At this moment, Sasuke stood silently to one side, offering no rebuttal even to the Fourth Raikage's words.
A glint of understanding, known only to himself, flickered within his heterochromatic eyes.
"Sasuke... that eye... is that the Rinnegan...?"
Tsunade, currently suspended in the sky alongside the others due to Kaoru's power, also noticed the bizarre pattern in Sasuke's left eye, secretly stunned in her heart.
"What happened to you two? How did you get wounded so severely?!!"
The Third Hokage, noticing that both Naruto and Sasuke had each lost an arm, asked immediately upon seeing their miserable state.
"It's nothing serious... just a scratch..." Naruto said, scratching his head awkwardly.
"...." The Third Hokage was rendered speechless. Losing an arm is 'nothing serious'...?
"I care not what your intentions may be... one thing is certain: under no circumstances shall the shinobi world fall into the hands of an ambitious tyrant like Kaoru Uchiha..."
Ignoring everyone else's reactions, the Fourth Raikage gazed upward toward the heavens, his eyes filled with unyielding determination.
Even though he was now unable to access his chakra, the combative spirit inherent to every Cloud Shinobi made him refuse to surrender.
"Heh... the reason you speak such words... is because you have yet to truly understand the full extent of his power..."
Hearing the Raikage's declaration, Sasuke sneered coldly. "You have no idea what kind of battle took place within Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's alternate dimensions... while you were all trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi..."
"Sasuke... how can you say such things?! Shouldn't we be standing together to stop Kaoru... and protect the shinobi world?!"
Naruto's blue eyes widened in shock, looking at Sasuke as if he were a complete stranger. "Didn't you promise me... that if I managed to defeat you, you would stand with me to protect this world?!!"
"I do intend to protect it... I never break my word..."
A bitter, helpless smile appeared on Sasuke's face as he sensed Naruto's disbelief. "But do you honestly believe... that all of us combined here... are a match for Kaoru?!!"
"With a single technique, he has rendered every shinobi here incapable of using ninjutsu. What possible means do we have left to fight him? Will we rely on our so-called 'united, fearless shinobi spirit'?!!"
Sasuke's words seemed to shake Naruto awake. Even the naturally optimistic, thick-headed Naruto fell into a heavy silence.
The surrounding crowd, including the Fourth Raikage, sank into despondency.
"It seems you have failed to reach a unified decision..."
High above, Kaoru's figure blending with the scorching sun, his already limited patience appeared to have run out completely. His calm, ethereal voice resounded across heaven and earth.
"What a pity... I have run out of time to wait for your choice. The option where the world remains as it is... is now gone."
Expanding Truth-Seeking Orb!!
As everyone gasped and stared upward in terror, Kaoru floated serenely in the sky. He slowly raised one hand high above his head.
The Six Paths chakra radiating from him surged like a tidal wave, filling the entire battlefield and causing the air around everyone to vibrate and resonate with immense power!
Instantly, the nine profound, jet-black Truth-Seeking Orbs floating silently around Kaoru began to spin and swirl violently.
They converged completely into the palm of his raised hand, coalescing into a massive, dark sphere that swallowed all light and air around it.
It expanded rapidly and endlessly, growing larger by the second. In the blink of an eye, Kaoru even blotted out the sun high above!
Below, every shinobi on the battlefield looking upward felt the light above dim instantly. They realized with deadly horror that the entire sky above their heads had been completely covered by the dark orb in Kaoru's hand.
"Th-That... isn't that the same power Kaguya Ōtsutsuki used...?"
Naruto craned his neck upward, his jaw dropping open at the sight of the colossal black sphere unleashed by Kaoru, too stunned even to speak.
"No... the Truth-Seeking Orb he has created now... is far more terrifying than Kaguya's ever was..."
Sasuke's eerie Rinnegan eye remained locked rigidly on Kaoru's figure in the sky, his face pale with sheer terror.
He whispered softly to himself, "And yet... it has been less than a single day since he absorbed the Ten-Tails' power... to master such immense power so quickly..."
"That size... is that... is that truly a Truth-Seeking Orb...?"
The Third Tsuchikage, who had once experienced firsthand the terrifying might of Madara Uchiha's Truth-Seeking Orbs, now stared at the expanding mass blotting out the sky. His face turned ashen, drained of all color.
