The Third's rule was punctuated by the berserk attacks of the Eight-Tails but as Kumogakure couldn't afford to dispose of such a valuable war deterrent, he was forced to look for a suitable jinchūriki in quick succession, after the conclusion of each rampage. During one of these attacks, the Third fought the Eight-Tails alone, allowing his comrades to escape. Their battle resulted in the Raikage receiving a self-inflicted wound to the chest after he collapsed upon his own hand, which became his life's shame. Since this event, he made it a personal duty to combat the Eight-Tails whenever its jinchūriki lost control, with even his son eventually becoming part of the group that supported him during these occurrences. He chose to seal the Eight-Tails in the Kohaku no Jōhei, resulting in the host's death, hoping that someone else would have more success in controlling it.
Between these attacks, the Third held try-outs along with Dodai in order to search for a tag-team partner for his son, which is a long-standing tradition for the Raikage. As the exercise was seemingly going to end in failure again, he lamented the fact that this would have been unnecessary if A had an actual brother. After seeing the dummy's head finally fall off, he looks oat B and his son, glad that they had finally found a suitable candidate. Ultimately, when Killer B was made the jinchūriki, the Eight-Tails' rampages were at long last brought to an end
At some point he also mentored Darui, passing the secrets of the Black Lightning technique down to just him. In his later years, he once faced an opposing force of ten thousand shinobi by himself for three consecutive days and nights, in order to allow his comrades to escape to safety. He eventually died as a result of this encounter and with his death, the position of Raikage was passed onto his son, A. He would however become renowned for his extraordinary level of durability and endurance and strength above all else, to the point where his body itself would become reputed as the "strongest shield".
In preparation for the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Third Raikage was reincarnated by Kabuto Yakushi alongside other deceased Kage, to fight against the Allied Shinobi Forces.
When Mū, despite his camouflage, was detected approaching the Fourth Division, Kabuto had the Tsuchikage summon three other Kage to provide support. Amongst their numbers was a bemused Third Raikage, who questions the others about his present location, before seemingly recognising the Fourth Kazekage. During a later argument between the Second Mizukage and Second Tsuchikage, the Third expressed his disappointment in being unable to fight all three of them, due to the influence of the wretched ability used to reincarnate him and the control it held over him.
Pursuing the retreating division throughout the night, each of the Kage lamented the possibility of opposing shinobi from their own respective village yet only the Third Raikage remained optimistic that the current generation had surpassed them since their deaths. Confronted by an enormous wave of sand that is halted by the Fourth Kazekage, he correctly identifies the former as the individual who could manipulate Gold Dust, a capability that saved him once again but from the clutches of Gaara's arms of sand. Complementing the Fourth, he told him that his son was an excellent shinobi, and later chastised Mū when he advised Ōnoki to assure Iwagakure's dominance by taking advantage of the alliance's eventual disbandment. As the battle recommenced after he implored the opposition to stop them, the Third and the others attempted to encircle Gaara while protected from his Sand Hail, but is instead restrained by the embrace of the latter's sand.
bserving the Fourth Kazekage being sealed, his Lightning Release Armour activates involuntarily to this threat and destroys the sealing tag, to which he told the Second Mizukage that their bodies had been programmed to automatically responded to enemy attacks. Freed from their bonds, the two stormed the approaching division, before beginning to divulge the particulars of their abilities. Identifying himself as a Lightning Release user, the Third instructed the opposition to have their Earth Release shinobi construct defences, while those with Wind Release attacked him relentlessly.*As numerous shinobi converged on him, Temari appeared to successfully cut the Third into several pieces using her Wind Release: Cast Net technique, before directing the Sealing Team to bind him immediately. However, her efforts proved to ultimately be ineffective, as the Third was able to regenerate before the Sealing Team could take action. While the opposition reformulated their strategy, the Third spotted Dodai amongst them, and called out to him. Dodai proceeded to inform Temari that more powerful wind release techniques were required in order to to contest the Raikage's legendary durability. As the nature of his death was disclosed, Kabuto took the opportunity to erase the Third's personality to buy himself more time, just as Naruto Uzumaki's clone made his appearance on the battlefield.
Despite utilising the sun to obscure his attack, Naruto's first few attempts failed to connect with the Raikage, due to his enhanced reflexes and speed which allowed him to evade the attack twice. However, on the third attempt, he was unable to avoid the attack and was instead caught at the very centre of the sphere, but even the damage inflicted by this proved to be minimal and the Third once again, quickly recovered before he could be bound. Advancing upon the stunned opposition whilst activating his Hell Stab technique, the allied forces hastily constructed several reinforced defences in response, yet the attack penetrates both with considerable ease. Emerging from the other side only to be ambushed by a onslaught of shinobi, who presumed that the element of surprise would be enough, the Third proceeds to quickly defeat them before engaging the rest of the division.
Reducing the number of fingers used in his Hell Stab technique to just one as he advanced, the Third's attack is dodged by Naruto using the enhanced reflexes and sensory abilities granted by Sage Mode and parried with a Rasengan, aimed at the Raikage's left arm. The force of the blow caused the Third to impale himself with his own attack and as his body began to crumble, the Sealing Team took immediate action and completed his imprisonment.
Later, with the release of the Impure World Reincarnation technique, a light of sorts encased the Third Raikage's sealed body as the technique was dispelled and his soul was returned to the afterlife.