West Blue.
Several thousand meters in the sky.
Chiba stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the boiling sea below.
Four people stood behind him.
Kakashi, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shisui Uchiha.
Far away, several figures could vaguely be seen amid the rolling sea of clouds.
Two old men stood at the front.
One leaned on a cane, with curly hair and a bushy white beard.
The other was bald, wore flat round glasses, and had a long sword at his waist.
Saint Saturn and Saint Nusjuro of the Five Elders.
Behind them stood nine cloaked figures.
The elite of God's Knights.
These lofty rulers of the world did not even dare breathe too loudly at this moment.
Though the two sides were only a hundred meters apart, it felt as though an impassable chasm lay between them.
No one spoke.
Only the howling wind tore past their ears.
Chiba's Six-Tomoe Rinnegan glowed with an icy purple light.
He merely glanced at them.
Saint Saturn's hand gripping his cane suddenly trembled, his knuckles turning white.
Saint Nusjuro's thumb on his sword hilt began trembling uncontrollably.
Cold.
A chill that pierced straight into their bones.
As though they had been locked in the gaze of a primordial monster.
The Five Elders had always regarded all things as ants, claiming themselves to be lofty deities.
But now.
The confidence they took such pride in was instantly shattered before those eyes.
Bang.
Among God's Knights.
A young swordsman could no longer endure the pressure.
His legs gave out, and he dropped stiffly to his knees atop the clouds.
Cold sweat soaked his back.
Saint Saturn glanced at the sea below from the corner of his eye.
The Marine's remaining warships had already completely withdrawn from the battlefield, turning into several black