Chapter 153

Drip, drip, drip!

Raindrops began to fall from the sky, one by one, splattering onto the earth below.

Boom!

Thunder echoed across the heavens, flashing intermittently to paint the world in harsh shades of black and white. 

Hui looked down upon the Second Raikage and his men. They were still standing there defiantly, no trace of worry on their faces. 

Their confidence told him everything as Onoki had once again kept the details of their battle a secret. He hadn't told them what had happened that day.

This time, Hui thought, they wouldn't be escaping.

"Your fire style techniques are useless, Hui. It seems you've run out of tricks," the Second Raikage sneered, standing alongside the Third Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki within the protective cloak of chakra around them. 

They'd evaded Hui's fire style, or so they thought.

"Oh really? It seems your alliance of the four great villages isn't as sincere as I thought!" Hui's expression remained calm as he spoke, neither denying nor directly answering.

The Raikage frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

He used the moment to recover his strength, preparing to launch one final attack against Hui.

"Onoki would have told you what happened back then, if your alliance were truly unified. But since he didn't, I guess I'll be the one to show you," Hui said. He knew the Second Raikage was stalling to regain his energy, but Hui didn't mind. 

After all, his recovery rate far outstripped that of the Raikage and his companions.

Hui's words darkened their mood, planting seeds of doubt in their minds. Although they didn't understand his cryptic warning, an unexplainable sense of dread began to fill their hearts.

"No matter," Hui continued, undeterred. "Since he kept it from you, I'll teach you myself."

BOOM!

The sky rumbled as clouds darkened, rain pouring down in sheets and drenching everyone on the battlefield. 

The storm overhead mirrored the unease festering in the Raikages' hearts. The Second Raikage exchanged a glance with the others, signaling that the time to attack was now.

"Are we starting?" Hui remarked as he watched them prepare. "Impressive recovery speed there. That Lightning Chakra Mode is quite fascinating it seems, I'd love to study it sometime."

His comment did nothing to reassure them. Hui clearly knew they were stalling to recover, yet had allowed them to proceed unimpeded. 

This was a display of confidence that left the Raikage and his men more unsettled than ever.

"Enough with the nonsense." Hui's eyes gleamed with anticipation. "Now, let me show you a technique I've seldom had to use… No, a new technique entirely—one I think you'll find very… enlightening."

With a swift movement, Hui raised himself atop a massive stone pillar that thrust up from the battlefield, towering over the Raikage and his team.

BOOM!

The sky erupted with blinding flashes of lightning, illuminating Hui's face against the storm clouds as he looked down on them, expressionless. Like a god surveying mere mortals, he stood above them, distant and unfeeling.

"You Raikage may think you're the masters of lightning. But today, I'll shatter that illusion and show you what true lightning is."

Hui's voice rang out, amplified by Senjutsu. His words carried far and wide, reaching the ears of every shinobi from both villages. 

Eyes from all sides turned towards the figure at the top of the pillar, holding their breath as the tension in the air grew electric.

"Attack!" shouted the Second Raikage, launching himself at Hui with desperate speed. He didn't dare hesitate—whatever Hui was planning, it couldn't be allowed to unfold.

The Third Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki followed suit, their bodies flying through the air like missiles.

Hui calmly raised his hand. From his palm, a pale blue lightning sparked to life, crackling with raw energy.

Zzzzzzt!

At that moment, the dark sky crackled with violent flashes, mirroring the lightning surging through his hand. Hui's gaze fixed on the Raikage below.

"Divine Judgment," he declared.

With a flick of his wrist, lightning erupted from his hand, cascading down from the sky in blinding arcs.

The scene that followed was beyond comprehension. 

The entire sky blazed white as lightning poured down, streak after streak merging into a single colossal blade of light. The ground itself trembled as the Raikage looked up in sheer terror.

In that instant, they felt death's cold hand upon them. Every hair on their bodies stood on end as their eyes widened in horror.

Above them, Hui stood, wielding the lightning like a divine blade, his silhouette bathed in the glare as if he were the god of thunder himself, executing judgment upon them all.

The speed of the strike was indescribable—one moment, the sword of light hung in the sky, and the next, it was plunging into the earth, engulfing the Second Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki in a storm of electric fury.

Only the Third Raikage escaped, shoved away at the last moment by the Second Raikage's desperate push. 

Dazed, he staggered back, staring at the blinding light, desperate to catch a glimpse of his comrades within.

Yet despite the tears filling his eyes, he could see nothing through the intense light.

For what felt like eternity, the giant blade of lightning remained embedded in the earth, its luminous form visible to every shinobi on the battlefield. 

Both Konoha and Kumogakure shinobi stood spellbound, paralyzed by awe and fear alike.

At last, the lightning dissipated, the blade vanishing from sight. 

The storm clouds thinned and dispersed as if their power had been utterly spent, and the pouring rain dwindled to a mere drizzle.

The battlefield fell silent.

From atop his pillar, Hui gazed down impassively at the scene below. Where the lightning sword had struck, a vast crater now scarred the earth, the stone and soil obliterated, reduced to ash.

And with it, both the Second Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki were no more, annihilated in the searing light, leaving no trace behind.

In one strike, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki was gone.

In one strike, the Second Raikage was dead.

As the clouds finally parted, a single ray of sunlight broke through, illuminating Hui as he stood upon the pillar.

"This technique," he announced, his voice breaking the silence, "is called Divine Judgment. I wield the lightning as a sword, to deliver heaven's justice."

Clang!

Somewhere, a Kumogakure shinobi's weapon fell from his grasp, clattering against the stone in a delicate echo. 

The sound spread, growing as other weapons slipped from the hands of defeated shinobi, ringing out in a cascading chorus of surrender.

Many others, stripped of their strength, sank to their knees. Their gazes fixed on Hui, no longer a shinobi, but a figure shrouded in light, embodying the wrath of the heavens.

Even the Third Raikage was speechless, staring in hollow shock at the empty crater.

Konoha's shinobi, too, were struck silent, momentarily forgetting their joy. Their eyes fixed on Hui, their admiration bordering on worship, as if gazing upon a god descended to earth.

In the twenty-sixth year of the Leaf, Hui used lightning as his sword and brought down divine judgment, slaying both the Second Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki upon the slopes of the Land of Moon's Moonfall Mountain.

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