Orochimaru was so excited by the possibility of acquiring the eight-tails that he didn't notice.
Not long after discovering Gyuki's seal, when he was preparing to seal the tailed beast back inside the jinchuriki, something was approaching at extreme speed.
Orochimaru only noticed when a flash of lightning passed through his vision, and soon after, the Raikage appeared next to the suppressed Gyuki.
Sakumo and Jiraya were extremely surprised when they saw the Raikage just a few meters away. Before they could react, when they expected to be attacked, the Raikage extended his hand towards the tailed beast.
His hand pierced Gyuki's body, right where the seal was.
When they saw the Raikage's objective, Jiraya and Sakumo reacted, preparing to attack, they wouldn't allow him to take back the eight-tailed beast.
Unfortunately, they were too slow.
From afar, a scream could be heard, and from the ground where they stood, the earth began to move upwards, quickly enveloping the two in a ball of mud.
Orochimaru observed the situation in complete disbelief.
He didn't expect the Raikage's return.
He couldn't sense the Kyubi's power from this distance, which showed that the leader of the Cloud village hadn't achieved his goal.
Why would he return now?
When he asked himself this question, Orochimaru understood.
The Raikage's goal was never to discard the eight-tails, Gyuki, to cause the destruction of the Leaf village.
His goal had always been to use Gyuki as a distraction, with a backup plan in case everything went wrong.
He had placed subordinates to assess the situation and, when they were close to suppressing Gyuki, the Raikage would be notified and would quickly return to retrieve it.
After all, the timing was too much of a coincidence.
One or two more minutes, and they would have captured the eight-tails jinchuriki.
"Hahahaha, I can't believe I didn't notice before."
Orochimaru smiled coldly when he reached this point in his thoughts, absolutely furious with the situation.
In the distance, the Hokage, who was also closely analyzing Gyuki's situation, approached when he noticed the Raikage's presence.
Hiruzen observed the enormous eight-tailed beast decrease in size, and he also came to the same conclusion as Orochimaru.
Unlike his disciple, however, the Hokage's concern was not with the Raikage's plan, but with what happened to the ritual.
Although they weren't feeling Kyubi's power, which would be easily noticeable even at great distances, Hiruzen knew that something might have gone wrong, and like a ticking time bomb, it could explode at any moment.
"Hahaha, Hiruzen, you really surprised me. I didn't expect you to have a backup. This was my defeat."
With the eight-tails jinchuriki, B, on his shoulder, the Raikage laughed out loud towards the Hokage. Although he spoke of the defeat he suffered, it didn't seem like he was really a loser when he laughed so jovially.
"What did you do?"
With the Tsuchikage next to the Raikage, Hokage feared the worst. Although they currently had combat power superiority compared to their enemies, with Jiraya and Sakumo having already freed themselves, the imminence of the Kyubi was a concern.
"I don't know, why don't you go find out?"
In the distance, the Raikage saw his son sprawled on the ground, unconscious. Even while talking to the Hokage, the leader of the Cloud village seemed unconcerned with the situation.
He was so unconcerned that he reached for his son and picked him up on his shoulder even under the murderous glares of the Hokage and his subordinates.
"I've already ordered the withdrawal of my troops. If you'll excuse me."
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Without saying anything else, the Raikage simply left, with the Tsuchikage right behind.
Hiruzen observed this in absolute silence, a murderous fury hidden behind his apparently calm exterior.
He knew.
Currently, the most important thing is to check Kyubi's situation.
If the worst has happened, and the nine-tailed beast is about to be released, it was not time to prevent the Raikage's departure, but to hurry to the ritual site.
"Sensei, did you see?"
Orochimaru approached the Hokage and asked in a low voice as they watched the figures of the Raikage and the Tsuchikage disappearing in the distance.
They still couldn't leave, not until they were sure their enemies had really gone.
"Yes, the Raikage was injured. He tried to hide it, but it's impossible in his current situation."
"Then let's..."
The Hokage raised his hand, stopping his disciple's words. More than anyone, what he wanted most was to kill the Raikage, but he knew there were priorities.
"Don't try to change my decision. Let's go to the ritual site."
Orochimaru could feel the fury behind Hiruzen's voice. He was also furious with the situation.
"Sensei, this is the perfect chance to kill the Raikage. Maybe we can also wound the Tsuchikage. I don't feel Kyubi's power. I believe Tsunade managed to protect the ritual."
With each passing second, the Third Raikage disappeared further into the horizon, frustrating Orochimaru who wanted to kill him at that instant.
