Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: [TBD]
Chapter Title: Devastation at Cloud Lightning Gorge
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Cloud Lightning Gorge, the dedicated training ground for jinchuriki, could no longer be called a "gorge."
The double explosion of the Tailed Beast Ball and Small Spiral Round Pill produced a synergistic effect far beyond simple addition.
Several peaks within a few kilometers around Cloud Lightning Gorge had been leveled flat. A massive crater, thousands of meters in diameter and over a hundred meters deep, yawned prominently at the gorge's center.
The river, severed at the waist, surged inward while carrying shattered rocks.
Inside the pit, the exposed rock layers had vitrified into crystalline glass under the intense heat.
The mutilated body of the Eight-Tails Gyuki arduously rose from the rubble. The crystalline soil chunks around it cracked and collapsed.
"Cough... Big bro~ you ain't gone and died on me~?" A mouthful of blood sprayed from Killer B's mouth, but he still couldn't resist rapping it out.
The tail-beast-transformed Killer B had shielded Fourth Raikage A with his body, but his own back had been torn to a bloody pulp by the explosion's horrific power, exposing bone.
"Bi!"
Fourth Raikage A hurriedly supported Killer B, who had lost his tail-beast form.
If not for the tail-beast-transformed Killer B protecting him just now, the one lying gravely wounded would probably be Fourth Raikage A himself!
Raikage A hoisted the gravely injured Killer B onto his back and sped toward Hidden Cloud Village.
The earlier explosion still flashed through his mind, filling him with lingering dread.
The village...
When Raikage A reached the outskirts of Hidden Cloud Village and stood atop a peak, he saw that the village center had been erased as if scrubbed away by an eraser. The Raikage Building had vanished completely.
Several peaks, including the Raikage Building, had been blasted clean in half.
Cloud ninja casualties were catastrophic. Thick smoke billowed everywhere throughout the village as medical ninja darted through it, desperately tending to the wounded.
The incessant wails pierced the choking haze, filling Fourth Raikage with deep self-reproach.
"Raikage-sama!" Two figures landed beside Raikage A.
He looked closely. It was Yugito Nii and Tsuchi.
"Killer B!" Yugito's pupils trembled slightly upon seeing Killer B's grievous wounds.
As a fellow jinchuriki, she knew Killer B's strength all too well.
Without the Nine-Tails jinchuriki making a move, Killer B—as the strongest jinchuriki of the current era—had been beaten into this state by the enemy!
"Bi... to protect me..." Raikage A's fists clenched tight.
He had once forbidden Killer B from leaving the village, fearing that his brother might suffer the same fate as their father, the Third Raikage, in an ambush.
But today, after the mysterious enemy attacked the village gates, it was this very brother who had shielded him from that terrifying blast!
"What happened with the explosion in the village? Where are those two enemies?"
After handing the gravely injured Killer B over to the arriving medical ninja, Raikage A questioned Tsuchi.
The elite jonin, deeply trusted by the Third Raikage, replied with a heavy expression, "By the time I arrived, the battle was already over."
"Darui and the others!" Raikage A roared hoarsely.
"Darui, Shi, and Samui only sustained light injuries, but Mabui was too close to the explosion's center and couldn't evacuate in time. She's still being treated..." Tsuchi's single eye reflected the ruins at the village center.
"Among the other ninja who fought, two jonin are confirmed dead, two jonin and three special jonin are critically wounded, seven chunin are confirmed dead, and sixteen chunin had their chakra drained dry—their survival is uncertain."
"In addition, this explosion obliterated the heart of Hidden Cloud Village. Casualties are estimated at no fewer than two hundred."
Hidden Cloud Village was built atop a mountain range, unlike Konoha on its plains, so the explosion's power and shockwave had been greatly mitigated by the peaks. Moreover, as a ninja military stronghold, nearly all its "villagers" were chakra-wielding ninja, and they were included in the losses.