111: A hunk fell from the sky, no one can sleep tonight

A pure white cube spun silently in the palm of the short old man, like a doomsday star.

The surrounding air was still, yet it emitted a silent shriek, as if space itself was twisting and wailing under this terrifying energy.

"You want this old man's life?" Ōnoki's voice was as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing, "Then turn to dust and come take it from hell!"

He pushed his palms forward suddenly.

"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"

A blinding white light beam shot out with an unstoppable momentum.

It didn't cause an earth-shattering explosion, nor did it kick up a sky full of smoke and dust.

Wherever the light beam passed, whether it was sturdy buildings or wide streets, everything was completely disintegrated and annihilated in an instant, turning into the most primitive molecules, leaving not even a trace of ash.

The Raikage Building, which had stood for many years, along with several Iwagakure Ninja who were still frantically scavenging inside, disappeared silently.

A perfect, mirror-smooth, giant cylindrical void was thus forcibly erased from the map of Hidden Cloud Village.

As if there had never been anything there.

The fanaticism and greed on the Iwagakure Ninja's faces instantly froze, turning into bone-chilling horror.

They worshipped the Tsuchikage's power, but when this power indiscriminately obliterated even their own people, all that remained was fear.

"What the hell…" Omoi's lollipop dropped to the ground with a "plop," and he even forgot to pick it up, "If you get hit by that, there won't even be ashes left, right? I haven't even confessed to Karui yet, and I don't even have time to write a will!"

"Shut up, Omoi." Darui's usually lazy face was now filled with solemnity, his signature catchphrase gone, "This is the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki! Don't let fear break your spirit!"

"Everyone spread out! Execute the 'Lightning Net' plan!" Darui's voice was not loud, but it clearly spread across the battlefield, "Don't let him have a fixed target! Storm Release squad, frontal restraint! Everyone else, use Lightning Release to restrict his flight path!"

He clapped his hands together.

"Lightning Release: Black Panther!"

Two roaring black lightning panthers, with bulging muscles and crackling electricity, lunged out from two tricky angles, directly targeting the short figure in mid-air.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"

Kitsuchi's burly figure stood in front. He slammed his hands on the ground, and a massive rock wall carved with a ferocious dog's head rose from the earth, precisely blocking the two black lightning panthers.

Black lightning exploded, and rubble splattered. The rock wall was scorched black, but it ultimately wasn't pierced through.

"Father!" Kitsuchi reminded him in a deep voice.

"Nonsense!" Ōnoki felt a familiar sharp pain in his waist. He grunted, forcibly adjusted his flight posture, and dodged several lightning bolts shot from below.

These damned Kumogakure brutes are quick to react!

"Leave it to me!" Kitsuchi formed hand signs again, and earth-yellow Chakra surged into the ground like a tide.

"Earth Release: Earth Rising Excavation!"

The entire ground of Hidden Cloud Village began to shake violently.

Rumble—!

Rows of giant rock spikes emerged from underground without warning. The flat streets turned into rugged mountains, and new rock barriers rose beside towering buildings, scattering the Kumogakure Ninja's formation.

Kitsuchi, with his own strength, forcibly transformed the entire battlefield into a three-dimensional fortress most favorable to Iwagakure, especially to Ōnoki!

"Well done, Kitsuchi!" Ōnoki, using the cover of the rock pillars, avoided a round of concentrated fire, a hint of approval on his face.

The cooperation between father and son was seamless.

However, the destruction of Dust Release continued.

With another Detachment of the Primitive World Technique, half of the medical building instantly vanished. Precious medicinal herbs and scrolls turned into nothingness in the white light. Several Kumogakure medical Ninja attempting to rescue the injured disappeared without even having time to scream.

Blood and wails finally replaced the previous silence.

"Damn it!" Omoi's eyes instantly turned red as he looked at his comrades lying in pools of blood. He drew the long sword from his back, "Captain, this won't work! He'll tear the Village apart!"

"Storm Release: Laser Circus!"

Beams of laser-like lightning shot from his sword tip, bending and twisting in the air, chasing Ōnoki's figure like living things.

"Petty tricks!"

Ōnoki agilely flipped and soared in the air, dodging the lasers as if swatting mosquitoes.

But fine beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead.

With every extreme twist, the old injury in his waist felt like steel needles piercing him.

Age, after all, is unforgiving.

To dodge a Lightning Release attack from a blind spot, Ōnoki forcibly performed a sudden dive and roll in mid-air. The muscles on his face twitched unnaturally, and his left hand instinctively supported his lower back for a fleeting moment.

The movement was so fast it was almost imperceptible.

But Darui saw it.

His usually half-closed eyes suddenly sharpened.

So that's it, that's your weakness!

His strategy immediately changed.

"Everyone listen!" Darui's voice sounded again, with a hint of cunning laziness, "Don't confront him head-on, stall him! Use a war of attrition! Let him fly, let him dodge, let him keep twisting his waist!"

"Aim all your Ninjutsu at his most uncomfortable angles!"

"I want to see how long his old bones can last!"

Darui knew clearly that the Raikage was definitely on his way back!

As long as they dragged it out, victory would surely be Kumogakure's!

The Iwagakure breakthrough unit, under Kumogakure's tight encirclement, was battered and bruised.

