He remembered that when he had been here before, a small river had wound through the forest. Now, the ground was covered in cracks and mud, with no trace of the river left.
The once-towering trees nearby had already fallen to the ground, and many more had been bent and snapped.
There had originally been quite a few ninjas from various villages around them, but not a single one could be seen now.
"Damn it, don't tell me the earlier battle buried everyone underground!" Kitahara Kaede's expression darkened. If everyone had been buried beneath the earth, they were probably in grave danger by now.
He narrowed his eyes slightly. Then—
"Here!" Kitahara Kaede slammed his hand down, and the earth and stones instantly split apart. The ground broke upward, and several figures appeared before him.
"Cough, cough! Kid, has the matter been resolved?" The Tsuchikage asked as he looked at Kitahara Kaede.
The Tsuchikage looked utterly miserable. There was hardly an uninjured spot on his body, his gray-white hair was in disarray, and he leaned against the ground beside him, barely catching his breath.
"It's resolved. Don't worry," Kitahara Kaede said.
"Cough, cough! The previous battle was too intense. Everyone was too badly injured to run, so I had no choice but to use Earth Release to create some spaces. They're all inside now. Hurry and save them!" After saying that, the Tsuchikage closed his eyes.
"Tsuchikage!" Kitahara Kaede moved his hand, and an unfathomable aura surged into the Tsuchikage's body. This power felt even greater than Order. It had appeared before when he fought Ōtsutsuki E.
"This..."
"How is the situation?" Itachi Uchiha appeared beside Kitahara Kaede and asked.
Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha also appeared nearby, staring at the surrounding devastation in shock.
"I can barely preserve his