Chapter 99 – 4 vs 1

The summit ended in a flash, followed by an explosion, but by the time the sound reached the city, the Kages were already gone, moving faster than the expanding ball of fire.

"Enma!" Hiruzen yelled as his staff appeared in his hand, expanded, and struck the pursuing Raikage, whose fist collided with the Adamantine Staff instead of Hiruzen's skull, managing to block the lightning-fast attack.

Right after the collision, neither party was blown apart, as it was an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force, and they canceled each other out. Yet, to the Raikage's surprise, Hiruzen suddenly let go of his staff, just in time to dodge Ōnoki's completed jutsu. Even the molecules in the air vanished where Hiruzen had been just a moment ago, as the jutsu deleted everything from existence. The next moment, though, Hiruzen landed on the side of a shattered building, chakra holding his body to the nearly vertical slab of concrete as he looked at the Kages, tracking their positions.

The Raikage was coming in from below now, while the Kazekage attacked from the right, Ōnoki floating above him while the Mizukage was... Gone. Hiding somewhere, because Hiruzen didn't believe for a moment he would retreat at all.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, four Hiruzens appeared around him, all of them just as ready as the main one.

"Separate them!" Ōnoki shouted, but it was too late, as five sets of hands were already moving, unleashing different jutsus altogether.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

"Water Release: Raging River Torrent!"

"Wind Release: Great Vacuum Wave!"

"Earth Release: Mountain Rampart!"

"Lightning Release: Thunder Net!"

Five chakra natures erupted, heading towards every direction. His fire had looked like it hit an empty spot, yet the air, or the mist in this case, let out a loud hiss, revealing the Mizukage's form, forcing him to defend his body from being destroyed. At the same time, the sharp wind drove Ōnoki back, while the water flooded the Kazekage's Iron Sand, slowing it greatly. It wasn't all, because lightning struck the water at the same time, traveling through it and using the highly conductive Iron Sand to its advantage. As for the Raikage, his footing vanished the moment the earth broke apart under his feet as it tried to rise and entrap him.

"RAAAAGH!" He roared, using his full body to blast through it, right into the waiting arm of Hiruzen, who was there again, holding Enma in his hands.

The staff shot out in a flash, hitting the Raikage and flipping him sideways like a ragdoll.

"Don't fight him individually!" Ōnoki yelled again, trying to get back into position, while one of Hiruzen's clones simply laughed and threw a single shuriken out.

The Kazekage, the main target of that lonely attack, barely glanced at it, deeming it nothing more than a distraction, right until Hiruzen formed a seal again.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The sky disappeared from view as that one weapon turned into a thousand, multiplying even more by the next second. Watching them all head towards him, the Kazekage's eyes widened in shock as he recalled all his Iron Sand, cocooning himself in a black sphere. The Third Kazekage thus never saw the first clone already approaching from behind.

"Earth Release: Stone Dragon Ascension!"

A stone-made dragon's mouth rose from the ground in a flash, not only grabbing the iron ball in its jaw, but biting down, cracking it, even if it cost the jutsu its own destruction. It was all Hiruzen needed, as another clone of him came through the debris of the exploding dragon, the still-landing kunai storm, appearing at the largest crack and inhaling like a whale.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

The flame came out nearly white, entering the crack, hoping to burn the Kazekage alive in its own defenses. The iron sand was already glowing, the air sizzling, the rain evaporating around them... as his greatest weapon became his own trap, and Hiruzen used it perfectly. Seeing the opening, thanks to how Hiruzen focused on the Kazekage more, Ōnoki dropped from above, forming a cube between his fingers.

BOOOOM!

An entire section of Amegakure disappeared in a deep, resonating hum, yet... the old man knew that Hiruzen wasn't there by then. From the corner of his eye, the Tsuchikage turned his small body and scoffed as Enma passed by... but he didn't expect the staff to expand and Enma to appear from it, striking his face with a loud crack. After the ruthless swipe of the Monkey King's claw strike, Ōnoki spun through the air as something large and fleshy tumbled free, landing below, washed away by the rain, and disappearing into the village's sewers.

