Hyūga Hiashi saw that the one blocking his way was Uchiha Ryōsuke, and his expression turned from shock to joyous surprise.
'Ryōsuke's arrival here must mean the main battlefield has been won! There's hope!'
He felt a lingering fear. If he had been one second later, his Byakugan would have truly been destroyed by his own hand.
Sensing his currently exhausted body, he said with resignation.
"Ryōsuke, I'll leave this guy to you. If you can't beat him, then retreat."
Ryōsuke smiled and said, "You get some rest. Leave the rest to me."
As for retreating, he had never even considered it.
'It's a good thing I got here fast enough, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable.'
The Fourth Raikage also stopped in his tracks, a smile on his face.
"Thank you for helping me secure this Byakugan for the Cloud Village."
In his eyes, those eyes already belonged to his Cloud Village.
He didn't care at all about the person in front of him.
Uchiha Ryōsuke looked at him, unable to stop himself from complaining internally, 'How shameless.'
'Since when did the Byakugan belong to your Cloud Village?'
He directly activated the Eight Inner Gates. His aura surged once again, and blue-green steam began to pour out.
It had subsided before, conserving his stamina.
The Hyūga Head was extremely surprised. Through his Byakugan, he observed that the energy now surging from his opponent's body was incredibly powerful. 'His Eight Inner Gates must be cultivated to a profound level.'
'Is this why Uchiha Fugaku trusts this young man so much?'
At this moment, he understood the confidence the Uchiha Clan had in daring to confront the entire Cloud Village with just two clans.
Joy rose in his heart. It seemed this war was going to be won.
The Fourth Raikage frowned as he looked at his opponent's state. "The Eight Inner Gates." He hadn't expected someone to know this jutsu.
'And by the looks of it, he's cultivated it to an extremely high level.'
'I wonder how this jutsu compares to my current strongest Lightning Armor?'
However... He suddenly thought of how his opponent had come here to provide support and couldn't help but ask, "What exactly happened on the main battlefield?"
"You guess," Ryōsuke replied with a smile.
The Fourth Raikage instantly flew into a rage. A bad feeling rose in his heart. He had to kill this person in front of him, then return to the main battlefield to check the situation.
He didn't believe the main battlefield could have lost, not with the Two-Tails Jinchūriki and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, plus twice the number of ninja as the enemy.
"Kid, let's see whether your Eight Inner Gates are stronger, or my strongest Lightning Armor is!"
Ryōsuke slowly replied, "As you wish."
He stomped hard on the ground, making it tremble, and his body shot out like an instantly-fired cannonball.
The Fourth Raikage's eyes narrowed when he saw this.
'So fast!' He thrust out his arm to block the attack.
The moment they made contact, he felt his opponent's immense strength and was shocked.
Then his body was sent flying, carving a long scar into the ground.
The Hyūga Head, who had been about to sit down and rest, couldn't help but be astonished. 'So fast! If I could barely see the Fourth Raikage's afterimage before...'
'I can't see Ryōsuke's speed at all now.'
'Is this the power of the Eight Inner Gates?'
The Fourth Raikage, who had been knocked to the ground, immediately climbed back up.
'What a terrifying guy. Not only is his speed insane, but the force of his blows is immense.'
'Luckily, I have the defense of the strongest Lightning Armor. Otherwise, that one blow would have been enough to seriously injure me.'
'Damn him.'
In an instant, he decided not to clash with his opponent head-on anymore. There was simply no comparison.
'Fortunately, I know about the Eight Inner Gates. It consumes an enormous amount of stamina.'
'As long as I wait until he can't take it anymore, he'll fall into a weakened state. Then, dealing with him will be like slaughtering a pig.'
'Although my strongest Lightning Armor state can't be maintained for long either, it should at least last longer than he can.'
The instant he made his decision, Uchiha Ryōsuke attacked again, unleashing a fierce barrage against the Fourth Raikage.
The Fourth Raikage hurriedly raised his arms, trying to block the assault, but he couldn't stop it at all.
He could only let himself be beaten like a sandbag, completely defenseless.
The Fourth Raikage was furious. When had he ever been humiliated like this? He hadn't even been this frustrated when facing the "Yellow Flash," the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato. Back then, he had only been narrowly defeated.
And even with the protection of the strongest Lightning Armor, his body was in immense pain.
'If this keeps up, he's going to beat me to death!'
He couldn't let himself be beaten like this anymore. Otherwise, he'd be finished long before his opponent's stamina ran out.
The Fourth Raikage had only one thought now: return to the main battlefield. Teaming up with Killer B was the only way he might be able to defeat this guy.
He turned and suddenly dashed in the direction of his main force.
How could Ryōsuke possibly let him go? He immediately gave chase.
In terms of speed, he was now far superior.
He slammed a fierce punch into his opponent's back, smashing him into the ground.
The ground shook, and a large cloud of dust burst into the air.
Even the strongest Lightning Armor on the Fourth Raikage's body was blasted apart.
He had already consumed a massive amount of chakra fighting Hyūga Hiashi, and now he had taken such a heavy blow. He couldn't take it anymore.
He was actually defeated. The Fourth Raikage lost consciousness on the spot.
Without his chakra shield, the Fourth Raikage couldn't block a single one of Ryōsuke's attacks.
'After all, ninja are all glass cannons.'
He looked at the unconscious Fourth Raikage and then deactivated his Eight Inner Gates state. He now felt a bit weak. He had kept the Eight Inner Gates open for a bit too long and needed to recover.
'The war is finally over.'
Hyūga Hiashi had rested for a short while and his body had barely recovered. Looking at the Fourth Raikage, who was like a dead dog, he felt a great sense of relief. He looked at Ryōsuke.
"This was all thanks to you. Otherwise, I might have died."
Ryōsuke smiled and said, "We are comrades; it's only right that we help each other. We were only able to win this time because the Hyūga Head stalled the enemy's strongest combatant."
"It's time to go back."
The Hyūga Head nodded.
In his heart, however, he disagreed. 'It wasn't thanks to me, it was all thanks to Uchiha Ryōsuke. Otherwise, we couldn't have won.'