A shrine filled with human and animal bones appeared on Miyu's back. At the entrance to each of its doors were four mouths with long, bloodthirsty tongues.
The Raikage stared; this type of summoning was unprecedented. The only thing that could be thought of for something similar would be the infamous Rashomon Gates of the First Hokage.
"Let every living thing be turned into mincemeat," Miyu declared, looking directly at the Raikage.
"Understood," came the sinister voice from the shrine as the four mouths spoke simultaneously, each with a distinct tone that, when combined, sounded Machiavellian.
Out of nowhere, a gash appeared on the Raikage's shoulder, as if he had ignored the black lightning.
He leaped to dodge another slash aimed at him, one that sliced through multiple trees and caused the ground to buckle.
In mid-air, struggling to move, he was struck by several more slashes.
The Raikage's body began to be covered in numerous cuts, but none of them were particularly serious.
At this, Miyu could only click her tongue.
"Once you've killed all the insects around here, you can deal with that bug that won't stop moving with all your might." Miyu knew the Sanctuary's attack range and, using her sensory abilities, didn't detect Jiraiya, Kosuke, or Minato in the area. Therefore, only Kumo ninjas were hidden, waiting to assist their Raikage in case of emergency.
Thousands of cuts traveled relentlessly from the Sanctuary's mouths in various directions.
In different locations, several Kumo ninja began to be sliced to pieces at great speed. Some tried to defend themselves, but they too ended up being cut in half. Others tried to flee, but in the end, they too were caught in cuts and met their deaths.
Miyu stood motionless, watching her wounds heal rapidly, while the Raikage darted around, dodging the increasingly sharp cuts.
Knowing that it was this summoning that was causing all this, the Raikage raised his chakra to its maximum capacity and charged at full speed toward the demonic construct.
Realizing what was happening, Miyu formed three hand seals and landed on the ground.
"Earth Release: Labyrinth." He commanded several earthen walls, each about 10 meters high, to rise up, creating a structure designed to hinder the enemy's advance, but that didn't stop the Raikage.
"Black Lightning: Rhino," he growled, transforming his black lightning into a rhinoceros that pierced through each earthen wall without any problem, reaching the shrine.
Miyu tried to get in the way, but she couldn't stop the Raikage's acceleration, so the rhinoceros swept through Miyu and the shrine, destroying the latter.
Our protagonist was thrown backward with a nasty wound on her chest, but she got up as if nothing had happened.
Taking advantage of her opponent's immobility and difficulty dodging in the air, she slammed her fist into the ground, creating a pillar of earth that lifted the Raikage into the sky.
The Raikage stared at Miyu in midair, waiting for her next attack, unaware that it had already been launched.
A bright light caught his attention, revealing a fireball resembling the sun directly in front of him.
This was the second attack from the malevolent shrine; upon being destroyed, its fragments coalesced into a single point of fire. The temperature in the area rose several degrees, enough to suffocate any civilian or low-level ninja.
"Go, Huǒjiānqiāng," Miyu instructed, directing her to aim at the Raikage.
The fireball distorted into a spear shape and hurtled toward the enemy. Since he was airborne, he could only shield himself with black lightning for protection.
A massive explosion erupted, illuminating the entire battlefield and disorienting everyone nearby.
Jiraiya, his body covered in wounds, mounted on a toad and wielding the Benihisago, stared at the explosion.
"A Tailed Beast Ball?" he wondered.
Once the explosion subsided and the light faded, a figure was seen falling not far from where Miyu had been.
She simply took a little more blood in her palm and stuck it to a tree.
"Summoning Jutsu," she said, and a small Katsuyu appeared on her arm.
"Miss Miyu, it's been a while since you called me. What do you need my help with?" the little slug asked.
"I need you to heal me while I fight, as I need to concentrate all my energy on fighting," she ordered.
At that moment, the smoke from what had fallen began to dissipate, revealing a Raikage standing before Miyu.
He had several third-degree burns, but none of them hindered him from continuing to fight.
"No one in my life has ever been able to inflict so much damage, or in such a way; not even the Eight-Tails was capable of this," he admitted, seeing her badly injured body, something he had never imagined. "I acknowledge you as the strongest rival I have ever faced."
"I can say the same. You're the strongest shinobi I've ever faced," Miyu said eloquently. "It's a shame one of us has to die, and unfortunately for you, that won't be me."
