"Kai..."
Minato Namikaze stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at the carbon flakes drifting and swirling through the air.
A faint glimmer shone in his eyes. He seemed moved and inspired by the way Might Guy had perfectly embodied the spirit of the Will of Fire.
"Lord Hokage!"
"Lord Hokage!"
"Where's the enemy?!"
Before long, the Konoha Ninja who had crawled out of the ruins arrived here in droves.
Among them were many familiar faces, such as Kakashi, who had only one eye left, the Third Hokage, and the Konoha rookies...
A small Katsuyu was perched on each of their shoulders.
It seemed that Tsunade, who had been wandering for years, had finally returned to the village.
She glared indignantly at the ring of ruins that had once been the village.
This was the village her grandfather had built with his own hands!
Yet Danzo and his cronies still seemed to be skulking in the shadows, plotting their schemes and preparing to sink their evil "Root" deep into the earth, too afraid to show themselves in the light.
Amid the crowd, a boy with a bowl cut and a green jumpsuit wept uncontrollably.
He sobbed, murmuring, "Teacher Guy..."
Kakashi wore a sorrowful expression as he gazed toward the sea of flames.
Yet beneath his grief, words his father had once spoken to him during his childhood surfaced in his mind.
"Guy..."
"So it's true. Hard work really can surpass talent..."
Kakashi knew he couldn't hold a candle to the power of that blood dragon flying through the air and devouring the giant.
If Kakashi, without his Sharingan, had fought Gate of Death Guy, there would have been no chance of a fifty-fifty outcome. He probably wouldn't even have been able to withstand Guy's first move.
"Water Release team, assemble!"