Chapter 190: The Scattered Tenth Squad
While the main force confronted the cataclysm at the village's edge, a different kind of battle was being waged within Konoha's streets—a battle for survival. Squads of shinobi scoured the neighborhoods, searching for any civilians who had not yet reached the shelters.
"Little girl, I'm so sorry to be such a burden on you," an elderly woman murmured, her voice frail.
"Please, don't say that, grandmother," replied a young kunoichi with a bright, determined voice. Her long, blonde hair was tied into a practical ponytail. "As a shinobi of Konoha, protecting its people is my duty. Everyone else has evacuated. I'll get you to safety."
This was Yamanaka Ino, a member of the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho trio. On her back was a widowed elder with limited mobility, found alone in her home after the evacuation alarm had sounded. Ino was now hurrying through the unnervingly quiet streets toward the nearest shelter.
Her tense journey was interrupted as two figures dropped from the rooftops ahead. Ino skidded to a halt, then relaxed slightly upon recognizing them.
"Shikamaru! Choji! How did it go on your end?"
The newcomers were Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji, completing the Tenth Squad. Like Ino, they had been tasked with a final sweep of the village.
"Choji and I have covered our entire sector. No one left," Shikamaru reported, his brow furrowed in its characteristic lazy-yet-serious expression. "What a drag... This whole situation is a nightmare. How did the Nine-Tails get loose? Did something happen to Naruto?"
"Don't worry, Shikamaru!" Choji said, offering a reassuring smile as he patted his friend's shoulder. "Naruto's strong. I'm sure he's fine. And Lady Tsunade is out there herself. She'll stop it!"
"I hope so," Shikamaru sighed, though his expression remained troubled. "But... I've got a bad feeling about this. Anyway, it's too troublesome to think about now. Choji, you take the grandmother from Ino and get her to the shelter. Ino and I will do one more quick check, just to be sure."
"Got it! Leave it to me!" Choji nodded and moved to Ino's side. "Here, grandma, I'll carry you. It'll be faster."
"Oh, thank you, young man. You're all so kind."
"It's no trouble at all. Protecting the villagers is our job," Choji said warmly, bending down so Ino could gently transfer the old woman onto his broad back.
But just as Choji straightened up, a blinding flash of light erupted from the direction of the Uchiha district, followed a heartbeat later by a sound that was less a noise and more a physical force—a deep, concussive *BOOM* that shook the very foundations of the world.
"Get down!" Shikamaru yelled, his instincts overriding the shock.
The three young shinobi dropped flat to the ground, Choji curling his body protectively over the elderly woman. A moment later, a hurricane-force wind, laden with dust, debris, and shattered tiles, slammed into them. It was the mere aftermath of the distant cataclysm. The storm battered them for a few terrifying seconds before subsiding as quickly as it had come.
Coughing, they pushed themselves up, brushing rubble from their clothes. The air was thick with dust.
"What... what was that?" Ino stammered, her voice trembling.
Shikamaru didn't answer. His eyes were fixed on the horizon, his face pale. "The battle... that came from the Nine-Tails' location. Just the residual shockwave is this powerful... What kind of jutsu are they using?"
"Shikamaru! Look!" Ino's voice was a sharp cry of disbelief.
Shikamaru turned, following her pointing finger. Then he froze. Choji and the old woman on his back also looked, and their expressions mirrored his—a mixture of sheer horror and utter denial.
The heart of Konoha was gone.
Where the majestic Hokage Mountain, carved with the faces of the village's leaders, had stood watch for generations, there was now only a gaping, smoking scar. The Hokage Tower was vaporized. A massive crater dominated the village center, and a deep, raw fissure—as if the earth itself had been torn in two—cut through the residential districts, dividing Konoha in half.
The scale of the destruction was incomprehensible.
"Ino... what... what is this?" Choji whispered, his usual optimism utterly shattered.
As they stood in stunned silence, another figure landed nearby—a woman with a small pig on her shoulder. It was Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, her face grim and smudged with soot.
"Ino! Shikamaru! What are you still doing here?" she called out, her voice strained with urgency.
The sound snapped them back to reality. "Lady Shizune!" Shikamaru said, his voice tight. "We were completing the evacuation sweep. We were just about to head to the shelter when... What happened? Who is doing this?"
Shizune's gaze swept over the apocalyptic scene before returning to the young genin. Her eyes were filled with a profound sorrow. "I just received a communication from the front line," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "The one attacking Konoha... is Konoha's own S-Class rogue ninja... Uchiha Ren."
The name landed like a physical blow.
"Ren?" Ino gasped. "But that's... that's impossible!"
The world they knew had not just been attacked; it had been fundamentally broken. And the architect of its ruin was someone they had once, in a different life, called a fellow villager.
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