"My younger brother surpasses even me in terms of talent!"
The Fourth Raikage watched as Killer Bee, partially transformed into the Eight-Tails, rampaged across the battlefield. The tension in his face slightly eased, and he snorted coldly at Kaede.
Kaede glanced at the berserk Eight-Tails, now an unstoppable force of destruction, then turned back to the Fourth Raikage and said calmly, "Looks like this is as far as we go."
He had originally wanted to observe the Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode a little longer, hoping to glean some inspiration.
Seeing Kaede come to a stop, the Fourth Raikage halted as well. He stared at Kaede coldly and said, "At least you have some sense of judgment. But don't get the wrong idea, I won't let you escape."
"No," Kaede shook his head. "That's not what I meant when I said 'this is the end.'"
As the words fell, his chakra suddenly surged, breaking through the Fifth Gate, Gate of Limit, of the Eight Gates technique!
Boom!!
With a burst of crackling lightning, an overwhelming surge of chakra erupted from his body. Wild and immense, it made the Fourth Raikage's expression shift dramatically.
"What?!"
He couldn't help but cry out in shock.
Kaede had already shown a technique that greatly boosted his chakra and speed, but now he could go even further?
In that instant, the Fourth Raikage's vigilance spiked to the maximum. He locked onto Kaede's figure with sharp focus, but in the next moment, Kaede vanished from his sight.
"H-How...?!"
The Raikage was horrified. He immediately dodged on instinct, and the blade of the Kusanagi Sword passed so close it nearly grazed his body.
Bathed in silver light, Kaede's movement left crackling arcs of lightning hanging in the air, his speed had completely surpassed the Raikage's!
Slash!
The Kusanagi Sword swept past again.
A red gash appeared across the Fourth Raikage's back. If he hadn't dodged without hesitation, that strike would've torn him open and left him gravely wounded!
"Damn it!!"
As the son of the Third Raikage and a ninja who had pushed Lightning Release speed to its pinnacle, this was the first time he had ever been outpaced by someone.
Now, facing Kaede, he felt the way ordinary shinobi felt when facing him, completely powerless. He could only focus every ounce of attention to avoid being overwhelmed, like a lone boat in a raging sea, ready to capsize at any moment.
"Bee!!"
A saw the danger clearly. He could no longer keep up with Kaede's speed. He was barely managing to dodge the attacks, dodging one or two, but there was no way he could avoid all of them.
Killer Bee, fully immersed in his berserk state, didn't hear his brother's cry. At that moment, his eight massive tentacles had completely shattered Tsunade's slug summon and were about to grab Tsunade herself.
"Bee, your brother is in danger."
The Eight-Tails' voice echoed in his mind.
Only then did Killer Bee snap to attention. He turned toward A's direction, and what he saw stunned him.
A glowing silver light enveloped the Fourth Raikage, constantly flashing past him. A's body was covered in slashes, already badly injured. His right shoulder was nearly pierced through!
"H-How did things turn out like this…?"
Killer Bee felt a chill in his heart. He immediately stopped attacking Tsunade and rushed toward A.
Shing!!
A flash of white light shot toward A's heart.
The Fourth Raikage dodged with all his might, barely avoiding a fatal blow, but Kaede's sword still pierced through the right side of his chest!
"Kh…!!"
Coughing up blood, A grabbed the blade with one hand and kicked at Kaede with all his strength.
Kaede stepped down lightly.
Crack! Boom!
A burst of lightning exploded. The Fourth Raikage could no longer hold onto the sword. He was sent flying, trailing a shower of blood behind him.
"Big Brother!"
This was the first time Killer Bee had ever seen A suffer such grievous wounds. What shocked him even more was that Kaede's speed surpassed A's.
He had never seen anyone faster than his brother!
Whoosh!!
Bee flung out a tentacle and caught the falling A, now coughing blood in mid-air, his Lightning Chakra Mode collapsing.
Kaede had no intention of letting A escape. In a flash, he caught up to the tentacle and slashed down with his sword.
Slash!!
The octopus tentacle was cut cleanly in half, and A tumbled from its grasp, falling toward the ground.
Killer Bee roared in fury. His massive body lunged forward. Just before Kaede's sword could strike again, Bee caught A in his mouth and used one of his horns to block the slash.
Clang!!
Silver light flashed.
Kaede's blade sliced off a chunk of the Eight-Tails' horn!
The Eight-Tails howled in rage and swiped at Kaede, but he reversed his grip and sliced the beast's palm open in response.
"So this is the Eight-Tails… The chakra is certainly far beyond Kage level, but your techniques are far too simplistic."
Kaede's expression remained calm.
Among all the tailed beasts, only the Nine-Tails had power beyond the Kage level. Even the strongest among the others, the Eight-Tails, was only at the peak of the Kage tier.
To him now, there were virtually no shinobi at the Kage level who could best him. As for the other eight tailed beasts besides the Nine-Tails? He no longer even considered them a threat.
Roar!!!
The Eight-Tails bellowed furiously. Chakra surged from its body as the wound on its hand rapidly healed, and its tentacles lashed toward Kaede like whips.
The full-force chakra of the Eight-Tails had reached a level far beyond what a human could touch.
But,
Even against this savage, explosive chakra, Kaede's expression remained indifferent. He charged forward with the Kusanagi Sword in hand.
Flashes of his blade illuminated the air, each swing slicing through the Eight-Tails' flesh as the beast howled in agony. Even completely berserk, the Eight-Tails could not avoid injury under Kaede's relentless assault.
This sight left the distant Cloud ninja dumbstruck. They stared in disbelief.
One man… suppressing a tailed beast!
The strength of the Silver Flash of Konoha was even more terrifying than the legends!
"Kaede…"
Tsunade, too, was shaken.
She knew all too well how terrifying the berserk Eight-Tails was, yet Kaede was pushing it back!
She could tell that his speed was far beyond what it had been during his battle with Chiyo. His chakra was also more massive than before.
Yet alongside her awe…
She couldn't help but grit her teeth slightly.
Yes, Kaede had defeated the son of the Third Raikage and was now suppressing the rampaging Eight-Tails, but this power came at the cost of a forbidden technique. The backlash afterward would undoubtedly be even worse than last time.
If only she were stronger, Kaede wouldn't have needed to push himself this far. But against the berserk Eight-Tails, she truly had no power to stop it.
A Sensei protected by her student...
Last time, it had been because her hemophobia hadn't been cured. This time, even after being cured, the outcome hadn't changed.
Tsunade took a deep breath, looking toward Kaede with resolve in her eyes. No matter how severe the aftereffects were this time, she would stake everything to heal him!
…
"Bee, at this rate, my chakra is draining too fast. If this keeps up, I won't be able to maintain control, and then even you'll be in danger. We can't keep fighting like this," said the Eight-Tails internally.
"I know... but that guy has no intention of letting me or Big Bro escape. And with that kind of speed, there's no way we could even run," Killer Bee replied.
Neither of them had expected the Silver Flash of Konoha to be this terrifying.
After defeating A, even the rampaging Eight-Tails couldn't stop him!
He was a greater, more terrifying threat than the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi himself, far harder to deal with.
It was hard to believe that, according to intel, this monster… was just an eleven-year-old boy!
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