There was once a story of a weapon merchant who sold both shields and spears.
He boasted of his shield, saying, "My shield is so sturdy, nothing can penetrate it." Then he boasted of his spear, saying, "My spear is so sharp, it can pierce through any solid object."
Naturally, someone asked him: "What happens if you strike your shield with your spear?"
The merchant was left speechless.
In the world of shinobi, however, the answer to this question had already been clearly written in history.
The Third Raikage, who once fought the Eight-Tails for three days and three nights, severing its tails and beating it into submission, had once collapsed from exhaustion. In his unconscious state, his Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite had inadvertently pierced his own "Strongest Shield," leaving a lightning-shaped scar on his chest.
This was the sole weakness of the Third Raikage, A.
At Ren Uchiha's current level, facing such a titan, his power still felt far too thin. The only way he could conceive of victory was to emulate Naruto from the future Fourth War: use that intel to make the Raikage strike himself through the heart.
But Ren was not facing a mindless Reanimation controlled by Kabuto. He was facing the living Third Raikage—a man with indomitable will and superhuman reflexes who had climbed to the peak of the Kage level through blood and sweat.
Naruto's trick worked because Kabuto was remote-controlling a corpse. To deceive the living A, Ren had to gamble everything.
Every blow he had taken, every drop of blood spilled, every ability revealed, and every price paid—it was all for this single moment. The moment when victory was closest, and caution was most likely to lapse!
The snake clone that had been hiding underground since the Earth Grudge Fear eruption, waiting at the precise spot of the Raikage's inevitable strike, finally struck.
Erupt!
Holding a massive, swirling azure Rasengan, it struck A's extended right forearm!
In that instant, A's eyes widened. He seemed to lose his voice, watching helplessly as his own One-Finger Nukite exploded through his strongest defense. The fingertip pushed forward, carving through the muscles of his left chest with razor-sharp lightning!
It aimed true for the heart.
—STAB!!
Blood sprayed high into the air!
On the battlefield, a scorching night wind carried dust across the scene. The pale lightning that had been tearing through the sea of fire came to a jarring halt, the Raikage's heavy footsteps kicking up a localized dust storm.
The sudden reversal left everyone stunned. The Konoha shinobi stared at the Third Raikage, who stood before them with his own right arm buried in his chest, blood leaking from his mouth.
Then—
"Well done, Ren!"
The Konoha ninja pumped their fists in celebration. Even Setsuna Uchiha, who had nearly been skewered, let out a long sigh of relief, a weary smile touching his lips.
Seeing this, Shinnosuke Sarutobi's spirit surged. He gripped his Flying Swallow blades.
"Now's our chance!"
Following his lead, the others tensed.
"Shinnosuke, Hayama! Coordinate with my Fang Passing Fang! Let's end this!"
Inuzuka Ago formed the Jin seal, charging toward the Raikage with his massive yellow hound. Mid-air, man and dog transformed into two whirling drills, merging into a ferocious, two-headed wolf!
Hayama Shirakumo and Asuma Sarutobi exchanged a nod and followed suit with their own seals. Their logic was sound: their Wind Style and the Inuzuka's piercing power were the strongest options left to finish a weakened foe and create an opening for the Aburame clan's poison.
However, Hyuga Hizashi, watching with his Byakugan, suddenly gasped in horror.
"Wait! Don't go! Get back!"
At the same time, Ren—crawling out from his scorched skin in the fire—paled.
"Run! This isn't a fight you can handle!!"
Ren ignored the agony racking his body, grabbing the Kusanagi Sword and rushing forward. From the memories of his dispelled clone, he knew...
The Third Raikage wasn't dead yet!
"Don't look down on us! Even for a Kage, this strike—"
Inuzuka Ago, already committed to the mid-air charge, gritted his teeth. But in the next second, the four eyes of the two-headed wolf widened in shock.
"HRAAAAAAAAH—!!"
Standing still, A snapped his eyes open. He violently ripped his right arm out of his chest, unleashing a fountain of blood. Through the hole in his chest, one could see his heart beating frantically!
The Lightning Release Armor flickered, but quickly stabilized. And the blood-soaked hand he had pulled out was no longer a single finger... it was a four-fingered hand-blade!
In the split second before the One-Finger Nukite reached his heart, A's superhuman reflexes had allowed him to switch to the Four-Finger Nukite, using his own pectoral muscles to clamp down and stop the momentum!
"Heh... heh..." A panted like a bull, snapping his head up.
His savage gaze locked onto the two-headed wolf. In a flash, he leaped into the air, seizing one wolf-head with his hand and crushing the other with his remaining two-fingered palm.
Rip!
CRACK! CRACK!
The wolf's body was torn in two, its heads crushed instantly.
Inuzuka Ago was dead.
Before the blood could even rain down, lightning flared again. Shinnosuke and Hayama had stopped their advance thanks to Hizashi's warning, but compared to that pale lightning, they were moving like snails.
"HEAVY VIOLENT LAYER!!"
A massive arm appeared between them. A lightning-enhanced elbow strike hammered into both!
BANG! BANG!
The two were sent flying like arrows, crashing through the trees hundreds of meters away at the base of the cliff. Their fate was unknown.
Ren skidded to a stop, a sharp premonition of danger making him leap to the side. The next moment, lightning flashed in front of him. Within the glow, A glared at Ren, delivering a straight kick to his midsection!
"LIGTHNING OPPRESSION HORIZONTAL THUNDER AXE!!"
Zing!
The lightning narrowly missed Ren's torso, but the shockwave carried a sharp crack. Ren's leg, caught in the wake of the pass, was sheared off and ground into dust instantly.
"Tch—"
Ren sucked in a breath through the pain, flipping with one hand to stand firm as a new leg regenerated. His nerves were taut, his heart pounding. He gripped his sword, staring at the old man.
He had used every trick in the book. But he still couldn't put this monster down.
The man called A was simply too strong. So strong it bordered on despair.
A stopped his movement, narrowing his eyes at Ren's midsection.
"I see. The moment my killing intent surfaces, before I even move, this brat can predict it."
"And that Tailed Beast... the one influencing my will and feeding him chakra. None of this was in the reports."
A finally understood why his emotions had been so volatile. The source was the beast inside the boy. Combined with the intel on the "Zero-Tails," he finally grasped the secret behind Ren's endurance.
Standing amidst the scorched sea of fire, A stared coldly at Ren.
"You really are like an unkillable flea!"
He reached out with his right hand and ripped away his blood-soaked upper clothing, revealing his rippling, demon-faced back muscles. He looked toward the trembling Two-Tails nearby and grabbed a massive tan jar labeled "Dust."
"But all of this—"
"Ends now!"
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