The dark-gold electrical currents swept across the entire Kumogakure peak, transforming into a terrifying aura that shook the heavens and splintered the earth.
Even though the Fourth Raikage had long since ordered the Cloud shinobi to evacuate, he still felt a lingering dread toward the horrifying Lightning Style before his eyes.
Apart from the Fourth Raikage and Yakushi Kabuto, the absolute majority of the White Zetsu were completely annihilated under this single technique.
The entire Kumogakure peak was flattened to the ground, and the specialized electromagnetic barrier deployed earlier was thoroughly destroyed.
Hagoromo Masato slowly touched down on the ground, the golden longsword held tightly in his hand. However, the heavy burden of fatigue weighing upon his body was immense; that single Kami's Welcome technique just now had left him on the absolute verge of collapse.
Yet, as the golden runes activated on his forehead, he rapidly initiated his cellular activation and restoration mode.
Hagoromo Secret Technique: Heavenly Transfer Seal!
For an ancient, powerful clan capable of acting as rivals to the Uchiha and Senju during the Warring States period, the unique secret technique of the Hagoromo family was naturally extraordinary.
In factual reality, Princess Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Seal had been developed by referencing the Hagoromo family's Heavenly Transfer Seal.
The point of similarity between the Strength of a Hundred Seal and the Heavenly Transfer Seal resided in the fact that the user habitually accumulated chakra at the forehead during ordinary times, forming a uniquely shaped mark at that spot.
The Strength of a Hundred Seal manifested as a diamond, whereas Hagoromo Masato's manifested as text characters.
Both techniques functioned by undoing the specialized seal when necessary, releasing a massive torrent of chakra.
The underlying difference lay in the fact that the Heavenly Transfer Seal absorbed natural energy from the surrounding environment.
During the storage process within the forehead, this natural energy was gradually converted into the user's own chakra, a trait exceptionally similar to the Jugo clan.
To be precise, the Jugo clan was a relative branch of the Hagoromo family, in the exact same manner that the Senju clan and the Uzumaki clan were related.
It was precisely because the Hagoromo family possessed a uniquely gifted talent regarding chakra control and conversion that their clansmen, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, were capable of internalizing and utilizing even the Nine-Tails' chakra as their own.
By now, utilizing the Brain of Thought, Hagoromo Masato had already thoroughly and completely developed his own Kekkei Genkai. Under the illumination of the colossally massive energy from the golden characters, the injuries across his body were continuously and completely restored.
Suddenly, a razor-sharp blade descended from high altitude, transforming into a dazzling, magnificent melody of slaughter.
Acrobat!
Utilizing the various parts of his body along with his taijutsu, he fluidly wielded seven swords. His unpredictable and rapid swordplay made it impossible to guard against or see clearly.
Right now, Killer Bee, cooperating with his Supervibrato Lightning Style Swords, was further augmenting his speed and power once more.
However, relying upon the Lightning Style Chakra Mode, Hagoromo Masato's cellular activation state was not a single bit inferior to Killer Bee's.
Under the illumination of the arc-like golden light of his thin energy wings, Hagoromo Masato shifted his upper torso to one side, abruptly executing the No-Sword Take!
During the ordinary times when Shiraishi's main body sparred with Unohana Retsu—as the super female swordmaster who commanded the eight thousand styles of the world's swordsmanship—she had passed down a specialized technique to Shiraishi called No-Sword Take, utilized specifically to confront enemies with supreme swordplay and blade techniques.
The core essence of the No-Sword Take resided in rushing directly into the opponent's embrace at the absolute perfect split-second, seizing control of the blade before stripping it away entirely.
Therefore, the core of this technique primarily rested upon the precise judgment of timing.
To put it bluntly, it was a mutated application of catching a bare blade with empty hands...
Although it was a fundamentally simple No-Sword Take, during the split-second exchanges between high-level experts, it was exceptionally lethal.
The exact moment Hagoromo Masato abruptly forced Killer Bee's two primary swords straight back into their sheaths, the resulting opening allowed countless golden electrical sparks to transform into a deadly finishing blow.
Shoot, my swords!
The two swords being forced back into their sheaths caused Killer Bee's offensive continuity to suffer a severe disruption. The electrical sparks sliced open a fresh, crimson trail of blood across his cheek.
Bee, this guy's strength is terrifying. You absolutely must not be careless.
The Eight-Tails within his body similarly spoke out to warn him. The chakra radiating from Hagoromo Masato's body gave it an exceptionally ominous feeling, causing even the Eight-Tails to shake with inner dread.
"Why on earth did you come back, you bastard!"
The Fourth Raikage rapidly threw a heavy punch, blocking Hagoromo Masato's offensive stance for his younger brother, his tone turning uncontrollably urgent.
"Brother, you want to bear the weight of everything by yourself—how could I possibly allow that?"
