White Fang vs the Third Raikage

Step by step, Sakumo continued to back away against the Third Raikage. He was well aware of the strength of this man. He was the only Raikage who had gone head to head against the 8 Tailed Beast without any armour or weapon.

His powerful body was strong enough to take on nearly any attack without leaving a scratch, and his offensive strength was strong enough to pierce anything!

Although Sakumo was considered quite strong, he was in no delusion that he could win against the Third Raikage.

But… Since the situation called out for it, he also wouldn't be giving up at this moment. Although his teammates had left a lot earlier than himself, they were just a little ahead of himself. They had yet to enter the camp.

If he let the Third Raikage get past him, he would surely go after them…

Perhaps it was to save his comrades and the regret of seeing 4 of his comrades die that a determined glint shown in his eye.

The Third Raikage immediately moved forwards with his top speed. He was currently using the move known as Lightning Straight!

He moved at his top speed and aimed to punch Sakumo's face.

The speed was so quick that most shinobis wouldn't even have the time to blink before being struck. But, Sakumo was not 'most' shinobi. His body bent towards the left direction as he dodged the Third Raikage's punch.

And before the Third Raikage could even attack him using his kick or punch, Sakumo raised his Chakra Sabre and struck the Third Raikage's Arm which had been stretched forward to punch him.

The Third Raikage wanted to let out a cold tch. This sort of attack was too weak. He believed that the White Fang was overestimating himself by fighting against him in close range.

However, soon enough, he noticed small sparks as Sakumo's Chakra Sabre hit the Lightning Armour on his arm. Most attacks weren't even able to pierce the Third Raikage's Lightning Armour, so he was naturally surprised when he felt Sakumo��s Chakra Sabre piercing it with such ease.

The Third Raikage tried to use the back of his other arm to hit Sakumo's head. Still, Sakumo seemed to have expected it once again and ducked just at the right time before hitting the Third Raikage's stomach with a bolt of lightning coating Kunai.

This Kunai pierced the Lightning Armour of the Third Raikage and managed to touch his skin. But upon touching, Sakumo was surprised that his strength was insufficient to pierce any deeper.

"Hmph… In all these years, not a single attack has managed to pierce my invincible body! You think your attacks are going to be any different, White Fang?!" The Third Raikage sneered while looking at Sakumo.

Sakumo remained calm even after hearing the Third Raikage's words, "I thought it would be better for me to first verify the rumours before planning ahead. It seems that the rumours about your body were no exaggeration."

"Trying to fight me in a close battle was a bad idea for a shinobi of your calibre!" With that, the Third Raikage's speed seemed to have gotten twice faster as he grabbed hold of Sakumo's body.

"I am aware of that. That is why…" Suddenly, the Sakumo in the Third Raikage's arm puffed out with a burst of smoke.

The Third Raikage's eyes widened with surprise. He let out a chuckle and thought 'He truly does deserve the reputation of being even above the Sannins. I didn't even know when he substituted himself with a clone.'

Observing his surroundings very carefully, the Third Raikage soon found where Sakumo's location. He was behind a tree at this moment…

The Raikage rushed at Sakumo's position. He didn't try to change his route and planned to destroy all obstructions in his way.

The Tree in his way was naturally split into two pieces, and he continued to rush at Sakumo.

Meanwhile, Sakumo was well aware that the Tree would do little to obstruct the Third Raikage's charge. He had already jumped back while going through some hand seals.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!"

He breathed fire out of his mouth, and the flames were manipulated into the shape of a dragon and divided into three parts to strike the Third Raikage from left, right, and front. Because of the power of the technique and the amount of skill required to control it, only a few shinobi were capable of using this technique.

The Third Raikage wasn't surprised that Sakumo could use such a technique. It was natural for a shinobi of his calibre with this control.

He didn't even raise his guard and let the three parts of this Fire Dragon strike his strong body.

Perhaps Sakumo was surprised, but he didn't show it.

He landed on the stem of the tree before backing away, meaning that he was going towards the top of the tree while facing the ground.

The Third Raikage appeared and punched the tree, smashing it into two parts as well.

However, just as the tree was falling towards the ground, Sakumo jumped from the tree, he brought down his Chakra Sabre, planning to thrust it down at the Third Raikage.

The Third Raikage saw Sakumo coming at him and smirked. This was good for himself… Saved him the trouble of going after him.

The Third Raikage raised one arm to protect his head while clenching his other hand.

The Third Raikage noticed that the target of Sakumo seemed to be his head. He was quite satisfied with protecting his head with his arm. But he still kept on observing Sakumo's sword.

For some reason, he felt as if it glowed with a faint bluish light. The Third Raikage guessed that it was probably the Lightning Chakra. Although Sakumo was using Lightning Chakra, the Third Raikage wasn't that worried about it.

However, moments before being struck, the Third Raikage's eyes widened for some moments as he thought of something.

He immediately moved out of the way and dodged Sakumo's strike.

His dodge was at the very last second so Sakumo couldn't even stop his momentum. As he hit the ground with his sword, the sword tore apart a whole chunk of land and split it into two.

The Third Raikage was a little far away from Sakumo, and he commented with a serious look, "That was… Lightning Chakra along with Wind Chakra… You somehow managed to use these elements at the same time?!"

This was naturally a surprising thing. One reason was that there were very few people with Wind Affinity. So, mastering the Wind Affinity was considered the most challenging…

Another reason was that Wind and Lightning would generally not mix well. It was next to impossible to use these two elements together because the Wind would generally scatter the charged particles in the air…

Meanwhile, Sakumo's shoulders dropped as he realised he had missed this attack. For this attack to take place, he had to go on higher ground and jump from that location.

Take control of the wind in the air and make it sharper as he went down…He was very careful in channelling his Lightning Chakra in his Chakra Sabre and not let it leak out at all.

This was a technique he had created after 5 years of effort. The name was "Sky Drop."

Yet, to see this technique miss. He was well aware that his shoulders and upper body had received a great strain as his Chakra Sabre hit the ground.

Although it didn't seem apparent, Sakumo couldn't move from his spot at the moment.

He turned his head towards the Third Raikage and said, "You are the first to have survived this move, Third Raikage."

"I dare not accept this praise. I have a feeling that even if you hadn't been able to cut apart my arm, you would have pierced half of my arm bone. However, it seems that you can't move after using this attack. This will be your end, White Fang!" The Third Raikage said with a cold sweat behind his head. That was truly a close call. If not for the Third Raikage'sa sharpened instincts. He would have really paid for his arrogance. The last time he had felt such danger from someone was when he fought against Uzumaki Hishin.

"Raikage-dono, aren't you being a little too hasty in deciding the fate of the Konoha's White Fang?" An elderly yet powerful voice was heard. This was none other than the man known as the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen!