Suddenly, a blinding light burst across the skies above Kumogakure, followed by a terrifying shockwave and deafening roar.
On a mountain peak outside the village, Shirou observed the devastating power of the Tailed Beast Bomb and shook his head in regret.
"It's such a pity that the Tailed Beast Bomb was intercepted mid-air."
Although he couldn't see the exact details, it was clear that the Two-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb had been stopped just as it was about to descend upon Kumogakure—or rather, it had been detonated in mid-air.
"Who else could have the ability to do that? It must be the Third Raikage. Hell Stab, huh? What a terrifying body."
No matter how strong the Third Raikage was, intercepting a Tailed Beast Bomb head-on would take its toll.
Roar!
From behind came the enraged roar of the Two-Tails, clearly directed at him. Shirou, in his transformed state as the golden-haired, pale-skinned Skoll, laughed coldly and arrogantly:
"You beast! I'm right here in Kumogakure. Come and get me if you dare!"
As the Two-Tails swiped in fury, shattering rocks and cliffs, the figure of Shirou had already vanished.
Failing to see its target, and sensing the chakra of the Eight-Tails coming from the distance, the Two-Tails let out another enraged roar.
Years of imprisonment and the fury of sensing the Eight-Tails' chakra drove the Two-Tails into a frenzy.
Inside the village, the Eight-Tails rampaged wildly, while outside, the Two-Tails roared and charged toward Kumogakure.
This day was truly a day of catastrophe for Kumogakure.
"What an excellent opportunity. Such a shame."
If he had taken advantage of this chaos to wreak havoc, it would have dealt a significant blow to Kumogakure. What a missed chance.
Appearing inside the village via the Flying Thunder God Technique, Shirou shook his head with a smile. But suddenly, a group of Kumo ninjas burst into the room.
"Damn it! The spy is here! Don't let him escape!"
"The Tailed Beast rampage must have something to do with the spy!"
The Kumo ninjas surrounded him with pinpoint precision. Seeing this, Shirou's smile turned cold and sinister.
"They used a Root spy to leak my information. Not only can they eliminate an unstable Uchiha, but they can also divert attention to give Orochimaru a chance to escape. Even if the truth comes out, they can blame the spy for leaking the intel. What a despicable tactic!"
With a thunderous explosion, countless Kumo ninjas stormed into the room, but the freshly brewed tea's aroma was the only thing lingering—Shirou had already vanished without a trace.
"Wrong intel! The enemy is misleading us!"
"Damn it!"
Amid the chaotic Kumogakure, a figure with golden hair, horns on his head, and the character "Copper" tattooed on his shoulder appeared.
"Kumogakure's devils! You broke your promises! The Third Raikage should have belonged to us, the descendants of Kinkaku and Ginkaku! And now, you trample us underfoot! To my fellow ninjas who refuse to be slaves, I, Skoll's descendant Kinkaku, have allied with Konoha! I call on all ninjas to rise and fight against the oppression of the devils!"
Skoll's rebellious laughter echoed across Kumogakure. At that moment, the village gates exploded with a thunderous boom.
The sturdy walls crumbled to reveal a massive breach. Simultaneously, Skoll's ferocious attacks killed countless Kumo ninjas while breaking through a barrier.
Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide!
With Earth Release, Skoll created an opening in the village's defenses. The rampaging Two-Tails, seeing this from a distance, roared in anger.
Roar!
Kumogakure descended into the chaos of a Tailed Beast disaster.
The appearance of Skoll's roar sparked horrifying memories among many Kumo ninjas.
"The descendants of Kinkaku and Ginkaku!"
"Damn it! These are the infamous criminals who killed the Second Raikage and the Second Hokage, the most vicious offenders in Kumogakure's history!"
Skoll's battle cries spread terror among the Kumo ninjas, but to some ninjas, it was a beacon of hope for revenge.
For years, they had been enslaved due to their skin color, unable to resist because of the ruling power, from top to bottom. They had no means to fight back.
But Kinkaku and Ginkaku were fearsome figures in Kumogakure's history, capable of killing Kage-level opponents. As their descendant, Skoll couldn't possibly be weak.
"Kinkaku and Ginkaku?"
Many younger kumo ninjas were unfamiliar with the names, but Skoll's roar had already spread across the village. The legend of Kinkaku and Ginkaku was about to resurface.
...
