The fallen body of the Third Raikage kicked up a cloud of dust.
That dull thud of impact seemed to echo directly in the hearts of every Kumogakure shinobi.
The battlefield was deathly silent for three seconds.
Then—
"LORD RAIKAGE!!!"
A howl of grief and rage erupted from the Cloud ranks.
But immediately following it was an even more intense wave of panic.
If even their "Ultimate Spear" and "Ultimate Shield" had been slain in a single stroke, what hope did they have left?
"Retreat! ALL UNITS, RETREAT!!!"
It was unclear who shouted it first, but the Kumogakure forces—already on the brink of collapse—burst like a broken dam.
They began to flee toward the rear in a state of absolute madness.
They discarded their armor and weapons, abandoning all dignity.
Before absolute power and certain death, the pride of the "strongest village" was worth less than dirt.
On the Konoha side, a world-shaking cheer erupted.
The war was over—or so they believed.
But standing in the center of the carnage, Saiki did not sheath his blade.
He watched the routing Cloud army, his gaze terrifyingly calm.
"Lord Saiki!" A Konoha Jonin ran over in excitement. "We won! The Cloud is fleeing! Should we organize a pursuit squad to—"
Before the man could finish, Saiki's silhouette had already blurred past him.
He wasn't heading toward the camp.
He was heading toward the retreating enemy.
"Wait, Lord Saiki! Do not pursue a cornered foe!" the Jonin shrieked in alarm.
Saiki didn't look back. His voice drifted over the wind:
"War is not something they can simply start and stop whenever they please."
The moment his words landed, his speed exploded.
He was no longer moving with a leisurely pace; he transformed into a white afterimage that the naked eye could barely track.
In a heartbeat, he crossed hundreds of meters, catching the tail end of the fleeing Cloud army.
"HE'S COMING!!!"
"RUN!!!"
Panic spread like a plague through the Cloud ranks.
Several Chunin at the rear turned in desperation, attempting to weave hand signs for defensive ninjutsu—
A flash of steel.
No flashy technique, no build-up, just a casual swing of the arm.
A white blade-qi, shaped like a reaper's scythe, swept across horizontally.
The ninjutsu those Chunin were forming was cut in half, along with their bodies and their very seals.
Blood sprayed as the corpses hit the mud.
Saiki's pace didn't even falter.
He continued forward, harvesting the Cloud ninja like wheat—specifically those who were too slow or those who tried to resist.
Every strike was precise, concise, and lethal.
There were no wasted motions and no emotional ripples; it was as if he were performing a necessary, mundane chore.
"BASTARD! YOU'RE PUSHING US TOO FAR!!!"
A Cloud Jonin roared and turned back, leading a squad in a coordinated assault.
"Lightning Style: Flash Pillar!"
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
"Lightning Style: Earth Flash!"
The combined Lightning Style techniques crackled with impressive power.
Saiki didn't even spare them a glance. He made a simple forward slash.
SHRED—! The combined attack was sliced right down the middle.
The Cloud Jonin didn't even realize what had happened before a bone-deep diagonal gash appeared on his chest.
He looked down at the geyser of blood, his eyes wide with disbelief, before slowly toppling over.
A slaughter.
A one-sided, absolute slaughter.
The Konoha shinobi stood in the distance, watching that white figure flicker through the routing army.
Wherever he passed, the ground became a graveyard. They were too stunned to react.
The cheering had long since died.
It was replaced by a deep, shivering chill.
"Is... is he really going to..." a young ninja's voice trembled.
Minato Namikaze's face was grim, but he didn't move.
Jiraiya placed a heavy hand on Minato's shoulder and shook his head.
"Let him go," Jiraiya whispered. "This is his choice... and it's the price the Cloud must pay."
In the center of the routing forces, Ay was carrying the unconscious Killer Bee on his back, retreating frantically under the protection of a few elite Jonin.
Hearing the screams behind him, Ay's eyes turned blood-red.
"Lord... Ay..." a Jonin rasped. "If this continues, we'll all be butchered!"
Ay ground his teeth until they cracked.
He knew someone had to hold the line.
And he was currently the highest-ranking commander—the Fourth Raikage candidate, even if not yet inaugurated.
