Chapter 435: Raikage Charges, Fugaku Intercepts
The wind howled across the Konoha encampment, snapping the banners overhead. Uchiha Fugaku stood atop a jagged boulder, his arms crossed over the heavy, dark red plates of his layered armor. In the shadow of his brow, the three tomoe of his Sharingan spun with a lazy, hypnotic rhythm. They tracked a streak of violent blue lightning tearing across the distant horizon, closing the gap at terrifying speed.
"What an impatient fellow," Fugaku murmured, his voice utterly devoid of inflection.
Beside him, a Hyuga Jonin stood rigid. The veins around the man's pale eyes bulged as he pushed his Byakugan to its limits. "That is the Fourth Raikage," the Jonin warned, his tone thick with tension. "His speed is monstrous. They say he is the fastest shinobi alive since the Yellow Flash."
Fugaku's expression did not shift. He slowly uncrossed his arms, letting them drop to his sides. "No matter."
He looked out over the encroaching storm of lightning. "Since the enemy commander has taken the field personally, it would be a joke if Konoha had no one to meet his challenge. Hold the position."
With a sharp push of his toes, the stone beneath Fugaku's sandals cracked. The Body Flicker Technique activated. A gust of wind swept over the boulder, and his figure vanished into thin air.
A heartbeat later, in the dead center of the barren wasteland.
A silhouette materialized from the swirling dust, planting itself directly in the path of the approaching blue comet.
"Get out of my way! Trash!"
The Fourth Raikage did not even bother to look at the man standing before him. Moving at breakneck velocity, he unleashed a savage roar. He drew back a massive fist, wrapping it in a blinding blast of concentrated lightning, and thrust it forward to obliterate the obstacle.
Facing the devastating strike, Fugaku merely let out a cold snort.
Within his sockets, the three tomoe spun wildly, bleeding together until they locked into the complex, bladed pattern of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
His chakra erupted like a dormant volcano.
A colossal, ethereal ribcage of dark chakra manifested in the blink of an eye, encasing Fugaku's body just as the blow landed.
CRACK!
The Raikage's lightning-wreathed fist slammed directly into the ribs of the Susanoo. A catastrophic shockwave blasted outward from the point of impact, tearing the topsoil from the earth and kicking up a massive curtain of dust that blotted out the sun.
The Raikage's forward momentum died instantly. His boots dug deep trenches into the dirt. He pulled his fist back, his pupils shrinking slightly as he stared at the impossibly dense chakra skeleton blocking his path.
"Susanoo?"
The swirling dust settled, revealing Fugaku standing untouched within the spectral ribs. He looked down at the towering Raikage with absolute detachment.
"Fourth Raikage," Fugaku's voice cut through the crackle of residual lightning, cold and dripping with the innate pride of the Uchiha. "As the Kage of a village, you lead the charge like a reckless brute. Is this the pinnacle of Kumogakure's combat style?"
The Raikage narrowed his eyes, his gaze locking onto the Mangekyo pattern. "You are..." He bared his teeth. "Uchiha Fugaku?"
"Precisely."
"Hahaha! Good!" The Raikage threw his head back and laughed, the sound booming across the wasteland. Instead of anger, a feral battle lust ignited in his eyes. The Lightning Release Chakra enveloping his massive frame grew increasingly violent, the blue arcs snapping and hissing like cornered vipers. "Today, I shall dismantle this wretched bone cage of yours!"
He cracked his knuckles, the sound like breaking boulders. "Very well! I'll kill you, old man, and then I'll go wring Uchiha Akira's head off!"
Fugaku's eyes went dead. The air around him plummeted in temperature.
"Arrogance."
The dark chakra flared. "Insulting Hokage-sama is a capital offense."
The Susanoo rapidly formed a massive, skeletal arm. With a deafening sweep, it smashed down toward the Raikage, aiming to crush him into the earth.
"Too slow!"
The Raikage shifted his stance.
Lightning Release Chakra Mode: Full Power.
His speed exploded. The Raikage vanished, leaving behind only a searing streak of blue light. He effortlessly bypassed the crushing weight of the Susanoo's arm, reappearing instantaneously at Fugaku's blind side.
Raising his hand into a rigid blade, the Raikage channeled a blinding concentration of lightning to his fingertips. He brought the hand-sword down violently against the spectral ribs.
"This so-called absolute defense is a joke before my speed and power!" The Raikage laughed wildly, his assault relentless, crashing against the barrier like a tidal wave.
His massive figure flickered constantly around Fugaku. He was everywhere at once, each reappearance punctuated by a devastating, heavy strike.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The Susanoo shuddered violently under the barrage. Hairline fractures began to spiderweb across the ethereal bone.
Inside the ribcage, Fugaku's expression remained perfectly still. Not a single muscle in his face twitched with panic. His Mangekyo Sharingan spun frantically, its visual prowess tracking the blurred, zigzagging trajectory of the Raikage.
