Everyone had been caught in the explosion.
Although none of them had died on the spot, they had been scattered across the area.
Kakashi cautiously leaned halfway out from behind the ruins, his lone visible eye stretched wide.
He had witnessed countless brutal battlefields and seen many villages destroyed, but this...
An entire village had been wiped off the map, without even its foundations remaining.
It was his first time seeing anything like it.
The wreckage still burning, the rubble still smoking, the remains of buildings overturned by the shock wave...
Every detail reminded him of just how cruel war was and how insignificant human beings were in the face of it.
They had nearly died in there moments ago.
Elsewhere, Sasuke stood atop an enormous chunk of rubble. An unlit cigarette he had picked up from somewhere hung between his lips.
His legs were trembling. So were his hands.
His heart was pounding so violently that it felt ready to burst from his chest.
In a crater some distance away, Yugito's face was deathly pale.
The Two-Tails' chakra had already withdrawn into her body.
Her face showed no emotion, but something was clearly churning within those golden eyes.
Behind a reinforced earthen wall, Akatsuchi sat on the ground with his back resting against a slab of stone, gasping desperately for breath.
A piece of debris had torn open his left arm.
Blood dripped from his fingertips, yet he couldn't feel the pain.
At the highest point of the ruins, Guy stood surveying the destruction with his thick brows tightly furrowed.
Kurenai helped Ino climb out from beneath the rubble.
Ino's legs were shaking, and her face had gone pale.
She had never witnessed anything like this before.
Shikamaru leaned against a wall, staring blankly into the enormous crater.
Choji spat out the potato chips in his mouth.
His face turned ashen as he stared at the ruins.
At the center of the massive crater, Teizawa's dark golden robe snapped violently in the wind.
His body was covered in dust, and several thin cuts marked his face.
Yet his eyes remained bright, shining with undiminished vitality.
Mei stood beside him.
She was soaked from head to toe, and a faint smear of blood remained at the corner of her mouth.
"Amegakure..." Her voice was barely louder than a whisper, almost dreamlike. "It's really gone."
Teizawa said nothing.
He didn't know whether what he had done was right or wrong.
Perhaps there had never been a right or wrong answer.
He had simply done what needed to be done, said what needed to be said, and followed the path he had chosen.
The sky gradually brightened.
The dark clouds dispersed, and sunlight finally pierced through the dust, falling across the ruins.
The water at the bottom of the crater reflected a golden glow.
The shattered rocks, broken wreckage, and severed tentacles all revealed their final forms beneath the sunlight.
The war was over.
Amegakure was gone.
And a new era had only just begun.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was still standing.
But an enormous hole had been blasted straight through its chest and out its back. The edges were jagged, and black smoke continued to rise from the wound.
Its body trembled like a massive tree on the verge of collapse.
Its tentacles hung limply, sweeping back and forth across the ground and stirring clouds of dust into the air.
Its eyes were closed.
Those majestic eyes that had only just opened were now tightly shut, as though it had fallen asleep.
Or perhaps it was dying.
A mouthful of blood spilled from Nagato's lips.
His body shook violently atop the mechanical apparatus.
His face was so pale that it almost seemed translucent.
The light in his Rinnegan had dimmed to a flicker, like candles on the verge of going out.
His chest heaved violently.
Every breath seemed to demand all the strength remaining in his body.
"How... How is this possible...?"
His voice was rough, as though his throat were filled with sand.
"The Demonic Statue... How could it..."
He raised his head and stared at the clay bird still circling overhead.
Then he looked at the blond young man laughing wildly upon its back.
"Deidara... How... How could you possibly damage it...?"
It was hardly surprising that Nagato's composure had shattered.
After all...
The entirety of Amegakure was gone!
Quite literally, nothing remained.
Deidara stood atop the bird with his hands planted on his hips, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
"Hahaha! Who cares how huge it is? Who cares if it's the ultimate weapon? Before art, everything else is garbage!"
"Don't get so full of yourself!" Teizawa shouted from below. "If I hadn't added something to your bomb, do you really think that piece of junk could've damaged this thing?"
Deidara choked on his words.
He muttered something under his breath, then fell silent.
Nagato's body finally gave out.
He suddenly coughed up another mouthful of blood and toppled from the mechanical apparatus.
Konan immediately rushed forward and caught him.
Sheets of paper danced around her, forming a soft cushion beneath Nagato's falling body.
"Nagato..."
Her voice trembled with tears.
Nagato lay in her arms, his face as white as paper. His lips were cracked, and his eyes were deeply sunken.
He looked like a corpse whose insides had been completely hollowed out.
His Rinnegan remained half-open.
He watched Teizawa, that dark golden figure walking toward him through the rain.
"Who... are you... really?"
His voice was hoarse and weak.
Teizawa crouched before him and looked into his eyes, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
"Just a mortal who wants to change this world."
He smiled.
"Nagato, it looks like your plan isn't going to work."
Then, without warning...
A swirling vortex appeared behind Teizawa.
There had been no warning, no fluctuation of chakra.
For a fraction of a second, even the air seemed to stand still.
A black-gloved hand emerged from the vortex.
Its five fingers spread open, the palm aimed directly at Teizawa's back.
Chains shot from the man's sleeve.
Their tips were as sharp as spears, tearing through the air with a piercing shriek as they hurtled straight toward Teizawa.
It was an ambush.
Abrupt, sinister, and merciless.
It gave him no time to react and left him no room to evade.
Obito had chosen his moment perfectly.
Teizawa had just lowered his guard, and his attention was still focused on Nagato.
More than half of his chakra had been consumed during the previous battle and while guiding the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path into self-destruction.
Mei was several yards away.
Kakashi and the others had been scattered across the ruins by the explosion's shock wave. None of them could possibly reach him in time.
This was the perfect moment.
It was also Obito's only chance.
"Look out!"
Mei's voice tore through the rain, sharp and frantic with fear and despair.
She lunged toward Teizawa.
But she was too far away.
She couldn't outrun the chains or the masked man who appeared and vanished like a ghost.
Her fingers barely brushed the edge of Teizawa's robe, but she failed to grasp it.
"Got you."
Obito's sinister voice came from behind his mask, thick with barely contained triumph and satisfaction.
The chains passed straight through Teizawa's body.
(End of Chapter)
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