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Hiruzen shot a startled look at Shikaku, who could only shake his head in equal bewilderment.
The Raikage's eyes sharpened to a razor's edge as he demanded, "Could this be an invasion by the Akatsuki?"
"The Akatsuki? Would they truly choose a moment like this to strike?" Hiruzen was momentarily taken aback. He had been on the verge of dismissing the notion outright, but then his mind flashed back to the Akatsuki's devastating surprise assault on the Hidden Leaf Village, and his skepticism wavered.
When it came to the Akatsuki, one simply could not measure their actions by the logic of ordinary, sane individuals. What sane person would dedicate themselves to hunting down and capturing the tailed beasts? That was tantamount to declaring war against the entire shinobi world. How many people possessed the sheer, reckless audacity for such an undertaking? As fate would have it, the Akatsuki was composed entirely of such madmen. So, the idea of them launching an assault directly upon the Island Turtle might have sounded utterly absurd on the surface. But once one discarded conventional logic, it suddenly did not seem so implausible after all.
"If I were in their position, I would definitely choose to initiate the battle right here. And as for the reason why... we are currently situated on the back of a sea turtle," the Raikage stated.
Hiruzen nodded, signaling his full understanding of the Raikage's implication. They were upon the Island Turtle, and the colossal creature beneath their feet was the sole thing standing between them and the churning sea. Although the turtle's shell was extraordinarily tough and durable, that did not mean it was impervious to destruction. If the turtle were to be killed, their predicament would become catastrophically dire. Even more critically, without the Island Turtle, there would be no means of swiftly transporting the reinforcements waiting on the opposite shore.
Upon this sober reflection, the Akatsuki's seemingly bizarre tactical maneuver suddenly appeared chillingly, terrifyingly rational.
Without wasting another moment, Hiruzen, the Raikage, the Kazekage, and the Tsuchikage surged forward as one, charging at full speed towards the origin of the thunderous impact. A massive black box had been embedded deep into the earth, its surface continuously radiating a dense, violet-hued, malevolent aura. And nearby, a horrifying, winged, pitch-black monstrosity was relentlessly assaulting the shinobi of the Allied Forces, callously seizing those it struck down and hurling them into the gaping maw of the black box.
The instant Hiruzen's eyes fell upon that black box, his expression underwent a drastic, horrified transformation. He gasped, his voice involuntarily rising, "Is that... the Box of Ultimate Bliss?!"
Upon hearing the name "Box of Ultimate Bliss," the complexions of the others present turned equally grave.
"The Akatsuki... they actually managed to get their hands on the Box of Ultimate Bliss..." Onoki muttered, his voice heavy with dread.
"I never imagined we would be forced to contend with a creature like this," Baki said, staring up at the colossal, terrifying form of Satori. He felt an immense, crushing pressure settle upon him. The sheer size of this gargantuan monster was, by all appearances, not the least bit inferior to that of a fully manifested tailed beast.
The Raikage's expression was the most grim and severe of all. Just as Satori was in the midst of its frenzied assault upon the Allied shinobi, Killer B, who had rushed over in frantic haste, had managed to forcefully interrupt the creature's onslaught, compelling it to momentarily break off its attacks against the other shinobi.
"That reckless fool... Why must he always insist on playing the hero?!"
The Raikage clenched his massive fist and stepped forward, fully prepared to throw himself directly into the fray. But he was immediately halted as Hiruzen seized him firmly by the arm.
"What is it?!" The Raikage glared at Hiruzen, his eyes bulging like blazing copper bells.
"Patience, for a moment," Hiruzen said, raising a calming hand. "Even if you do not place your trust in Killer B's judgment, surely you still trust the Eight-Tails? In the short term, Killer B's life is not in immediate danger. Rather than charging in blindly, we should use this time to swiftly formulate a proper counter-strategy. We need to rapidly analyze and understand the attack patterns and capabilities of the entity that emerged from the Box of Ultimate Bliss."
Hearing this, the Raikage forcibly suppressed his burning impulse to leap into battle and redirected his focus toward the ongoing conflict. Once Killer B had completed his full Tailed Beast transformation, the colossal, awe-inspiring form of the Eight-Tails materialized before everyone's eyes. Its sheer bulk was even slightly greater than that of Satori. By all conventional logic, a tailed beast was a living construct of chakra given form, and thus, it was virtually immune to chakra depletion. This meant that when the Eight-Tails unleashed its techniques, it scarcely needed to give any consideration to chakra consumption.
