As the storm and light faded, Crocodile and the Third Raikage stood at the center of a massive sand crater nearly 200 meters in diameter.
Only—
The conditions of the two combatants were drastically different.
Although the former looked slightly surprised, he was completely unscathed—not even his clothes had suffered much damage. In contrast, the latter was clearly far more battered.
Except for his pants, which remained relatively intact for some reason, the rest—his shirt, boots, even his forehead protector—had completely vanished without a trace.
The Lightning Release chakra that had cloaked his body was gone, the index finger on his right hand was partially severed, and a long, diagonal gash had appeared across his chest.
It formed a large X with his previous wound!
Yet his eyes still burned with unyielding determination.
But—
That wouldn't help him escape from the hand gripping his throat and lifting him entirely off the ground.
"Who do you think I am, hmm?"
Crocodile spoke, narrowing his indifferent eyes at the Third Raikage's furious and defiant gaze.
"You seem to think you're strong, don't you? But you couldn't even protect your own men. You... you're actually very weak."
As he said this, the desert outside the crater was strewn with corpses.
Those were the Kumogakure shinobi who hadn't survived the earlier shockwaves. Densely packed across the battlefield—it might not have been a river of blood, but it could certainly be described as bloodstained and littered with the dead.
After all, there had been two to three thousand of them.
Still, a few lucky Jōnin and Chūnin had fled toward the sea on their own.
"Y-You... who exactly are you people...?"
The Third Raikage struggled to speak with the hand gripping his throat, squeezing out each word with difficulty. His bloodshot eyes were filled with killing intent and rage.
"I'm not some rookie who'll answer just because you ask. Since you're the loser, just behave yourself~"
Crocodile couldn't be bothered to answer. Once they dragged him back, if the higher-ups deemed this guy worth anything, there'd be others assigned to explain things to him.
At that moment, a wave of sand suddenly kicked up around them, and in the blink of an eye, both the Third Raikage and Crocodile disappeared into the wind.
...
One kilometer away.
"Lord Rasa... what should we do next?"
A Sunagakure Jōnin looked hesitantly at Rasa. The other Jōnin also turned their eyes toward him, waiting for his decision.
By now, everyone knew: if the Third Kazekage couldn't be found soon, then Rasa—the one who had driven back the Third Raikage—was almost certainly going to be the next Fourth Kazekage.
"We return to the village. Then we send a team to make contact."
Rasa stared deeply in the direction of Rōran.
As for why he wasn't approaching the sand-user now... no one knew.
Maybe...
Maybe he was afraid?
...
Teigu World, within the green space created by the Gate-Gate Fruit, Noah's Ark.
"Lord Imu, Cipher Pol No. 1 is currently carrying out your orders. The four captured Kumogakure shinobi are being escorted to the Isle of Wano, in the Starfish World."
Stussy gave her report.
"Good."
Imu replied as she calmly watched the images displayed on the virtual screen.
After the great battle in the city of Rōran, the Kumogakure shinobi still capable of moving had successfully withdrawn outside the city. But inside, there were still many who had been seriously wounded and could not evacuate.
The Umigakure forces and Cipher Pol treated them without discrimination—anyone who could be saved received medical attention.
After all, these people could still provide valuable intelligence, and once the Shinobi World was conquered, they might even become allies.
This was something the Umigakure shinobi understood very well.
As for the Third Raikage shown in the footage, he had been captured and brought back to Rōran by Crocodile. Not long after, he lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss.
Naturally, the World Government wouldn't just let him die.
His identity and strength were far too valuable.
So, he was immediately transferred to the World Hospital on the Continent of Canberra, in the Titan World.
"Also, Aramaki submitted a formal request to Marshal Raymond for deployment to the Shinobi World."
Stussy glanced at her notebook as she continued her report.
"But Marshal Raymond rejected the request, stating that the current situation didn't require additional generals. Still, he acknowledged that the Shinobi World is a particularly powerful world, and Aramaki would definitely have his chance to deploy in the future."
Upon hearing this, Imu immediately understood that Raymond had made his choice between Crocodile and Aramaki.
In other words, he had selected the third—and final—candidate for the position of Army Headquarters General.
Objectively, Crocodile's pirate background was a disadvantage. Aramaki had a cleaner record, which was certainly an advantage. But the problem was—he joined later.
Not only was he slightly weaker in terms of strength, but his battlefield achievements also lagged behind.
