Swish!
The Raikage quickly leaned backward, then immediately kicked forward with his leg. His body was now almost parallel to the ground. If Saitama dodged his kick, he could use that momentum to twist his body around and land steadily, neutralizing Saitama's attack.
Originally, Saitama charged straight at Raikage A, both hands channeling a powerful Chidori Nagare. Because of Raikage's dodge, his lunge lost its target.
However, this didn't surprise him. His Sharingan instantly saw through everything.
Patta!
Unlike what Raikage had hoped, Saitama reached out and blocked his kick, then gripped his ankle tightly, twisting it forcefully in the opposite direction.
Crackle! Crack!
At the same time, [Chidori Nagare] surged from his arms toward Raikage.
Tch!
Raikage felt the assault and immediately sensed a chill and numbness spreading through his lower body—the defense of his Lightning Release clearly shattered by Saitama's overwhelming offense.
But he did not panic. He twisted midair along the direction of the spin, then pushed off the ground with his left hand, kicking out his other foot.
With a loud 'thud,' Saitama, as if anticipating this, blocked the incoming kick with his elbow, flying backward from the impact while Raikage seized the chance to pull back his leg and land on the ground.
Tat-tat!
Saitama steadied himself, rubbing his elbow which had turned red and slightly bruised, a dull pain shooting through the bones. But thanks to Hashirama's cells, these injuries would heal soon—completely insignificant when it came to continuing the battle.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, locking his gaze on Raikage.
Raikage's resilience surprised him. Even though Saitama had already taken advantage during their previous exchange, gaining near-complete upper-hand.
Earlier, Raikage's dominant arm had been twisted badly by him. Although Raikage had forced the bone back into place through sheer willpower, he didn't have fast regeneration like Hashirama. That meant his combat effectiveness was significantly weakened compared to before.
Saitama also believed the next move was his best opportunity to win.
"You don't seriously think you still have any chance of beating me in this situation, do you?"
Saitama stared at Raikage, noticing the man wore a serious expression but hadn't yet fallen into desperation—he still seemed confident in his own strength.
Whoosh!
Raikage answered with a massive fist—his previously injured right hand, one Saitama thought too damaged to be useful.
Violent lightning-infused chakra crackled across the fist. Clearly not a weak strike—thunderous sonic booms followed one after another.
Pressing his lips together, he flicked his tongue across his upper lip, then charged forward, launching his fist.
Boom! The two figures shot toward each other and crashed together headfirst. For a heartbeat, the air stilled—then a blast of wind exploded from the impact point, sending dust flying from the battlefield.
"Haa... haa!"
Raikage slightly lowered his head, letting out painful breaths. His tall figure still stood upright, yet tilted slightly forward; his back strangely arched.
Drip-drip!
A drop of blood slid from the corner of his mouth and fell to the ground.
"Talk about irony!"
"This... this is how it ends for me..."
The Raikage's body trembled uncontrollably, his voice choppy and uneven.
"Is that really all you have to say?"
Saitama was shorter in stature and, given his physique, looked unusually thin. Standing before the towering figure of the Raikage, he seemed like an ordinary man dwarfed by a giant bear.
Yet at this moment, the advantage lay completely in his hands.
Crunch!
While speaking, Saitama drove his arm even deeper into the other's chest. Despite the intense muscular pressure resisting him, he kept pushing forward relentlessly, warm liquid slowly flowing out along his arm.
As Saitama moved, the Raikage trembled even more violently. Yet he made no countermove, only letting out some stifled groans, seemingly already too weak to resist.
"Heh... heh..."
The Raikage spat out a large amount of blood. It quickly stained his chest red and dripped onto the ground, forming a reddish puddle that gradually soaked into the earth.
"Raikage, times have changed!"
Slowly raising his gaze, Saitama locked eyes with the older man whose pupils were filled with suppressed pain. His tone remained flat and composed.
Just moments ago, during their clash, the Raikage stubbornly tried to overpower Saitama again. But Saitama, who held the advantage, stayed unusually calm. Instead of meeting force with force, he skillfully dodged the Raikage's sluggish attack—his damaged body clearly couldn't keep up anymore—and immediately retaliated with a piercing strike aimed directly at the opponent's heart.
This confrontation might have appeared simple on the surface, yet Saitama instantly identified its turning point, using that moment to flip the situation and expand his dominance.
"Is that so?"
The Raikage's voice also grew uncertain. The piercing pain in his chest drained all his strength; even shifting his feet became a struggle.
