Kitsuchi, Samui, and the others watched as nobles and dignitaries surged like mad toward Konoha's reception desk to snap up membership cards. Their faces turned utterly grim.
This was not selling cards. This was outright robbery at knifepoint.
Using the village-founding ceremony as a pretext, they were forcing these wealthy people to pay protection money through very real intimidation.
They stared at the ruined remains of old Konoha below, their throats tightening.
Only one thought kept circling through their minds—if their own village took a hit like that, could it withstand it?
The answer was simple.
No.
It was not that they believed their own Kage would necessarily be weaker than Deva Path Pain, the one who had unleashed Shinra Tensei.
The key was that Pain's technique had been made for war.
Jonin might still have been able to survive through their own skill, but the Chunin, Genin, and every civilian in the village would all have died beneath that terrifying ninjutsu.
The number of souls that had risen when Pain cast the Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique made it clear: aside from the ninjas Tsunade had protected with Katsuyu, there had scarcely been any survivors in all of Konoha.
So what truly sent chills down their spines was not Pain's individual strength, but the village-destroying power of Super Almighty Push.
The Tailed Beast Bomb Rasenshuriken Naruto had thrown two days ago had destroyed half of the Land of Fields, but it had happened far away, and nobody had witnessed it firsthand.
Compared to the Shinra Tensei that had been unleashed right in front of them, its impact was not even on the same level.
They finally understood why Naruto had dared to ignore the Land of Fire and openly bring the hidden war into the spotlight.