And at that moment, the immense azure rainbow, carrying with it endless storms and torrential rain, crashed downward under the horrified gazes of the Kirigakure ninja below.
Boom!!!
Amid a world-shaking explosion that seemed to tear apart the heavens themselves, the earth trembled violently.
Centered on the impact point, the ground was smashed apart and pierced through.
Countless cracks spread in every direction like a gigantic spiderweb.
Wave after wave of shockwaves spread repeatedly across the surface.
The violent upheaval created the illusion of raging ocean waves.
Endless amounts of soil, broken stone, shattered steel, and concrete erupted into the sky like a tidal surge.
After soaring hundreds of meters high, they exploded outward like flowers of death.
The entire Rinkai City, the largest coastal city on the southeastern shore of the Land of Fire, collapsed completely beneath this single strike.
The city walls crumbled, buildings were pulverized, streets were overturned into chaotic ruins, and the once-prosperous harbor and orderly urban districts were irreversibly transformed into a sea of rubble and broken debris.
Farther away, the Kirigakure ninjas that were rushing toward Rinkai City to provide reinforcements after hearing the commotion involuntarily stopped in their tracks and stared blankly at the scene; their eyes were filled with disbelief.
In one strike, the city was destroyed, and the mountains were shattered.
The terrifying, destructive power carried by the might of nature within Shinichi Higashino's attack was evident for all to see.
The Fire Daimyo would never have imagined that the great coastal city would ultimately not be destroyed by enemy occupation or sabotage.
Instead, it was destroyed by its own side.
One could only wonder what kind of expression he would have after learning of this in the future.
...
Above the ruins of Rinkai City.
Within the endless dust, Shinichi took several heavy breaths, then, lowering his head, he looked somewhat regretfully at the Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords in his hands, now reduced to fragments.
This divine weapon ultimately failed to withstand the overwhelming power of heaven and earth, which far exceeded its limits.
"The old must go before the new can come."
Shinichi took a deep breath, carefully put away all the fragments, then raised his head.
On the other side, Yagura violently shoved aside the half-collapsed eave that was pinning him down and climbed back to his feet through the gaps between rubble and broken beams.
After coughing a few times, his gaze slowly swept across this once-prosperous Rinkai City. Now, all that remained were endless stretches of shattered bricks and ruins, along with trails of black smoke rising from cracks in the ground.
As he stood up, people also began crawling out one after another from the ruins scattered throughout the city that had been reduced to rubble.
However, there were not many of them!
One here, one there, emerging sparsely from the wreckage like ants whose nest had been destroyed by a torrential downpour.
A rough estimate put the number at barely over a thousand.
As for the area directly beneath and around the point of impact, not a single person rose again.
In other words, from that one strike alone, of the three thousand Kirigakure ninja stationed in the city, nearly two thousand were missing, with their fate unknown.
"Yagura-sama!"
The surviving Kirigakure ninja quickly gathered around him, each still wearing the dazed expression of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
Yagura's face was as dark as water, then he slowly swept his gaze across the remaining subordinates and was about to speak.
At that moment, a series of dense movements from the distant forest interrupted him.
Countless dark figures burst out from the darkness at the edge of the woods, advancing toward the ruins of Rinkai City like a rising tide.
The ninjas from Konoha had arrived.
Seeing this, Yagura's expression darkened even further. He opened his mouth again, intending to issue orders, but from the point of impact, another disturbance sounded, interrupting him once more.
A blue glow suddenly emerged from the deepest part of the ruins, and immediately afterward, a figure slowly rose from within that light.
The figure rose higher and faster every second, his robes flapping loudly in the wind, yet his body remained as steady as a mountain.
The torrential rain had not even touched the corner of his clothes before being deflected away by the invisible currents surrounding him.
It was Shinichi Higashino.
Finally, under the uncertain and astonished gazes of the crowd, his figure rose until he was nearly level with the clouds before finally stopping.
Behind him, within the clouds, countless blue-white bolts of lightning writhed and collided like frenzied silver whips, illuminating half the sky in alternating flashes of light and darkness.
Thunder rolled endlessly, one peal louder than the last.
It sounded like countless armies beating war drums upon the clouds.
And the young man hovered directly before that storm of lightning.
The endless lightning spread out behind him like a pair of gigantic wings woven from thunder itself, or like a colossal curtain of lightning slowly unfolding.
Yagura tilted his head upward and stared fixedly at the figure suspended amidst boundless thunder.
After taking a deep breath, he tried to speak for the fourth time.
He wanted to order his subordinates to deal with the approaching Konoha forces, while he himself kept watch over the obviously abnormal Shinichi Higashino high in the sky, but all he could do was watch, because he had no ability to fly and his Ninjutsu could not reach that altitude.
Other than watching, there was nothing he could do.
But, at this very moment, a clear youthful voice descended from the heavens, seeming to pierce through the raging winds and thunder, echoing across the entire world.
"Endless Skies!"
Everyone instinctively looked up toward the blue-white heavens stained by lightning.
There, the figure in the sky slowly spread his arms.
His black hair danced wildly in the gale while his posture remained calm and solitary.
He resembled an immortal who stood alone atop the highest heavens, overlooking ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers!
As his arms spread wide, the churning thunderclouds behind him seemed to receive a silent command.
Countless flashes of lightning surged forth simultaneously from the depths of the clouds, one after another.
It unfolds behind him into a vast and boundless sea of thunderous stars.
The brilliance was so intense that every detail of the ruined city below became visible.
The scene resembled the gates of heaven bursting open behind him.
Ten thousand rays of lightning paved his path.
The lightning of the nine heavens became his wings, and with both arms spread wide, he appeared as though he were welcoming the worship of countless bolts of lightning.
Seeing this, an unmistakable sense of danger exploded within Yagura's heart, and he immediately shouted: "Look out!!!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the young man's hands in the sky had already shifted from being spread apart to one forward and one back.
The index and middle fingers of both hands were pressed together, forming a sword seal.
The movement was graceful and unhurried, then he suddenly pointed downward, directly at Yagura's location.
"Sword Sweeping the Rivers and Mountains!"
The instant those words fell, a phenomenon appeared!
Clang!!!
A thunderous sword cry of lightning, clear to the extreme and seemingly capable of piercing the soul itself, erupted from the center of the heavens!
Then came a second, third, tenth, and the hundredth!
A series of thunderous sounds, like the clanging of metal against metal, rolled out from the depths of the clouds, as if a thousand troops were drawing their swords atop the clouds, the buzzing sound sweeping across the entire world!