The earth shook violently, making the ninja of the other divisions in the distance look up in unison. They watched the falling meteorites and felt the fierce tremors beneath their feet, utterly horrified.
"What was that noise?!"
"Look! Over by the Fourth Division..."
"Are those... meteorites? That's insane..."
"Thank goodness I'm not over there..."
Even the headquarters far away in the Land of Lightning shook violently.
Shikaku Nara immediately grabbed the corner of a table to steady himself, then looked up and shouted toward Inoichi Yamanaka.
"Inoichi! What happened?!"
Inoichi Yamanaka wore a specialized device, the veins on his forehead bulging slightly as his consciousness connected through it to the sensory ninja on the front lines.
A moment later, he spoke, his face as pale as paper.
"Madara Uchiha... the real Madara Uchiha has appeared on the Fourth Division's battlefield. He... summoned two meteorites. That's what caused the tremors."
"Two meteorites?!"
Shikaku's voice rose sharply, a rare look of shock appearing in his eyes.
"How big?"
Inoichi Yamanaka fell silent for a moment, as though weighing his words. In the end, he only murmured a single sentence.
"They blotted out the sky."
A deathly silence fell over headquarters.
The same thought surfaced in everyone's mind.
Could a human really do something like that?
Shikaku drew a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. His voice was low and urgent.
"What about casualties?!"
Inoichi Yamanaka closed his eyes to sense the situation again. When he opened them, his expression had eased somewhat, though it remained grave.
"No one was crushed to death by the meteorites.
"At the last moment, just before the two meteorites fell, the original body of that Hyuga missing-nin named Ning Xue arrived.
"He held up both meteorites with Ice Release, buying everyone time to evacuate.
"But according