Compared to Sunagakure where sandstorms raged everywhere, Iwagakure's main color tone was the same unremarkable yellow, but what formed this color was primarily towering mountains and massive boulders.
When the First Tsuchikage Ishikawa created the village, he deliberately chose this position that was easy to defend and hard to attack. Compared to Sunagakure's seemingly formidable but actually fragile single-line canyon, the bizarre terrain formed by natural rock clearly provided better resistance against foreign enemies.
Therefore, to kill Ōnoki, he had to be lured outside the village.
Ōnoki himself was well aware of this principle. He had learned well from his own teacher's precedent—knowing that as Tsuchikage, especially one who possessed Dust Release, maintaining sufficient strategic deterrence was the best choice.
After all, in this era where ninjas generally had high attack but low defense, Dust Release—this so-called bloodline elimination—was more of a gimmick in most situations.
When Ōnoki pushed open the door to his office, ready to begin his day as Tsuchikage, a violent explosion accompanied by tremors strong enough to shake the entire Tsuchikage building instantly put the Tsuchikage on high alert.
"What happened?!"
Ōnoki steadied himself and immediately summoned his subordinates to investigate.
However, through the window, the billowing black smoke rising from the direction of the research bureau already confirmed the situation.
Soon, the ninja responsible for the investigation came running to report, informing Ōnoki that someone had attacked the research bureau and abducted researchers, including Doctor Sorata.
"Damn it! Follow me!"
After hearing the report, veins bulged on Ōnoki's forehead.
He hadn't expected someone would dare to plan such an operation while he was stationed in Iwagakure.
They weren't taking this old man seriously at all!
Ōnoki's emotions were dominated by rage as he quickly chased in the direction the enemy might have fled.
Soon, only two jōnin were able to keep up with his movements.
"Hm, what incredible speed."
Outside Iwagakure, Fūka observed Ōnoki's movements through a surveillance drone.
The opponent was extremely fast; the drone even lost track of him for a moment.
"That's Ōnoki for you—the strongest among the Five Kage. Though who's superior between him and the Hokage would require careful consideration, this Tsuchikage's strength cannot be underestimated."
Fūka ran her fingers through her hair and glanced at Doctor Sorata, who was being "held hostage" beside her.
Of the abducted researchers, everyone except Sorata had been killed by Furido.
This way, even if the mission failed, Sorata could still rely on Ōnoki's trust to continue controlling Iwagakure's research bureau.
Of course, Fūka didn't think their operation would fail.
"We've reached the position."
Furido unfolded the map and compared it with the footage transmitted by the drone, confirming that Ōnoki had stepped right onto the trap they had prepared.
"Then, activate it."
At Fūka's command, Furido activated his ninjutsu: "Earth Release: Transformation of the Tangible!"
"Stop!"
The instant Furido activated the technique, Ōnoki immediately halted his movements and waved for his two subordinates to hold back.
"Did something happen, Lord Tsuchikage?"
One of the ninjas stood in place, cautiously scanning the surroundings while using his body to cover Ōnoki's blind spots, guarding against long-range attacks.
"I underestimated them. I thought these guys only raided the research bureau, but their real target was me?"
Ōnoki had already noticed the change in terrain. As someone proficient in Earth Release ninjutsu, he knew that creating such a large-scale setup wasn't just to block his pursuit.
...
Border region of the Land of Lightning.
Because the Land of Lightning had acknowledged Kumogakure's de facto semi-independence and no longer trusted them, the daimyo of the Land of Lightning chose to station his own soldiers along the border.
The soldiers patrolled the border as usual. When they reached an open area, two sudden attacks claimed the lives of the two soldiers at the rear.
The sound of lightning and screams mixed together. The samurai commander leading the patrol turned around in a hurry and saw ninjas dressed in Kumogakure attire using various techniques to kill his subordinates.
"You ninjas—planning to rebel again?!"
The commander drew his tachi and slashed at the nearest ninja.
He coated chakra onto the blade to increase its sharpness, while the ninja he attacked drew a kunai, infusing it with lightning-nature chakra to counter the chakra on the blade.
After a few brief exchanges, realizing he couldn't handle so many ninjas alone, the commander parried the kunai, feinted an attack, then took advantage of the opponent raising their guard to flee toward the outpost.
There, he still had dozens of comrades stationed. They should be able to hold off the Kumo-nin long enough to report to the daimyo's residence.
Sensing the samurai's intent, the Kumo-nin threw kunai and shuriken. Several struck the man's torso, yet failed to stop him.
Seeing the man getting farther away, the Kumo-nin gave up the chase and collapsed to the ground.
"Well, the ultimate goal is to sow chaos in the ninja alliance anyway. Whether we kill their Kage or not doesn't really matter."
