Chapter 1004

The Raikage's headless corpse fell to the ground. Su Xiao glanced at it and ignored it further. He walked to the Raikage's head and picked it up from the ground.

The Raikage's hair stood straight up, and there was no unwillingness on his face. He had been defeated today; it wasn't due to schemes or tricks, nor was he ambushed. He had been decapitated by Su Xiao fair and square. It was a case of his skills being inferior to others, so there was nothing to be unwilling about.

Su Xiao carried the Raikage's head and looked toward Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who was at a high vantage point.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang leaped down from the height. Not long after, a roaring sound came from the passage leading from the first floor to the second floor; it was Amu retreating.

At this moment, Amu was covered in blood and had several poisonous senbon stuck in his body. The so-called senbon were a type of metal needle about twenty centimeters long.

Behind Amu, a male and a female ninja were in pursuit. There were several mechanical puppets near the two ninjas, and the female ninja among them held a metal folding fan half the height of a person.

Behind the two of them was a young ninja with red hair, carrying a large yellowish-brown gourd on his back.

It was the Kazekage Gaara and his two guards, Kankuro and Temari, who had arrived.

In fact, Gaara had come to support long ago, but they had been held up by Amu and couldn't support the Raikage in time.

The three of them rushed down the stone stairs. After witnessing the scene before them, the female ninja Temari's pupils constricted, and a scene from the past flashed through her mind.

A man had grabbed her by the back of the neck, forcing her to call for help from Gaara, who was in the middle of a battle. It was precisely because she had been captured that Gaara had taken the enemy's attack head-on to save her, was injured by the enemy taking advantage of the situation, and was eventually abducted.

"Akatsuki member... Bai Ye."

Temari said these words through gritted teeth.

"That is..."

Kankuro, standing to the side, noticed the head in Su Xiao's hand. His breathing was somewhat heavy; it was the Raikage's head.

"Too late."

Fine sand drifted out from the gourd formed of sand on Gaara's back. The Raikage's death was an unchangeable fact; now, it was more important to keep Su Xiao here.

"Kankuro, Temari, you go deal with that summoning beast."

Gaara had mistaken Amu for a summoning beast.

"Lord Kazekage, that thief..."

Although Kankuro was Gaara's brother, in front of outsiders, he would address Gaara as Lord Kazekage.

"I will deal with him."

"Yes."

Kankuro and Temari moved toward Amu. Just at this moment, Obito, who had been watching the battle, leaped down from high above.

"Reinforcements, huh?"

Kankuro's eyes narrowed.

"Bai Ye, this is an opportunity."

Obito's meaning was clear: let Su Xiao kill Gaara. The combat power Su Xiao had displayed no longer just surprised Obito—it delighted him. Killing the Raikage head-on was not something an ordinary person could do. Moreover, in Obito's view, Akatsuki members were all pawns—pawns to help him complete his plan.

"It is indeed an opportunity. I have high hopes for you."

Su Xiao turned his head to look at Obito. Upon hearing this, the expression under Obito's mask darkened.

"What I meant was..."

"Do you think I have infinite stamina?"

"..."

Obito didn't speak. He was desperate to kill a few more Kage; if that happened, the ninja villages would elect new Kage, giving him time to build up his combat strength.

Su Xiao had just fought the Raikage. Not to mention the consumption of stamina and mana, his lower leg, which had been kicked hard by the Raikage, was still stinging and felt numb from time to time, though fortunately, the bone wasn't broken.

If it weren't for Su Xiao's ability to withstand blows, which was comparable to a Tier 3 main tank, an ordinary close-combat contractor would have definitely suffered broken bones if they had taken that kick from the Raikage head-on. The Raikage's kick was simply too fast—so fast that Su Xiao didn't have time to activate his Counter-Attack Shield. Su Xiao had almost instinctively bent his left leg to block the Raikage's kick.

The long blade in Su Xiao's hand was sheathed, clearly indicating he wasn't prepared to continue fighting. Obito also understood Su Xiao's intention.

"Uchiha Sasuke has already gone to find the other Kage. Does it really not matter?"

There was a hint of a smile in Obito's tone; betraying Sasuke to the enemy put no pressure on him at all.

"Hmm?"

