Chapter 372 - – 667 Retreat

"Where is Bee?"

All the Kumo shinobi had guilty expressions, one of them took the courage to answer Raikage's question, "Raikage-sama, Bee-sama was sealed inside that giant boulder by the leader of the Akatsuki Organization!"

Raikage's frown tightened, as well as his anger rose, but he controlled himself and looked at the planetary orb as he said, "No wonder I am sensing Bee's Chakra from that boulder…"

At this time Jiraiya also arrived next to Raikage and spoke, "Raikage-dono, thankfully you are here."

Raikage glared at Jiraiya and roared, "Why is everyone here just standing around and doing nothing? Bee is captured, the enemy is standing right in front of us and yet nobody is doing anything! Just what in the hell is happening here?!"

Jiraiya quickly stopped Raikage from attracting any attention of the other two parties and said, "Raikage-dono, please calm yourself… the leader of Akatsuki is too strong, not someone me or you can defeat easily… Moreover, Amatsukami has also made its appearance here…!"

"Amatsukami too?!" – Raikage frowned.

Jiraiya nodded, and pointed in the distant sky, "Look at that person standing at the front, he is Yama, the leader of Amatsukami, while the person behind him with crow wings is Homusubi… Other members of Amatsukami may also be here!"

"And what the hell is Amatsukami doing here?" – Raikage questioned.

Jiraiya shook his head and said, "It's hard to judge the exact motives of Yama… but one thing we can be certain is that their strength is far superior to what we have imagined…"

Jiraiya further explained everything that happened here.

The Kumo shinobi also filled in on all of the parts that Jiraiya forgot from the side.

Listening to all the detail, and realizing just how strong both Yama and Nagato are Raikage had a solemn look.

He too sensed the confrontation between Yama and Nagato from the outskirts of Amegakure, and now that he is being filled on all of the details Raikage can't help but sigh.

Although his personality is a bit reckless it didn't take him too long to understand that whether it is the leader of Amatsukami or Akatsuki, both of their strength is superior to him, it's difficult to admit but it is what it is, and he has to accept it.

…

On Akatsuki's side.

Arriving at the battlefield, Hiruko quickly distinguished who the true Pain is, considering the severity of the situation he decided to not question anything for now.

Arriving next to Nagato he said worriedly, "Thank goodness you are safe, I thought that something might have happened to you!"

Nagato did not pay attention to Hiruko at all, his entire focus was directed towards Yama.

Hiruko wasn't offended upon being ignored by Pain, instead, he followed Pain's gaze to see who exactly is the threat that's making even Pain to be cautious.

There he noticed Yama and his gaze became murderous.

Pain is the only person who has fully supported his dream of becoming the perfect shinobi, therefore, Hiruko is an ardent follower of Pain.

Pain's enemy is his enemy and he would do everything to kill that enemy.

Seeing that Hiruko had intentions to take the first step, Yama's heart thumped… what he is most afraid of right now is having to fight someone like Hiruko.

Noticing Hiruko's intentions Shinichi, Shisui, as well as Homusubi, were instantly ready to intervene in the battle if necessary. Although they don't think that Hiruko can pose a threat to Yama, however, if any side made the first move, then the battle against the three sides will again start and they have to be cautious.

"Hiruko… stop!" – But before Hiruko can make his move, Nagato stopped him.

Hiruko turned around and looked at Pain with a confused expression.

He couldn't understand why is Pain stopping him.

Nagato walked a few steps ahead and said to Hiruko, "Stand back, if you fight him, you will die. No one in the entire shinobi world other than me can match up to him… others will die regardless of who they are… the same goes for you Shinichi… you cannot defeat him."

"..." – Shinichi did not reply just sighed.

Konan said with a worried tone, "But Nagato… you are also in no condition to fight him…"

"Silence Konan… let me focus… other than me, no one can stand up to him…" – Nagato said.

Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh…

At this moment, another figure appeared on the battlefield. This figure was dressed in black shinobi gear, with a staff in his hands. It's obviously none other than Sandaime Hokage.

His strength may have started to decline with old age, but the alias Professor still speaks a lot. No one dared to ignore his arrival, not even Nagato and Yama for that matter.

"Alla, Hokage-dono… here-here, yohoooo… here-here, yup, it's me, Tobi! It took you so long to come… I thought that something might have happened to you considering your old age… but it seems that I was wrong… your bones can still support you but anyway don't push yourself too hard or your old bones won't be able to handle it anymore, you still have to protect that rotten village of yours!" – Tobi said upon noticing the Hokage.

Everybody frowned upon hearing Tobi's words, and can't help but think, 'Just who is this guy?'

Hokage did not pay any attention to Tobi's words, after a brief glance all over the battlefield with few momentary pauses at Yama, Homusubi, Nagato (especially that iconic red hair), Gedo Mazo, Planetary Orb, and finally at Jiraiya Sandaime briefly judged the overall situation.

After a further brief up by Hatake Kakashi, Sandaime judged that the most urgent thing to do now was to rescue Killer Bee, so without much wait, he immediately spoke to Jiraiya, "I will send you up."

