The black shockwave that swallowed the border between the two nations didn't last long.
When Garp slowly drew back his right fist, the familiar, multicolored brilliance returned to the world.
Yet even though the darkness had only persisted for a brief moment, the instant that water-like ripples of blackness faded from the battlefield.
Every ninja present felt as though they had just escaped suffocation, like they were seeing daylight again.
Especially Yashamaru, Maki, and the other Sand shinobi.
When they looked at each other, they noticed the same thing.
Every companion around them had a pale face and terror-stricken eyes, as if they had just endured a spiritual assault so horrifying and despairing it nearly shattered their minds.
"We… we're still alive?"
"It looks like none of us were hurt."
"Could it be that the legendary Iron Fist that dominated the Warring States Period… was nothing more than an empty name?"
Just as the Sand ninjas were wavering between suspicion and relief, sweat poured from the foreheads of Rasa, Chiyo, and Ebizo at the center of the battlefield.
"Look, Lord Kazekage's gold dust spears are all frozen in midair."
"What's going on.?"
"Why aren't any of the spears moving?"
Very quickly, every Sand shinobi on the field sensed something was terribly wrong.
When they turned their eyes toward Garp, they discovered that the countless golden spears which had moments ago rained down toward him like a devouring storm were all suspended in midair, without exception.
It was as if countless invisible hands had seized each spear in place.
Before they could process the sight, the hundreds of gold-dust spears solidified in front of Garp disintegrated like dust scattered by the wind, vanishing in an instant into particles too fine for the naked eye to distinguish.
Gold dust was already an extremely fine material.
But now, after the spears shattered, the gold dust lost even the ability to maintain its original form, it was as though it had been crushed into particles even smaller than dust.
Just when Maki and the others thought the destruction caused by Garp's Fist had already ended, a deafening boom erupted, like a Tailed Beast Bomb exploding at point-blank range, or hundreds of bolts of lightning striking the earth at once.
And at the same time, an overwhelming wave of force swept outward like an invisible tsunami, engulfing everything within a range of thousands of meters.
The nearly thousand Sand shinobi standing closest at the front line didn't even have time to react.
They didn't know what had happened, one instant they were standing, and the next, it felt as though a cannonball had slammed into their chests.
With a muffled grunt and blood spraying skyward, they were blasted backward like rag dolls.
Immediately after, everyone heard, and felt, the desert beneath their feet tremble violently, as if an earthquake had erupted from directly below.
The next moment, the Sand shinobi who had just spattered blood fell with a sudden lurch, the ground beneath them gave way entirely, dropping them into a colossal crater.
Those standing farther back, as well as Tsunade and Shikaku outside the battlefield, stared ahead in shock as the desert abruptly sank in. Horror began to fill their expressions.
"That's not a crater, that's a fist mark."
Tsunade's eyes widened, completely stunned by the sight.
She was far enough away to see clearly, much more clearly than those Sand shinobi at the front.
From her angle, the massive depression that appeared in the desert was unmistakably the imprint of an enormous fist.
A fist mark that looked as though it had been punched into the world by a towering giant, one far larger and more imposing than any mountain.
It was simply too large. From up close, without a Byakugan or Sharingan, anyone would mistake it for a massive sinkhole.
"So this… is the legendary Iron Fist?"
Shikaku's jaw hung open.
His intelligence, something he had always taken great pride in, felt like wet paper before a power like this. Completely meaningless.
"The shinobi and samurai who died under Lord Garp's Fist during the Warring States Period… maybe they were the fortunate ones.
But those who survived and witnessed it with their own eyes… how must they have lived the rest of their lives? How deep must their despair have been?"
Inoichi and Choza exchanged a glance. In each other's eyes, they saw the same mixture of horror and pity.
Horror at the terrifying might of the Iron Fist.
Pity for those who had lived their entire lives with that fist crushing their will.
People like the First Five Kages, Hashirama, Madara…
…
At the center of the battlefield, Rasa, Chiyo, and Ebizo suddenly spat out blood.
Their bodies convulsed, and then, as though their bones had been pulled from their bodies, the three collapsed limply to the ground like discarded snakeskins.
"I-Iron… Fist…"
Chiyo lay at the very center of the giant fist crater, her dim eyes filled only with terror and despair.
She had faced the Iron Fist directly, her shock and trauma dwarfed anything Maki, Tsunade, or the distant spectators could imagine.
"Did Sunagakure really dare to challenge… this mountain?"
Ebizo stared blankly up at the drifting white clouds in the sky. His pale face was filled only with bitter resignation and self-mockery.
"Make way… haha… I wanted Garp to make way for me… how ridiculous…"
Rasa lay inside the massive fist imprint, his expression unhinged. Strange, broken laughter spilled repeatedly from his blood-soaked mouth.
Hearing their Kazekage's mad laughter, stripped of reason, Chiyo, Ebizo, and every Sand shinobi present felt a wave of grief surge through their hearts.
They understood that Garp's Fist hadn't only shattered gold dust…
Hadn't only collapsed the desert…
Hadn't only ended a thousand Sand shinobi…
It had smashed to pieces all of Fourth Kazekage Rasa's pride, dignity, and spirit.
And of course.
It had ended the so-called "Third Shinobi World War" Sunagakure's three Kage-level elites had dared to start…
A game.