Finale (Thanks to Si Gong for the Donation)

The howling gale swept over Iwagakure.

Minamoto Takuya hovered in midair, the chakra wings behind him radiating a cold, powerful pressure.

He looked down at the slightly hunched Ōnoki below, his voice calm yet carrying unquestionable authority:

"Wouldn't it have been better to decide this from the start?"

Minamoto Takuya gave a slight nod, somewhat satisfied with the "good sense" Ōnoki had finally shown.

"Unless necessary, I have no intention of slaughtering everyone."

At those words, Ōnoki's lips curled into an exceedingly bitter smile.

Argue? Any words would seem so pale and powerless at this moment.

What the other man said was an indisputable fact. With the terrifying strength this man had displayed, he could have simply wiped Iwagakure off the map with overwhelming force before leisurely searching for what he wanted.

So-called resistance was merely futile struggling before absolute power. It would only bring about even more thorough destruction.

His heavy gaze swept over the seemingly sturdy but actually fragile entrances to the secret bases below.

That earth-shaking strike just now—he only needed a brief sense of it to know that even without a direct hit, the dispersed shockwaves from such a ninjutsu would be enough to completely collapse those underground fortresses.

They might get lucky once, but what about the second time? The third?

Were all the shinobi and civilians of Iwagakure supposed to curl up underground like moles forever, never again seeing the light of day?

Therefore, he had no other choice.

"Wait here for a moment," Ōnoki said wearily. Though he had only used Dust Release once, the feeling of utter exhaustion made it nearly impossible for him to move his body.

But he could not rest yet.

Ōnoki formed hand seals, and Earth Release Chakra enveloped the unconscious, enfeebled Four-Tails Jinchuriki and Five-Tails Jinchuriki, carrying