Sasori emerged from the shadows. The Kumo-nin just now were ones he had attacked at an outpost and deliberately left barely alive so they could still use chakra, making this assault appear more authentic.
"With this, the already fragile trust between Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning should completely shatter. That'll buy me plenty of time to research my ultimate weapon."
Sasori muttered to himself for a while. Once the Kumo-nin beneath his feet were fully dead, he left the scene.
...
On the other side, under the manipulation of Furido and Fuen, the two Iwa jōnin who had been following Ōnoki fell one after another. Inside the entire trap, only Ōnoki remained standing.
"This kind of ninjutsu that can completely alter the terrain… to break it, I probably need to defeat the caster…"
Dodging the attacks of the earth spiders, Ōnoki had roughly analyzed the characteristics of Transformation of the Tangible.
"Or completely destroy the terrain they summoned." Ōnoki stopped moving.
"What is he planning to do?"
Fuen, hidden in the shadows and ready to attack at any moment, saw Ōnoki standing motionless and grew curious about what the opponent would do next.
"It's strange, but… this is a perfect opportunity to attack…"
Furido clenched his fist, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to Ōnoki.
"Idiots, retreat now!"
Fūka's voice came through the communicator. Before the two could ask what was happening, dazzling white light had already begun flashing in Ōnoki's hands.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
A massive cube enveloped the entire area created by Transformation of the Tangible and persisted for some time.
"Hey, no way, the old man actually used that move?!"
Kitsuchi, who was pursuing the invaders on another route, saw this scene and instantly felt something was wrong.
The invaders' strength was probably even more terrifying than he had imagined.
"Hurry and provide support to the Tsuchikage!"
Kitsuchi roared in anger, then quickly formed seals and used Earth Release.
Under Kitsuchi's control, a massive amount of earth condensed and eventually formed a gigantic stone boat.
The ground beneath his feet also turned soft. After waiting for the Iwa ninjas to jump onto the stone boat, Kitsuchi immediately channeled chakra. The huge stone boat, aided by the softened earth, began sliding toward Ōnoki's location.
As the white cube gradually dissipated, a massive, perfectly leveled crater on the ground was exposed in the Land of Earth.
Fuen's somewhat disheveled figure was revealed.
His right arm had been caught in the Dust Release and vanished without a trace.
Furido had directly disintegrated at the molecular level, completely leaving the ninja world.
Only Fūka, because she was far from the range of the Dust Release, remained completely unharmed.
"So it was you who killed Naru and Tomohiko."
Ōnoki floated above the ground, looking down at Fuen lying on the ground.
Several wind-natured chakra spheres flew toward Ōnoki, but he nimbly dodged them.
Taking advantage of the moment the opponent was dodging, Fūka quickly closed in and kicked at Ōnoki, preventing him from having time to use Dust Release.
Ōnoki manipulated stones to circle around his body, using them to defend against Fūka's leg techniques.
A tornado mixed with flower petals protected Fūka's body, obstructing Ōnoki's line of sight.
By the time the tornado dispersed, Fūka had successfully rescued Fuen and sent him to a safe location.
"What incredible speed, and without relying on any chakra nature transformation. To be able to do this… could you be the so-called artificial human?"
Ōnoki gave high praise to Fūka's speed.
Fūka ignored him, cautiously observing Ōnoki's movements.
The reason her speed could be so fast was because the cells of Ōtsutsuki Shibai had transformed her body.
In terms of physical constitution, she now even surpassed artificial humans.
However, she had not inherited the Ōtsutsuki ability to absorb chakra or perform divine techniques; otherwise, she wouldn't need to fear Ōnoki's Dust Release.
"Earth Release: Earth Core Projection."
Seeing that Fūka had no intention of responding, Ōnoki took the initiative to attack, using Earth Core Projection to raise the ground beneath Fūka's feet.
Fūka hurriedly leaped off the rising earth block—this action played right into Ōnoki's hands.
"Earth Release: Stone Spikes."
Sharp stone spikes aimed at Fūka's landing point, but Fūka shattered the spikes with pure taijutsu.
To be able to withstand ninjutsu with bare flesh—this point could rival the Third Raikage.
Ōnoki carefully observed every one of Fūka's movements.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Net."
Fūka created a massive lightning net that covered Ōnoki while she herself rushed toward him, taking advantage of the moment his attention was drawn.
The mud wall rose, blocking the lightning net, but Fūka shattered it.
Fūka's long legs whipped toward Ōnoki like a lash. Ōnoki crossed his arms and took Fūka's strike head-on.
The instant the attack landed, Ōnoki's entire body felt as if struck by lightning.
The powerful current charred Ōnoki inside and out. When he was sent flying, his hands were still trembling uncontrollably from the electricity.
Lightning Release: Passive Lightning Needle was a ninjutsu that filled one's own body with electric current, often used by Fūka in close combat.