NRaO Chapter 69

Third-Person Point of View

The Raikage ran for his life, his arm injured from a sneak attack as almost ten thousand shinobi all attacked him in waves after he was injured. The Raikage knew he could kill thousands but with so many around he’d pass out far before he finished killing all of them and then he’d be easily slain. That was why he kept trying to flee the battlefield, the only problem was the massive amount of shinobi were positioned all around him making it hard for him not to run headfirst into more traps.

He steps down breaking a branch which sets off yet another set of kunai launchers with explosive tags attached to them. Tossing the corpse of one of the shinobi he killed into the path, he dived through the hold the corpse made as the bombs blew up where he was just standing. In the process of sliding through the muddy water, he tripped another vine which tried to drop a tree log onto him. It wouldn’t have killed him with his tough body but it might have bruised his back, at the rate he was being injured every injury he gained was another one putting him closer to death.

The Raikage dodged backward back towards the trap he just set off as he launched another lightning jutsu at the shinobi who had almost caught up to him. He felt like a mouse caught in a trap that was designed to slowly whittle him down before the real threat would strike. As he did so, he was met with another wave of tracking kunai. Whoever made these new traps doomed him to die a dog's death.

Two pierce into him as he manages to evade the two dozen other ones as he keeps moving forward tripping yet another trap. He couldn’t help but yell out. “Mother fuc-.!” Before another explosion goes off injuring him further. His strong muscles and lightning cloak were the only reasons he was still alive. It was a rough day for the Raikage.

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I stood atop a hill overlooking the battlefield as I looked down at the almost-defeated Raikage. It was still surprising, with everything we did, bringing two armies and littering the battlefield with traps he still managed to kill two thousand shinobi. He was breathing heavily, missing an arm with blood caked over an eye as his remaining arm cradled his broken ribs. It was finally time for me to make my move.

Most of the corpses near him were ripped in half. The Raikage’s one-finger spear burst them apart like they were wet paper towels. It meant there wasn’t much material to work with. It would be trivially easy to kill him now, a strong breeze could knock him over, but I needed him alive to gain the full effect of consuming him. I had shortened the time required to absorb bodies to only three months and I needed his chakra techniques to pose as his hidden son in the future.

Consuming a person alive gave the most benefits and strengthened him beforehand at the cost of shortening his life was another way to get as much power out of him as I possibly could. Stealthily laid chakra strings ripped from the ground attaching themselves to corpses as the puppets made their way in an all-out attack to tranquilize or fully disarm(cut off his remaining arm) the Raikage.

He was completely surrounded and had to destroy the corpses he hadn’t already otherwise they could still function as puppets for me to use. Even still, after everything the man was through he ripped through my enhanced chakra puppets and the bodies they controlled like they weren’t even there. Just as he was about to finish off the last puppet, the real trap was finally sprung.

He ran himself out of chakra, which meant he couldn’t avoid the hundreds of thousands of tranquilizing needles that were launched at him so thick it could almost block out the sun as they rained down on him. Each needle doubled then tripled as they grew closer he tried to block the needle rain with corpses but signs of fatigue were finally showing on his weary body. The Raikage went down like a champion as none of his skin wasn’t pierced by a needle.

Blinded from needles and with enough sedatives in him to put down an elephant, I still cut off his remaining arm so there was no chance his ultimate spear technique would ever be used again. I prepared his body filling him with enough enhancement elixirs that if I didn’t consume him, he’d die in a few days. His body pulsing as it visibly aged, his hair turning from grey to white as it started to fall out in clumps. I consumed him.

Every other person I consumed up until this point was small compared to the Raikage. He was the largest meal and although I decreased the time it took to absorb a person that wasn’t when they were the size of a small mountain. My body rocked from the intense pressure consuming such a strong person put it through. My skin strengthened as my lightning affinity improved tremendously. My chakra became easier to control with the sturdier body as my muscles bulk up slightly from the consumption. 

I was about ten percent stronger naturally, which was kind of insane. I was known for my taijutsu specialization so for it to go up that much all at once was a clear sign of the Raikage’s natural strength. Taking on the form of a younger Raikage, someone who could pass as his son would be much easier. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I prepared his ‘body’ to be returned to the hidden Cloud village.

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A’s Point of View

I couldn’t believe the state they brought my father's body in. The word body was a drastic overstatement for what was left of him. Both his arms along with scraps of his clothing were what was sent back to us. I couldn’t believe he was dead but from what it took to kill him I was still proud. This was a clear sign from our enemies that we needed to be careful, but I only viewed it as the devotion of the previous Raikage to the village.

Any intimidation tactic they thought they’d apply to the village by showing that only his arms remained lost all its threat as the village was now rabid for revenge. It would take me settling into my new position as the next Raikage to calm them down and there would be retaliation for the cowardly sneak attack they used against us. I sat in my father's seat as it didn’t feel real. I still thought I had years, possibly decades before I was sitting here. My father hadn’t taught me everything he knew yet and I knew that the future of the Cloud village was now in the most precarious state it had ever been in.

We needed to stabilize, I needed to survive if I was killed now then the previous structure that was set up would fall apart with the loyalty to the village being put to the wayside as ninjas began to fight over the leadership. I read through the documents as I saw one sealed using our signature chakra and written in my father’s secret code. It meant only my father could have possibly written this message. My eyes kept rising as I read more, I couldn’t help but feel my heart beat faster, if this was true then some of my burden could be taken from me. If the message was real, I had a hidden brother in the village left in case both me and my father were killed at the same time.