"You don't really believe that. Let's go."
Without saying anything else, Hiruzen turned around and started running at high speed.
Frustrated, Orochimaru followed right behind, thinking that an opportunity like that would never appear again, and how his teacher had let it pass.
...
Minutes later, when they arrived at the ritual site, a shocking scene appeared in front of them.
A scene so surprising that even Orochimaru was open-mouthed.
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While the Raikage was moving away, shortly before, Yujin was having his own thoughts during the fight.
'He's fast. His defense is powerful. I've already tried several different types of attacks, but I can't cause enough damage.'
Even while predicting the Raikage's movements, Tsunade's, and his own, Yujin was analyzing the Raikage's combat power, trying to find a way to defeat him.
Unfortunately, with his currently weakened situation, Yujin couldn't exert the maximum of his abilities.
With only 70% of his abilities available, although it seemed that he was at 70% of his power, the reality was different.
'With my physical body so deteriorated, I can't use most of my abilities, which is frustrating.'
These were the words he said to Tsunade when she questioned his condition before the battle.
With the representation of his external martial arts cultivation, his physical body, deteriorated, the truth is that he couldn't use even half of his combat potential.
Yujin could only react to the Raikage's attacks because of his internal martial arts.
Even so, Yujin didn't plan to give up.
From the beginning, his goal had always been just to prevent the Raikage's advance, but after such a long fight, he could see the possibility of victory.
'If I have an opportunity, it's possible.'
Yujin could perfectly predict the Raikage's actions.
No matter how fast his enemy was, if he already knew what was going to happen before it happened, the Raikage simply couldn't land a fatal blow.
On the other hand, because he was so fast, it was difficult to hit him with a decisive blow.
He was constantly thinking of possibilities, but it was difficult with the cards he had.
It didn't help that the Raikage didn't focus solely on the fight, and was constantly looking for opportunities to enter the ritual site.
Sometimes, Yujin would open space as a trap, but after falling for it once, the Raikage never took the bait again.
During the battle, however, there was a moment.
A moment that Yujin's brilliant mind couldn't predict.
The Raikage's speed increased.
This was something he didn't think was possible.
Although he knew the Raikage was hiding some trump card, he still didn't expect such an abrupt and violent increase in speed.
In one of the times Yujin felt the possibility of the Raikage advancing towards the ritual, he began to prepare a trap by sending a mental message to Tsunade.
It was at this moment that, abruptly, the Raikage changed direction. His gaze passed from the ritual site, to Yujin, and finally to Tsunade at great speed.
The three-finger spear, the terror of this battle, capable of piercing everything in its path, changed to two fingers, and finally to one finger.
When he saw this happen, Yujin acted without thinking.
The next thing he saw was the enormous body of the Second Raikage in front of him.
The next thing he felt was the pain in his chest.
And the next thing he did was what he had been preparing for a long time.
The Raikage, thinking he had finally delivered a mortal blow to his enemy, lowered his guard.
He thought he had won.
However, when he saw Yujin's body sinking into the ground, bringing his arm along, he was shocked.
He tried to pull his arm back from inside Yujin's body, but he couldn't.
Shockingly, Yujin's muscles were holding his arm in place.
When he realized this, the Raikage knew he was going to have to receive whatever Yujin had prepared for him.
Yujin flexed his knees, lowering his body, and bringing the Raikage's arm along.
With the flexing of his knees, the ground under his feet broke, forming a crater in the ground around his feet, which seemed planted in the ground, firmer than the roots of a tree.
Yujin took a breath, and held it, which to the Raikage's ears sounded more like the sounds of a beast growling, about to kill him.
He then pulled his arms back and, at that moment, the Raikage saw death.
He felt his own death.
Many things went through his mind at that moment.
Most of these things revolved around the battle he just had.
At that moment, he thought.
'You are an enemy worthy of taking my life.'
The palms of Yujin's two hands hit right in the center of the Raikage's chest.
The force of the blow seemed extraordinary, but the result only made the Raikage take a few steps back.
From A's mouth, the leader of the Cloud village, the Third Raikage, blood began to fall slowly.
"You... Didn't succeed."
Kneeling on the ground, the Raikage observed Yujin who, even with a hole in his chest, remained standing. A looked right into his eyes, waiting to see the moment when the light in the eyes of this worthy opponent would disappear.
"I thought that..."
Before the Raikage could finish his words, Yujin fell to the ground, drowning in his own blood, which began to flow from the hole in his chest.
A deathly silence fell as Tsunade and the Raikage stared at Yujin's fallen form.