"Dammit... against a technique like this... we are utterly helpless..."
The Fourth Raikage clenched his fists. Setting aside the fact that Truth-Seeking Orbs annihilate all matter and render ninjutsu useless, they simply had no ability to resist now.
Within the Astral Stellar Barrier, none could access their chakra. Which meant... they had no choice but to wait for death.
Glancing at the Fourth Raikage beside him — now slumped and defeated like a rooster beaten in a fight — Mei Terumī's face was etched with anxiety and helplessness.
"We cannot hesitate any longer... once a Truth-Seeking Orb of that magnitude detonates..."
"...it is likely the entire shinobi world will cease to exist."
Gaara finished the thought Mei could not speak aloud, withdrawing his horrified gaze. His mind was already made up, though the decision weighed heavily upon him.
"I will not allow every shinobi of my village to die here..."
"Kaoru Uchiha!! On behalf of the Village Hidden in the Sand of the Land of Wind... I submit to your rule!!!"
Gaara stepped forward, lifting his head and calling clearly toward Kaoru high in the sky.
"The Kazekage... he actually..."
A murmur of shock rippled through the shinobi across the battlefield, yet deep down they understood that this was the critical choice everyone now faced: life or death.
"I... the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumī... also accept the rule of the Sixth Hokage... on behalf of the Village Hidden in the Mist of the Land of Water!!!"
Almost simultaneously with Gaara's declaration, Mei Terumī spoke up, urgency in her voice as she stared upward at Kaoru.
"Old man... please, agree to it! Otherwise, every shinobi in the Rock Village is going to die!!!"
Kurotsuchi, floating in the air near Kaoru, shouted frantically down to her grandfather, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
"What matters more... the lives of our people... or your so-called 'pride'?!!"
"Very well... I understand..." Ōnoki waved his hand, his mind made up.
"I, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki... on behalf of the Village Hidden in the Stones of the Land of Earth... submit to your authority, Sixth Hokage..."
Having spoken the words, Ōnoki lowered his head, his entire frame seeming to age instantly and drastically.
"The Kazekage, the Mizukage, the Tsuchikage... you three spineless cowards..."
Seeing Gaara, Mei, and Ōnoki yield, the Fourth Raikage froze completely, stunned into silence.
They represent the Five Great Shinobi Villages... the very peak of power in the shinobi world...
And yet... you surrender so easily to the tyranny of one man...?
"Excellent...."
Seeing Gaara, Mei, and Ōnoki submit, Kaoru — floating calmly in the sky — nodded in satisfaction.
Supporting the colossal orb above him that blotted out the sun with one hand, he spoke in a clear, ringing voice.
"The Sand, Mist, and Stone Villages have given their answer... which leaves only the Cloud Village remaining..."
"And so... Fourth Raikage... I await your answer alone..."
Kaoru's divine eyes — shining with both scarlet and blood-red light — gazed down intently at the Raikage below.
His immense pressure bore down upon the hearts of every person on the battlefield, heavy as a mountain and powerful as a waterfall.
"Kaoru... surely you don't intend to actually..."
Tsunade's beautiful eyes widened in alarm. She looked at Zhou Wen (Kaoru) hesitantly, uncertain.
"And so... Fourth Raikage... what is your decision...?"
Ignoring Tsunade's reaction beside him, Zhou Wen fixed his gaze firmly on the Raikage, who stood surrounded by his people below, and spoke coldly.
"Fourth Raikage, declare your answer now! Do not drag the entire shinobi world down to be buried with you!!!"
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, glanced fearfully at the massive Truth-Seeking Orb looming in the sky and shouted urgently at the Raikage.
"I..."
Hearing Ōnoki's words, the Fourth Raikage fell momentarily speechless. He felt the eyes of every shinobi around him piercing into his face like sharp blades.
In that instant, the burden of the entire shinobi world's future seemed to rest entirely upon his shoulders. Every eye on the battlefield was fixed intently upon him.
For some reason, facing the weight of so many gazes, a sudden surge of fiery rage erupted from deep within his chest. He stamped his foot violently and roared at the top of his lungs!
"I, the Fourth Raikage, shall bow to no one!!! And certainly not to you lot from Konoha!!!"
"If you have the courage... go ahead and kill us all!!! If the entire shinobi world must die alongside me... then my life has been lived well enough!!!"
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