Of course, Shinichi understood that compared to destroying a few insignificant logistics outposts, having Minato remain on the main battlefield would have a far greater impact on the overall situation, thanks to the harvest efficiency of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
But if that happened, Minato's role in this grand performance would rise to that of the second male lead.
And in Shinichi's mind, this grand performance could have only one absolute protagonist, and there was no need for any second male lead to share the spotlight.
Even supporting characters should be reduced.
Upon hearing this, Minato Namikaze was about to speak when Shikaku Nara interrupted first.
"Captain Shinichi! This is far too risky and completely inappropriate!"
Using nature's wrath? Employing human power to control heavenly might? Was that something humans could truly accomplish?
If anything went wrong, the consequences would be unimaginable!
"Shikaku."
Koharu Utatane interrupted him, looking directly at Shinichi. She asked only one question in a deep voice: "Are you confident, Shinichi?"
Shinichi nodded.
"Yes."
The answer was simple.
Hearing this, Koharu Utatane turned to Homura Mitokado.
Without speaking, Homura Mitokado merely nodded slightly.
Seeing this, she turned back and declared: "Good. Then we'll proceed with it."
"Shikaku, pass down the orders."
"All units are to make preparations."
"Three days from now, after Shinichi acts, immediately coordinate with him and launch the final offensive together!"
Shikaku Nara opened his mouth.
In the end, however, he swallowed the words that had reached his lips and nodded heavily.
"Understood."
...
Three days later, the wind surged forward like ten thousand galloping horses from beyond the horizon.
The torrential rain transformed into countless airborne water bullets, relentlessly battering everything in its path, and although it was noon, the sky was as dark as night.
The lead-gray cloud layer hung so low that it seemed within reach, covering the entire world in a gloomy gray darkness.
At Rinkai City, in the city lord's manor, Yagura stood before a window, gazing toward the sea.
According to their continuous meteorological observations and calculations over the past few days, the typhoon will indeed make landfall today.
However, it would not directly strike Rinkai City or the surrounding area.
According to the estimated path, this region would only be brushed by the outer edge of the typhoon and would suffer only some limited effects.
Those areas that might truly suffer significant losses had already been ordered evacuated by him in advance.
In other words, this fierce incoming typhoon would not pose any substantial threat to them, and if one had to point out a loss, at most it would only delay operations for a day or two.
But deep in Yagura's heart, there was always a faint uneasiness that he could neither explain nor understand.
After pondering for a moment, he pushed open the door and walked toward the city wall. He wanted to see with his own eyes where this sense of unease was coming from, or rather, what exactly he had overlooked.
Hyakume Sosuke looked at Yagura's back, pondered for a moment, then followed after him.
To the east, over the boundless sea, the typhoon was approaching.
At first, it was only a faint black line stretching across the horizon, but within moments, it had transformed into an ink-black wall reaching from heaven to earth.
The clouds rolled, piled up, and compressed forward, pressing lower with every passing second.
The sea surface was torn into countless fragments by an invisible force. Towering waves surged like moving mountains, crashing endlessly against the shore. The white foam thrown up by the impact was swept into the sky by violent winds, mixing with the pouring rain until it was impossible to tell where the sea ended, and the sky began.
Right in front of this wrath of heaven and earth stood a lone figure suspended between sea and sky; it was Shinichi Higashino.
Standing with his hands behind his back, his robes fluttered wildly in the gale, yet his body remained as steady as a rock.
Two azure longswords floated up beside him. Their blades trembled slightly and began circling around him. Their rotation grew faster and faster until, within a few seconds, they became two intertwined azure rings of light, producing a continuous howl of wind.
The next moment, the azure light around Shinichi suddenly brightened.
His body shot into the sky, transforming into a straight azure rainbow while dragging behind him a colossal vortex of storm winds. He resembled a spear hurled by a god as he violently pierced through the endless curtain of rain and rolling clouds, sweeping toward the southeastern coast of the Land of Fire, disappearing into the horizon where sea and sky met in the blink of an eye.
However, as he continued surging forward, the Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords circling around him emitted strained humming sounds as fine cracks had even begun appearing across the surfaces of the blades.
Even Shinichi himself felt extremely uncomfortable, his face gradually turned somewhat pale.
How could the power of nature be so easily controlled?
The energy contained within a violent typhoon surpassed that of the atomic bombs from his previous life by who knew how many times.
Even Shinichi, at this moment, relying on the Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords, a weapon that could be called a divine tool for Wind Style, could only barely harness a tiny, insignificant fraction of the typhoon's power.
Only enough to alter its path slightly.
Only enough to make an extremely tiny portion of its overwhelming destructive force serve his own purposes.
But even that tiny fraction contained astonishing power.
A short while later, at the Land of Waves.
The winds howled, rain poured, and thunder roared without end.
Yet every sound filling heaven and earth was suddenly overshadowed by an azure rainbow streaking across the eastern horizon.
The azure rainbow surged forward with overwhelming momentum, like a force piercing through the sun itself.
For a time, only the thunderous sound of it tearing through the air echoed across the entire sky, suppressing even the dense peals of thunder.
Where the azure rainbow passed, even heaven and earth themselves seemed intimidated by its might.
The rolling clouds on both sides were split apart by an invisible blade, rolling backward and leaving behind a vacuum passage that stretched across the horizon, lingering there for a long time.
What descended from the sky was an invisible pressure as heavy as mountains.
Every citizen of the Land of Waves who witnessed this scene trembled uncontrollably.
Some even dropped to their knees involuntarily, unable to muster the courage to raise their heads.
Within a certain forest, Minato Namikaze looked up as the azure rainbow streaked across the sky overhead.
Then, after taking a deep breath, he turned to Hiashi Hyuga, whose expression was equally grave, and said in a deep voice: "Shinichi has begun! Hiashi, let's prepare to move."
"Mm."
Hiashi Hyuga withdrew his gaze from his Byakugan and nodded solemnly.