After Minato agreed with Ryo's plan, he asked him to go and wait for him at the camp's gate.
Ryo understood that the two still had things to talk about, and he didn't want to get treated by their love anymore, so he nodded and left.
Ryo went out of the tent, and summoned a small toad with [Summoning]. He asked him to go to where the 3rd Raikage was fighting Onoki and his troops and weight there. Once the 3rd Raikage is doomed to die, the little toad could relieve himself and head for Mount Myoboku.
A few minutes later, Minato and Ryo set off together.
A few hours went by since they retreated, and the 3rd Raikage hadn't followed the Cloud Ninjas yet. A became really anxious and sent Ninjas to check on the 3rd Raikage's state.
What he didn't expect was that those Ninjas were intercepted and killed by Ryo and Minato who had made an ambush earlier.
Ryo didn't want A to know about the 3rd Raikage's state. If A would send enough force to rescue the Raikage, Ryo's operation would fail completely.
Ryo's plan was to drag things out as much as he could. When he and Minato couldn't do that anymore, it would fall on their behalf to face the Cloud's forces for enough time.
Just like in the Manga, the 3rd Raikage was able to withstand the attacks of 10000 Ninjas for nearly 3 days.
Under the endless stream of attacks from the Rock Ninjas, he used up his physical strength and Chakra, which made it difficult for him to maintain the Lightning Chakra Mode.
Minato and Ryo intercepted over a 100 men sent out by A to investigate. Whenever he would send out a team, they would kill them.
Over the course of 3 days, A actually sent out seven waves of Ninjas in succession, but none of them came back. It was clear to him that someone was concealing the state of the 3rd Raikage.
He was furious, and finally decided to go in person. Being the village's main defense, everyone was against it, but he still left the village alone.
For him, this wasn't just his village's Kage. This was his father, of whom he heard no news in three days. He knew that he might not get to reach him alive, but that didn't keep him from going. In the worst of scenarios, he had to pay respect to his father's death and bring back his body!
Minato initially intended on blocking his way himself, but Ryo proposed that he should have his chance at stopping him.
In fact, Ryo had always been very interested in the Cloud's Lightning Chakra Mode. Unfortunately, all the users he met so far were much weaker than him. Facing A was a perfect opportunity to find a worthy opponent using the mode.
Minato already had two encounters with A, and he had good understanding of his power and level. He estimated that Ryo should be able to cope with him, so excepted to give the task to Ryo.
Soon after A left his village, 10 kilometers away from it, he reached a part of the jungle were Ryo was hiding and concealing his Chakra.
Ryo entered the Lightning Chakra Mode, leaving the Ice Scalpel at his spot, and holding another one in his left hand. He immediately flickered at his fastest speed in front of A and weaved his scalpel across his neck.
A , whose throat was being targeted by Ryo, turned into what seemed like a thunderbolt and disappeared, just to reappear again and throw a Lightning Chakra clad punch that was so strong, it penetrated right through Ryo's heart!
Luckily for Ryo, he was in his Ice Elementization state. While the punch didn't inflict any substantial damage to him, it still scared the cold sweat out of him.
With Ice, Ryo teleported back to his initial spot, and gave a serious stare at A. Within that short confrontation, he would have died if he wasn't already in his Elementization state.
A was also looking at Ryo in shock. As far as he knew, no one besides the Hozuki clan members could survive a thrust to the heart. On top of that, Ryo's sudden disappearance reminded him of Minato's Flying Thunder God.
"Who are you? Why are you attacking me?" A asked Ryo.
"Yamanaka Ryo, a Konoha Shinobi. As for my attack, I just want to compare the Cloud's Lightning Chakra Mode to the one I developed myself." Ryo talked calmly, as if he wasn't in a battle.
He knew that he had to clearly state his identity, to make A believe that he was just simply fighting him for the sake of battle.
"Konoha Shinobi? Aren't you an ally of the Hidden Rock? So, Minato and Onoki sent you to kill me?" Said A, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"When you retreated, our cooperation with the Hidden Rock ended. This is for me." Ryo's Ice Lightning Chakra Mode was getting more and more fierce, and he stared at A's eyes with apparent blood lust.
Seeing Ryo's face, A sighed. He wasn't sure about the part concerning the cooperation between the Rock and Konoha ending, but from what it looked like, it really seemed like Ryo just wanted to fight him.
"We've talked enough! I'll go! [Futon: Rasenshuriken]!" Ryo looked impatient as he took the initiative with a powerful Rasenshuriken.
A himself had a hot temper, and had been provoked by Ryo several times. Saying he was angry was an understatement. He entered the Lightning Chakra mode, letting the Rasenshuriken hit him straight.
The wind element is actually strong against Lightning. This however does not guarantee a direct victory. The Lightning Release is strong enough compared to the Wind Release, it could counter the gap.
Facing the immense defensive power of the Lightning Armor, the Rasenshuriken was just scratching it.
A was, like Ryo, was speed-type Ninja. His main attack style however was Taijutsu based. Ryo knew well that he was no match for the upcoming 4th Hokage when it came to that.
So he decided to use the same approach that Minato used to out-speed A. He took out dozens of Ice Scalpels, scattering them everywhere around, planting them into the surrounding trees.
"Flying Thunder God!" Seeing a familiar scene, A actually panicked a little. It seemed that Minato's technique had left quiet the impact on him.
Ryo's purpose of doing this was to simply avoid the mixture of Taijutsu and Lightning, and also because he wanted to see how a Kage tier would use the Lightning Chakra Mode.
With his preparations all set, Ryo took the initiative
He planned to cut the distance without notice, and then break A's Lightning Chakra Mode with the Rasengan, before finally slashing his veins with his scalpel.
Ryo found that the Lightning Chakra Flicker couldn't shorten the distance, let alone allow him to use the rest of his plan.
It was because whenever Ryo would use the Lightning Chakra Flicker, A would use the same technique to dodge, so Ryo really had no chance.
Minato's Flying Thunder God left a deep impression on A. Facing what seemed like the same technique, he couldn't allow himself to lose once again.
Using his lightning Chakra mode, he rushed towards the Ice Scalpel that Ryo was teleporting two.
With Ice Teleportation, Ryo was able to dodge A's attack, and it carried on… Two blue lightning bolts kept moving within the trees.
In the Lightning Village, after A's departure, the village stop sending troops behind the 3rd Raikage. A himself went to investigate, so sending anyone else would be meaningless.
After three days and three nights, the 3rd Raikage's Chakra was finally fully exhausted; he could no longer even use the Lightning Chakra Mode.
When the Rock saw that, they all collapsed on him, and the 3rd Raikage finally could not take it anymore.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ T/N: Hey there, J_Otaku here. I hope you like the story so far and are happy with the releases, I just posted chapter 182 in Patreon! If you’re interested in supporting me and reading more chapters, hit the button below ^^ Liked it? Take a second to support TranslatinOtaku on Patreon!