Seeing the meteorite descending from the sky gradually come to a halt in midair, A gathered all the chakra in his body into his right hand.
Then he kicked off the ground with both feet, launching himself like a cannonball.
"Liger Bomb!"
Every muscle in A's body tightened as he drove his right fist into the meteorite.
A deafening bang rang out. A deep crater appeared in the side of the meteorite, followed by a web of spreading cracks.
Below, the Kumo shinobi also unleashed their strongest ninjutsu. For a moment, blinding light flooded the battlefield again, but this time their target was not Namikaze Kirito.
It was the meteorite hanging above their heads.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless explosions thundered one after another, and the meteorite began breaking apart into fragments. Even after being blasted apart, however, the blazing chunks still brought devastating destruction to the Kumo forces below.
Anyone who failed to dodge in time was crushed beneath the fragments, and the scorching heat burned through flesh in an instant, sometimes reducing people to charred corpses on the spot.
Even so, the Kumo shinobi continued attacking without hesitation.
It was as though all the fear and hatred they felt toward Namikaze Kirito had finally found an outlet.
Namikaze Kirito stood to the side, watching the scene with interest.
"Although I hate to ruin your enthusiasm, what are you planning to do about the second one, Ōnoki?"
Namikaze Kirito, who knew the original story, naturally understood that the falling meteorite could only be stopped if Ōnoki pushed himself to the limit. But stopping the first one alone had already been the old man's absolute best.
…
Behind the first meteorite, a second one tore through the clouds and came crashing down.
"—!"
Ōnoki sensed the shift above his head, but by then it was already too late to evade.
A tremendous roar exploded through the battlefield as the two meteorites collided. A transparent shockwave burst outward, directly blasting countless shinobi off their feet.
A and Ōnoki, who took the impact head-on, rolled their eyes back and were knocked unconscious by the sheer force of the collision, falling from the air.
At the same time, the shattered fragments from the collision rained down like a meteor shower.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground was smashed open into deep, steaming craters. The Kumo army suffered even more terribly. They had already been directly beneath the meteorites, still caught up in the desperate exhilaration of resisting them.
Then, in the very next second, all of that turned into a frantic struggle to survive.
But it was useless.
The meteorites covered far too wide an area, and the torrent of falling debris was impossible to avoid completely.
In just a few seconds, at least half of the Kumo shinobi had been killed or wounded.
Samui and Mabui led a group of elite shinobi to protect A and Ōnoki. They knew running was pointless. The attack's range was simply too vast.
All they could do was gather together and use defensive ninjutsu to endure this apocalyptic assault.
Across the battlefield, walls of Earth Style rose from the ground, wrapping around the shinobi for protection.
But the moment those defenses were struck by meteorite fragments, the earth walls shattered instantly, and the shinobi hiding inside were crushed along with them.
Only in the area where Samui and the others stood did the resistance barely hold. Several elite shinobi cast Earth Style one after another without pause, desperately trying to block the terrifying rain of falling stone.
Even if they wanted to escape underground with Earth Style, both A and Ōnoki were still unconscious.
They had no choice but to withstand this wave of destruction head-on.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fragments were still crashing down, yet Namikaze Kirito remained completely calm in midair. Unlike Uchiha Madara's Impure World Reincarnation body, which could regenerate even after being smashed apart by a meteorite, Kirito possessed no such immortal shell.
But with the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit and his Golden Rinnegan, he remained suspended in the sky with ease.
The falling debris seemed to have eyes of its own. The moment it neared Namikaze Kirito, it would automatically veer away.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the meteor shower came to an end.
The battlefield was left covered in shattered stone and deep craters. In some places, blackened rock still smoked, and molten lava could even be seen.
Most of the Kumo shinobi who had been killed or wounded were burned alive by the unbearable heat.
At the far edge of the battlefield, a mound of earth suddenly burst open, revealing the figures hidden inside.
Ōnoki and A were still sprawled on the ground, while the elite shinobi of Kumogakure collapsed nearby in utter exhaustion.
The defense from moments earlier had drained both their chakra and their physical strength to the limit.
Samui's chest rose and fell heavily. She was utterly spent, yet her beautiful eyes remained fixed coldly on Namikaze Kirito.
Kumogakure had all but been destroyed. More than half the forces they had brought had already become casualties, and the two Kage lay unconscious on the ground.
This alliance against Konoha had been completely crushed.
Namikaze Kirito slowly descended from the sky and looked down at Samui and the others.
"Do you hate me?" he asked indifferently. "Remember how you feel right now. This is what true defeat looks like."
"Namikaze Kirito!"
Hearing the casual indifference in his voice, Samui could no longer endure it. She gritted her teeth and tried to force herself up while gripping her short sword.
A flash of light passed.
Two fresh wounds opened across her smooth thighs, and blood immediately spilled out. Her body dropped back down, and she had to brace herself against the ground with both hands just to keep from collapsing completely.
Even then, she still tried to rise.
"You're still struggling?" Namikaze Kirito said as he looked at her. "Don't waste the effort. This isn't about willpower. From a structural standpoint, it's nearly impossible for you to stand right now."
After saying that, Namikaze Kirito continued walking forward as if nothing had happened.
Every Kumo shinobi who tried to charge him died before they even realized what had happened, collapsing to the ground one after another.
As the Raikage's secretary, Mabui watched everything in silence. Unlike Samui, whose anger was written plainly across her face, Mabui had maintained absolute composure the entire time.
Although her chakra had already been drained dry from the earlier defense, she still forced herself to remain upright.
Her thoughts were racing.
What exactly was Namikaze Kirito after?
From the situation before her, it was obvious that Namikaze Kirito could wipe all of them out with a casual wave of his hand.
But he had not done so.
That meant he had another purpose.
Mabui watched as Namikaze Kirito walked over to A and Ōnoki, then released a green life force from his right hand.
Not long after, the two slowly regained consciousness.
Their eyes were unfocused at first, but they quickly understood the situation.
Neither of them attacked recklessly.
They had already lost.
Even if they threw themselves at him again, there was no chance of victory left.
In that case, they might as well hear what Namikaze Kirito wanted.
"You two," Namikaze Kirito said calmly, looking at them, "this should be the first time we've met, so I won't waste time with nonsense. You already know why I'm here."
He paused, then spoke in a flat, unquestionable tone.
"Submit to me. That is my final warning to the two of you, and to the villages behind you."
A and Ōnoki looked at Namikaze Kirito's calm expression and immediately understood.
This was not a discussion.
It was simply a notice.
If they refused, what awaited them was total destruction.
"The village is already lost… submission won't change that. Namikaze Kirito… if you're going to kill me, then do it properly."
A's eyes had gone strangely quiet, as though he had already seen through life and death.
He knew Kumogakure had never escaped the earlier chakra cannon bombardment. And now, with the army he had personally brought here reduced to less than half its original number, there was almost nothing left to say.
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