In the forest outside Kumogakure, three figures sprinted through the trees. Explosions and roars echoed from the village behind them. With two rampaging Tailed Beasts, even the Third Raikage would have his hands full.
"Shirou, are you okay?"
They had just regrouped. Namikaze Minato and Orochimaru were unharmed, but Shirou was battered and disheveled, a clear sign of a fierce escape.
Faced with Minato's concern, Shirou responded with a cold, angry smile, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Namikaze, don't tell me you didn't know anything about this!"
His words left Minato speechless, and his heart burned with anger. The village! How could the village do this? This wasn't the plan at all.
"If I hadn't sensed the Eight-Tails' terrifying chakra and been cautious, I'd still be trapped in Kumogakure! Minato, you tell me—how did the Kumo ninjas know exactly where to find a spy?"
Shirou's voice was filled with distrust and anger. Minato, knowing he was in the wrong, felt even more furious. The original plan was to confront opponents along their escape route, but why had things escalated like this? This was an attempt to sacrifice their comrades!
"Over here!"
From a distance, Hyuga Hizashi appeared, equally battered and furious as he glared at Minato.
He too had narrowly escaped an ambush.
As they fled, the four of them were divided. Orochimaru chuckled hoarsely with a knowing tone.
"Heh, it seems both Shirou-kun and the Hyuga clan have offended someone recently. They used you as bait to ensure my safety."
Orochimaru's sarcastic tone might have sounded provocative, but those who understood him knew he had no ill intentions. He was merely exposing the conspiracy.
"Hizashi, Shirou, you have to believe me—I had no idea about this. I would never abandon my comrades!"
As Minato desperately explained, Shirou scoffed coldly.
"Minato, I still remember how White Fang died. I was too naïve before, but now I see clearly. We've completed the mission to escort Orochimaru, but after we leave the Land of Lightning's borders, let's go our separate ways."
Shirou's expression was one of distrust. Beside him, Hizashi's face was equally grim. If not for his Byakugan and cautious nature, he might not have survived.
"I agree with Shirou."
They both knew the truth. White Fang's death, blamed on a spy's betrayal, might fool the ignorant civilians, but not them. They understood the deeper schemes at play.
It turns out that now this tactic is being pulled again. You say it wasn't you? Then why is it that all their intel was leaked, except for your affairs, Minato Namikaze?
"Shirou, Hizashi, I—"
At this moment, Minato truly found himself at a loss for words. He would never do such a thing.
"Minato, maybe you genuinely don't know. But if a new mission order was issued right now, what would you do?"
As the four of them traveled swiftly through the forest, Shirou spoke to Minato with an unpleasant expression on his face.
However, upon hearing those words, Minato seemed to realize something. His expression shifted drastically, and he hastily denied it: "No! Impossible! The village wouldn't, and I would never abandon my comrades!"
"Do you think we can believe what you're saying now?"
Shirou shouted angrily, pointing back in the direction of the Kumogakure as he cursed:
"For the sake of the village's stability, I persuaded my clan. But now look at this mission! The Kumogakure's two-tailed beast went on a rampage—what is the village trying to do? Are they trying to start a war?"
"Before, I swore to everyone that if the Third Hokage was greedy for power, he could simply start a war and wouldn't need to harm Lord White Fang. But now, what I see is that we are provoking a war!"
Faced with Shirou's angry questioning, Minato was momentarily speechless. His face darkened as he stammered to explain:
"No! The tailed beast rampage plan was because the Kumo had been expanding its military power for years and was preparing to provoke a war. We were only acting in self-defense…"
Minato's pale explanation, however, couldn't erase one undeniable fact—the information had been leaked.
As the four of them sped through the Land of Lightning, Shirou and Hizashi clearly showed their distrust of Minato, who was aligned with the Hokage faction. The two deliberately lagged behind, as if they shared a sense of camaraderie in their mutual disdain.
Walking ahead, Minato's heart was a chaotic mix of emotions, but he remained mostly silent. Meanwhile, Orochimaru, who had said little along the journey, let out a hoarse chuckle.
"Minato-kun, perhaps you don't need to overthink it. And what they're saying isn't wrong."
Orochimaru's eerie smile startled Minato, who then seemed to realize something. Shocked, he blurted out:
"Lord Orochimaru, you! You know!"
Under Minato's astonished gaze, Orochimaru chuckled hoarsely and nodded slightly, without any attempt to hide it.
"Heh, Minato-kun, it seems you've forgotten my other identity."
