[A/N: Sorry for the radio silence, as I previously said, I started writing this at a very bad time.....
Anyways, I'm still trying to break out of my habit of not writing in much detail, courtesy of short word limits on English writing skills in school and so, this chapter I tried going into more detail]
[A/N: I updated the monologue of the man in the previous chapter. Also, I won't say much but..... there's a reason behind pretty much everything I write in this fic... do not worry, you will understand one day.....]
"Serious Series: ...
.... God's Annhilating Wrath!!!"
As soon as the voice echoed in the head's of every ninja present, they saw..... a massive ball of chakra descending down on them.
Everyone present froze up.
While it was a rare and valuable skill to be able to fly, it wasn't really much to worry about compared to the Uzumaki.
However.... The attack coming down on them just then.... even civilians would be able to instinctually tell.... they were going to die.
There was something off about the massive ball of mass destruction coming down on them, though no one could put their finger on it. Not that the matter was of any concern to them at that moment.
"R-Run!..... RUUUUNNN!!!"
Several cries broke out, they were deafening due to the sheer number of people present however, fleeing for their lives was much more important to them.
Being shinobi, pretty much none of them would have ever reacted this way to eminent death. But.... this was somehow different than the countless times the ninja present had faced death.
Gamamaru, being high up in the sky and being a sage, he could see the gargantuan size of the ball and the fact that it was almost entirely composed of nature chakra. He could detect the strange particles that were contained in numerous incredibly small clusters, much smaller than a dust particle, suspended in the massive ball of chakra.
The surprising thing was.... The man couldn't be sensed by the ninja because they couldn't sense nature energy. Even he, who called himself the great sage and yet.... he couldn't even fathom what the man had just done.
He had.... become one with nature in the truest sense of the word. His chakra.... it had become nature chakra.
This was completely different than what 'sages' like him did. They took in nature chakra and mixed it with their own.
Every conscious being had a distinct chakra signature, while the animals whose conscious wasn't strong enough or, didn't have one like plants, had the chakra signature of the world, nature chakra.
It was an inherent property that couldn't be changed.... or so he thought.
That attack wasn't anything to scoff at. While he couldn't tell the purpose of those strange particles, even just the massive amount of chakra that was being mobilized was tremendous. And that wasn't even the most terrifying part.....
The ball of nature chakra was.... collecting more nature chakra as it went along, growing in size until the point where it would've overshadowed a tenth of the shinobi forces had it been opaque.
Gamamaru couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the humans below him. Of course, dying was a part of a shinobi's life, and all who lived it knew that fact very well. However, the sad part was that they didn't even have the chance to escape, much less resist.
Just as Gamamaru came out of his musings, the ball finally approached the ground, it had been just a few seconds since the man had said the name of the attack for all to hear.
The ninjas tried their best to run away as fast as possible, to escape their imminent deaths and yet.... it was all for naught.
The giant ball of death and destruction finally made contact, releasing a light so brilliant it blinded even Gamamaru who was high up in the skies.
Then, a series of powerful shock waves emerged, spreading out at speeds no ordinary ninja could react to.
The water reacted quite weirdly..... instead of the normal way it reacts when something is dropped in, when the terrifying attack came into contact with the water, it simply disappeared, as if it had never existed in the first place.
At first, Gamamaru wasn't much shocked by the results of the attack, after sensing how much nature chakra it had, not to mention the amount it was absorbing along the way.
However, the surprises didn't stop coming, the sound waves he had initially dismissed were.... well it was hard to believe or expression in words.....
Whoever, or for that matter, whatever the sound waves touched.... they disappeared.... erased from existence. It was like they never existed in the first place, the only thing that could indicate them ever existing was the consequent light and shock waves that emerged as they were..... annihilated.
It was a massive and horrifyingly magnificent chain reaction! While the attack was enormous by normal standards, it covered but a tenth of the space where the shinobi stood.
The ninjas near the edges of the massive army were hopeful of their escape initially, after all, even if the attack covered a tenth of the army, so what? It surely wouldn't reach them!
Of course, that was merely their desperate minds looking for hope in the face of inevitable death and their wishes weren't granted.
The chain reaction continued, unstoppable. It tore through the ranks of the army, every single moment, thousands were eviscerated. Erased from existence.... Annihilated.
The S Rankers were the first to break out of their fear induced stupor and shouted for everyone to escape as fast as possible.
The Kage all looked at Onoki, The Tsuchikage and he nodded in grim acknowledgement.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!" Onoki shouted in exertion as he used his Light Weight Rock technique on a mass level, to effect all the ninjas close to him, which were all the strongest people among the army's ranks.
"NOW!" Yelled the Raikage, though there was no need, as soon as everyone felt their bodies becoming lighter, they immediately used their fastest techniques.
The Kumo S Rankers along with the Raikage all activated their lightning cloak and vanished, while everyone else used various jutsus like the shunshin.
It was truly a race against death. The expanding shockwave along with the Annhilating attack was right behind them.
Unfortunately, not everyone was so fast, and the devastating combination caught up with them. They were going to die.
"AKIRA!! NOOOO!!!!
"Run faster you bastard!!"
Several shouts broke out as the ninjas witnessed their friends being swallowed by the jaws of death.
The ninjas about to die just smiled with acceptance and without exception, all yelled something along the lines of, "Survive!"
Although their hearts felt empty, they stole their resolve and never for a moment stopped running as fast as they could.
Just as the ninjas had given gave up, The Kazekage screamed, "Puppet Brigade!!"
As soon as the shinobi mentioned heard their leader give them the signal, they shot out dense chakra strings from their hands.