Gaara, who was just about to make a move, hesitated. He wasn't sure if this statement was true or false. Kankuro leaned in and said something to Gaara.

"Amaterasu flames, Uchiha Itachi's ocular technique."

Gaara looked at the corpses of the samurai around them. There were black flames burning on them; these were left behind by Sasuke.

When Su Xiao was fighting the Raikage, Obito hadn't just been watching the show. He had used taijutsu and Fire Release to deal with the samurai on the first floor. These two abilities wouldn't expose his identity, after all, Uchiha Madara's taijutsu and Fire Release were both very strong.

"Retreat."

Gaara retreated without hesitation. Because of his unfortunate childhood and his experience as a Jinchuriki, Gaara, now the Kazekage, would not be swayed by personal hatred.

The three of them retreated without hesitation toward the top floor of the tower. Obito chuckled a few times.

"I'll go to Sasuke first. It's too early for him to face four Kage with his current strength."

The tomoe in Obito's Sharingan rotated, and a spatial vortex appeared.

"Don't forget to have White Zetsu use Spore Technique to lock onto that woman, Mei Terumi, and 'gift' this thing to Danzo."

Su Xiao tossed the Raikage's head in his hand to Obito. Obito immediately guessed the meaning behind it.

"Of course, no problem."

Obito vanished. He would definitely deliver the Raikage's head to Danzo, and he would do it in front of the other Kage.

This wasn't a threat, but an inducement. In the Naruto world, some powerful illusion-type ninjas could use chakra to invade an enemy's brain, thereby obtaining information from the enemy's memories.

Of course, this only worked on the living. To obtain the memories of the dead, one needed to satisfy several points: possessing the opponent's complete brain, professional technological ninja equipment, and several powerful illusion-type ninjas.

There was no doubt that Konoha definitely possessed professional technological ninja equipment and powerful illusion-type ninjas. If Konoha obtained the Raikage's complete brain, the consequences would be unimaginable.

As the Raikage of the Hidden Cloud Village, Raikage A knew all the secrets of the Hidden Cloud Village: talent, resources, secret intelligence, relationships between ninja clans, detailed data on a large number of ninjas, the Hidden Cloud Village's external defense measures...

Raikage A knew too much—so much that it was almost impossible for Danzo to refuse this head. If Konoha completely obtained Raikage A's memories, they would have a 70% or higher chance of destroying the Hidden Cloud Village.

Note that this meant destroying the village, not just defeating the Hidden Cloud Village. At that time, a situation might very well arise where Konoha occupied the Land of Lightning, thereby obtaining the support of two major nations; this was almost an unprecedented event.

Those Hokage who were powerful but not politically astute might not be able to do this, but Danzo was not necessarily the same. If given the right opportunity, it was not impossible.

Do ninja villages fight each other because of hatred? Don't joke. Looking at the history of the ninja world, which ninja war wasn't fought to seize resources? Hatred is just a fig leaf.

The reason Su Xiao did this was because of his main quest. His main quest was to incite a ninja world war. As for the outcome of the war, it had nothing to do with him; as long as the war started, that was enough. Therefore, he had to use his status as an Akatsuki member to do things that would shock the Five Great Ninja Villages, so that they would unite as soon as possible and start a war against Obito's side.

Obito's goal was the Eye of the Moon Plan, to let everyone live in an illusion. Su Xiao's goal was to incite a ninja world war. If one were to evaluate whose plan was crazier, it was certainly Su Xiao's.

Obito's plan was grand, but he had to perfect it step by step, which was very brain-consuming. Su Xiao was different; he only needed to incite a war between the two sides. Who won or lost had nothing to do with him.

If Obito learned of Su Xiao's thoughts, he would be the first to kill Su Xiao, because Su Xiao wouldn't care at all whether he had built up enough troops to fight the Five Great Ninja Villages.

Su Xiao was disguised very well. Previously, when Obito wanted to declare war on the Five Kage, he had "kindly" reminded him that starting a war now was "too early."

Only Su Xiao, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, and Amu remained on the first floor. Su Xiao was thinking about one thing: the Five Kage Summit was such an important event, where had all the other contractors gone? One had to know that besides Su Xiao, there were 157 other contractors in the Naruto world.

PS: (There will be another chapter in a while)