"The mist… it's really dispersing…!"
"Does that mean their battle, and the war in the Land of Water, is about to end?"
Sensing that the thick fog blanketing the battlefield, no, even the entire sky, was truly beginning to recede, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and the other Konoha shinobi no longer had the mind to mull over whatever message Kushina had brought back from the seal space.
Their eyes widened, necks stretching as they lifted their heads as high as they could.
The words of the Three-Tails Isobu and the Nine-Tails had left them deeply uneasy.
Every sensory-type shinobi pushed their perception to its absolute limit.
Every Hyuga with Byakugan, every Uchiha with Sharingan, all of them had their eyes opened so wide they looked like ox-eyes.
"Look! The mist… it's strange!"
"It's not dispersing, it's splitting apart!"
"It looks like a sheet of white paper being torn forcefully down the middle!"
Under countless bewildered gazes, the Konoha shinobi standing outside the clash noticed something terrifying, the fog wasn't thinning, and their vision wasn't gradually clearing.
Instead… it looked as if an unseen giant hand were forcibly pulling the thick haze apart, creating a deep rift that revealed the scene hidden within.
Following the line of that split haze, they saw Garp, who had previously vanished… and the Third Mizukage.
But the man standing atop the giant clam now looked as though he had just endured something unspeakably horrific.
His face was twisted with terror, his eyes blank as he stared upward into the sky.
Seeing this, Tsunade, Might Duy, and the rest of the Konoha shinobi instinctively followed the Third Mizukage's gaze.
"Ah…"
A great number of Konoha shinobi looked as though they had been struck by the same horrifying realization at the exact same moment.
Terror instantly overtook their expressions, and a wave of frantic, sharp, panic-filled screams erupted across the battlefield.
Whether they were Konoha nin or the Mist shinobi who had already withdrawn and were on their way back to Kirigakure, every single one of them froze in place, staring up at the skies in fear.
They stared at the endless sky… at the colossal fissure carved into the vault of sky, bottomless, endless, stretching beyond the reach of sight.
A single chilling thought surfaced in everyone's mind,
The sky over the Land of Water… has cracked open!
Even more terrifying was the fact that the massive rift looming overhead looked like some insatiable beast, an ancient glutton that could never be filled.
Its maw was wide open as it ravenously swallowed every cloud and every wisp of mist above the Land of Water, as though it wouldn't stop until it devoured the entire sky itself.
"Have you ever witnessed the fist of the Hero of the Shinobi World, one that can tear open the sky, or the kick that can cleave the sea?"
The very words the Third Mizukage had screamed in panic not long ago rose uncontrollably in the hearts of every shinobi who saw this world shattering crack.
Whether it was ordinary genin and chunin like Might Guy, Morino Ibiki, Anko, or Ebisu.
Or elites such as Orochimaru, Kushina, Tsunade, Fugaku, jonin in name, yet possessing strength approaching that of the Five Kage.
Every single one of them felt a bone-deep chill surge up from the soles of their feet, running all the way to their skulls. Their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
Some of the weaker Konoha and Mist shinobi, whether from sheer terror, psychological collapse, or the suffocating pressure left lingering in the air from Garp's punch, pressure as crushing as the deepest ocean, simply couldn't withstand it.
Their eyes rolled back, snot dripped from their noses, their bodies convulsed, and they collapsed unconscious on the ground.
And these weren't just one or two shinobi.
There were many.
Konoha shinobi collapsed. Mist shinobi collapsed.
"Move… move! Take the unconscious and fall back to the village immediately!"
Despite having already retreated far from the battlefield, Yagura still saw Mist shinobi dropping one after another beside him.
A violent shudder ran through him, then he gathered every ounce of strength he had and roared at the pale-faced, trembling Mist shinobi around him.
"…"
Mei, Ao, Zabuza, Kisame, they all said nothing. Whether they didn't dare to speak or were simply too terrified to even form words was unclear.
But Yagura's sharp, almost shrill scream snapped them into motion.
They bolted toward Kirigakure with desperate, stumbling steps, as if nine enraged Tailed Beasts were chasing them, ready to tear them apart.
After witnessing such an indescribably terrifying phenomenon, they had forgotten even their Mizukage's resolve to die with dignity.
Right now, driven purely by instinct, there was only one thought left in their hearts.
Run.
Get away from Garp.
Get away from the battlefield.
Get away from the cracked sky above the Land of Water, put as much distance as possible between themselves and that nightmare.
Only by returning to Kirigakure, only by letting biological survival instincts reclaim control of their minds, could they begin to think normally again.
Right now, their brains were blank, devoid of thought, driven only by the urge to flee in a single direction without stopping.
On the other side of the battlefield.
Silence. A silence so complete that even the buzz of a passing insect seemed deafening to the Konoha shinobi.
From Orochimaru and Tsunade, those with Kage-level strength, to Might Duy and Anko, the new generation of Konoha, every single one of them stood frozen, eyes vacant, minds hollow.
"You should understand now what I meant."
Inside the seal space, the Nine-Tails finally tore its gaze away from the sky after staring for a long, long moment.
Its voice was low, complicated, half muttering to itself, half speaking to Kushina.
...
Guys do leave some reviews and comments.
Also, if you guys enjoy this story, you can support me on Pat re on and get access to some Advance Chapters, it really helps me to work on new chapters.
pat re on. com / Yhssab
Just remove all the spaces in between and search it.