Amid the ruins of the shattered Iwagakure, the massive Susanoo clenched Ōnoki in one hand. Ōnoki had not yet withered into the shriveled figure he would become thirty years later, but his body was already covered in wounds. His breath was weak, and he was on the verge of death.
Naruto looked at him, his tone as calm as ever. "Go save the people now. There should still be quite a few survivors in the village. I'll ask one last time: disband Iwagakure and surrender."
Ōnoki struggled to raise his head and spoke in broken gasps. "A Kage... cannot abandon his village and live on alone. The Tsuchikage may die in battle, but he cannot..."
As his words fell, his breath grew even weaker.
Naruto frowned and placed the Third Tsuchikage's corpse on the ground. Then he turned to look at the several dozen Iwagakure Jonin behind him and asked flatly, "Is that what you all think too?"
The dozens of Jonin shook their heads frantically.
"We surrender! We're willing to surrender!"
Naruto swept his gaze over the Iwagakure Jonin, his tone as calm as if he were giving a trivial order. "Go to the front lines and call back the Hidden Stone ninja still out there. If you're too late and people die, don't blame me."
Before his words had even faded, his body shot into the sky, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Only after Naruto had completely left did the Iwagakure Jonin collapse to the ground as though all the bones had been pulled from their bodies, gasping for air.
"How could there be such a monster in this world?"
"That was Lord Third Tsuchikage! He didn't even get a chance to fight back!"
"Even Kekkei Tōta could barely leave cracks on him. How are we