Boom!
The enormous foot wrapped in dark gray wooden armor slammed down.
The entire mountaintop shuddered three times in that instant.
Loose stones and thick chunks of snow cascaded down the cliff like a waterfall.
A thunderous rumble rose from the cave beneath the mud pit.
The supporting stone pillars snapped, and cracks spread across the walls like spiderwebs.
"Sen Senju... you lunatic!"
Kabuto Yakushi screamed inside the muddy cave, his voice distorted by terror.
Huge sheets of dirt and rubble crashed down, instantly covering his head and face.
Filthy mud coated his white scales, and his glasses fell into the muddy water.
"I'm not a lunatic. I'm just a debt collector."
My stomp carried tremendous force, and origin chakra bored down through the cracks in the stone.
Under the strangling force of Wood Release, the hard rock crumbled like tofu.
Rumble!
The entire layer of earth beneath the Signal Tower collapsed completely.
Earth and stone caved in, filling the dark, damp cavern.
"Lord Sen! It collapsed! The whole thing collapsed!"
Behind me, the ANBU girl tugged at my coat, her face pale with fright.
She pointed at the enormous crater full of rubble ahead and kept patting her chest.
"So it collapsed. Saves that four-eyed bastard from playing in the mud all day."
I brushed the dirt off my hands and slowly walked toward the crater.
Yellow muddy water bubbled beneath my soles, sticky and unpleasant.
I closed my eyes and probed beneath the mud through the vibrations of the Divine Tree's roots.
Under the heap of broken stone at the center of the ruins, someone was breathing heavily.
"Old man, I know you're not quite dead yet. Hurry up and crawl out."
I stood at the edge of the crater with both hands in my pockets.
"If I