Jiraiya nodded, Sandaime threw his adamantine staff towards the Planetary Orb like a Javelin while simultaneously increasing its size.

Jiraiya tacitly jumped and landed on the extending Adamantine Staff and flew towards the Planetary Orb. (Sort of a combination of how Mercenary Tao travels added with how kid Goku sent Rabbit Gang to the moon.)

Because of the presence of Yama, Nagato did not try to interfere in Sandaime and Jiraiya's plan of rescuing Killer Bee. In Nagato's eyes, just a Hachibi's Jinchuriki was nothing and could be captured at any moment. If he were to try and stop Jiraiya, then there is a possibility that both tri-Alliance and Amatsukami will work together to finish off the entire Akatsuki so he does not wanna risk it.

After Jiraiya reached the right altitude, he jumped towards the surface of the Planetary orb and while still in mid-air he started to condense his Chakra in his right hand, 'Senpo: Cho-odama Rasengan!' (Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan)

In an instant, a huge Rasengan appeared in Jiraiya's hands and he smashed it on the surface of the Planetary Orb.

Boom…

Accompanied by a loud noise, the Cho-odama Rasengan (Ultra-Big ball Rasengan), enhanced with Sage Chakra smashed a giant hole on the surface of the planetary Orb.

However, even though a large hole was formed there was still no sign of the large boulder breaking apart.

It was hanging in the sky as if nothing has happened.

Jiraiya frowned upon seeing this.

Only now has he realized just how difficult it is to destroy this planetary orb even from the outside, at the same time, he can't help but wonder just how strong Uchiha Shisui's Susano'o is to be able to dig through this thing.

Toad Fukasaku said, "Jiraiya-chan let us do this… I have a way to break through this!"

Jiraiya nodded, "If so, then please!"

Fukasaku and Shima nodded and jumped up from the shoulders of Jiraiya, and after taking a deep breath both of them creamed towards the huge hole created by Jiraiya's Cho-odama Rasengan.

Sound… Vibration… Vibration… Vibration… Vibration…

Sound… Vibration… Vibration… Vibration… Vibration…

With the scream of two sage toads, high-frequency sound waves visible to the naked eyes penetrated through the planetary orb. The vibration shook each and every individual particle of the planetary orb causing the cracks on the boulder to expand.

Crack… Crack… Crack… Crack… Crack… Crack… Crack… Crack… Crack… Crack…

In just a few seconds the entire planetary orb was covered in cracks.

And because there was no chakra support from Nagato so the planetary orb could no longer support it and soon collapsed. Releasing an unconscious Killer Bee and Gamabunta who soon started to fall to the ground along with all the rubble.

Jiraiya noticed that both Killer Bee and Gamabunta were unconscious, so firstly he released Gamabunta's summon who disappeared into a poof of smoke, then he went forward to catch Killer Bee and bring him safely to the ground.

Raikage received the unconscious Keller Bee and gratefully nodded towards Jiraiya and Hokage, "I thank you for saving Bee!"

Being thanked by the always tough Raikage, even Jiraiya was a bit flustered and quickly said, "No no, it's actually the opposite, it was Killer Bee who saved us, so what we are doing is just repaying the favor… moreover, we are fighting together and helping your allies is natural!"

Raikage nodded with a smile, "I suppose that is true."

With the rescue of Killer Bee and the simultaneous of two Kage, the anxiety decreased and the morale on the side of tri-Alliance increased.

Tobi saw these changes very clearly and then said, "Nagato it's time for us to retreat, even if the entire tri-Alliance wasn't crushed we did manage to accomplish quite a lot, we have one of the targets in our hands, we did manage to eliminate one of the targets, at the same time we also verified the abilities of our newest recruit and I tell you they are truly effective. Now, all we need to do is to wait for some time and for your recovery, then we can strike again. Even though we lost this fight the winner of this war is Akatsuki."

Nagato nodded, and questioned, "And what are you going to do about that secret agent of yours is the agent coming with us or…???"

Tobi thought for a while and said, "Hmm, I think I will let the agent go as is… It is not as if anyone knows who the agent truly is."

Nagato nodded.

Truth be told, Akatsuki has been prepared for the raid of tri-Alliance much before. That's also the reason why they did not kill Jiraiya right off the bat and waited for the tri-Alliance to come to Amegakure. If Jiraiya had died he would have surely found a way to give back the intelligence and there is a possibility that the attack would have stopped…

The plans ultimately failed because of the intervention of Amatsukami, but overall, it wasn't a loss, and as Madara said, "it's time to retreat. Zetsu pass of the message to Sasori and the others to retreat immediately as well."

Zetsu nodded.

With that decision, Nagato controlled Gedo Mazo to rage all over the battlefield and using that opportunity the Akatsuki retreated.

When the dust cleared, no one of the Akatsuki was present on the battlefield any longer.

"Damn they ran away!" – Raikage roared in frustration.

"Sadly, they did not run away… I would much rather call it a retreat, that too not because of the tri-Alliance but because of those two." – Hokage said as he looked in the direction of two members of Amatsukami floating there glancing at the Gedo Mazo which too disappeared into white smoke.

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