"My home is in Stone Village now."
Minato's seemingly casual yet weighty words were like a red-hot steel needle, viciously piercing the hearts of every Leaf Village resident present.
Then cruelly twisting three times.
Pain.
Piercing, heart-wrenching pain.
That resolute back, those utterly unhesitating steps, were like the sharpest blade.
They completely severed the last pitiful shred of fantasy in the hearts of Konoha's people.
Hope had been shattered.
The mountain-shaking pleas within the arena came to an abrupt halt.
In their place was a deathly silence.
And wave after wave of suppressed, despairing sobs.
They watched helplessly as that golden sun, which should have belonged to them, walked away without looking back and joined the enemy's ranks.
They reached out, trying to keep him, but grasped nothing.
All they could do was watch that flash of gold grow farther and farther away, increasingly blurred.
Until it finally vanished among the ranks of those Stone Village monsters.
"Let's go. The show's over. Time to head home for dinner."
Yoru yawned and stretched.
He did not even spare another glance for the devastated Leaf Village residents below.
As though the heartbreaking spectacle that had just overturned an entire ninja village's beliefs was nothing more than a dull after-dinner distraction to him.
With an arm around Kurotsuchi's shoulders, he led the equally relaxed kids behind him and swaggered toward the arena exit.
His bearing remained as arrogant and untouchable as ever.
Yet this time, not a single Konoha ninja dared step forward to stop him.
As the Stone Village delegation departed.
Konoha's collapse officially began.
The first domino had fallen.
On the VIP stands.
The Land of Fire's daimyo, a man as fat as a pig, did not even offer a word of farewell.
Surrounded by his guards, he walked down from