"Heh, you think so?" the Raikage questioned.
"Wow, I didn't know the Raikage had a sense of humor," Miyu mocked, assuming a fighting stance.
"When you're having fun, you let your whole self out," the Raikage replied, doing the same.
(Note: From what little I remember, the Third Raikage was a serious man, but I always feel that when someone is having fun, other facets of their personality emerge.)
On the other side of the battlefield.
"Fire Release: Flame Tide!" Kosuke announced, spewing fire from his mouth that began to sink into the ground, forcing his opponent to retreat.
Creating some distance, he took a breather, noticing that several dozen enemies remained and his chakra reserves were dwindling.
An enemy appeared behind him, and just as he was about to turn to face him, he saw a yellow blur arrive to support him.
"Rasengan!" Minato shouted, striking the Kumo ninja and sending him flying.
"Minato?" the ninja asked, somewhat taken aback.
"Leave this to me. I'm better than you at fighting large numbers of ninjas," Minato explained seriously. Kosuke wasn't entirely convinced until he heard the next thing. "If the Third Raikage's trusted men are here, Miyu must be fighting him."
Hearing that Miyu was fighting the Third Raikage changed Kosuke's mind.
"Thank you very much," Kosuke said, using the Body Flicker Technique, and went to where Miyu was fighting.
Minato smiled at him, hoping he would have good luck in taking down the ninjas in front of him. Many noticed that he was carrying several three-pronged kunai in one hand and the bloodied sword of one of the Raikage's most trusted men in the other.
"I'm not very good at kenjutsu, so I'll just assume it's a meat scythe," Minato declared, sending a chill down the spines of everyone present.
Back on the other battlefield, several roots were seen trying to grab the Third Raikage, but with his most powerful spear, enveloped in black lightning, he destroyed everything in its path.
With a kunai, Miyu threw it so that, upon reaching her opponent's range, it would explode in a massive blast, but the Raikage emerged without a scratch.
"Filthy defense," Miyu grumbled, using the Flying Thunder God Technique as best she could to dodge the enemy's thrust.
Falling backward, still unaccustomed to it, the Flying Thunder God Technique shifted to the side, avoiding the Third Raikage's fall.
Making a specific hand seal, he created ten different Miyu clones in the area.
"Hmm, you're fading. Where did those spatial jutsu you used to do go?" the Third Raikage retorted, destroying a clone, but as he did, it exploded.
The remaining clones also attacked kamikaze-style, exploding as well, causing the Third Raikage to lose his focus for a moment.
Once the attack ended, he began searching for his opponent.
"Here I am," a voice called out.
When the Raikage saw Miyu, he not only saw her differently, but he perceived her differently. Her body was covered in black markings, indicating that she had activated Sage Mode.
"I was reluctant to use this mode, but I feel you're a good opponent to use it on for the first time in a real battle." With that, he launched himself forward.
The Raikage used his thrust to attack, but Miyu dodged at the last moment, gathering both chakra and natural energy to strike the enemy in the stomach.
The Raikage was sent flying without any visible injuries, but he vomited blood, demonstrating that the damage was more internal than external.
The moment he got up, multiple fireballs flew in his direction, exploding in a great blaze.
"Miyu, are you alright?" Kosuke asked, arriving and standing not far from Miyu.
"Yes, I'm fine, but you don't look too well," she commented upon seeing him.
"A nuisance?" she asked the Raikage, now standing.
"Oh," Miyu exclaimed, snapping her fingers, "since you're here, why don't we try that jutsu we talked about?"
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Absolutely."
They both formed hand seals.
"Combined Jutsu: Fire Tornado," they said simultaneously.
A vortex of fire began to form at the Raikage's feet, allowing him to use his incredible speed to escape in time.
Out of nowhere, a massive fire tornado erupted, sucking everything into the inferno.
"Damn it, we failed," Miyu complained, preparing to fight, but she forgot one small detail: Kosuke was already somewhat tired of the attack.
Miyu managed to dodge the enemy's tackle, but Kosuke couldn't sense it in advance like Miyu since he didn't have sage mode.
Kosuke was thrown at full speed against several trees and was badly injured but far from being on the verge of death.
"I see this fight has worn me down more than it should have, so let's finish this," he said after glancing at Kosuke and turning his gaze to Miyu. "I'll end this with my most powerful attack!" he exclaimed, enveloping his entire body in black lightning to form an animal.