The ninja who had already given up on living on, were all grabbed by several dozen chakra strings, which were noticeably denser and larger than normal.
Even with that... not all managed to make it out alive.
The ones who escaped were saved from the clutches of death..... temporarily, that is.
There was no time for relief, no time to look back, no time to grieve over the fallen...
They had to live. It was their duty to their deceased comrades who had sacrificed themselves so that they could live on.
And so, they kept on running. Running as fast as they could.
Tears and sweat flowed from every ninja as they ran for their lives.
Each second stretched into eternity, each moment they thought they were going to die....
Although, there was some good news, the deadliness of the shockwave didn't last for too long, only a measly 500 kms...
As soon as they deemed the shockwave to be weak enough, all of them started using various defensive jutsus which they could use instantaneously, most were water jutsus, considering they were still running over the water.
After another few dozen kilometers, the shockwave finally dispersed, and they were overcome with relief and joy at being alive....
"Let's goooooo!!! We survived!!"
"Oh my god! I can't believe it.... we managed to escape!"
Several relieved shouts came from the ninjas.
Although.... it may have been too soon to celebrate.....
Soon enough, the bad news also became evident.
Several shouts emerged among the chatter, "Tsunami!! RUUUNN!!!"
Everyone looked in the direction they had been running away from and saw it.
A humongous tsunami, the proportions of which were frankly absurd. It spanned across the horizon, stretching farther than they could see.
And it was... more than a 1 kilometer in height...
"Shit! All units, ATTACK!!" The Kage ordered in haste.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!!!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball"
"Wind Release: Swift Wind Wall"
"Fire Release: Great Flame Flower!!!"
"Wind Release: Beast Tearing Gale Palm!!"
"Fire Release: Hiding in Ash and Dust!!!"
"Wind Release: Whispers of the Wind!!!"
"Fire Release: Flame Stream!!!"
"Wind Release: Divine Mountain Wind!"
"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower!"
"Wind Release: Air Bullets!!"
"Fire Release: Burning Embers!"
"Wind Release: Flower Scattering Dance!"
"Fire Release: Great Flame!"
"Wind Release: Violent Whirlwind!"
"Scorch Release: Arrow of Apollo!!"
"Boil Release: Steam Explosion!!"
"Scorch Release: Incinerating Flare!!"
"Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder!"
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World!!!"
Several dozen S Rank jutsu, a couple hundred A Rank Jutsu and even a few Kekkei Genkai jutsu as well as Kekkei Tota were thrown at the towering tsunami.
Facing such an assault, even the kilometer tall tsunami was turned into steam, along with whatever water would've followed it.
Although, that was only the water facing them, stretching across the horizon, similarly sized waves were heading towards their countries.
Now, although The Land of Whirlpools was a ways away from even the closest nation, such a massive tsunami would drown any coastal nations.
Namely, the Fire and Water Nations.
Of course, they couldn't just let such waves hit land, otherwise, it would be a catastrophe, and potentially, millions would die.
No one wanted that, especially considering that not a lot of the Hidden Villages would be hit in the first place, where there was the majority of ninja population, they also left their Jinchuriki there, not only to guard the village, but to also keep them away from the Uzumaki.
But, If a tremendous amount of citizens died, the Hidden Villages would not forget so easily, and they wouldn't lose many shinobi and could seek revenge against other Villages if they didn't help them protect their lands at this time.
And so, everyone agreed to split up into two groups, one heading towards the Land of Fire and one heading towards the Land of Water.
.....
While the strongest among them, the S Rankers, Elite Jounin and a majority of the Jounin had barely escaped, most weren't so lucky.
The once fear inducing army, boasting 120 Thousand ninjas had been obliterated.
100 Thousand people died. Wiped out, in one attack.
While this happened, back with Gamamaru and the man in the coat, something interesting occurred as well.
The man in the coat, who would later be come to be known as..... The Annihilator, stood on air, looking down at the carnage his attack had caused.
Gamamaru, watching all of this was too stunned to even think coherently.
However, he calmed down a little after seeing that atleast 15 to 20 Thousand people had managed to escape alive.
Gamamaru slowly turned his head towards the man standing on air, nonchalantly as if he hadn't just killed 100 Thousand people.
Although..... there was something about him now, different from before. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something had changed.
Was it because he had just killed an egregious amount of people?
The man hadn't moved a single muscle after releasing his attack, so, Gamamaru was a bit startled when his hand slowly came upto his mask.
The Grim Reaper like mask was finally removed. But that wasn't what Gamamaru's attention was on.
He felt a chill running down his spine, because..... The man was looking..... directly at him.
He was a handsome man, with clear white skin, black hair and eyes and a chiseled face. His expression however, was melancholic, as if he hadn't wanted to do what he did.
(Image)
"Gamamaru-san..."
His eyes widened, there was no denying it.... he knew about him.
The man turned away from him and looked up at the sky and continued, "..... do not worry. I have stayed true to my purpose."
He turned back to face Gamamaru and said with a slight smile, "You will understand my words some day."
Just as Gamamaru was about to ask him to elaborate, the man cut him off and finished, "Now, I'm afraid you have overstayed your welcome here, Gamamaru-san....."
As he said this, he brought his hand up and pressed his thumb against his middle finger as if about to snap and continued,
"You have to return now, Gamamaru-san, fret not, it will all work out... I will make sure it does." As soon as he finished, he snapped his fingers and Gamamaru felt the familiar pull of waking up.
××××××××××××××
Mount Myoboku
The Great Toad Sage, Gamamaru who usually slept 24/7 could be seen suddenly snapping his eyes open and visibly panting.
"W-what was that? How did that young man see me?"