Moreover, unlike Sakazuki, Raymond didn't care too much about background. He might've been stricter about that in the beginning, but it had already been five years—he'd long stopped caring about who used to be a pirate.
So in the end, Crocodile was chosen to be the first Army Headquarters General to participate in the Shinobi World campaign.
This move laid the groundwork and built the bridge for his future promotion.
And look—he hadn't even been there long before capturing a Raikage! That's a military feat if ever there was one.
Still, now that Crocodile has reaped the benefits of the first great achievement, it's only fair to give Aramaki a chance to shine too.
More than anything, Imu was looking forward to the moment Aramaki showed up in front of the Konoha shinobi—and their expressions when they saw him. It was sure to be a spectacular scene!
After Stussy left, the study returned to silence, and Imu's thoughts shifted toward the underworld...
The reason for sending the Kumogakure shinobi to the Isle of Wano, of course, was to offer their souls to the King of the Dead of the Underworld.
This would allow the King of the Dead to pinpoint the coordinates of the Underworld within the Shinobi World. Once located, he could lead his infernal army into the Pure Land and tie down the soul-transformed Sage of Six Paths, who had now become the absolute master of that realm.
As for which side was stronger, even Imu couldn't say for sure.
In terms of power, the current Sage of Six Paths was no longer the same being who once wielded the power of the Ten-Tails. He was probably weaker than before, right?
In any case—
All Imu needed was for the King of the Dead to prevent the Sage of Six Paths from interfering freely in the battles of the human world.
As for the outcome—
If they won, there would be both pros and cons. If they lost, there were two possibilities: either the King of the Dead would be killed outright by the Sage of Six Paths, or he'd return with severe injuries.
Either way... it didn't seem like a bad thing to Imu.
Meanwhile—
Back in the Shinobi World, Rasa had returned to the village and immediately requested an emergency meeting of the Elders.
During the meeting:
He recounted everything he had witnessed without holding anything back and even summoned the two jōnin who had been present to confirm that his testimony was true.
As expected—
The roundtable of Sunagakure elders was utterly stunned.
Wiping out more than half of the Kumogakure army in one move? Defeating and capturing the Third Raikage with ease? It all sounded like some outlandish fairytale. Some even instinctively assumed that Rasa and the others were exaggerating or lying.
In this day and age, how could such a monstrously powerful warrior exist?
And we're talking about the Third Raikage, no less!
If it had been another Kage, they might've believed it. But all the jōnin who returned gave the same account, which meant Rasa's story had to be true.
"So I would like the Elders to recall—has there ever been such a figure in the history of Sunagakure or the Land of Wind?"
Standing at the head of the table, arms crossed, Rasa said in a deep voice: "The man was extremely tall—by rough estimate, nearly three meters in height. There's no way someone like that could've gone completely unrecorded!"
A man of that stature would've had legends told about him in any era.
After racking his brains for a while, the eldest of the elders finally spoke: "Well... I truly can't recall any legends of giants in the Land of Wind."
Disappointment immediately appeared on the faces of Rasa and the others.
"Then perhaps we should call for Advisors Chiyo and Ebizō. If that sand-controlling giant really hails from our Land of Wind, they might be the only ones who've heard of him," the elder added with a bitter smile.
"That's all we can do for now. But should we consider sending someone to Rōran to initiate contact with this giant warrior?" another elder asked.
"Yes. He crushed the Kumogakure forces and even captured the Third Raikage—all within our national borders. Kumogakure will never let this go. It's bound to spark a war between our two nations!"
"But if this warrior is on our side... perhaps we don't need to worry about Kumogakure at all?"
"True!"
Inside the Sunagakure high council chamber, the elders were engaged in a heated discussion. But then Rasa splashed cold water over all of them.
"What if the opposite is true? What if he completely ignores us—or worse, sees us as enemies?"
"This—"
The room fell into stunned silence. The elders exchanged looks, speechless.
At last, one of them gave a bitter laugh and said, "If that's the case... it would truly be a catastrophic calamity."
The strongest man they'd ever had—the Third Kazekage—was already gone. Right now, Rasa was their only viable candidate for the next Kazekage.
But Rasa had only barely managed to use the desert's terrain to hold off the Third Raikage...
Whereas that mysterious warrior had captured the Third Raikage—with ease. And he was a sand-user too.
That made him an overwhelming threat.
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I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> /TitoVillar
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