Deputy Commander of Root—Orochimaru!
As someone who held authority within the village's dark Root division, everything suddenly clicked for Minato.
Orochimaru's indifferent gaze swept over the two men trailing far behind them. He spoke calmly:
"The orders from Root were that after the tailed beast rampage this morning, we would leak the information about Uchiha Shirou and Hyūga Hizashi, which would also draw the attention of the Kumo Ninjas and increase our chances of escape."
"That's impossible!"
Minato stared at Orochimaru in disbelief. He couldn't fathom that this had truly been an order from the village.
"Heh, nothing is impossible. The power of the Uchiha clan is too great, and both the Hyūga and Uchiha clans have taken positions they should not have. This mission simply provided an opportunity to act on it."
Orochimaru was unusually calm when discussing the village's methods of targeting its ninjas, but this left Minato feeling a complex mix of emotions.
"No! This must be Danzo's order. The Third Hokage is too kind-hearted and nostalgic!"
Minato shook his head firmly, unwilling to believe that the Third Hokage would do such a thing. It had to be the village's darker, more extreme elements that were committing these wrongs.
As they took advantage of the chaos in the Kumogakure to flee rapidly toward the border, the Kumo ninja finally managed to quell the tailed beast's rampage after two hours.
A third of the Kumogakure had been reduced to ruins.
The rest wasn't much better—everywhere were shattered buildings and rubble.
"Lord Raikage, thanks to the swift evacuation, the casualties were not too severe. However, the mysterious ninja, Skoll, took the opportunity to break open the prison, causing significant losses amidst the chaos."
"Third Raikage-sama, according to the reports, our sealing team lost three jōnin, and our combat unit suffered… 536 chūnin casualties…"
The Third Raikage, gasping for breath, sat amidst the ruins. Blood still dripped from his arm as he listened to his subordinates' reports. His eyes were filled with boundless rage.
Many of the jōnin around him were shocked to see that even the strongest Third Raikage had been injured. His legendary defense had been breached!
The Third Raikage had taken on the Two-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb head-on with his Hell Stab technique. The fact that he was only injured proved how overwhelmingly strong he was.
"Third Raikage-sama, we've received a report from the Kumo Gorge—it's about Skoll and Konoha!"
At that moment, the jōnin Saburō from the sealing team at Kumo Gorge appeared battered.
"Lord Raikage… sob… it was Skoll! The descendant of Kinkaku and Ginkaku. He collaborated with Konoha's Shimura Danzo to orchestrate this entire event!"
Saburō's arms and legs were broken, and his body was covered in blood. Yet, driven by hatred, he held on to deliver his report.
"Skoll! Konoha!"
As all the information came together, pointing directly at Konoha, the Third Raikage let out a furious roar.
"So this is Konoha's plan! Using Skoll as a proxy, they can claim externally that this was just an internal dispute within the Kumogakure. And then there's their despicable tactics that have been sowing division within our ranks!"
At that moment, the Third Raikage fully understood. Especially when he saw the two bold, bloody lines etched into the massive, broken walls of the Kumogakure:
[First destroy the Kazekage, then the Raikage.]
[Supremacy of the ninja world belongs to Sarutobi alone.]
"Lord Raikage! Those words were written in the blood of our Kumo Ninja!"
"Revenge! We must take revenge!"
"Damn Skoll! He conspired with Konoha ninjas to slaughter our Kumo Ninja!"
"Third Raikage, give the order! Let's go to war!"
Amidst the ruins, countless Kumo Ninjas, still drenched in blood from the battle, shouted in hatred and rage.
"Silence!"
The Third Raikage roared angrily, silencing them. He even saw his son's fury, which seemed equally thoughtless and reckless.
"Can't you see it yet? Those words were left by Skoll. He wants to provoke a war between us and Konoha!"
At that moment, the Third Raikage's mind was uncharacteristically calm. Many of the more rational Kumo Ninjas had also begun to piece together the situation.
Konoha had secretly supported Skoll and orchestrated the previous internal division plans, all to weaken and fracture the Kumogakure, thus advancing Konoha's agenda.
At the same time, Skoll was unwilling to simply be Konoha's tool. This time, he had exposed Konoha's involvement, hoping to ignite a war between the Kumogakure and Konohagakure. He could then rally his fellow villagers to execute a coup as terrifying as the one carried out by Kinkaku and Ginkaku in the past.