Miyu watched this and began molding chakra; she didn't know if she would be able to dodge it, so she decided to try to deflect it even if it damaged her body in the process.
"Black Lightning: Unstoppable Bull!" roared the Raikage, moving at a speed comparable to Minato's, his arm outstretched, pointing with a single finger.
This was his most powerful attack, his spear; the fewer fingers he used, the more concentrated and penetrating it became.
"Wood Release: Birth of a World of Trees!" Miyu declared in response, causing several trees and roots to strike the Raikage, but to her surprise, he pierced through everything at great speed, stopping just centimeters from her and aiming directly at her chest.
She didn't know what went wrong, but there were two reasons why she couldn't stop her enemy's attack.
First, by using her strongest spear in conjunction with Black Lightning, a much more versatile element than regular lightning, she could amplify its penetrating power far beyond normal, not to mention its incredible speed and Miyu's lack of awareness of this, since when he was revived in the canon, he never used Black Lightning.
The second point was Kosuke, who wasn't far removed from all of this. The Wood Release jutsu, being an attack that doesn't discriminate between enemies and allies, caused Miyu to instinctively reduce its power for fear of collateral damage.
And the only one who realized this was Kosuke himself. When he learned that Miyu possessed Wood Release, he had researched it and had an idea of how powerful this jutsu could be. He believed that Miyu and Hashirama weren't far apart in power, so the jutsu wasn't too strong to avoid accidentally killing him, given how badly injured he was.
With his Sharingan, he watched in detail as the Raikage was about to attack Miyu because of him. He was filled with a great deal of guilt, remorse, and hatred, knowing that the woman he loved was going to die because of him.
Suddenly, his perception of everything shifted, and he felt a new power within him, especially in his eyes. He knew what he had to do.
Miyu watched as the beam was about to pierce her, hoping the damage wouldn't be too severe so she could regenerate and try to finish off the Raikage. But then she felt a spacetime shift and saw her enemy piercing Kosuke's chest instead of hers.
Not only that, but between them was a giant, broken skeleton that enveloped them both; this was the Susanoo.
The Raikage watched this with astonishment and horror. Its attack had already been relatively slowed by Miyu's attack, and upon colliding with Kosuke's Level 2 Susanoo, its power diminished even further, but it still managed to pierce its opponent, though unfortunately, it didn't kill him.
The Susanoo attempted to impale the Raikage with a spirit sword, but he managed to break free from Kosuke's grasp and take several steps back, but this was all part of Kosuke's plan.
Once the Raikage fell to the ground, four flames surrounded it in a square formation.
"Fire Release: Pillar of God," Kosuke said, vomiting a large amount of blood from his mouth.
At that moment, a great pillar of fire erupted from the flames and engulfed everything in its path.
The Raikage managed to react by activating his Black Lightning Armor, using all his remaining chakra to avoid the damage.
Kosuke watched all of this with his Mangekyō Sharingan activated, his eyes red and bleeding.
His left eye granted him the ability to exchange objects containing chakra, either with himself or others, while his right eye granted him the ability to manipulate, mold, and generate fire at will without hand seals. With both eyes came the ability to summon the guardian Susanoo.
Miyu watched in shock, unsure what to do. Being prepared for the impact and not only avoiding it but even changing position left her somewhat disoriented, and that feeling intensified when she saw Kosuke on the verge of death using the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Kosuke used every last bit of his chakra for this attack, leaving him completely drained.
Once it ended, the technique automatically stopped and the eyes deactivated.
Kosekue began to fall to the ground, but Miyu managed to catch him before he hit the floor.
With somewhat blurred vision, he saw Miyu.
"Forgive me, I was a little reckless," she told him.
"Quite," he replied, unsure how to react.
"I have no chakra left and a mortal wound in my chest; I don't have time, but, to be honest, I don't regret anything," he finished, his eyes losing their light, dying in the arms of the only woman he loved.
Miyu stared at Kouske's corpse, unsure what to do, as this was the first time someone close to her had died suddenly. The deaths of Dan and Nawaki had been different, as she had known it would happen and had already mourned them, but this time was different.
The Third Raikage slowly walked away, completely distraught. Sixty percent of his body was burned, the burns worsening from before, half of his arms burned, including his face, and he had lost an eye.