"But... old man never believed in any of this!"
Suddenly, the Raikage's eyes flared wide open, shining with unmistakable brilliance. The electric arcs covering his body, which had grown progressively weaker, abruptly surged back to life.
Boom!
He lifted his arm high and brought it crashing down at Saitama. However, Saitama easily dodged aside while the impact carved a deep crater into the ground.
[Rapid footsteps echoed.]
Saitama pulled his hand free, nimbly evading the Raikage's attack. His form landed lightly a few meters away like a fluttering butterfly, then turned to face the Raikage.
Though the last strike looked powerful enough, at this stage, the Raikage had long lost the edge in speed, making it easy for Saitama to avoid swiftly.
As his eyes shifted over, Saitama saw the gaping bloody wound now exposed in the Raikage's chest. As he withdrew his arm, blood poured steadily from the wound, splashing across the broken terrain.
Motionless, Saitama simply stood there watching the Raikage, his expression revealing a hint of indescribable emotion deep within.
"It's over!"
He silently told himself, the three tomoe (comma-shaped marks) swirling in his eyes exuding an ink-like profundity.
Pudada!
Raikage knelt down, his knees thudding heavily onto the ground. He then propped himself up with both hands planted firmly in front of him.
"Hooh… hooh…"
His breath came in ragged bursts, each labored inhale and exhale sending tremors through his body.
"This… this is truly how it ends..."
He stared at his own trembling hands, vision blurring as a heavy dizziness gnawed at his mind. He knew—it was blood loss, and his consciousness was slipping away.
His palms slowly clenched shut, crushing fragments of stone and dust between his fingers, yet such a gesture did nothing to restore the strength he had already lost or was quickly losing. Instead, it only seemed to hasten his weakening state.
He knew it—he had finally reached the end!
The path of the ninja, the journey of his life, had come to a stop. The finish line was just ahead.
He had once believed that under his rule, Kumogakure would flourish and ultimately reach the peak his father had always dreamed of attaining.
But now, everything had taken a sharp turn for the worse!
He was powerless. He had failed!
Death had never felt so close before!
He had imagined his death many times, but not like this—here, in this place.
In his mind, he had always pictured dying years from now.
That day, either he would have already achieved all he ever sought, or he would fall nobly, like his father, for his comrades and his village.
Yet dying here in such an unremarkable place, dying in vain—that was something he had never even considered.
And thus, he felt deeply resentful!
But what could he do about it?
He could feel the wound near his heart was severe enough to kill him at any moment. So how could he possibly fight back in this situation?
With every drop of blood he lost, coldness spread through his body, and Raikage grew weaker by the second.
With great effort, he raised his head again and met Saitama's unwavering gaze from just a few feet away. That youthful face seemed to carry an expression of firm judgment—a verdict of failure.
"How bitterly ironic..."
At this moment, Raikage couldn't help but admit one truth: when this ninja named Saitama Uchiha said "the times are changing," there might actually be some truth to it!
Ninjas like him—relics of an earlier era—were no longer the dominant force in the Shinobi World.
Thinking this way, he recalled Darui, another promising ninja who had once filled him with hope for the future. Yet today, they had fallen together, their futures destroyed in an instant.
He, the mighty Raikage, had been completely overwhelmed by a single Akatsuki ninja—one who didn't even look significantly injured! It was the ultimate humiliation to his strength.
It's often said that before death, people may briefly regain some vitality—the so-called deathbed rally of strength. And the blow Raikage landed earlier to push Saitama back had likely been exactly that: one last burst from his fading energy reserves, draining nearly everything he had left.
[Arcs of electricity] that once danced across his body had long since vanished. Though he tried repeatedly to use his arms to push himself upright from the ground, no matter how hard he strained, his efforts barely managed to straighten his upper body. His legs remained limp, unable to lift his kneeling knees even an inch.
At this very moment, the mighty Raikage had truly reached his final hour!
"I've done all I can. I hope there are no problems on Kakuzu's side! Even if we fail to kill the Raikage today, another opportunity will come in the future!"
Saitama Uchiha raised his right arm. Chidori Current surged around it before finally condensing into a one-meter-long blade of Chidori Light Sword.
Whoosh!
He leaped high into the air, gripping tightly the weapon formed from concentrated chakra, his face filled with murderous intent.
The Raikage stared straight at Saitama Uchiha, calm and composed.
He didn't lower his head. His eyes focused intently, as if determined to see exactly how he would meet his end.
