Conversely, Blue B was now on the verge of death.
If, before, his injuries could have been healed with the help of the Eight-Tails' chakra after a period of rest.
Now, even the Eight-Tails' chakra could only keep him breathing. No one could say how much longer he could last.
When Blue B had used the Eight-Tails' chakra to form the Tailed Beast Bomb, without the protection of that chakra, the energy from Li Anshi's dagger had already invaded his internal organs.
Large chunks of his organs bubbled up from his mouth.
No one would have been surprised if he had died in the next second.
"B!"
The grief in the Third Raikage's heart was indescribable.
He knew that Blue B had attacked Li Anshi, giving up his own hope of survival, to save him.
If not for Blue B's attack, he would probably have been killed by Li Anshi's dagger by now.
"Lord Raikage."
At this time, many Cloud ninjas had also arrived, gathering at the Third Raikage's side.
These Jonin had been quite critical of the Third Raikage's rash actions earlier.
But upon seeing Blue B's current state, they all fell silent.
A Jinchuriki was a village's deterrent weapon against other ninja villages.
To ensure the Jinchuriki's loyalty to the village, the partner chosen was always one who could perform the "Double Lariat" with the Raikage candidate.
The Double Lariat was a very difficult ninjutsu to learn, and also one that tested the coordination between the two partners the most.
It was a ninjutsu where both individuals enhanced their right arms with chakra and charged at the enemy from opposite sides, using the "Lariat" to twist off the enemy's head.
If their coordination was insufficient, the move would fail.
The Raikage or Raikage candidate always used this ninjutsu to select their partner.
Afterward, the two would live and train together for a long time, becoming closer than blood brothers, beings who could entrust their lives to each other.
Now, just one look at Blue B's condition told everyone that his time was short.
"Lord Raikage."
After a moment of silence, it was finally Dodai who spoke.
"Given Lord B's current situation, we must extract the Tailed Beast and seal it…"
The Third Raikage lifted his head, glaring at Dodai with blood-red eyes. The powerful aura forced Dodai to swallow the rest of his words.
It was as if the Third Raikage might attack him if he said anything more.
The lives of a Jinchuriki and a Tailed Beast were linked by a sealing jutsu.
If the seal on the Jinchuriki was released, the Tailed Beast could be safely extracted.
Thus, the Jinchuriki would die, but the Tailed Beast would not die with them.
Because their own chakra had already mixed with the Tailed Beast's, when a Jinchuriki lost their Tailed Beast, their own chakra would be extracted along with it. It was equivalent to chakra exhaustion, and they would also die.
Dodai's words were clearly a plea for the Third Raikage to give up on saving Blue B.
Though terrified, Dodai took a deep breath and continued, "Lord Raikage, we have already lost the Two-Tails. We cannot lose the Eight-Tails as well."
When a Tailed Beast was killed, it would revive somewhere in the ninja world.
However, the time and place of its revival were unknown.
It could take as little as three years, or as long as seven, eight, or even ten years to revive.
Afterward, tracking the Tailed Beast would also be a troublesome matter.
"In this battle with Li Anshi, our Cloud Village has already suffered enough losses."
"If we lose the Eight-Tails as well, then even if we sign a truce with Konoha, we will face the threat of the Stone ninjas."
"Lord Raikage, please leave a sliver of hope for the village!"
Between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire, there was the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain to act as buffers.
But the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth shared nearly half of their borders directly.
Conflicts between the Cloud and the Stone along their border had never ceased since the founding of the villages.
It was just that before, the strength of the two nations was not far apart, and both had two Tailed Beasts.
Now that the Cloud's Two-Tails Jinchuriki was dead, it would be at least three years before they could track and reseal the Two-Tails.
This put the Cloud at a disadvantage in terms of deterrent weapons against the Stone.
If the Eight-Tails were to die now, Dodai was certain that the Stone Village would send troops to the Cloud Village.
After their defeat by Konoha, the Stone Village would also want to use one of the other five great ninja villages to stabilize its own position.
At the same time, they could tear a piece of flesh from the Cloud to recover some of their own blood.
In fact, if they played their cards right, the Stone could even make up for all their losses from the war with the Cloud and gain even more.
The Cloud ninjas fell silent.
They had to admit that what Dodai said was very reasonable.
The Cloud Village had already lost one Tailed Beast; it could not afford to lose another.
Immediately, many of the Cloud ninjas silently stood behind Dodai.
They were not afraid of death.
But they were afraid that if they died in battle here, the younger generation in the village would not have enough strength to protect themselves.
"I understand. Call the sealing team."
To everyone's relief, the Third Raikage did not blame Dodai, but instead called for the sealing team.
"Tell them, after sealing the Eight-Tails, take it back to the village and have A begin searching for his partner immediately."
"Yes, Lord Raikage."
Several Cloud ninjas nodded to the Third Raikage, then came to his side, lifted the unconscious Blue B, and ran toward the rear of the battlefield.
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap…
"Who?"
Just then, the sound of clapping reached everyone's ears, instantly enraging the Cloud ninjas. They all turned to look in the direction of the sound, wanting to shout a few words.
What kind of joke was this? They were mourning with the Third Raikage, who dared to clap and celebrate?
Did they think they hadn't died fast enough?
However, when they saw the person clapping, their expressions changed drastically.
"Lit- Little Li Flying Dagger?"
"How can you still be alive?"
Although the Eight-Tails had also released a Tailed Beast Bomb when it had ambushed Li Anshi before.
That time, the Tailed Beast Bomb hadn't harmed Li Anshi, but it had destroyed the daggers in his sealing scroll.
This time, with Blue B's ambush, the Cloud ninjas had been skeptical about whether it could kill Li Anshi.
But in the previous attack, Li Anshi had immediately appeared from the explosion and caused a large number of casualties among them.
Now, it had been more than thirty seconds since Li Anshi had been attacked.
Since he hadn't emerged from the explosion, they had thought they had finally killed him.