'Though fast,'Fugaku thought, his eyes narrowing,'you are still far from defeating me.'
Just as the Raikage pivoted, drawing his arm back to deliver a skull-shattering punch aimed directly at the Susanoo's head, Fugaku's eyes widened.
Ocular power locked onto the target.
Left Eye Dojutsu: Activate.
An invisible, suffocating wave of ocular power instantly enveloped the Raikage.
Mid-strike, the high-speed Raikage felt a sudden, sickening wave of vertigo wash over his brain. The wasteland before him warped. The image of Uchiha Fugaku, standing mere inches away, suddenly fractured into countless, overlapping afterimages.
"Genjutsu?" The Raikage gritted his teeth, startled.
As a Kage-level powerhouse, his resistance to illusions was immense. "Break for me!"
He roared, detonating his full chakra reserves. The violent Lightning Release surged through his nervous system, instantly washing away the foreign chakra.
The fractured illusion shattered like glass.
But that single fraction of a second—that momentary hesitation—was all the Uchiha needed.
"Caught you," Fugaku stated coldly.
The Susanoo's massive hand lunged forward, its skeletal fingers snapping shut around the stalled Raikage in an inescapable grip.
ZZZT! ZZZT! ZZZT!
The Raikage's Lightning Release Armor ground violently against the Susanoo's palm, emitting an ear-piercing shriek of conflicting chakras.
"You think you can hold me? In your dreams!" The Raikage roared. The veins on his neck bulged like thick cords as his muscles expanded, his physical power erupting to its absolute peak.
CREAK... CREAK...
Incredibly, the Susanoo's palm began to pry open. The massive spectral finger bones groaned under the immense strain, fighting a losing battle against the Raikage's monstrous strength.
But just as the Kage prepared to tear himself free, a chilling smile curled the corner of Fugaku's mouth.
"Since I have caught you, do not think of leaving."
Fugaku's hands blurred through a sequence of seals.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
He inhaled sharply and exhaled a colossal, roaring dragon of pure, white-hot flame.
A zero-distance explosion.
The massive fire dragon instantly swallowed the Raikage whole. Trapped within the crushing grip of the Susanoo, the flames had nowhere to expand. They compressed, burning with terrifying ferocity within the narrow, enclosed space.
The Raikage's face contorted. The sheer, concentrated heat instantly bypassed the defensive layer of his Lightning Release Armor. While his lightning shroud could deflect physical trauma and repel most standard ninjutsu, it was completely inadequate against a continuous, zero-distance inferno.
"ARGH!!" The Raikage let out a guttural cry of agony as his skin blistered.
Driven by pure survival instinct, he made the only viable choice.
Body Flicker.
Disregarding the toll on his own body, the Raikage detonated his chakra recklessly. The explosive force blasted the Susanoo's fingers apart just enough for him to tear himself free, his body streaking backward to create dozens of meters of distance.
He landed heavily, smoke rising from his scorched skin and singed hair.
"Uchiha trash..." The Raikage breathed heavily, his voice a low, furious growl.
Fugaku looked at the disheveled, smoking Kage and offered a merciless sneer.
"What? Where did that boundless momentum from earlier go?" Fugaku mocked, his voice echoing across the scorched earth. "You cannot even break my defense, yet you still dream of challenging Hokage-sama?"
"You bastard!!"
The Raikage's fury boiled over. Thick veins throbbed against his temples, and the lightning crackling around his massive frame surged to a blinding, chaotic extreme.
"I will tear you into ten thousand pieces!!"
Just as the two titans braced to collide once more, ready to escalate their life-and-death struggle—
A sharp, piercing whistle tore through the sky above.
Both the Raikage and Fugaku halted their advance, their eyes snapping upward simultaneously.
Soaring rapidly from the rear of the Konoha encampment, a massive bird sculpted from white clay streaked across the clouds, casting a sweeping shadow over the battlefield.
Standing proudly on the bird's back, a blonde youth leaned into the gale. His hands were busy forming seals, and a fanatical, morbidly gleeful smile stretched across his face.
It was none other than Deidara.
"Hey, hey, hey! You uncles down there!"
Deidara peered over the edge of his giant clay bird, looking down at the densely packed squares of the Allied Shinobi Forces far below. A dangerous excitement danced in his eyes.
"What is the point of this boring physical brawl?" he shouted over the rushing wind. "Let This Great Lord show you what true art is!"
Deidara plunged his hands deep into the ninja tool pouches strapped to his waist. Inside rested his specially prepared Explosive Clay. The bizarre, toothed mouths embedded in his palms began to chew frantically, molding the deadly material.
As he prepared his masterpiece, his gaze drifted across the battlefield.
"Oh? That old bastard from Iwagakure is here too..."
Deidara spotted Onoki floating in mid-air in the far distance. The corners of his mouth curled into a vicious, eager grin.
"Just right. Let him see my current artistic attainments!"
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]