Uzumaki Suikyō had been regretting his failure to finish off his enemies—but the moment he witnessed this scene, even as his life hung by a thread, his mind snapped sharply back into focus.
In the next instant, the ground began to tremble violently.
The side where the Mizukage and the others were standing—the eastern portion of Uzushiogakure—started sinking rapidly toward the ocean floor!
All those present, stunned by the sudden change, instinctively turned their heads in the same direction. What they saw next left them utterly speechless—
The sea itself had been split apart.
The two opposing forces, who moments ago had been locked in mortal combat, froze where they stood upon witnessing this miracle-like sight. Even Uzumaki Suikyō, already on the brink of death, refused to let go of his final breath, forcing himself to stay conscious just to see where this divine spectacle had come from.
At that moment, everyone recalled the fleeting flash of purple light that had streaked past earlier.
Every ninja present was an elite from their respective nations—at the very least, all were chūnin-level or above.
And yet, not a single person could say what that streak of purple had been.
There were eight Kage-level fighters on the battlefield—among them even the Third Raikage, a peak Kage powerhouse—yet despite this lineup, not one of them had truly seen that flash clearly.
As for the allied forces and the Third Mizukage, they now felt nothing but lingering fear and relief.
Thank goodness they had withdrawn immediately upon seeing Uzumaki Suikyō unleash the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Otherwise, even if the chains hadn't ensnared them, that single slash would likely have cleaved them cleanly in half.
That was the ocean.
Even a typical Kage level could barely manage to split a waterfall—yet that purple light had cut the sea itself into two.
Now, the divided ocean was pouring endlessly into the exposed chasm, resembling a bottomless waterfall from afar.
At this moment, the person most versed in Water Release—the Third Mizukage—felt his expression change drastically. Though blind, his sensory perception was keen, and after grasping the situation on the sea's surface, he shouted immediately:
"Get to land! This area is about to be flooded!"
Such an immense vacuum forming in the ocean would inevitably trigger violent undercurrents once the water rushed back in—followed by a catastrophic tsunami.
A chasm spanning dozens of kilometers collapsing at once could very well drown the entirety of Uzushiogakure.
As the Mizukage of Kirigakure—a village famed for Water Release—even he said this much. Naturally, the ninjas of the other nations were terrified, though they still hesitated, awaiting orders from their leaders.
Only the Third Mizukage wasted no time.
With a flash, he fled immediately.
The Kirigakure shinobi reacted just as quickly, turning tail and sprinting back toward their ships.
The Third Raikage stood there, dumbfounded.
He didn't know where that purple light had come from, but one thing was clear—this was power no mortal should be able to wield.
An attack of that magnitude required at least a strength Super Kage-level existence… perhaps even mid-stage Super Kage.
Instinctively, he turned his head toward the direction of the mainland.
And what he saw made his eyes nearly bulge from their sockets.
There stood a colossal white ape—well over a hundred meters tall.
In his lifetime as Raikage, he had seen many summoned beasts, even some fifty or sixty meters tall—creatures capable of going toe-to-toe with lesser Tailed Beasts.
But compared to this white giant, those beasts were barely half its size.
He knew well that, barring special cases, a summon's size generally correlated with its strength.
If Kage-level beasts stood at fifty or sixty meters, then a giant twice that size could only mean one thing—
At minimum, Super Kage-level.
"Where did such a giant ape come from… one that possesses strength Super Kage-level…?"
The Third Raikage muttered unconsciously.
At that moment, two elite Kumogakure jōnin beside him spoke urgently:
"Raikage-sama, we need to retreat as well! This place could be swallowed by the sea at any moment!"
After the earlier disaster inflicted on the Land of Lightning by Arata, Kumogakure had only dispatched the Raikage himself along with two elite jōnin—none of their mid-tier forces were present.
Their warning snapped the Raikage out of his daze. He nodded heavily.
His strength relied almost entirely on Lightning Release—if he were submerged now, he'd be severely hampered.
Fortunately, while his speed couldn't match Arata's, it was still among the fastest in the shinobi world. Escaping the range of a tsunami wouldn't be difficult.
Even the most devastating tsunami posed little threat to elite jōnin or Kage-level fighters. At that level, survival methods were plentiful.
...
On the other side, Uzumaki Suikyō let out a long breath as he saw his enemies withdraw completely.
At last, his body gave out.
He no longer had the strength to ponder the origin of that fleeting purple light.
His life had reached its end.
At that moment, Kushina's grandmother—Suikyō's younger sister—rushed to his side and gently supported him.
"Big brother, you—"
"Take the clan… and retreat."
Before she could finish, Suikyō spoke with the last of his strength.
His sister snapped back to reality.
Even without considering the incoming tsunami, most Uzumaki wouldn't be able to withstand it. And now that Uzushiogakure itself had been cleaved in two—
If the island were struck by a disaster of this magnitude again, it would be completely swallowed by the sea.
If they didn't leave now, the Uzumaki clan would be buried along with their homeland.
"Yes!"
This was a matter of survival.
She no longer hesitated, immediately organizing the clan's evacuation from the land they had once depended on for generations.
Yet she didn't forget Suikyō.
She lifted his body into her arms, determined to carry him away.
A clan leader who had given his life for his people—who had burned away every last drop of his vitality in his final jutsu—did not deserve to sink into the sea and vanish without honor.
As everyone scrambled to escape, the Third Raikage suddenly sensed a distant, thunderous boom.
The sound came from far away—so far that only someone of peak Kage-level perception could detect it.
Once more, he turned his head toward the mainland.
And this time—
His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
The massive white ape he had judged as Super Kage-level… had been split cleanly in two.
He had assumed earlier that the purple attack had come from that beast.
Now he realized how wrong he'd been.
That slash hadn't come from the white ape—
It had been aimed at it.
Looking closely, the wound cleaving the giant ape aligned perfectly with the scar that had split Uzushiogakure itself.
A single line.
One slash.
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