The massive shadow of the meteorite completely swallowed the sunlight, casting the entire training ground in a ghostly pale light. The roar of destruction echoed in everyone's ears like a death knell from the Shinigami.
The Third Raikage's heart was clenched tightly by an invisible hand.
What mattered more, the survival of Kumogakure or their secret techniques?
There was no question. Without Kumogakure, those techniques meant nothing.
Proud as he was, he could only set aside his dignity now.
The instinct to survive overwhelmed both anger and pride.
"Kamiyama Ryo!" the Raikage suddenly raised his head, using all his strength to shout over the thunderous roar above. His voice was filled with humiliation and finality. "You win! I'll give you Kumo's secret technique!"
As the words fell, his spirit seemed to deflate instantly. His back bent slightly, as though he had aged years in an instant.
As Raikage, handing over the village's core secrets was more painful than defeat.
He knew it clearly.
He who had once claimed the titles of "strongest spear" and "strongest shield" in the shinobi world, was utterly powerless against this kind of apocalyptic destruction. This was not a clash of individual power, but pure, widespread annihilation.
Could Killer Bee, the Eight Tails jinchūriki, destroy the meteor with a Tailed Beast Bomb?
The thought was crushed the moment it surfaced.
Bee had only been a jinchūriki for a few years and couldn't control the Eight Tails' power yet.
If they released the beast, with its hatred toward the village, it might destroy Kumogakure itself before doing anything else.
The only hope of resolving this rested with Ryo.
He believed that if Ryo had the power to summon this technique, he must have a way to cancel it too.
After all, Tsunade, Kushina, and that Uchiha girl were still in the village.
The Raikage was gambling that Ryo wouldn't put his own people in danger.
Ryo's expression didn't change at all, as if the Raikage's submission was to be expected.
He didn't even spare him a glance. His voice was calm, but it cut through the screeching of the meteor and reached everyone's ears clearly.
"That was the price a moment ago." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the terrified Kumo shinobi before landing coldly on the Raikage again. "Now there's another."
The air froze. Even the howling from the sky seemed to pause for a moment.
"No! Raikage-sama!" A young Kumo shinobi snapped out of his terror. His eyes were bloodshot, his voice shrill with emotion. "The Scroll of Forbidden Techniques is the foundation of the village! We'd rather die than give it up! Let's fight him!" He shouted and drew a kunai, though his hands were shaking violently.
"Silence!" the Raikage's furious roar exploded like a thunderclap, immediately silencing all unrest.
He didn't even look at the impulsive subordinate. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on Ryo, chest heaving as he forcibly suppressed his boiling fury.
His voice dropped low, gravelly with restrained anger, grinding against his last line of pride.
"Fine! Kamiyama Ryo!" the Raikage bit out, "You can have the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques. But only you can read it. You must not share it. If you do…" He drew a deep breath, as if mustering all his strength, "I would rather let Kumogakure be destroyed!"
Even as he said it, he knew how hollow it sounded.
Verbal agreements meant little in the face of overwhelming power.
Once the forbidden techniques were in Ryo's hands, if he chose to spread them, what could the Raikage possibly do?
This was just a last-ditch attempt to preserve some sense of control and dignity in the face of humiliation.
"Fine," Ryo replied with uncharacteristic ease. No bargaining.
He had gotten what he came for.
He wasn't a mindless killer.
Destroying Kumogakure had never been his goal. As long as he got what he wanted, that was enough.
If he really wiped out Kumo, the other four major villages would panic, which could lead to a united front against him.
Ryo didn't care about Konoha. In fact, erasing Konoha wouldn't be out of the question for him—he had the strength and confidence to do it.
But the people he cared about lived in Konoha.
Still, after this, the world would finally understand.
Anyone thinking of targeting Kamiyama Ryo or those around him would need to consider if their necks could handle the price of his retribution.
Having a sword and not using it was a completely different thing from having none at all.
The agreement was reached, but the crisis was not yet resolved.
The meteor overhead, filled with devastating momentum, was now only a short distance from Kumo's peaks. The searing heat and piercing screech filled the air, shaking the ground.
Time was running out.
Ryo looked up at the world-ending meteor, his gaze solemn.
To be honest, he wasn't fully confident in handling the aftermath of Heavenly Obstruction Star.
The force from the gravity and momentum behind the meteor far exceeded normal shinobi techniques.
Without hesitation, he rapidly formed hand seals.
"Earth Release: Light-Weight Boulder Technique!"
An invisible wave of force shot from his hand, attaching precisely to the bottom of the falling meteor.
Its descent suddenly slowed, noticeably reducing its terrifying speed. The sense of inevitable doom faded slightly.
Then another wave followed, stacking a second layer of the same technique.
The meteor's speed dropped further.
It still looked enormous and menacing, but it was now theoretically manageable.
After doing this, Ryo slowly placed his hand on the hilt of the Kusanagi.
He closed his eyes. His aura began to surge rapidly. A formless, terrifying pressure rippled out from him.
He poured all his immense Armament Haki into the ancient blade, like a flood breaking a dam.
The Kusanagi emitted a low hum. Its blade was rapidly covered in an intense, deep black that seemed to devour all light.
