For this very reason, Iwagakure had dealt with Kirigakure quite often over the years.
Based on their understanding of the Kiri, battles at sea were supposed to be Kirigakure's overwhelming advantage.
Whenever Iwagakure fought Kirigakure, they would always try to lure them into mountainous terrain and fight on land instead. If invaded, they would even abandon some territory at first—this had long become their standard strategy against the Kiri.
But this time, the battle had clearly taken place on Uzushio Island, a place surrounded on all sides by ocean and rich in water resources—the ideal battlefield for Kiri ninja.
And yet they were defeated.
That meant either Fujisaki was joking, or the person who drove back Hōzuki Gengetsu was so powerful that terrain advantages simply didn't matter.
Hearing the purple-haired youth's doubts, all the Iwa ninja present turned to Fujisaki, hoping he would say it was all false.
Because none of them wanted to believe a monster like that could truly exist.
A man who could ignore terrain advantages and consecutively repel the strongest Raikage of the Land of Lightning and a Mizukage who possessed both the Hōzuki and Yuki bloodlines—such a person's strength would have to reach that legendary realm.
The purple-haired youth was so agitated precisely because he didn't believe anyone in the shinobi world could reach that level. Even with his own extraordinary talent, after reaching Kage level he had found the path forward long and distant, with little hope of breaking through in his lifetime.
How could he believe someone else had already done it?
Fujisaki, however, spoke with a grave expression:
"I'm absolutely not exaggerating. The scale of that battle was the greatest I've ever seen. The Raikage and the Mizukage were defeated by that man without any real chance to resist!"
Seeing Fujisaki's seriousness, everyone understood he wasn't joking.
Someone had truly reached the so-called super-Kage level.
The purple-haired youth spoke again, uncertain:
"Then say it—who exactly was that man? Could it be…?"
Before he finished, Fujisaki answered:
"The one who stopped the allied army from destroying the Land of Whirlpools was Konoha's Blue Flash—Arata!"
The moment those words fell, nearly everyone present—except Ōnoki at the head seat—gasped.
As for Ōnoki, he had already heard this intelligence earlier and was mentally prepared. Even so, when he heard the name Arata, a rare gloom appeared in his eyes.
He let out a long sigh.
The reason was simple: the Land of Fire seemed truly blessed by fate. The Senju clan had fallen, and both the Hyūga and Sarutobi clans were nearly wiped out in this Second Great Ninja War—yet another prodigy like Arata had still risen.
If the intelligence was correct, Arata's strength had likely reached that legendary super-Kage realm.
And more than that—after defeating the coalition that sought to destroy the Uzumaki clan, Arata had fought another earth-shaking battle. That battle was what truly made Ōnoki wary. If Arata were only at the early super-Kage stage, it wouldn't have troubled him this much.
Early super-Kage fighters had existed before. The First-generation Kage of the Five Great Nations were at least capable of threatening that tier.
But achieving the scale of Arata's later battle was far beyond what an early super-Kage could do.
Ōnoki even felt envious of the Land of Fire. Arata was only nineteen, yet already this powerful. Compared to him, Iwagakure's purple-haired prodigy seemed far less impressive.
Ōnoki's sigh pulled everyone back from their thoughts as they tried to digest this shocking news.
Arata's strength wasn't new to them. When news leaked that he defeated Zōshirō, Iwagakure had already held a serious discussion about him.
Back then, the consensus was that Arata's speed was terrifying—so much so that even stronger opponents could be in danger if careless.
At that time, they only rated him as an early Kage-level ninja with extraordinary speed.
Then the Second Great Ninja War broke out.
When facing the army led by the Third Raikage, Arata's performance forced them to reassess his threat level yet again.
Even so, few truly considered him super-Kage. He was a civilian-born ninja with no great lineage—accepting that someone like that could reach super-Kage was hard for them.
Many simply categorized him as Kage-peak. Reaching that level at his age was already the limit of what they could accept.
They comforted themselves by saying Arata could fight thousands of Kumo ninja only because of his speed—no one could properly surround him.
His battle with the Raikage and the death of the Eight-Tails jinchūriki were written off as the jinchūriki losing control.
As for Arata's most shocking Lightning Armor: Second Gear, almost no one in Iwagakure knew the details. It had been so overwhelming that even Ōnoki recalled it with unease and chose not to spread the information.
In fact, the Land of Earth had already issued orders: if anyone encountered Arata, they could abandon their mission without punishment.
That showed they recognized his terrifying speed—but they still didn't grasp his true strength.
Now, with the detailed battle report from the Land of Whirlpools, they finally understood:
Even without relying on speed, Arata was firmly super-Kage level.
After all, speed alone wouldn't defeat the Third Raikage and Hōzuki Gengetsu. Real power was required.
Gengetsu's Hydrification Technique alone could nullify most ninjutsu and taijutsu. A mere speed blitz couldn't leave him critically wounded.
And he also possessed powerful Ice Style—no weaker than the Hōzuki clan's secret arts.
The most shocked person here was probably the purple-haired youth. He no longer questioned Fujisaki's words, because what he had almost asked earlier was whether that man was Arata.
After all, as a Konoha ninja, Arata supporting the Land of Whirlpools made sense. And Mito Uzumaki—who came from the Land of Whirlpools—was an elder connected to his wife Tsunade.
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