Chapter 418 — The One Who Commands Time and Space (Part 1)
The Fourth Raikage silently observed the three figures dressed in black before him.
Now that they had split up, he made no immediate move.
He had heard their conversation clearly.
Their codenames were marked by colors.
The one standing before him was called Black.
Black.
What that color truly signified, he didn't know—but he had already begun to suspect something.
During that brief exchange earlier, he had clearly seen a flash of crimson in the man's eyes.
The moment had passed too quickly for him to make out the exact pattern.
But one thing was certain—
It had not been the normal three-tomoe Sharingan.
The pattern looked similar to the strange eyes of Uchiha Fugaku.
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
The Fourth Raikage was almost certain now.
The man before him possessed the same kind of eyes as Fugaku—eyes far more powerful than ordinary Sharingan.
And he had noticed another important difference.
Uchiha Fugaku had almost no taijutsu capability.
At least, in the Raikage's experience, Fugaku could track his movements but avoided direct physical confrontation.
But this man was completely different.
His abilities seemed fundamentally unlike Fugaku's.
He could fight the Raikage head-on, engaging in direct physical combat.
And more terrifying still—
His speed appeared even faster than the Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
That was something the Raikage had never encountered before.
He couldn't understand how anyone could confront him so casually while he was in that state.
---
Kei, meanwhile, paid no attention to what the Raikage was thinking.
He casually pulled out a ninja sword.
His weapon Kiryoku remained sealed inside a scroll.
There was no way he would bring it out here.
Who knew if someone in Kumogakure had information about it?
Techniques could resemble each other.
But using the exact same weapon would practically reveal his identity.
Kei had no intention of making such a rookie mistake.
So before leaving Konoha, he had deliberately brought an ordinary blade instead.
Tilting his head slightly, he spoke casually.
"Let's have a little fun until my teammates find the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki."
"I heard you fought Uchiha Fugaku."
"Impressive—you actually survived him."
"Though he's restricted in certain ways. His abilities have obvious flaws. If you fought him, you should've noticed."
"Extremely powerful ninjutsu," the Fourth Raikage said in a low voice as he crouched slightly.
Lightning crackled around his remaining arm.
"But his taijutsu…"
He stared coldly at Kei.
"And you?"
"Strong in taijutsu, but weak in ninjutsu?"
"Gathering intelligence?" Kei chuckled.
His hoarse voice sounded unpleasantly sharp.
"Well, I don't mind telling you."
"Those who truly master eyes like ours don't distinguish between ninjutsu and taijutsu."
"He simply hasn't reached that level yet."
"Really?" The Raikage was already fully prepared to fight.
"Then why tell me this?"
Kei's tone turned openly contemptuous.
"Do you think an adult would care about the doubts of a child?"
The moment his words fell, the Fourth Raikage appeared in front of him like a bolt of lightning.
"Lightning Release: Lariat!"
With a furious roar, the Raikage raised his left arm, aiming to ram his entire body straight into Uchiha Kei.
But Kei simply tilted his head slightly.
At the same time, his ninja sword flashed out of its sheath.
Azure chakra burst along the blade, and with a fierce gust of wind the sword slashed straight toward the Raikage's chest.
In an instant—
The Raikage vanished from in front of Kei.
A terrifying surge of chakra erupted behind him.
That speed… really is terrifying, Kei sighed inwardly.
To be honest, even he couldn't keep up with that level of speed.
No wonder the man could still move at the level of a normal shinobi even after being affected by Time Reversal.
This was purely the result of his overwhelming physical power.
Still, Kei only felt mild admiration.
After all, without space–time ninjutsu or Ōtsutsuki bloodline abilities, reaching this level of speed already proved how powerful the Fourth Raikage truly was.
If he hadn't run into a group of outright cheats, the Raikage might really have been the strongest.
Unfortunately for him…
Uchiha Kei was, in a strict sense, a descendant of the Ōtsutsuki bloodline.
And when Kei used his dōjutsu, even Imai Kenta, who possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique, had been completely overwhelmed.
Granted, Kenta had only just mastered it at the time.
And he had never fought the Second or Fourth Hokage before.
But Kei possessed something even more terrifying.
Chrono Freeze.
This was his ultimate trump card.
And beyond that—
There was also Blade of Time, a hybrid technique he had developed himself and executed through Susanoo.
"Well… it's not like I'm lacking ocular power right now," Kei murmured to himself.
"Besides, I still need to distinguish between 'me' and 'Uchiha Kei'."
With a soft sigh, the Mangekyō in his eyes slowly began to rotate.
In the next instant—
The Raikage's speed abruptly slowed.
The lightning-like hand strike that had been screaming through the air suddenly lost its terrifying velocity.
Even with his back turned, Kei could easily avoid it.
He lowered his body slightly.
The deadly lightning-coated arm swept past just above his head.
Immediately afterward, the Raikage shifted his attack, turning the hand strike into a fist and driving his entire elbow downward toward Kei's skull.
Kei stepped forward calmly.
Then he turned—
Just as the Raikage's elbow smashed into the ground.
Kei thrust his sword toward the Raikage's chest.
The chakra-coated blade stabbed forward, glowing with blue energy.
It pierced the Raikage's chest.
But Kei frowned.
The blade had only sunk in slightly before it stopped.
The Raikage's Lightning Release chakra armor, combined with his dense muscles, had clamped down on the sword and completely halted it.
The Raikage quickly reacted.
He grabbed the blade with one hand and twisted hard.
Clang!