The black deepened and solidified, radiating an aura of pure destruction.
The air around him was visibly distorted by the crushing pressure.
Tsunade, Kushina, and Mikoto all held their breath. They had never seen Ryo so serious, so focused.
The Raikage, Dodai, and the Kumo high command all widened their eyes. The force gathering in Ryo's body was more terrifying than the meteor itself.
Moments later, Ryo opened his eyes. His pitch-black pupils gleamed.
With a flick of his wrist, faster than the eye could follow, he slashed upward.
Clang!
A sharp, soul-piercing sword cry echoed through the sky.
Two enormous, deep black slashes, each stretching over a kilometer, burst forth from the tip of the Kusanagi in a massive cross.
They tore through the air with a will to cut through everything, blasting into the sky.
Where the slash passed, air compressed and ionized violently, leaving behind a lasting black trail that pierced the heavens.
The pitch-black cross-shaped strike collided with the massive meteor, whose speed had already been reduced by the dual Light-Weight Boulder Techniques.
There was no thunderous explosion. Just a bone-deep slicing sound, like a hot knife cutting through frozen butter.
Before the eyes of countless stunned onlookers, the enormous meteor that had brought despair was split in the sky by the giant black cross.
Split into four.
The cut was smooth like a mirror.
Because the meteor had yet to reach the village's center, the four massive fragments, affected by the slash's momentum and trajectory adjustment, were deflected away from Kumo.
Four deafening crashes, like tectonic plates splitting, erupted from the surrounding mountains.
The earth trembled violently, as if struck by the fiercest earthquake.
Plumes of dust exploded like four massive mushroom clouds, swallowing the sky with stone and shockwaves.
Even from far away, the destructive force was palpable.
But the core of Kumogakure was safe.
The training ground was dead silent.
Then—
"Waaaahhh!!" No one knew who cried out first, but it was filled with overwhelming emotion.
Like a fuse lit in a powder keg, all of Kumogakure—from the training ground to the distant streets—erupted in screams, cries, and ecstatic roars.
"We're alive!"
"The village… the village is safe!!"
"Thank the gods!!"
"Thank you… thank you…"
Moments ago, they had been staring into the abyss of extinction. Now, dragged back from the brink, the emotional whiplash stripped everyone of their composure.
Some collapsed, sobbing. Others hugged their comrades tightly. Some waved wildly at the sky. Many simply stared at the four columns of dust on the horizon, tears still on their faces, unable to process it.
Kumogakure was in a frenzy of survival-fueled joy.
But at the center of it all, Training Ground One remained eerily different.
Tsunade stood behind Ryo, her pale hand covering her mouth, her eyes filled with disbelief.
She had always known Ryo was powerful, absurdly so. But to witness him summon a meteor, then slice it apart with a single sword strike... The visual and emotional impact left even her, a Legendary Sannin, dizzy and breathless.
Kushina jumped up, her red hair blazing like fire.
"Amazing! Ryo!!" Her voice was high with excitement and pure admiration. Her cheeks flushed red.
To her, Ryo was an omnipotent guardian.
Mikoto was much quieter, but her obsidian eyes gleamed as they followed Ryo's every move. In their depths was unwavering trust.
In sharp contrast, the Kumo side stood frozen.
The Third Raikage, known as the strongest spear and shield, stood like a statue. His dark face blank, expressionless, drained of all color.
He stared at the four columns of smoke, then slowly turned to the now-still Kusanagi in Ryo's hand. Finally, he looked at Ryo's calm profile.
"M-monster…" an elite jōnin behind the Raikage muttered, lips trembling. The kunai in his hand had long dropped, his whole body shaking.
"The Asura of Konoha… lives up to the name…" an older shinobi murmured hoarsely, eyes filled with deep-rooted terror, stunned at the inhuman force they'd just witnessed.
Their prized taijutsu, their treasured village, looked like paper in the face of that overwhelming power.
Ryo's very presence had become a force that defied logic.
Dodai stood beside the Raikage, pushing his glasses up with a complicated look in his eyes.
There was lingering fear, some relief, but mostly a profound weight.
His gaze toward Ryo now held not just caution or wariness, but deep reverence.
He understood. From today on, the name Kamiyama Ryo and the absolute power he represented would become the sword of Damocles hanging over any who dared covet Konoha or those around him.
It wasn't just that he had the power to destroy a village.
It was that he had no hesitation to use it, and complete control over its consequences.
That was more terrifying than pure destruction.
The Third Raikage remained silent.
His massive frame trembled, not from fear, but from humiliation and helplessness, gnawing at him like a venomous serpent.
Handing over the secret and the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques wasn't nearly as painful as witnessing the sheer, effortless destruction Ryo had just demonstrated.
His pride, his strength, probably meant nothing in the eyes of the man before him.
In the end, all his emotions turned into a deep, almost inaudible sigh, lost in the roar of celebration.
Everyone in Kumogakure who had witnessed Ryo's power was filled with a mix of shock, fear, and awe toward that quiet young man.
Only one voice echoed in every heart.
This man is a monster.
The title "Asura of Konoha"… could not be more fitting.
(To be continued.)