More importantly, he was his father's son.
"Keep retreating! Get Bee back to the village!" Ay stopped and handed Bee over to a medical Jonin. "I'll cover the rear."
"Lord Ay! You can't—"
"THAT IS AN ORDER!" Ay roared, lightning exploding around his body. "GO!!!"
The Jonin nodded through tears and accelerated their retreat with Bee.
Ay turned to face the coming storm.
He wasn't a fool.
On the contrary, he possessed significant political and strategic insight.
He knew that from Konoha's perspective, capturing a Raikage-to-be alive was far more valuable than killing him.
He could be traded for a massive ransom, used to force unequal treaties, or serve as leverage in negotiations.
And as long as he, Ay, remained alive, there was hope for a comeback.
Once back in the Cloud, he could rebuild the army and ally with other villages... one day, he would wash away today's shame.
So his choice to stay wasn't just sacrifice—it was a calculation.
He intended to survive Saiki's hands by making Konoha realize he was more useful as a prisoner.
"Come on then, Leaf brat!" Ay pushed his Lightning Style Chakra Mode to the limit, blue electricity arcing into the sky. "Let me see how strong you really are!"
He saw it.
The white silhouette was hurtling toward him.
Every Cloud ninja who stood in the way fell like stalks of grain.
In seconds, Saiki stopped twenty meters in front of Ay.
They locked eyes.
"Just you?" Saiki asked flatly.
"I'm enough to handle you alone!" Ay roared, trying to maintain his momentum.
Saiki's gaze swept past Ay, looking at the squad disappearing into the distance with Killer Bee.
"The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki..." Saiki muttered to himself. "Is more valuable than you."
Ay's heart sank at the comment.
But he kept up his facade. "Hmph! You think you can get past me? My father was the Ultimate Spear, and I—"
He didn't get to finish.
Saiki moved.
It wasn't a dash or a lunge. It was simply... a step.
But that step seemed to delete the space between them.
One microsecond he was twenty meters away; the next, he was in Ay's face!
Ay's pupils dilated. He reflexively used his Body Flicker to retreat!
"Lightning Style: Lariat!"
He swung his arm, the berserk lightning forming a blade of energy aimed at Saiki's neck!
This was one of his father's signatures, capable of decapitating a man through steel!
Saiki made a single casual flick of his blade.
The lightning-arm was sliced through, the energy scattering into harmless sparks in the air.
Ay's expression froze.
"Impossible... how..."
"You are far weaker than your father," Saiki's voice was a monotone. "His strike, at least, made me swing a serious sword."
As the sentence ended, Saiki swung again.
There was no white light, no massive aura—just a simple, horizontal cut.
But Ay felt it—the scent of the void, a killing intent more intense than anything he had faced with his father, something that froze his very soul!
"LIGHTNING ARMOR!!!" Ay shrieked, funneling every drop of his chakra into his defense.
This was the Cloud's ultimate shield. He had tanked shockwaves of Tailed Beast Bombs with this!
The blade touched the armor.
There was no impact.
Only a faint tch sound, like a hot knife passing through butter.
Ay looked down at his chest.
The armor was gone.
It hadn't been shattered; it had simply... ceased to exist.
A thin red line was spreading across his torso.
"Wh... why..." Ay rasped, blood bubbling in his throat. "Wouldn't... capturing me... be more valuable...?"
That was his final question.
Saiki sheathed his blade, looking at Ay's collapsing form with indifference.
"You're thinking too much."
Ay's eyes went wide.
"Your ambition, your resentment, the trouble you would cause in the future..." Saiki continued. "That matters to me far more than your 'value' as a prisoner."
He turned away, looking toward the far-off squad with Bee.
"As for political considerations..."
Saiki vanished again.
Ay knelt in the mud, his vision blurring.
His last sight was Saiki's ghost-like figure chasing the Jinchuriki, and his last hearing was the echo of Saiki's final words:
"Unifying the Shinobi world... I can do that myself."
Blood erupted from his chest.
The future Fourth Raikage, Ay, was dead.
He only understood at the moment of his passing—all his calculations and weights meant nothing to that boy.
He had simply... thought too much.