The Fourth Raikage had relocated the absolute majority of the primary Cloud ninja forces. Although he had not disbanded Kumogakure Village, staying behind here entirely alone as the Raikage nonetheless demonstrated a definitive attitude.
Killer Bee did not wish to become a burden to his elder brother; therefore, he absolutely had to participate in this battle.
Ay and Bee had been partnered together ever since childhood, their bond closer than that of biological brothers. Therefore, Killer Bee would absolutely never allow his elder brother to bear all of this alone.
Within Kumogakure Village, the rule dictated that every generation of Raikage must have a tag-team partner. Long ago, after Ay became the Raikage candidate, the Third Raikage had brought in a massive group of new-generation shinobi.
Among them, only one could inherit the name of "Bee." While assisting the Raikage to maximize his combat potential, they additionally had to function as the Raikage's guard; this was the heavy responsibility of Bee.
During that time, Dodai functioned as the chief proctor for the Double Lariat capability test, responsible for testing their coordination with Ay.
It required them to work in tandem with Ay to strike and sever the neck of a rubber dummy using the Double Lariat, necessitating that identical force be applied simultaneously from both the left and right sides to succeed.
The successful candidates were exceptionally few and far between. The Third Raikage and Dodai had originally been full of anticipation but ended up deeply disappointed, right until the appearance of Killer Bee. From that moment onward, Bee became Ay's brother.
Therefore, the bond between the two had been cultivated right from childhood, an indestructible relationship superior to biological brotherhood.
Deep within the distant Sunagakure main camp, Nagase Bizen sat down. Gazing at the individual sitting opposite him, a trace of helplessness surfaced within his eyes: "Morimoto, what exactly is your purpose for appearing here today?"
The former supreme commander of the Navy Department, Morimoto Ryoji, had vanished without a trace from Sunagakure for many years.
Now returning once again, he no longer possessed his high-spirited appearance of the past; sporting a face full of stubble, his eyes betrayed a trace of life's vicissitudes.
Morimoto Ryoji and Nagase Bizen, as companions who had grown up together since childhood, understood each other's personalities thoroughly.
Furthermore, their teacher had not mentioned Morimoto Ryoji in his prior mission directives, making it glaringly obvious that he had come to the Kumogakure front lines entirely on his own initiative.
"I only hope that I can be of assistance to Teacher and Sunagakure."
Seeing that Nagase Bizen was prepared to speak, Morimoto Ryoji shook his head and continued: "Although our side currently holds the absolute advantage and conquering the Kumogakure battlefield is merely a matter of time, Teacher hopes to complete this matter precisely on the eve of the final decisive battle at Konoha."
This was exactly what was giving Nagase Bizen a headache. Right now, Kumogakure appeared to be abandoning the village, retreating into the uninhabited northern territories of the Land of Lightning to engage in guerrilla warfare against Sunagakure.
If they proceeded this way, they simply could not complete the Kumogakure Village mission effectively.
"What method do you have?"
"This is the approximate distribution map of the sixty-four bases in the northern region of the Land of Lightning."
Morimoto Ryoji handed a sealed scroll over to Nagase Bizen. Seeing the distribution map before his eyes, Nagase Bizen found it somewhat difficult to believe: "Could it be that you have been traveling across the Land of Lightning all these years?"
"...These past few years have been a journey of self-exile across the northern region of the Land of Lightning."
The path of self-exile was additionally a path of self-awakening. Long ago, Katana-Gari Sanoji had cast aside everything, creating the Eight Heavens Breathing Method and passing it down to him, purely for the sake of the common ideal they had shared in the past.
Yet with the construction of the Navy Department, the ambition within his own heart had festered, causing him to throw his past ideals completely to the back of his mind long ago. Only then did that subsequent series of events transpire, ultimately causing Teacher to become thoroughly disappointed in him as well.
"Teacher has never truly blamed you. For him, completing the unification of the shinobi world and bringing genuine peace to this earth is what matters most."
"I understand..."
Just as the two were preparing to continue speaking further, a terrifying explosion echoing from the distant Kumogakure peak pulled both of their attentions away.
It was glaringly obvious that the battle between Hagoromo Masato and the Fourth Raikage's group had drawn the attention of the Sunagakure faction.
Up within the celestial starry canopy, inside the palace where Otsutsuki Ryushi resided, the alternate half of the Tenseigan's power was finally, thoroughly refined into a specialized silver pill.
Compared to other forms of chakra, the Tenseigan—condensed from countless Byakugan chakra signatures—was structurally more compatible with the physical constitution of the Otsutsuki clan.
The exact moment Otsutsuki Ryushi swallowed it down, every single strand of hair across his body flared straight up, transforming into a terrifying torrent of deathly air currents.
"Aoki Shiraishi... we are about to begin our final round of confrontation."
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