"Hey, you brats—don't overthink it," the short old man, the Third Tsuchikage, floated in midair as he explained what he knew to the shinobi of his village.
"That technique was an S-rank forbidden jutsu developed by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. It uses the souls of the dead as a medium—an Edo Tensei army. The resurrected obey the caster absolutely, retain the memories they had in life, and can use all of their original jutsu. Even though their strength is greatly reduced by chakra limitations, as long as the soul isn't destroyed, the undead soldiers created by Edo Tensei don't have such a thing as death…"
The implication was obvious: you kids don't know a thing, yet you're worrying about nonsense!!
Is this even a matter of whether you can bring yourself to strike?
Damn it! This fight is impossible. Sending more people would be pointless. No wonder such a massive formation was used to face just four of them.
And in the footage, everyone except himself and that young Kazekage had retreated into the protection zone formed by the two of them.
The future…
The Fourth Shinobi World War…
Even an old monster like him, who had lived through the first three great wars, couldn't help but think—
There was no chance of victory.
["They stopped."]
Yeah. They finally stopped. The people watching outside the footage thought the same.
The sand waves churned up by the chakra of two generations of Kazekage had been absolutely terrifying!! Even through the projection, they could feel the shockwaves from the collision of those two forces!!
[In the footage, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, looked up.]
[Gold dust and sand collided, forming a vast, boundless sea of sand!! This was a clash between Kage—earth-shattering and awe-inspiring!!]
[Standing atop the sea of sand, using clumps of sand as footholds, was Rasa's youngest son—Gaara. The child he, as Kazekage, had personally turned into a weapon for the village…]
[What puzzled Rasa was this: the very first move had been the use of Shukaku's power—the False Sleep Technique—so why was Gaara still standing there in a human form?]
"Yare yare… these youngsters just keep getting more and more impressive," Ōnoki said, acknowledging both generations of Kazekage as an elder.
What he hadn't expected was that the very next moment, the footage would show a jutsu clash between himself and his own elder—his teacher, the Second Tsuchikage, Mū.
["Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World!"]
["Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World!!"][
[A cylindrical beam and a conical beam of milky-white light slammed into each other—like a silent, smokeless nuclear blast—erupting into a massive, blinding white flash.]
[Everything engulfed by the light vanished without exception…]
[A gigantic spherical crater appeared at the site!]
[Compared to the sand sea formed by the two Kazekage moments earlier, and even the columnar rock mountains buried beneath the dunes, the white light in the footage was so pure it seemed holy. Whatever it touched—no matter what it was—was more fragile than tofu under the effects of "Detachment of the Primitive World."]
At the daimyo's palace—
The Fire Country daimyo's hand trembled, and his spoon slipped, dropping onto the delicate dessert and scooping away most of it in a neat arc.
He looked down at the soft, smooth treat. Compared to that enormous rock mountain in the footage, it probably wasn't much different—under Dust Release, those rocks were sturdier than the dessert in his hand…
"So this is the power of shinobi… How terrifying!!"
As a daimyo, he rarely left the capital, and he was always protected by the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
Because he was far removed from war, he had never truly seen the real strength of shinobi—or the resolve with which they would risk their lives to protect what stood behind them.
"My lord, perhaps you should leave. Why keep watching these barbarians?"
The daimyo hesitated. After all, it was only an image—it couldn't really hurt him. And if he was just watching…
It was kind of thrilling?!
Hmm… the next time the Hokage came to request budget approval, maybe he should be a little more generous?
He just hoped that particularly scary-looking man wouldn't come near him. He was honestly a bit afraid of that one.
Thinking about it made the Fire Country daimyo feel a little aggrieved.
…
Unlike the daimyo, there's a saying: amateurs watch the spectacle, professionals watch the technique.
The shinobi watching outside the footage rarely had the chance to witness the full might of Kage-level combat. From childhood, they had been taught—by village tradition—to revere the Kage, obey the Kage, and idolize the Kage.
"It's just…" more terrifying.
"They're not even on the same level."
A jōnin from one village muttered bitterly.
"At the back, we're not really participating in the battle. We're just getting in the way—and still need the Kage to protect us."
Unlike the gloom hanging over Sunagakure(Hidden Sand), Iwagakure(Hidden Stone) was buzzing with excitement thanks to having a Kage as powerful as Ōnoki.
"As expected of the Tsuchikage-sama!"
"The grandson of the First Tsuchikage, the student of the Second Tsuchikage! The Third truly deserves to be called the strongest in the shinobi world!"
Faced with the trust and praise of his juniors, Ōnoki saw things clearly.
"That man… was my teacher."
[Just as Ōnoki outside the footage thought, faced with the Edo Tensei Fourth Kazekage and the Edo Tensei Second Tsuchikage, neither Gaara nor Ōnoki managed to gain even the slightest advantage.]
[A girl from Sunagakure clutched at her chest anxiously. "Gaara-sama…"]
[Temari, the kunoichi from Suna with the massive fan on her back, commanded the allied shinobi behind her not to act rashly.]
[Gengetsu Hōzuki looked at the short old man floating in the air. "Dust Release just like Mū's, huh? Hey, hey—don't tell me you're Ōnoki, that little brat? This feels like time travel or something."]
The Iwagakure(Stone) shinobi looked at their famously long-lived Tsuchikage. "…L-little… what? The wind was too loud—we didn't hear that."
The Kirigakure(Hidden Mist) shinobi sighed. "Second-sama… still the same as ever…"
The real battle wasn't fast. From the moment the footage showed the allied shinobi and the two Kage confronting the four figures slowly approaching from afar, a fair amount of time had already passed.
Konoha's Team Seven—Naruto, Sasuke (unconscious), and Sakura—and Suna's trio—Gaara, Temari, and Kankurō—arrived at the edge of Central Tower, just in time to clearly see the projection.
And just in time, they heard the next words spoken by the commander of the allied shinobi forces in the footage—
["Father… it's been a long time," Gaara, the Kazekage three years later, greeted him in a stiff voice.]
[His father was far more direct. Seeing his son after so long, his very first words were: "Gaara! Where is Shukaku?!"]
[The tone was accusatory.]
[Exactly the tone a village's Kage would use when questioning a subordinate: As Shukaku's vessel—the jinchūriki of Sunagakure—where did Shukaku go?!]