Their proud Earth Release, in these continuous mountain ranges, became a hindrance. The Kumogakure Ninja, using the terrain to their advantage, like monkeys in the mountains, used an endless stream of Lightning Release Ninjutsu to trap them tightly.

"Damn it! We can't get out!"

"We're surrounded! Tsuchikage-sama!"

Desperate shouts, like knives, pierced Ōnoki's heart.

He looked down at his subordinates, who were being divided and surrounded, with increasing casualties. Then he looked up at the Kumogakure Ninja who were harassing him like maggots on bones. For the first time, a hint of anxiety mixed with the madness of destroying everything.

This brat named Darui… he saw through it?

"Tsuchikage-sama!" Kitsuchi's voice was urgent, "We can't keep fighting! If we drag this out any longer, not a single one of us will get out!"

Leave?

Ōnoki's pride would not allow him to flee like a stray dog.

But the reality was, his Chakra was rapidly depleting, the sharp pain in his waist was becoming more frequent, and in the distance, a sinister lightning glow seemed to be flickering on the horizon.

That was… A's Chakra!

He's back!

He looked down at the terrain transformed by his son, which had now become a cage and graveyard for the Iwagakure forces. His subordinates charged left and right, but were divided and surrounded. Every desperate cry was like a burning needle, piercing his already scarred heart.

He looked up again. The damned Kumogakure Ninja on the mountain peaks, like a pack of hyenas hunting, enjoyed this encirclement with mocking gazes and endless Lightning Release.

Anger and humiliation clashed in his chest, almost exploding.

"Father, your waist…" Kitsuchi's voice came from below. He had just used a rock wall to smash away some sneaking Kumogakure Ninja, his tone filled with barely suppressed urgency.

He saw it, a barely perceptible tremor in his father's body as he hovered in the air.

That was a sign that his body had reached its limit.

Kitsuchi's eyes darkened. A resolute thought fully formed in his mind.

If necessary, he would cover their retreat.

He would use the life of the Tsuchikage's son to buy a path to survival for his father, for the future of Iwagakure!

"Shut up!"

Ōnoki's roar even made the air hum. He didn't need sympathy, nor would he allow failure! His pride, his dignity as the Third Tsuchikage, would absolutely not allow him to flee with his tail between his legs like this!

His gaze, like a hawk's, locked onto the man in the distance.

Darui.

It was that lazy brat, those half-closed eyes, that saw through everything about him.

As long as he killed him, these headless flies would be nothing to fear!

"Brat… this old man will give you an eye-opener today!" Ōnoki's voice was hoarse and crazed, "Let you witness what the hell is called a 'Kage's' resolve!"

He slowly raised his hands, palms facing each other.

The Chakra in his body was completely drained, and then, a deeper power was forcibly extracted from every cell of his body. That was life, the root of his existence.

The sharp pain in his waist disappeared, replaced by an empty, cold numbness.

A pure white cube condensed in his palm.

It was larger than any previous Dust Release, its light blinding, its edges even slightly distorted due to the extreme instability of the energy. The surrounding air let out a groan of unbearable strain. Rocks, dust, all matter that approached it silently disintegrated and annihilated.

"Dust Release: Particle Detachment Technique!"

"Stop! Father!" Kitsuchi let out a shriek of utter horror.

That wasn't Ninjutsu, that was a forbidden technique of mutual destruction!

And it was at that moment.

A colossal shadow, without warning, enveloped the entire battlefield.

It wasn't clouds, nor was it night.

It was a deeper, more ominous darkness, carrying a bone-chilling coldness that instantly cooled the intense battlefield.

Everyone, whether they were the Iwagakure fighting to the death or the Kumogakure confident of victory, felt as if an invisible hand had gripped their throats, and instinctively looked up.

In the night sky, at some unknown point, several figures stood silently, suspended.

They wore black cloaks embroidered with ominous red clouds, like messengers from hell, looking down upon the human world.

The one leading them wore a bizarre orange spiral-patterned mask, leaving only a dark, empty hole.

There was no emotion in that hole, no pity, no anger, only emptiness. He stared indifferently at everything below, as if observing a trivial and ridiculous game of life and death that had nothing to do with him.

Who… are these people?!

This thought exploded simultaneously in the minds of Darui, Kitsuchi, and all conscious Ninja.

And at this very moment!

A blue lightning bolt, tearing through the night sky, streaked from the direction of the Land of Fire at a speed beyond the limit of vision!

Following closely behind was a terrifying sonic boom that seemed to shatter eardrums!

Boom—!!!

A roar of extreme fury, almost capable of collapsing heaven and earth, rolled in, carrying the boundless might of thunder!

"Ō—noki—!"

"You damned old man! How dare you destroy my Village!!!"

A! He's back!

Ōnoki's eyes, clouded from overdrawing his life force, contracted violently.

His gaze rapidly shifted between the mysterious figures in the sky and the enraged lightning bolt in the distance.

Powerful enemy!

Mortal enemy!

Unknown!

Just this less than one second of shock and deliberation.

The Particle Detachment Technique in his hand, on which he had staked everything and which was already out of control, went wild.

A white light beam that devoured all things, carrying the will to annihilate everything, ruthlessly blasted towards Darui below, who was also shocked by this sudden change!