But now that Li Anshi had appeared, they knew he wasn't dead. He had used the aftereffects of the Tailed Beast Bomb to sneak up on them.
The Jonin were just about to make a move when Li Anshi raised his right hand.
Instantly, the Cloud ninjas who had wanted to attack froze as if they had been put under a paralysis jutsu, not daring to move.
Because in Li Anshi's hand were four flying daggers.
No one knew which four of them would be killed if they moved.
Of course, ninjas were assassins who walked in the darkness. Which of them who had become Jonin hadn't clawed their way out of a mountain of corpses?
They did not fear death.
Therefore, after being momentarily stunned by instinct, they regained control of their bodies and wanted to attack again. But Li Anshi's next words made them freeze once more.
"Gentlemen, the way you speak, it's as if I must be killed."
"When the Tailed Beast Bomb failed to kill me the first time, you should have known it was ineffective against me."
"Of course, I also know that the Jinchuriki attacked me so desperately only to save the Third Raikage."
"I have great respect for that Jinchuriki's will."
"Therefore, I waited until you had finished taking care of his affairs before revealing myself."
"If you don't want those few to get too far, I would be happy to send you on a trip to the Pure Land."
"I imagine, with the speed of my hand, you should all arrive at the Pure Land in the same batch. If you walk a few more steps, you might even run into them."
The Pure Land was the final resting place for the souls of living beings in the ninja world after death.
"Hmph, despicable!" one of the Cloud Jonin grunted at Li Anshi, his voice muffled.
"Oh? I'm despicable?"
"Your Cloud Village brought more than three thousand ninjas to kill me. I was merely soft-hearted and wanted to give you some time to take the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki away, and you call me despicable?"
Li Anshi looked at the Cloud ninja who had spoken in surprise and retorted, "Sir, would you like to think carefully about whether that is something you should be saying to me?"
"Hmph!"
The ninja snorted coldly but said no more.
The other Cloud ninjas also remained silent.
Clearly, they also knew that in a state of war, words like "despicable" were meaningless.
Such words were inherently spoken by the defeated.
For the sake of victory in war, being unscrupulous was the norm for ninjas.
Just as when they had brought more than three thousand ninjas to face him, had Li Anshi called them despicable?
"Gentlemen, at our current distance, I am confident I can kill all of you within two seconds."
"So, have you decided to fulfill my previous request and submit a letter of surrender to Konoha, as well as compensate Konoha for the one hundred and twenty million Ryo in losses you have caused…"
"Or will you continue to put up a futile resistance?"
"Of course, perhaps you think that even if you are all killed by me, the remaining Cloud ninjas can keep me here forever, as I don't have many daggers left on me."
"But don't forget, your ninja forces have already been crushed by me once."
"Next, how many more people do you think I need to kill before they break again?"
"Without the Third Raikage, who else can rally the Cloud's fighting spirit to continue besieging me?"
"Here, I might even have to thank Lord Third Raikage."
"Because you said before that if a ninja of the Cloud Village encounters me on a mission, they can abandon the mission, and it will not be counted as a failure."
"I think many Cloud ninjas, like me, will be grateful to the Third Raikage."
The faces of the Cloud ninjas present changed.
Indeed, if the Third Raikage were alive, these ninjas would give their lives for him without a second thought.
But if the Third Raikage were killed, the words he had used to inspire their fighting spirit would become the very thing that broke their will.
"The Cloud can pay the war reparations."
"But a letter of surrender from the Cloud is impossible!"
At this moment, the Third Raikage finally emerged from his grief over Blue B's impending death.
He knew that this time, in their battle with Li Anshi, the Cloud Village had lost.
At this moment, all the important figures of the Cloud Village were gathered here.
If their deaths could be exchanged for Li Anshi's life, then everyone, including the Third Raikage, would not hesitate to give their lives.
But, as Li Anshi had said, the promise the Third Raikage had made earlier to stir the fighting spirit of the fleeing ninjas had already become a "principle" in their hearts.
If the Third Raikage lived, they would fight to the death.
If the Third Raikage died, they would erupt with even greater fighting spirit to avenge him.
However, no matter how passionate their fighting spirit, it would eventually cool before Li Anshi's flying daggers.
At that time, more Cloud ninjas would break and flee.
Because the Third Raikage had said that encountering Li Anshi on a mission, abandoning the mission to save oneself, was not a failure.
These words would inevitably be spread by the ninjas who returned alive, becoming a reason to console their hearts for the rest of their lives, and an excuse to live on in peace.
But even so, the Third Raikage's attitude was extremely firm.
As the supreme leader of the Cloud Village, due to his decision to besiege Li Anshi, the village had fallen into a dilemma.
If they continued to fight Li Anshi, as he had said, they would surely be killed in the first instance.
The remaining two thousand-odd ninjas—could they withstand the pressure from Li Anshi, continue to fight without breaking, and finally exhaust his daggers and bury him here?
No one knew.
But everyone knew in their hearts that if the Cloud was crushed by Li Anshi again and someone fled, the rest would surely follow.
And this possibility was not low.
Never mind the Chunin and Genin; even Jonin like them felt a chill in their hearts when facing Li Anshi.
If they stopped now, then the lives of the nearly one thousand ninjas who had died by Li Anshi's hand would have been sacrificed in vain.
They had been so brave. Even knowing that charging forward was suicide, they had faced Li Anshi's daggers without hesitation.
Their sacrifice had not been in vain.
Based on Li Anshi's previous battle, he had opened the sealing scroll after killing nearly three hundred Cloud ninjas.
In other words, after the daggers in the sealing scroll were completely destroyed by Blue B, the number of daggers on Li Anshi's person was around three hundred.
They only needed to hold out for another three minutes, sacrifice another three hundred-odd ninjas, and a dagger-less Li Anshi would be like a tiger without its claws and teeth…