Of course, Uchiha Nagi wasn't about to grab a shovel and start digging up graves one by one. Before he'd even set out for the Hidden Cloud, he'd visited the Summoning Animal Islands and Turtle Island, searching for a creature that could dig.
He eventually settled on a pangolin—the very same one Naruto had been so curious to know the gender of.
After forcing it to sign a summoning contract, he'd put it to work digging holes. No, not holes, graves. This way, he wouldn't even need to use ninjutsu. Without any chakra fluctuations, his stealth would be greatly enhanced.
Poof!
With a puff of smoke, a giant pangolin appeared before Nagi.
"See that grave with the tallest headstone? Dig up the body underneath it for me," Nagi instructed, pointing to the most conspicuous tombstone among the many.
As a former Raikage, the Land of Lightning had likely paid a steep price to retrieve his body and give him a proper burial back in the village. A man of his stature wouldn't be interred in some remote corner of the cemetery. Nagi had found him with little effort; the name and photograph were right there.
"Awooo~" The pangolin nodded and began to rapidly claw at the earth, burrowing a tunnel from a nearby patch of greenery.
The reason for this roundabout and troublesome method was simple: to remain undetected. Earth Style jutsu would have made the digging easier, but it would have created chakra fluctuations. Even if he restored the grave, a sensory ninja would be able to detect the residual chakra signature.
Digging up someone's ancestors was not a good look. It was a reputation worse than killing a Hokage or your own teacher. So, it was best to keep it a secret. Kabuto had managed his own grave-robbing without a soul knowing, likely by using his snake summons. Nagi would use his pangolin.
Swish, swish—
The pangolin began its return journey. A moment later, it dragged a coffin straight out of the tunnel entrance.
Nagi couldn't help but palm his forehead. This pangolin was a bit of a blockhead. "Fine, if you brought the whole thing, you brought the whole thing. Let's see if this is the Third Raikage."
He opened the coffin lid. Inside, the towering corpse of a man with a gaunt face lay quietly, his body mummified.
Nagi compared it to the photograph. Yes, it was the Third Raikage. He wasn't sure if the man's body was just that resilient or if his filial son, A, had performed some preservation treatment, but the body was merely desiccated, not decayed.
Taking out a kunai, Nagi scraped a small tissue sample from the Third Raikage's body. That was all he needed. Once he returned, he could perform the Edo Tensei, and the man's soul would be his.
"Now, let's see if I can find the First and Second Raikage..."
He created two shadow clones and had them search the cemetery, while also looking for any other noteworthy shinobi to take back.
Of all the villages, the Hidden Cloud had suffered the fewest casualties in the Great Ninja Wars, so there weren't an overwhelming number of graves. They were arranged by the year of death, which made searching relatively easy.
Soon enough, he found the graves of the First and Second Raikage. Unfortunately, they were only memorial tombs, with no bodies inside. Nagi wasn't too disappointed. After all, if even Kabuto couldn't find them, their bodies were likely lost to time.
However, Nagi did make an unexpected discovery: the previous jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails.
Fukai, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.
In front of his grave, not a single blade of grass grew. The chirping of insects was eerily absent. Though the jinchuriki was dead, the lingering traces of the Eight-Tails' chakra in his flesh still placed him at the apex of the natural world, terrifying any insects or animals and preventing them from drawing near, as if they had encountered a force of nature.
The moment Nagi passed by, he sensed the difference in this area. After a quick search, he found the jinchuriki's grave.
"Excellent, a jinchuriki will do nicely. Even though the Edo Tensei won't manifest a Tailed Beast out of thin air, his massive chakra reserves will at least be on par with a Kage's. He might even have more chakra than a typical Kage, being the jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails." Nagi gleefully took a piece of his body tissue and placed it in a sealing scroll.
The haul from this trip was already more than sufficient with these two.
"Alright, restore the scene," Nagi commanded the pangolin, having it return the excavated coffin. It wasn't right to disturb the dead more than necessary. A small tissue sample was enough; Nagi had no intention of desecrating the body.
As for the soul...
He really didn't know if the Shinigami of this world was just not very bright. A cloned White Zetsu could be used as a sacrifice for the Edo Tensei. Was it because they contained some of Hashirama's cells?
Just then, a faint sound of footsteps came from outside. If Nagi hadn't spent time training his five senses with the Stone Hashira, relying on more than just his Sharingan, he might not have noticed.
He quickly had the pangolin dive into the hole it had dug at the Eight-Tails jinchuriki's grave. As for himself...
Nagi could have used the Flying Thunder God to vanish in an instant, but he hadn't finished exploring the cemetery. Figuring it was just a few chunin and genin guards who wouldn't have the skill to detect him, he decided to hide.