He fell to his knees, exhausted, having used almost all his remaining chakra to avoid being incinerated by that full-power attack, even more so than Miyu had been by it.
"I expected nothing less from the clan with the cursed eyes," the Raikage declared, taking in the scene before him. Just then, a three-pronged kunai appeared before Miyu and the deceased Kosuke.
With a yellow blur, Minato and Jiraiya appeared, each holding one of the Sage of Six Paths' treasured weapons.
"Let's go, we don't have time to—" Jiraiya couldn't finish his sentence when he saw Kosuke's corpse in Miyu's arms.
Minato noticed this, but seeing the multiple attacks coming their way, as he was being pursued, he touched Jiraiya and Miyu, who were holding Kosuke, and vanished.
In less than a second, the four of them were far from the battlefield, where they had planned their attack.
Silence fell over the place. Jiraiya approached Koseuke's body to examine it, while Minato clenched his fists tightly and blood trickled from his mouth, since he was the one who had sent Koseuke to where Miyu was.
"Jiraiya-sensei, could you watch him for a few minutes?" Miyu asked, handing him Koseuke's body.
Jiraiya looked at Miyu in surprise, since he almost never called her by that title; he only did so in serious situations.
Looking into Miyu's determined eyes, he nodded, letting his student do what she had to do.
She stood up and started walking toward the Kumo camp.
"Wait," Minato said, stopping her. Miyu glanced back to grab a three-pronged kunai. "Just in case."
Minato didn't stop her, since he didn't feel he needed to interfere further after what he'd already done, and especially after arriving late when it was most needed.
Miyu simply nodded and continued walking alone.
...
At the Kumo camp, the Kumo ninja were tending to their wounds.
The Third Raikage was covered in blood, but he didn't seem bothered, as he was facing a Wood Release user and a Mangekyo Sharingan user.
"Lord, we've detected someone slowly approaching," said a ninja running toward him; this caught his attention.
At the edge of the camp, Miyu was seen slowly walking toward him, her Sage Mode already activated.
The Kumo ninjas, out of fear, kept their distance, knowing what she was capable of, especially since she could injure their strongest Raikage—they were nothing compared to her.
At that moment, the Raikage himself arrived on the scene after ingesting several chakra pills.
The moment Miyu saw the Raikage, she stopped.
"Prepare yourselves," the Raikage announced, activating his Lightning Armor.
Miyu simply watched, emotionless, as she swiftly formed several hand seals.
"Sage Art Jutsu: Several Thousand True Hands," she said, and a giant Buddha with millions of hands sprouting from its back began to emerge beneath her.
The larger the Buddha grew and the more hands appeared, the more hope the Kumo ninja lost.
"Behold the power of the strongest!" Miyu exclaimed, summoning the Buddha with a million hands to attack the entire camp.
All the Kumonin began to flee, leaving their leader alone against the monster.
Using his black lightning, he lunged forward, only to receive a devastating blow from one of the hands, feeling his bones begin to buckle. He was then struck again and again and again.
The Kumonin who tried to escape suffered the same fate; no one could escape Miyu's jutsu, and in a matter of seconds, the entire camp and its surroundings were terraformed, leaving only rubble, pulverized earth, scattered body parts, and copious amounts of blood.
Miyu threw herself to the ground as the Buddha began to slowly disintegrate.
She began to walk through the chaos and debris until she spotted what she was looking for.
Amidst the skeletal remains and blood lay the Raikage's lifeless, limp body; all his bones and organs were destroyed, yet his surface was covered only in gruesome bruises.
"My strongest attack, and it only managed to draw more blood," Miyu grumbled, conjuring an ice sword. She enveloped it in natural energy and wind, slowly slicing away the Raikage's head.
"This won't bring Kosuke back to life, but it will allow him to depart more peacefully for the afterlife," she told herself, completing the mission so that Kosuke's death wouldn't be in vain.
"Not only you have to pay, but also the one who ordered this mission," she thought, realizing that Orochimaru had sent them on this mission with the intention of their failure. "I won't do anything to him now, but that doesn't mean I won't in the future."
Elsewhere in the world, at Orochimaru's main unit camp, he was conducting experiments when a chill ran through him, filling him with a terrible, overwhelming feeling.
The only problem was that he couldn't figure out why he felt this way, since, from his perspective, he hadn't done anything wrong since birth.