And indeed, the Eight-Tails proceeded to attack with wild, unrestrained abandon. Yet, no matter how ferociously the Eight-Tails struck, Satori seemed to perceive every single move an instant before it was made, effortlessly evading each blow.
Initially, the Raikage thought his eyes must be deceiving him. But after observing the battle with meticulous, unwavering focus for two full minutes, he was forced to confirm his initial suspicion. That hideous, pitch-black abomination truly seemed capable of anticipating and predicting Killer B's attacks before they were even launched.
"That creature is called Satori. It is a monster that emerged from within the Box of Ultimate Bliss. It is said that its original form was human. It possesses the ability to peer directly into the hearts and minds of others, and it can sense approaching danger before it manifests. That is why it is capable of evading almost anyone's attacks," Hiruzen informed them grimly.
Facing an adversary of this nature, even he felt a throbbing ache of frustration settle in his temples. Satori's command of the air made launching any direct assault against it an immensely taxing endeavor. And its dual abilities to read minds and foresee danger granted it more than ample time to dodge and counter any incoming offense. Even if one were to completely disregard its horrifying destructive power, those two factors alone rendered Satori a more troublesome opponent than even Hiruzen himself.
"The Island Turtle will be making landfall before long. If we do not neutralize this creature swiftly, our position will become catastrophically untenable," Onoki stated.
"It is highly probable that this abomination was deployed by the Akatsuki for the express purpose of stalling our advance," Baki said, his brow deeply furrowed. Although their own individual combat strengths were formidable, eliminating Satori within a short timeframe was an exceedingly tall order.
"Precisely. However, given its aerial advantage and its ability to read human thoughts, landing any truly effective strike against it is proving immensely difficult," Baki added, his frown deepening. Typically, the most effective countermeasure against airborne units was Wind Release. A powerful enough gust could throw a flying target off balance and force it to crash to the ground. But Satori's mass and sheer bulk were so monumentally immense that generating a Wind Release technique powerful enough to forcibly ground it would demand a staggering, prohibitive volume of chakra. And without a tailed beast at their disposal, using Wind Release to knock Satori out of the sky seemed an almost insurmountable challenge.
"We must end this swiftly. We do not have the luxury of wasting precious time here," Hiruzen declared.
"But how exactly do we counter it?" Baki asked uneasily, his gaze flicking towards the Eight-Tails, which was already beginning to show visible signs of fatigue.
"Speed! Even if Satori can read the thoughts within a person's mind, the question remains whether his physical body can actually keep pace with that precognition. By utilizing overwhelming, absolute speed—striking him down before his body has the chance to react to what his mind already knows—that may very well be our sole remaining option," Hiruzen stated, drawing a deep, steadying breath.
The gazes of the others immediately converged upon the Raikage. Aside from space-time ninjutsu, Lightning Release granted the greatest augmentation to a shinobi's raw, physical speed. And among the entire Allied Shinobi Forces, the undisputed master of Lightning Release was, without question, the Raikage himself.
"Hah! Since you all seem to have set your sights on me, then I suppose I have no choice but to reluctantly rise to the occasion," the Raikage boomed.
Though his words were laced with his characteristic bravado, the look in his eyes was one of grim, unshakable resolve. Since Lightning Release was the key, no matter what, he would not take a single step backward.
"The rest of us will work in concert to create the necessary opening for the Fourth Raikage," Hiruzen commanded.
The surrounding shinobi immediately cleared the area, ceding the battlefield to the four apex-level warriors.
Baki, in his capacity as Kazekage, possessed an extraordinarily high degree of mastery over Wind Release. He was the first to act, launching an assault against Satori with his Wind Blades technique. Several disc-shaped blades of compressed, razor-sharp wind screamed through the air, hurtling directly towards Satori. The attack forced Satori to retreat slightly, creating a brief window of separation from the Eight-Tails. Just as the creature was reorienting itself, searching for the origin of the attack, a gargantuan dragon of solid earth and stone erupted from the ground, lunging ferociously towards Satori in mid-air, its claws and fangs bared.
"How utterly, insufferably irritating. You pests buzz around my ears like a swarm of bothersome flies. Do you genuinely believe your attacks can have any meaningful effect?"
Despite his scornful taunts, Satori had no intention of tanking the Earth Dragon's full brunt head-on. He deftly exploited his unnatural agility, weaving through the air to cleanly evade the colossal construct's assault.