Hiruzen didn't have much time to celebrate, because the Raikage came at him again, aiming for his back. He ducked as the man's blue finger passed over his head and even managed to counterattack with his own palm strike.

"Lightning Release: Internal Current!" The Hokage yelled in his head as lightning erupted into the Raikage's Lightning Armor, syncing with the big man's frequency and making him twitch, making his shroud flicker. Afraid of the consequences, the Raikage backhanded him in a hurry... making Hiruzen disappear in a puff of smoke.

He didn't have time to wonder where the real Hiruzen was, because he dropped down from above, and Enma extended downward like a pile driver. Grunting, the Raikage caught it with both hands, but it still blasted him into a building and sent him down into the basement. The Hokage had to abort his attack when black Iron Sand shot out of nowhere, aimed at Hiruzen's spine, and when it actually hit him.

"Hiruzen!" Enma yelled as the staff split: one end kept pushing against the Raikage, while the other exploded to protect the Hokage's back. "Adamantine Prison Wall!"

The rest of the Iron Sand attacks landed on Enma, launching sparks everywhere, while the Hokage disengaged, just as a cloud of thick mist rolled over the duo. It was bone-chillingly cold, as the Third Mizukage finally joined the fight.

"Enough." His voice came from everywhere as the mist thickened. "Accept your death and don't make this harder on yourself."

Hiruzen said nothing, scanning the inside of the mist and sensing the Mizukage everywhere at once.

"Wind Release: Heaven-Cleaving Gale!"

With one yell from Hiruzen's mouth, a massive cyclone burst from his throat, blowing the mist apart, but... It was already reforming. The Hokage swept his eyes across the battlefield as his breathing grew slightly heavier, knowing he was already overdrawing on his own chakra.

"This is ridiculous!" the Kazekage breathed heavily just the same, his famous coat of 'armor' flickering constantly, still being disrupted by Hiruzen's previous technique.

"Just kill him and be done with this!" Ōnoki groaned, holding the bloody, gaping wound where his nose should have been.

When they attacked again, they stopped trying to overwhelm Hiruzen with raw power in one single jutsu, and went for continuous attacks instead. For starters, Ōnoki lightened sections of the rubble all around them and began launching them at the Hokage, while restoring their weight as they flew forward.

To keep Hiruzen's attention moving constantly, the Raikage never stopped rushing, while the Mizukage's mist covered most of his movements, trying to create an opening for his strike. Whatever clone Hiruzen left was then bogged down by the Kazekage, doing his best to keep them separate at all times. Despite his best efforts... one by one, the Kages had dealt with all his clones, and soon only the real Hiruzen remained.

That was when the Raikage appeared before him, three fingers extended and aimed at his chest. Hiruzen turned away at the last moment. Yes, the crackling fingertips missed his heart but went through his side nonetheless. Blood sprayed behind him in a cone, mixing with the rainwater, but Hiruzen didn't even grunt and struck the Raikage's elbow with Enma in response.

Using the Raikage as a shield and pivot point, he dodged a Particle Style that passed by them while slamming one palm downward.

from where Iron Sand was rushing upwards.

"Earth Release: Bedrock Reversal!"

The entire street flipped quite literally as a massive slab of earth, thirty meters across, rotated upward like a shield, blocking the Iron Sand and driving it back down into the earth... and with that, even the Kazekage felt his Iron Sand get embedded in the natural landscape, making it even heavier and harder to control.

Hiruzen wasn't done; he pulled on the slab, his jutsu still going, flinging it up and forming another set of seals.

"Wind Release: Mountain Hammer!"

He yelled, giving the slab another push as the entire mass flew toward Ōnoki.

"Are you insane?!" Ōnoki yelled as he increased the coming, building-sized attack's weight, stopping it from rising and reaching him. Thinking fast, he knew he could send it back down at Hiruzen... and that was a mistake.

"Fire Release: Dragon Furnace!" The Hokage yelled as his flames hit the buried Iron Sand inside the falling slab, exploding it like a bomb and sending superheated black particles spraying everywhere.

The Kazekage cried out first as he was still trying to separate his sand from the trap, only to have the suddenly freed, burning Iron Sand return to him, almost molten, fusing into his already badly burned body... So much pain... So much, in fact, that he suddenly fell, landing in the rubble, the pain short-circuiting his movements and consciousness.

