A thunderous boom rang out.
Mitokado Homura felt as though his body had been struck by a thousand pounds of force. He was sent flying backward, his back slamming hard into the wall.
When Mingyou withdrew Susanoo's arm, a massive fist-shaped crater had already been blasted into the thick wall.
Mitokado Homura, meanwhile, was embedded deep in the wall, buried beneath broken bricks and rubble. It was impossible to tell whether he was dead or alive.
"Homura!!"
Utatane Koharu let out a grief-stricken cry. She knew perfectly well that Homura, whose leg was already broken and bleeding heavily, had taken such a devastating blow to save her. There was an eighty to ninety percent chance he would not survive.
"You Uchiha brat, what exactly do you want by taking the Nine-Tails?! Why are you driving us to this point?!"
With fury in her eyes, she turned toward Mingyou. Her eyes had turned bloodshot, as if flames might burst from them, and she questioned him in a hoarse, hysterical voice.
Mingyou was in no hurry to take Utatane Koharu's life. Her foolish question made him throw back his head and laugh loudly.
"Hahahaha."
"What do I want?"
"Why don't you guess what I want? You so-called Konoha high-ranking advisers have been cowering in this Lord's Manor. You probably still don't know the current state of the war, do you?"
"Konoha is under siege from the Four Great Shinobi Villages. It may not be able to hold on much longer."
"This time, the other four nations are no longer fighting a mixed battle. They are determined to take Konoha down."
"Go on, guess how much longer Konoha, now so depleted of talent, can last."
At that, Mingyou paused. Watching Utatane Koharu's old face turn purple from rage, he felt an indescribable sense