves but also on Ikura and the others on the platform. The next moment, their speed exploded, finally surpassing the Raikage, and the distance between them began to shrink.
The technique directly reduced everyone's weight to a very low level, making the porcelain platform fly incredibly fast. Usually, Ishiro would not do this, because his vision couldn't keep up. The sensory range of his Mind's Eye was large enough, but its reaction time was not fast enough. So, if someone were to use a ninjutsu to block their path, by the time he reacted, they might have already crashed into it. That would be disastrous.
But this time, to hunt down the Fourth Raikage, Ishiro had gone all out.
After a full-speed chase, they finally, without any mishap, arrived above the speeding Raikage.
After canceling the Super Light-Weight Rock Technique, while rapidly descending, Ishiro and Ōnoki very tacitly began to cast their Kekkei Tōta. And Ikura began to cast a large-scale earth jutsu.
"Earth Style: Rampart of Flowing Earth!"
Casting Earth Release while in the air was a great disadvantage. So, even though Ikura consumed a huge amount, the rampart he created was much smaller than expected. He only managed to create an earthen mound nearly ten meters high, a dozen meters long, and two meters thick.
However, the Fourth Raikage had been forced to slow down after being interfered with by the Dust and Light Release attacks. So, the rampart still managed to successfully block his path.
The Raikage, having just dodged the two Kekkei Tōta, let out a great shout. Lightning flashed. He did not choose to go around the sides, nor did he choose to go over the top. He directly used his lightning to smash a large hole through the rampart and charged through. This didn't affect his speed much. He just slowed down a little and then rushed out again.
But this one delay gave Ishiro time for another attack.
Taking the opportunity, Ishiro placed all the porcelain mud he had gathered directly in front of the Raikage. The porcelain maintained its mud state and did not turn into hard rock. But this, on the contrary, made the Raikage even more wary. This time, he did not charge head-on into the intercepting mud. He chose to go around it.
When they had besieged Ishiro in Kumo, he had already witnessed the power of his porcelain combined with sealing jutsu. The mud in front of him was clearly very viscous. Who knew if a sealing jutsu that would restrict him would activate as soon as he touched it. At a time like this, even if his chakra was just disrupted, it would be enough for him to die countless times. So, he would rather take a detour than charge into this thin layer of mud.
But the Lightning Chakra Mode excelled at thrusting, not dodging. This one detour caused the Raikage's speed to drop. And with this delay, Ōnoki's Dust Release arrived again. To avoid it, the Raikage, who had just slowed down and had not yet re-accelerated, had no choice but to dodge again.
Back and forth like this, he could no longer get his speed back up.
"Earth Style: Rampart of Flowing Earth!" Ikura once again chose the old method, using a large rampart to obstruct him.
Ishiro gathered more porcelain mud. Han and Rōshi, with the boost from their Tailed Beast chakra, also used large-scale earth jutsu.
The Raikage's taijutsu was indeed formidable. Although his speed had slowed, he still chose a direction and quickly broke through the obstruction.
At this time, Ishiro also began to exert his strength. He no longer used Light Release, but, like Ikura and the others, began to use Earth Release. And in the process, his Porcelain Release did not weaken.
With this, the pressure on the Raikage suddenly increased severalfold, because the speed at which Ishiro cast his jutsu was too fast.
Under the boost of Sage Art, even a C-rank ninjutsu could make him feel uncomfortable. And the casting speed of Ishiro's C-rank earth jutsu was no slower than the speed at which he could smash through an earth wall.
And Ishiro was not fighting alone. Ikura and the others were also constantly using large-scale, high-level earth jutsu. Plus, Ōnoki was constantly threatening him from the air, in the starting stance for Dust Release, making it impossible for him to concentrate on finding a suitable breakthrough point.
So, after a period of time, the Fourth Raikage was trapped in the middle of one earth wall after another.
Viewed from high in the sky, he was like a small hamster trapped in a maze game.
If this continued, he would sooner or later be worn down to death by Ishiro and the others. And Ishiro felt that he definitely wouldn't last until that time, because with just one oversight, Ōnoki's Dust Release would take his life. And Ishiro wouldn't honestly just keep using Earth Release; he would occasionally use Light Release. Although the Lightning Chakra Mode's defense was strong, it was still not enough against a Kekkei Tōta.
Not to mention, Ishiro's side still had two Jinchuriki who could use the Tailed Beast Bomb.
However, thinking of the Raikage's abnormal choice to retreat back into the Land of Hot Water, Ishiro still didn't want to fight a war of attrition.
He shouted loudly, "Speed up the attack! Lest we run into more trouble!"
After speaking, Ishiro focused his efforts on his Porcelain Release.
More and more porcelain mud began to surge, soon surrounding the mobility-restricted Raikage. In order not to let the mud touch his body, every time he forcibly broke out, he had to consume a large amount of chakra to shake it off. This wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was that as the mud increased, his vision was severely restricted. This was extremely detrimental for him to guard against Ōnoki's Dust Release and Ishiro's Light Release.
If this trend continued, his death was just a matter of minutes.
At this moment, Yugito, on his back, forcibly mobilized the Two-Tails' chakra, forming a tentacle to clear the porcelain mud that was blocking his line of sight, just as Killer Bee had done in Kumogakure.
It was just that the injured Yugito could only condense a tiny bit of the Two-Tails' chakra. In addition, the Two-Tails was also in a weakened state; it could not transform and fight. And the Raikage knew that with two Kekkei Tōta users present, even if the Two-Tails did come out, it would be useless. Dust Release and Light Release were too effective against a complete Tailed Beast.
Yugito knew that Ishiro's porcelain could seal her chakra. She also wanted to shake the mud off her chakra tentacle, but her strength did not allow it. She had no extra chakra.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Ishiro's sealing jutsu activated as expected.
Disturbed by Ishiro, the tentacle she had created immediately dissipated, and then she could no longer recover.
The Fourth Raikage was once again surrounded by porcelain mud, plunging into a life-and-death crisis.
(End of Chapter)
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