Before the sixteen towering Susanoo, neither Ōnoki nor the Fourth Raikage dared to move.
They stood frozen — like sheep caught in the gaze of a lion. One wrong step, one careless breath, and annihilation would follow. The fates of Rasa and Yagura served as grim reminders of what awaited them.
"Old man Ōnoki," the Fourth Raikage said in a low growl, his body crackling with lightning, "I'm the fastest one here. I'll cover you. Maybe one of us can make it out alive."
He clenched his fists. "I'll go straight for Ryoma's body. Use that moment to escape!"
Ōnoki's eyes widened in fury. "Nonsense! Do you think I'd accept such a suicidal plan?"
He floated upward slightly, his hands forming seals as chakra surged through his aged body once more.
But the Raikage had already made his decision. Ignoring Ōnoki's protests, he burst forward in a blinding flash of lightning. In less than a heartbeat — 0.01 seconds — he appeared before Ryoma, his right fist crashing down toward his opponent's head.
Ryoma didn't even blink. He simply raised his hand and caught the blow with casual ease.
A sharp crack echoed.
Pain twisted the Raikage's face as his arm contorted at an unnatural angle — cleanly broken.
"Your strength doesn't compare to your father's," Ryoma said coldly. "And your temper's worse."
His hand shifted, gripping the Raikage's head. The immense pressure made a wet, crunching sound — the bones of his face creaking beneath the force.
"The Third Raikage once risked his life to stop me — to save you. I didn't expect you to come to me so willingly."
The Raikage tried to move, but his body was trapped. The Susanoo's chakra field bound him completely, immobilizing even his breath. His chest trembled as if a giant's hand was squeezing the air from his lungs.
And Ryoma… didn't even look at him.
With a single swing of his blade, it was over.
The Fourth Raikage's head fell, thudding to the ground.
Ryoma exhaled softly. "Tch. I'm tired of this."
The sixteen Susanoo dissolved around him, vanishing like mist. He looked around with calm detachment — there was no satisfaction in his expression, only disappointment.
Killing three Kage-level shinobi in less than a minute didn't even stir a spark of interest in him.
As he stood amidst the corpses, Ryoma's thoughts were simple — no matter how many ants there are, crushing them only grows dull.
Then, with a booming roar, his chakra flared once more. The Susanoo reappeared, its massive form generating a hurricane as it lifted into the sky.
Ōnoki stared in confusion. "Why… why did he fly off all of a sudden?"
But then, realization struck him like a hammer.
His face drained of color. "No…!"
He turned toward his troops — Iwagakure shinobi like Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, and others standing frozen in shock.
"Everyone, run!" he shouted desperately. "Run!"
The Iwa-nin looked at Ōnoki in confusion, taking a hesitant step toward him — only to be shoved back by the aged Tsuchikage.
"If you don't leave now, you'll die here! The entire army will be wiped out!"
His small frame shot into the air, and chakra surged into his throat as he shouted, his voice carrying across the battlefield like a thunderclap:
"All units of the Four Great Shinobi Villages—retreat immediately!"
"Everyone, fall back now!"
Even if they didn't fully understand his reasoning, the terror and urgency in Ōnoki's tone left no room for hesitation.
Of the original hundred thousand coalition shinobi, less than thirty thousand remained. Panic rippled through the survivors as they scrambled to escape the area with every ounce of strength they had left.
High above them, Ryoma floated in the sky, his gaze sweeping over the chaotic battlefield. Below, shinobi fled like scattered ants, their formations broken, their discipline shattered.
A cruel smile tugged at his lips.
"So… Ōnoki figured it out."
"It's not too late, then. Some of them might still live—if they run fast enough."
The next instant, his Susanoo plunged from the heavens. It moved faster than the naked eye could follow, leaving behind a pitch-black streak that seemed to slice the sky itself.
Below, Ōnoki's hands blurred through a series of seals. He knew that if Ryoma's Susanoo struck the ground from that height, the resulting impact would obliterate everything within a kilometer radius.
That was why he had ordered the army to retreat — and why he stayed behind.
I am the Tsuchikage. If anyone can shield them… it has to be me.
"Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!"
Massive sections of ground shifted upward.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Stone walls and rock giants rose from the ground, towering eight meters tall. Enormous stone hands emerged to shelter the fleeing shinobi from the blast zone.
"Earth Release: Super Light and Heavy Rock Technique!"
Ōnoki's chakra burned fiercely, his body trembling from exhaustion. He could feel his life force being drained away, but he pressed on, weaving one final seal.
Blood spilled from his lips.
"Ryoma… this is my last gift to you," he whispered, his voice faint but resolute.
A white, translucent cube of energy began to form between his palms — shimmering with lethal brilliance.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
The jutsu expanded, its radiance swallowing the descending Susanoo whole. Anything caught within its range would be disintegrated at the atomic level.
"This is the last of my life's chakra… let's go to hell together!"
A weary smile crossed Ōnoki's face as he watched the cube engulf Ryoma's figure. For a moment, he allowed himself a small sigh of relief.
But then—
A deep, mocking voice echoed from within the blinding light.
"It's far too early for you to relax."
And before Ōnoki could react, a colossal warrior — divine in form, terrible in presence — descended from the sky. It was Ryoma's complete-body Susanoo, crashing down like an avenging god.
That was the last thing the Tsuchikage ever saw.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The world exploded.
The earth rolled like waves, the ground shattering and folding as though the very planet was breaking apart. The sheer force overturned the land itself — mountains collapsed, lakes inverted, and forests sank into the depths.
Ore veins and groundwater surged upward as the terrain was torn inside out.
Centered on the battlefield, everything within ten square kilometers was annihilated. The shockwave raced outward, its tremors felt even in the far reaches of the Land of Lightning.
It was as if Ragnarok itself had come to life — a vision of divine wrath made real.
And before that godlike power, humanity seemed utterly insignificant.
Far from the epicenter, thousands of Konoha shinobi stopped in their tracks.
The ground quaked beneath their feet, and the shockwave's wind pushed them back several steps. Dust clouds billowed across the horizon — a reminder that somewhere ahead, a monster wearing the face of a man had just changed the shape of the earth itself.
Everyone turned toward the direction where the battle had erupted moments ago.
What they saw left them speechless.
The towering cliffs and mountain ranges that once surrounded the battlefield had been leveled into a flat wasteland. The ground itself had collapsed inward, and a massive mushroom cloud of dust and debris billowed into the sky, blotting out the sun.
The shockwave still rippled through the air, trembling beneath their feet.
For a long moment, no one could speak.
Finally, Minato Namikaze broke the silence, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"This… all of this… was done by Ryoma?"
His words hung in the air, heavy and hollow.
Every shinobi stared blankly at the devastated land — the sheer scale of destruction beyond comprehension.
Never before had death revealed itself so vividly.
To ordinary eyes, the fallen Kage — legends of their respective villages — had always seemed like untouchable titans. Yet here, they were reduced to nothing, crushed as easily as insects.
Even the strongest among them could only tremble before that kind of overwhelming power.
High above the smoldering ruins, Ryoma hovered silently, his expression unreadable. The raging winds and swirling dust danced around him, unable to touch his form.
He surveyed the devastation below — the broken earth, the shattered armies, the silence that followed annihilation — and slowly exhaled.
"Now this…" he murmured, a faint smirk crossing his face, "was satisfying."
Even after a battle of such scale, Ryoma could feel it — the completion of his objective, the echo of success resonating within him.
And with that thought, he turned away from the carnage.
The war had ended before it even began.
...
TN:
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