And the place he chose to hide was, of all places, the Third Raikage's grave.
It had been over a month since the Fourth Raikage, A, had returned from the Land of Iron. His injuries were long healed.
The wind blades of the Rasenshuriken were terrifyingly destructive, designed to shred every cell in the body. But A had inherited his father's Lightning Release physical conditioning, and his body was forged to be incredibly tough. At the last moment, as his Lightning Armor shattered, he had managed to push the great windmill of chakra away. He'd suffered cuts, but not a direct hit.
After a month of treatment from medical ninja, he had fully recovered. Later, in discussions with his intelligence division and Darui, they all confirmed that there had been no Flying Thunder God kunai behind him. Nor had he been marked with a level-two formula. How his opponent had suddenly appeared behind him and teleported him back in front of the attack he had just dodged was a complete mystery.
Darui suspected that Uchiha Nagi possessed a form of the Flying Thunder God that didn't require a marker, or perhaps a different space-time ninjutsu altogether. His guess was remarkably close to the truth. But the others found it improbable. Space-time ninjutsu was the most difficult field to master. Other hidden villages had tried to develop their own, but all had failed. A space-time jutsu that required no marker was a terrifying thought.
The Raikage, A, true to his hot-headed nature, had smashed the table and roared that he would never be tricked again. The next time that bastard used a big move, he would keep his eyes locked on him. The moment he disappeared to launch a sneak attack, he would give him a taste of his own medicine.
A wasn't just bluffing. His physical speed was so great that even Amaterasu couldn't keep up. Not even Minato Namikaze was faster on his feet. Minato relied on the Flying Thunder God, which ignored time and distance to move instantly. But in a pure footrace using the Body Flicker Technique, he truly wasn't faster than the Fourth Raikage. So, A had the confidence and the strength to back up his words. In the entire ninja world, he was truly the only one who could compete with space-time ninjutsu using raw speed.
On this particular day, for some reason, he was restless and couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Uchiha Nagi's infuriating face. He wanted nothing more than to smash it with his fist. The man had stolen his Turtle Island and had humiliated him, the undefeated Raikage, in front of his own men.
On a whim, he suddenly felt the need to vent his frustrations to someone. But his tough-guy image was too deeply ingrained. He couldn't just go crying to someone. Killer B was his brother, but they weren't related by blood. So, after some thought, he decided to go have a chat with his old man.
"All of you, out. I don't need protection. This is my village, and I'm the strongest Raikage here. Who could possibly harm me? I want to be alone and talk with my dad. Everyone, get out," A said, waving his hand impatiently.
His two or three Kage guards and the few ninja watching over the cemetery nodded and withdrew. It was true. What was there to fear in their own village? The slightest disturbance would bring hundreds, if not thousands, of ninja running. And the Raikage was the strongest of them all.
So, they bowed to their Raikage and left, with no intention of eavesdropping. Soon, the Fourth Raikage, A, was alone.
"Sigh. Dad, it's been a while..."
A casually knelt before the grave and bowed his head.
Hiding inside, Uchiha Nagi was speechless.
"Dad, I brought a jug of good sake. I know you can't hear me or drink it, but I can't help but want to ramble on to you."
"I went to the Land of Iron recently, to settle a score with some Uchiha bastard. I ended up losing by a single move, got tricked by the guy. It was worse than when I lost to Minato Namikaze..."
And so, the Fourth Raikage continued to ramble, pouring out all his frustrations. Until he could find a surefire way to counter the Flying Thunder God, seeking out his opponent again would be pointless.
"Do you hear me, Dad?"
Just as A finished speaking and took a long swig from the sake jug, by a stroke of bad luck—perhaps because the pangolin's tunnel was temporary and the dirt hadn't been packed down firmly—a small clod of earth broke loose from right beside Nagi and fell. It was an incredibly faint sound...
Thump.
Hm?! The Fourth Raikage, A, stared at his father's grave, his wide eyes full of disbelief.
"D... Dad?"
Uchiha Nagi was speechless.
He covered his face. At this point, he might as well accept his new son.
"Ahem. A, my son, it's been a long time..."
"Dad, is that really you?! Don't scare me! Am I dreaming? No, I must have had too much to drink." A shook his head and slapped himself across the face.
SMACK!
The slap snapped the Fourth Raikage back to his senses. In the ninja world, nothing should be surprising. Even ghosts existed.
"You villain! You're looking for death—"
Realizing what was happening, A flew into a rage and threw a heavy punch downwards.
BOOM!
The entire grave exploded.
A grief-stricken roar echoed across the Hidden Cloud Village: "DAAAAAAD.....!"