Ignoring his cries, the Raikage saw the opening; Hiruzen committed both hands to the technique... It was now or never, so he charged at him again. The Mizukage, who had done the least until now and waited for the perfect moment for a sure-kill attack, moved at the same time, sensing the same opening.

The Hokage inhaled deeply in the meantime, just as the real Mizukage appeared from the falling rain, right before Hiruzen. His hand took the shape of a blade and struck at him, aiming to decapitate the Hokage. He almost made it, but Hiruzen tilted his head just enough for the blade to pluck out his eye while leaving his head on his neck. Hiruzen made no sound at all when it happened, his field of view halved but still seeing the Mizukage immediately follow up with a secondary attack. It was how his palm slammed upward into Hiruzen's jaw, cracking it, spreading blood and teeth everywhere, almost ripping it off in the end... It disoriented Hiruzen, but Enma was still there and intercepted the punch that arrived from the Raikage, saving his life.

"You can bleed after all!" The Mizukage sneered, while Hiruzen just lifted his head, doing his best to refocus on the battle and ignore his injuries. "Huh?!"

To the Mizukage's horror, Hiruzen's left hand closed just then, making a weird gesture... The moment it happened, he felt something... Panicked, he looked down and saw a black mark appear around his wrist, in the form of a spiraling Uzumaki seal. It was exactly where Hiruzen's blood had splashed onto him. What was this?!

"—!"

It was too late to guess, because the next moment, a thick, naturally formed lightning bolt from the rain clouds above them all struck the Mizukage, linked to the mark itself. There was nothing that anyone could do... as the Mizukage, with the sound of rolling thunder, was blasted into pieces, exploding and dying on the spot... dead before any understanding of what happened to him.

The Raikage was the first to recover from their shock, not angry because one of them died, but because he was killed with a stronger lightning jutsu than his?! When he was the Raikage?! That was the biggest insult of his life! So he rushed in... with four fingers stretched out. Then, after the first step, it went to three, then two...

Hiruzen moved at the last possible moment, while swinging Enma at the same time. His staff struck the Raikage's hip, but of course it was not to injure him, but to change his now locked-in trajectory. It barely worked, but it was enough to skid past the Hokage, who managed to touch his back... and left an Uzumaki sealing tag on it, without the Raikage feeling it.

"You think you can dodge me forever?!" The Raikage yelled, lost in his anger, and rushed at the Hokage with now only a single, stretched-out finger.

Hiruzen didn't dodge this time and just stood directly in the attack's path. There was only one chance... and he took it. He raised his left arm at the last moment, right when the Raikage's finger arrived to kill him. It passed through Hiruzen's forearm as if it wasn't there, the flesh, muscles, and bone exploding in a bloody mist as the whole arm got torn away from the elbow. It had done its job, slowing the Raikage for one fraction of a second.

It was all he needed as Hiruzen's right hand landed on the Raikage's wrist, while Enma rose from below him. The staff struck the Raikage's elbow, and at the same instant the seal activated on his back, canceling his resistance to Hiruzen's chakra as it entered his body on the same frequency as his own lightning. With his cloak not even resisting him, it was even easier for Hiruzen to lead the Raikage's next step, his momentum carrying him forward, while his stretched-out finger was... no longer facing forward. Hiruzen and Enma forced his shoulder to rotate as his arm changed direction, leaving him unable to do anything about it. The Raikage was watching in horror as his attack entered his own chest, piercing through his own heart... and then came out of his back.

The Raikage's momentum kept him rushing forward after he passed by Hiruzen, as the whole ordeal took only a second to play out. For the others, it was like... They couldn't tell... One moment the Raikage was blasting off Hiruzen's hand, and by the next step, he killed himself. When his momentum died and his feet stopped, he just fell over, dead, his own heart still impaled on his own finger, sticking out from his back.

That was the moment when Hiruzen heard Ashina's voice in his mind, calling for retreat and projecting his location directly to him through a seal on the Hokage's ruined armor. There was no hesitation; before the remaining two could recover, he began running, using his last strength to flee... Satisfied with the battle he knew might very well be his last.