The next day.
Morning.
In front of Iwagakure's last line of defense, the Third Raikage, enveloped in lightning and bare-handed, once again charged ahead alone.
Facing him were five Iwa-nin, all true Jonin.
Even so, these Iwa-nin didn't dare to clash head-on with the Third Raikage. They merely provided cover for each other, using various ninjutsu and combat techniques to contain him.
The entire process was extremely dangerous. If their coordination faltered and the Third Raikage found an opening, it would result in severe injury or death.
Therefore, the five Iwa-nin present were all very tense.
Especially today, they had received secret orders to hold back the Third Raikage at all costs, ensuring he couldn't disengage from the battle.
This made them even more nervous.
The Third Raikage's gaze swept over the five, instinctively sensing something amiss, but he couldn't pinpoint the problem.
After all, they were carefully selected Jonin. Although these five Iwa-nin were inwardly tense, they didn't show any outward signs of it.
Even during the battle, there were no such indications.
Time ticked by, and the Third Raikage still couldn't find anything unusual.
So, he stopped overthinking it. With a thought, he was about to unleash his full power, using absolute strength to dispel the lingering doubts in his heart.
"Third Raikage-sama, there's urgent intel. Please return to headquarters immediately!"
However, just as he was about to make his move, a voice suddenly appeared in his mind. The Third Raikage knew who the owner of the voice was.
It was one of his subordinates who possessed a secret mind technique, capable of transmitting sound to any target within a certain range.
'But what does he mean by that? Urgent intel?'
Without time to ponder, the Third Raikage decided to disengage from the battle first and then quickly return to see what had happened.
He had great trust in his subordinates, knowing they wouldn't interrupt his offensive rhythm unless it was an extremely urgent matter.
And if they did, it meant the situation was definitely dire and required his personal attention.
With this in mind, the Third Raikage forced back the surrounding five Iwa-nin Jonin with a few moves, then leaped, intending to break through the encirclement and return to the rear.
But he didn't expect that as soon as he retreated, these five, despite the risk of being severely injured by him, would forcefully block his path.
At this moment, the Third Raikage finally realized what felt off earlier.
Compared to the Iwa-nin he had encountered in the past few days, these five Iwa-nin Jonin were clearly more conservative in their fighting style.
But when he was about to withdraw, they displayed unusual proactiveness, even willing to risk their lives.
Obviously, their behavior was contradictory.
Previously, this discrepancy wasn't obvious. The five would only stick to him like glue when he relaxed his offensive.
But once he intensified his attacks, they would quickly revert to their conservative stance.
Before this, he had been focused on attacking and hadn't paid much attention to this, so he only instinctively sensed something was wrong.
Now that he wanted to retreat, these people finally couldn't sit still, and the contradiction in their behavior was completely exposed.
That was why he finally realized it.
However, the more it was like this, the more certain the Third Raikage became that there was a major problem at the rear. Otherwise, they wouldn't go to such lengths to keep him here.
That's right, the Third Raikage had already seen through the purpose of their contradictory actions—to stall him on the battlefield.
'In that case, I can't stay here any longer.'
With this thought, the Third Raikage roared, "Get out of my way!"
Before the words even left his mouth, he activated the strongest state of his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Crackling sounds filled the air as tangible lightning surged forth, forming a thick layer of armor around his body.
This was the Third Raikage's 'Strongest Lightning Armor' in his full-powered state.
At this point, let alone ordinary weapons and ninjutsu, even Wind Release ninjutsu, which was the natural counter to Lightning Release, couldn't inflict the slightest damage on him.
*Boom~*
The Third Raikage's figure flickered, instantly vanishing from the sight of the five Iwa-nin Jonin.
In the next moment, before two of the Iwa-nin Jonin could react, they were violently sent flying by the Third Raikage, losing their lives before even hitting the ground.
The remaining three Iwa-nin Jonin, seeing this scene, all stopped in their tracks.
Although their orders were to stall the Third Raikage, that was also based on the premise of having a chance of success.
But with his current strength, how could they possibly stop him?
They had no desire to throw their lives away.
"Hmph!"
Seeing this, the Third Raikage let out a cold snort and left without looking back.
In the distance, 'Seimei', with his Three Tomoe Sharingan activated, watched the Third Raikage swagger away, shaking his head in disbelief.
Then, he dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique.
*Poof~*
A cloud of chakra smoke dispersed, and 'Seimei's figure vanished.
...
Meanwhile.
In a relatively concealed cave.
Seimei, who was cultivating, suddenly opened his eyes, then quickly closed them again, beginning to browse through the memories that had suddenly appeared in his mind.
A moment later, he opened his eyes again and muttered, "It seems this battle is about to end."
With his omniscient perspective, he could easily deduce the cause and effect from the Third Raikage's actions.
If he wasn't mistaken, the Kumo-nin must have discovered Iwagakure's plot and informed the Third Raikage.
That's why he was rushing back in such a hurry.
After learning that he was about to be surrounded, the Third Raikage had two choices.
The first was to go all-in, continue the attack, and try to breach Iwagakure's last line of defense and charge into the village before the Iwa-nin's main force completed the encirclement, thus regaining the initiative.
The second was to retreat immediately, taking advantage of the fact that the Iwa-nin's main force hadn't yet formed a complete encirclement, and escape through the gaps.
The former involved a time constraint. If they couldn't break into Iwagakure before the Iwa-nin's main force surrounded them, the Kumo-nin would face being attacked from both inside and outside.
And this was very likely to happen.
Although the Third Raikage was powerful, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, who was guarding Iwagakure, was no pushover either. His Dust Release ninjutsu wasn't something the Lightning Armor could completely nullify.
Coupled with the obstruction of the last line of defense, it was basically impossible for the Third Raikage to breach Iwagakure in a short time.
Then they were left with only the second option.
But escaping wasn't that easy either.
Let's not even talk about whether they could find a suitable opportunity. Just the Iwa-nin on the current battlefield wouldn't let them leave easily.
In this wave, the Kumo-nin were bound to pay a price.
'So, what about me? Can I seize some benefits from this?'
Seimei pondered and quickly came up with a plan.
Undoubtedly, in the coming period, both the Kumo-nin and Iwa-nin would focus their attention on each other.
This meant he had more room to maneuver.
Moreover...
Seimei had no doubt that the upcoming situation would be chaotic. Kumogakure wouldn't let the Third Raikage stay behind as a rearguard from the start.
Initially, they would definitely try to escape together, even sacrificing some Kumo-nin to cover the retreat of the Third Raikage and the main force.
Only when the situation completely collapsed would the Third Raikage use himself as bait to stall the Iwagakure army, creating an opportunity for the other Kumo-nin to escape.
Even then, those Kumo-nin would still be pursued. After all, no matter how strong the Third Raikage was, he was only one person and couldn't possibly hold back an army of ten thousand.
Therefore, this process was bound to be chaotic.
And chaos meant opportunity. He could totally take advantage of the situation to plunder chakra and accelerate his own growth.