Chapter 251 : Nagato Disappears!!

The Fourth Raikage's body was incredibly strong. Though it couldn't reach the level of his father's strength, in the current ninja world, he was definitely number one.

It was precisely because of his powerful body that, when thousands of explosive tags almost exploded all at once, Raikage A was not killed.

"Phew~"

As the smoke cleared, Raikage A was half-squatting on the ground, spitting blood.

His body was covered in red and black marks from the burns caused by the high temperature, looking rather hideous.

"Damn it~"

Spitting out more blood, Raikage A was gasping for air.

This injury was the most severe he had ever suffered since birth.

Thankfully, he hadn't lost any limbs. After some rest and recovery, he would eventually heal.

But... would Konan let him leave?

To be enemies with Nagato was to be enemies with her.

When it came to enemies, she showed no mercy.

"You're really lucky, you didn't die from the explosion. But your luck is about to run out. I'll send you straight to hell now."

In the sky, Konan raised her right hand, and paper began to split from her body.

Above her head, a massive spear gradually formed.

Once Konan waved her hand, the spear would pierce Raikage A's body.

"Die, Fourth Raikage."

Just as the words left her mouth, and Konan was about to deliver the final, fatal blow to Raikage A, she suddenly sensed that Nagato's chakra was rapidly dissipating.

"Nagato!"

Knowing there was a problem on Nagato's side, Konan couldn't care less about Raikage A here. She immediately fused the paper javelin back into her body and quickly flew towards the hidden location of herself and Nagato.

"Ha~ Looks like I'm not meant to die just yet."

Seeing Konan leave, Raikage A immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought he was really going to die here.

The feeling of being at the mercy of someone, like a fish on a chopping board, was something he never wanted to experience again.

"Raikage-sama, let's leave quickly."

C, who had been kicked out of the explosion range by Raikage A's forceful kick, quickly came to his side and helped him up.

Enduring the intense pain, Raikage A said to C, "Notify Darui and the others, we're retreating immediately."

"Retreat? Should we inform the other Four Great Shinobi Villages?"

"Don't worry about them. We'll just retreat on our own."

"...Understood, Raikage-sama."

Konan, frantic and anxious, returned to the hideout where Nagato was.

At this moment, she could no longer sense Nagato's chakra.

"It can't be, Nagato won't be in danger."

With a bad feeling, Konan hurriedly entered the hideout, her heart filled with panic.

"No!"

"NAGATO! Nagato, where are you?!"

Nagato, who should have been here, had disappeared.

Konan, as if mad, frantically searched for Nagato's traces in the small area.

She searched carefully for a while. Apart from finding a pool of blood on the ground, she didn't discover anything else.

"Who exactly did this?"

The blood on the ground was enough to show that Nagato was most likely in serious danger.

"Thankfully... thankfully Jiraiya-sensei has the ability to bring him back to life."

Just the thought that even if Nagato died, he could still be revived made Konan feel a little better.

However, she was still angry.

Angry that she hadn't protected Nagato well.

Angry at the mysterious enemy who kidnapped Nagato, or even killed him.

"Don't let me find out who it is, or I'll make sure to blow you up and avenge Nagato!"

After tidying up a bit, Konan spread her wings and began flying towards Konoha.

Of the five great ninja villages, the first to engage in battle was the Hidden Cloud Village.

And with Nagato's disappearance and Konan's retreat, before the other four villages had even started fighting, the first battle to end was still the one in Hidden Cloud Village.

Raikage A, without any consideration for others, started retreating without notifying the other four villages, thinking of draining their energy without sharing information.

His plan more or less succeeded.

In Iwagakure, when facing Deidara, they had initially wanted to convince him with words to return to the village.

But Deidara didn't care about that. He immediately pulled out a large bomb and killed two somewhat careless Iwa Jonin right then and there.

The situation in Sunagakure was similar.

Against Sasori of the Red Sand, Chiyo had hoped to use family ties to return her beloved grandson.

But under Sasori's merciless attacks, Chiyo had no choice but to start fighting with the Sand ninja.

In Kirigakure, Chōjūrō faced immense pressure.

Because he had to confront the wielder of Samehada, the man known as the "Tailless Beast of the Mist," Kisame.

The only small comfort was that Kisame seemed to still hold some old feelings and didn't directly kill the Mist ninja.

Chōjūrō and Ao were here, and after realizing they couldn't do anything against Kisame, they started playing along with the fake match.

Except for one unlucky guy, who boasted before the match that he would challenge Kisame and got killed right away, the rest of the Mist Ninjas all survived in this unspoken fake match.

The most bizarre situation, however, was on the Konoha side.

"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work"

Not long after entering the Land of Rain, the team led by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was ambushed by Kakuzu.

"Water Style: Water Wall"

In response to Kakuzu's sneak attack, Kakashi reacted quickly and immediately used Water Style to block the attack from Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work.

Kakuzu, hiding in the shadows, couldn't help but curse.

He had been hoping to take out one or two Konoha ninjas with this sneak attack. That way, the pressure on him later would be much less.

Unfortunately, Kakashi managed to block the ambush.

"Kakashi-san, Minato-sama, Kushina-sama, father, little brother, it's been a long time."

Asuma: "Damn, Itachi, what the hell? Don't I deserve to have my name mentioned?"

Kakuzu's ambush failed, and Itachi stepped out boldly from the shadows.

Seeing the group before him, Itachi's heart stirred with mixed emotions.

"Itachi, are you sure you want to fight us?"

"Sorry, Minato-sama, this is the leader's order. I can't refuse."

Minato nodded, understanding Itachi's stance.

The battle between them was the Akatsuki leader's order, not Itachi's own decision.

"Fugaku, Sasuke, Itachi's yours. Any problems?"

"No problem." X2

"Kushina, Kakashi, Asuma, let's go meet the person who just ambushed us."

"This guy is really disrespectful, not even bothering to greet us before launching an ambush. I'm definitely going to teach him a lesson."

Hidden in the shadows, Kakuzu heard Minato and Kushina saying this, and he couldn't help but feel speechless.

In his mind, he thought he would only need to face either the Fourth Hokage or one of the others—Kakashi, Asuma, or Kushina.

In other words, a one-on-two battle.

But looking at the current situation, it seemed like he had to fight all four of them.

Wasn't this a setup for failure?

Also, who ambushes someone and still greets them?

If you greet someone before ambushing them, is it even an ambush?

Kushina: So, does that mean you admit you're rude?

Kakuzu: ???

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