Throughout the hall, the atmosphere once again...
Tightened to the breaking point.
Wind howled through the ruined doorway, making the cobwebs on the beams and pillars tremble.
Just as Tsunade gritted her teeth, her clenched right fist creaking as she prepared to fight Sen amid the ruins...
Crash!
In one corner of the hall, a mahogany beam that had already half collapsed...
Finally gave way completely, unable to withstand the shock of the earlier blast's backlash.
A great cloud of black dust billowed up.
"Aah!"
"Help! My leg!"
Agonized screams suddenly rang out from beneath the rubble.
Two old gamblers who had hidden in a corner, too broke to dare leave...
Were caught beneath that rotten, moldy pillar weighing hundreds of pounds.
It slammed down squarely on them, pinning them fast.
One old man had a sharp wooden spike driven straight through his chest, and he spewed mouthfuls of thick blood streaked with black.
His belly had been torn open too, with some of his slick, sticky intestines spilling out.
The other, a fat man, had his thigh crushed into a grotesquely flattened shape, shards of bone poking through his skin.
He thrashed wildly in the muddy water from the pain.
"Sir!"
Shizune's expression changed, and she hurriedly dropped Tonton from her arms.
The little pink pig landed in the muddy water, squealing and rolling until she was covered in filth.
Shizune had no time to worry about her.
She rushed to the blood-spewing old man in two strides, her hands flashing through hand seals before her chest.
A green glow shimmered.
Pale green medical chakra lit up in her palms.
With hands slick with cold sweat, she pressed hard against the wound, trying to force the bleeding to stop with medical ninjutsu.
But he was losing blood far too