"Mm..."
"What just happened...?"
"This place..."
"Where is this?"
"What happened to the village?"
A Konoha Ninja struggled out from beneath a pile of rubble. He was covered in dust from head to toe, as if he had been dug out of the ground.
His features were almost unrecognizable, but his wide, dark eyes were filled with shock and fear.
Because the village within his field of vision—the one where he had lived for more than twenty years, the one whose every blade of grass and tree he knew, whose every landmark along its streets was etched into his memory—
was gone...
The entire central district of Konoha looked as though a violent hurricane had swept through it, with the Hokage Rock as its dividing line.
Yellow, sandy pits spread out in a fan shape. The closer they were to the Hokage Rock, the deeper they were. Farther away, the earth began to pile up. By the time it reached the village's edge, the piled-up dirt had formed a ring-shaped embankment.
From a wider vantage point, one would have seen that it wasn't just Konoha Village. Even the mountains outside the village had been cut in half, leaving only short stumps connected to the ground.
And above the Hokage Rock stood a colossal blue giant. The Konoha Ninja couldn't make out its head, even when he looked up. The sunlight stung his eyes, forcing him to squeeze them shut.
A fierce battle seemed to be raging by the Hokage Rock...
"No, I have to go help!"
"As a member of Konoha Village, how can I just stand by and watch the enemy destroy our home?"
"He has to pay!"
The Konoha Ninja finally came to his senses. His gaze sharpened, but when he braced himself with both hands and tried