With a sharp metallic sound, the sword Kei had casually borrowed from Uchiha Fugaku snapped instantly.
The broken blade shattered into fragments.
Because of Kei's Time Reversal, even those falling fragments drifted slowly through the air.
But in the same instant the fragments began to fall—
The Raikage moved.
He followed up immediately with a punch aimed straight at Kei's chest, leaving no room to breathe.
Kei shook his head slowly.
What a top-tier punching bag.
No wonder the Raikage had managed to fight Stage Three Susanoo for so long.
Even though he had been beaten badly enough to require two months of recovery, it still showed just how monstrous his physique was.
Unfortunately for him—
This time he was facing Uchiha Kei, not Uchiha Fugaku or anyone else.
Uchiha Kei…
was someone who commanded time itself.
---
Meanwhile, heading toward the Kumogakure camp, Ayaka glanced back.
"It's strange," she said softly.
"There hasn't been any large-scale disturbance from their fight."
It was far too quiet.
The silence completely exceeded her expectations.
She had seen Kei fight before.
But against someone like the Fourth Raikage, shouldn't there be massive explosions and devastating shockwaves?
She had read reports about the battle between the Raikage and Fugaku.
When she arrived at the front lines earlier, she had even used her Byakugan to observe the battlefield.
The border had been turned into a massive ravine.
It was easy to imagine how brutal that fight must have been.
But now?
Since they set out, there had been no massive ninjutsu explosions.
Not even large-scale chakra surges.
Everything felt calm—as if nothing had happened.
It was completely baffling.
"There's nothing strange about it," Imai Kenta shrugged.
"Seems like you don't know your boyfriend very well."
A cold aura immediately surrounded him.
Kenta raised both hands.
"Okay, okay—listen."
"There was this time you had a fight with him. I don't know why. Anyway, I had just learned some new abilities and dragged him out to test them."
"Flying Thunder God and Wood Release?" Ayaka recalled faintly.
"I remember hearing you two mention that while I was getting injected with that serum."
"And you lost."
"Yeah," Kenta sighed helplessly.
"Your boyfriend's ridiculous."
"Even using Flying Thunder God and Wood Release, I still got beaten."
"His speed is way beyond what you imagine."
"Is that so?" Ayaka frowned slightly.
"Thanks for the information. Next time, tell me sooner."
"Also… even though I appreciate the intel, I still want to rip your mouth off."
Kenta ignored her threat entirely.
Rip my mouth off?
Isn't that basically admitting it?
Still, he didn't bother arguing.
Instead, he looked ahead.
They had already been discovered.
But that didn't matter.
Kei had sent them here specifically to locate the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki.
Once they found him and lured him out, that would be enough.
As for Kei fighting the Raikage—
There was basically no suspense.
The Raikage was fast.
But could he be faster than Flying Thunder God?
Back in the day, the Fourth Hokage had used Flying Thunder God to handle both the Raikage and Killer B at the same time.
And Kenta possessed the same technique.
Maybe not at Minato's level.
But still extremely powerful.
Even his Flying Thunder God couldn't keep up with Kei's speed.
So how exactly did the Raikage think his Lightning Armor taijutsu could defeat Kei?
"We've been spotted," Kenta said calmly as he drew his sword.
"Stay behind me. Don't get hurt."
"I don't want your boyfriend coming after me."
"Honestly," Ayaka replied coldly, activating her Byakugan,
"the world would be a better place if you didn't have a mouth."
She deliberately stayed several steps behind him.
"They've gathered a squad. Around thirty or forty people."
"Good," Kenta said, continuing forward.
"This will be over soon."
By the time they reached the Kumogakure camp entrance, a large group of Cloud shinobi had already gathered.
The ninja stared at them suspiciously.
But they were confused.
Who were these two?
And where was the Raikage?
These two had come from the direction where the Raikage usually trained.
Suddenly—
A massive explosion erupted from the forest behind them.
Smoke spiraled high into the sky.
Kenta tilted his head.
He suddenly felt like he had slapped himself in the face.
Wasn't Kei supposed to handle the Raikage purely with speed?
Why the sudden massive explosion?
Did he get carried away?
Kenta sighed and looked back at the Cloud shinobi.
Then he shrugged.
"Whatever."
"Let's clear these guys first."
He raised one hand to form seals.
"Perfect chance to test Flying Thunder God in real combat."
"Even if my identity gets exposed… I can just throw kunai without the mask next time."
"Attack them! Hurry and reinforce the Raikage!" one Cloud jonin shouted.
But in the next second—
He felt a chill across his neck.
The masked man who had been fifty meters away had vanished.
The jonin tried to speak.
But blood poured from his mouth.
No sound came out.
His strength was fading rapidly.
What… what kind of speed is this…?
"Damn it! Kill him!"
The jonin had died instantly.
No one even saw what happened.
But the Cloud shinobi understood one thing immediately—
These masked figures were trouble.
And their Raikage seemed to have encountered trouble as well.
The Cloud ninja rushed forward with their weapons.
Kenta didn't even bother taking them seriously.
He flicked the blood from his blade.
His hand formed a seal.
Chakra exploded from his body.
In the next instant—
He vanished.
And screams erupted throughout the Cloud camp.
The cries came almost simultaneously.
Those who couldn't react could only swallow nervously.
Within seconds—
The entrance of the Kumogakure camp was filled with blood and corpses.
And standing atop the bodies—
Was a lone masked figure holding a sword.
Cold.
Silent.
Unmoving.
---