The Third Raikage stood amid a battlefield soaked in blood and chaos, but his face remained grim with helpless fury.
"Who is it?! Which shadow-level ninja is this shameless?!" he roared, eyes scanning the terrain, trying to pinpoint the source of the mysterious and elusive ninjutsu.
But there was nothing.
He couldn't sense anything.
"Damn it! The technique—it's Mist-style. But it materialized out of thin air. There's no visible origin!"
He circled, trying multiple detection methods. Yet despite his sharp instincts, there was no chakra trace. After several frustrating moments, he finally gave up.
"I can't keep being passive. I have to force the hand of whoever this is. If I waste too much time, my chakra reserves won't last. I need to buy more time for my men to withdraw!"
The Third Raikage moved like a lightning bolt, bypassing each Iwagakure ninja with brutal efficiency. A kunai flashed in his hand, and in a blink, another Iwa-nin collapsed, lifeless.
Simultaneously, he extended his sensory perception, honing in on faint chakra fluctuations. It wasn't much—just enough to perhaps catch his opponent slipping.
He knew this method was rudimentary, but it was the only option.
Earth and Stone—the clone of Uchiha Kiyo—had already sensed the intent of the Raikage. But instead of direct confrontation, he resorted to subterfuge. Every time the Third Raikage zeroed in on his general area, he'd shift his position, forcing the Raikage to waste effort chasing shadows.
This deadly game of cat and mouse continued.
Minutes passed.
Then hours.
By the time the Third Raikage realized he was being baited, nearly an hour had gone by—and a tremendous portion of his chakra had been expended. Under normal battle conditions, that amount would've lasted him three hours at minimum efficiency.
"Damn it...!"
He clenched his fists in rage. That someone would play such tricks, even in the face of death, was unbearable.
The battle still raged on, Iwa-nin dying one after another, but the Third Raikage remained untouched—like an indomitable god of war amidst mortals. Yet the atmosphere on the battlefield was tense, oppressive. Despite their numbers, the shinobi of Iwagakure were shaken.
Were it not for the constant shouts and commands from their battlefield officers, desertion would've already spread.
Their discipline held, a testament to the rigorous training of Iwagakure. Onoki hadn't neglected the basics; his soldiers reflected his strength and foresight. Among the Five Kage, Onoki had always been among the most formidable—an old fox who built his army with tactical foresight and precision.
Still, the fight stretched on—two entire days and nights.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
From afar, Earth and Stone launched his technique again. The Third Raikage, physically exhausted and chakra-depleted, couldn't evade in time. The jutsu hit him full force, launching his towering body backward.
His eyes snapped wide open in disbelief and frustration.
"I'm not... reconciled!"
If his eyes could speak, they would've screamed indignation. A man of his stature—a Kage—bested not by strength, but trickery.
Even so, his skin bore no fatal injury. His legendary defense still held—his Lightning Release Armor had resisted even this.
But he could feel his body giving in. As he tried to rise, his knees trembled. His breath grew ragged. And then, he collapsed—his strength finally abandoning him.
Within the spiritual realm, Uchiha Kiyo's clone had developed techniques to perceive souls—not to attack, but to observe life and death. Normally of little use, but in such a battle, it gave clarity.
He felt the soul of the Third Raikage disperse. It was over.
"Lava Release: Fireball!"
In a brilliant arc of molten chakra, Earth and Stone cleared the path before him with lava spheres. Rock ninja scattered, staring in stunned silence as he advanced toward the Third Raikage's corpse.
With practiced ease, he unsealed a scroll and absorbed the Raikage's body into it.
"Earth and Stone...!"
The commander's eyes widened with disbelief, the horror dawning as he finally recognized the rogue among their ranks.
It wasn't just him.
Hundreds of Iwa-nin recognized the man who had just annihilated their army.
"No... no. Correct yourselves," Earth and Stone's voice echoed, confident and cold. "I am Earth and Stone, of the Immortal Organization."
He had been waiting for this moment. The time to etch the name of the Immortal Organization into the world's consciousness had come. Unlike in the original timeline where the organization's emergence coincided with a period of political instability, this moment was tactically ideal.
His past self had miscalculated, choosing too volatile a time to rise.
Not this time.
"Lava Fireball!"
He hurled another molten orb at the commander, followed by three more aimed at elite jonin. Their chakra reserves were already bottomed out—after two days of nonstop battle, none could mount an effective defense.
"This is a move I've recently perfected. Allow me to demonstrate!"
Hovering midair, Earth and Stone extended both arms.
"Meteor Fall."
The skies dimmed.
Natural energy surged wildly, pulled in from the surroundings like a vacuum. If any sage-mode users like Jiraiya had been present, they would have felt it—a torrent of natural chakra, responding to the jutsu's immense pull.
Above, a massive meteor formed.
It grew—dense, heavy, blotting out the sun.
Then it fell.
It crashed into the densest part of the Iwa army, and the entire battlefield shook. For a moment, everyone lost the ability to think. There was only noise—roaring destruction and the endless crash of impact.
"Not bad," Earth and Stone muttered.
"Falling Stars!"
Dozens—hundreds—of smaller meteorites formed in the sky and rained down in rapid succession. They weren't individually as devastating, but together, they decimated the battlefield with terrifying efficiency.
With just these two jutsu, the death toll from Earth and Stone surpassed what the Third Raikage had achieved in his final stand.
But the Third Raikage hadn't sought to kill—he had sought to delay.
Still, Earth and Stone was satisfied. These techniques were his crowning achievement. By harnessing natural energy externally without fully entering Sage Mode, he had created a style of battle that was efficient, devastating, and sustainable.
He hovered high above the carnage.
He was no hero.
But he had a code.
To civilians, he showed mercy.
To shinobi? No quarter.
This massacre served two purposes: field-testing his new techniques and crippling Iwagakure's military power.
Based on the trajectory of the Third Great Ninja War, he knew Iwagakure would still clash with other great villages. This loss would tip the scales—thousands dead now meant more loss later. And in the future, when Uchiha Kiyo rose to unify the ninja world, their resistance would be significantly weakened.
"It's time to go."
He looked down. Half the army was gone.
"Oh. Almost forgot about you."
A Root agent, hidden and observing, gave a silent sigh of relief—only to feel a kunai pierce his chest the next instant.
His eyes widened in shock. He tried to speak—but it was too late.
The next moment, Earth and Stone vanished.
And the name of the Immortal Organization burned itself into the minds of over 5,000 surviving Iwagakure ninja.
---
A Day Later – Konoha
"Spontaneously," the Third Hokage murmured, his face clouded with concern as he stared at the latest intelligence report.
Jiraiya, seated nearby, glanced up. "What happened, sensei? Is it about the front lines? Orochimaru was deployed there too, wasn't he? Given Yunyin's situation, I doubt it's anything serious... unless—"
The Third Hokage interrupted, his voice grim. "No, it's not what you're thinking."
He paused, taking a long breath before continuing.
"The Third Raikage never made it back to the Land of Lightning. He led the remainder of the Yunyin forces deep into the Land of Earth—where they were surrounded by Iwagakure's army. In order to secure their retreat, he stayed behind... and fought alone for two full days and nights before finally collapsing from exhaustion."
Jiraiya froze.
The weight of the information hit him like a blow.
The shinobi world was shifting.
And far beyond their notice, a new storm had already begun to rise—under the banner of the Immortal Organization.
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