Perhaps this was his final dignity.
...
"Old man! Are we heading back directly?"
Deidara stood atop the giant bird, slightly turning his body to look at Onoki beside him who had closed his eyes and remained silent.
"No, not yet! Change direction. We're going after the Raikage!"
Onoki didn't respond immediately, and Deidara didn't ask further, so he maneuvered the giant bird toward Iwagakure Village on his own.
After quite a while, Onoki finally spoke.
"Huh? What's going on? Didn't you say earlier we were heading back to the village?"
It was just a casual question from Deidara, but surprisingly, the old man actually had a new objective — confusing Deidara just a little.
"Just do as I said. I believe that Saitama Uchiha won't easily give up. His task was clearly to delay our advance, and when he realized he couldn't resist us directly, he chose retreat instead. However, he's definitely going to cause more trouble again! Keeping the Hokage occupied is difficult for him, so his target must now be the Raikage!"
With arms crossed over his chest, Onoki's tone became gradually firmer while speaking.
"Fine then!"
Deidara didn't waste words, only giving a slight nod.
Under his control, the giant bird soon made a sharp turn heading northward.
At that moment, only Deidara and Onoki were aboard the enormous bird. Akatsuchi and other Stone shinobi had been left by Onoki behind in the Land of Iron along with ninja from other hidden villages, responsible for transmitting messages.
"Old man, while I was up there just now watching that ninja called Saitama Uchiha, I saw he actually managed to survive even when both of you were attacking together?"
Taking advantage of the moment, Deidara brought it up.
He was quite interested in Saitama Uchiha's strength — he seemed only a few years older than Deidara, yet possessed such formidable power.
"Yes, his strength is indeed very powerful. In a one-on-one fight, even I wouldn't dare say I could kill him."
Onoki thought deeply for a moment before seriously responding to Deidara's curious expression.
"So strong? I thought maybe you were holding back!"
Deidara appeared surprised, his mouth slightly open.
"The opponent's Sharingan ability is extremely annoying. Combined with his mastery of Lightning Release techniques rivaling the Raikage himself, plus Space-Time Ninjutsu and that last Sage Art… Overall, when facing this enemy, you'd better run first!"
Onoki knew exactly what his student was thinking and reminded him pointedly.
"Tch! Don't underestimate my jutsu!"
Though somewhat disgruntled, Deidara wasn't really serious. He simply voiced resistance outwardly while secretly knowing he stood no chance against Saitama Uchiha at all.
After saying that, Onoki fell silent, closing his eyes to continue his contemplation. His belief that Saitama Uchiha would attack the Raikage again was merely a guess—he wasn't entirely certain it would happen.
Moreover, though he hadn't taken much action during the earlier battle, it had still drained him greatly, especially for an old man like himself. So, he could use this chance to catch his breath.
The Clay Bird flew high in the sky quite conveniently, but its speed wasn't very fast—it definitely couldn't compare with how quickly the Raikage had departed before.
Along the way, Deidara remained silent too, chasing relentlessly in the same direction the Raikage had gone until sounds of fighting echoed from ahead.
"Old man! Old man!"
Deidara called out.
"I heard it already; hurry up and move closer! Seems my guess was right after all!"
Onoki had long opened his eyes and stared seriously forward.
Smoke was rising there, lit by flashes of lightning. Even at this high altitude, they could still clearly sense the intense fluctuations.
"This world sure changes—never thought I'd live to see the day I'd be helping Kumo shinobi!"
He pulled both hands from within his robes, his expression growing serious as memories surfaced—recalling a mission years ago when he'd commanded ten thousand Iwa ninja to ambush the Kumogakure forces. Although the Cloud ninjas eventually escaped, their leader back then—the father of the current Raikage—had been exhausted to death on that battlefield.
It was precisely because of this that he felt the world had become strange—having indirectly killed the father of the current Raikage, yet now rushing here to offer aid.
"The situation looks bad," Deidara muttered, guiding the bird into a dive so they could get a better view of the chaos below.
Swoosh!
As soon as those words left his mouth, Onoki leapt off the bird's back swiftly, darting straight toward the battleground.
He activated a certain Ninjutsu on himself, making his body extremely heavy, thus causing him to descend rapidly.
[Dust Release – Original Severing Technique!]
While still midair, Onoki pressed his hands together in front of his chest, aiming directly downward.
Because he saw the silhouette of the Raikage kneeling halfway on the ground while Saitama Uchiha leaped high above—and yet the Raikage did nothing at all.
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