"Let the people of the Land of Rain see some fireworks." Naruto issued a brief command through the communicator.
At the border of Amegakure, the deathly silent night sky was suddenly torn apart.
Boom!
A heavy shell, trailing an orange-red tail flame, struck an abandoned residential building with pinpoint accuracy. The concrete structure instantly collapsed, and the massive cloud of dust and rubble rose like a gray beast, swallowing everything around it.
Other than localized panic and loud screams, no civilians were killed.
But the violent tremor traveled clearly through the veins of the earth to Amegakure's tallest tower.
Inside the life-support apparatus, Nagato's heart suddenly clenched, and an indescribable sense of oppression caught his breath.
He understood.
This was not an attack. It was a warning.
Naruto Uzumaki was telling him this way that his army was outside and could flatten this place at any moment. Yet Naruto had deliberately avoided causing real casualties, preventing the conflict from completely erupting.
It was a naked threat, like a teacher rapping a desk to warn a disobedient student.
If he kept refusing to behave, the Teaching Whip would land on him.
"Damn it..." Nagato's emaciated fingers dug into the armrest, his knuckles turning bloodless from the force.
On the other end of the battlefield, the enormous white tiger of compressed air had vanished without a trace.
The blue vapor around Might Guy's body was visibly weakening and dissipating.
The immense backlash of opening the Seventh Gate crashed over him like a tide, gnawing at every inch of his muscles and meridians. His body began to shake violently beyond his control, tearing pain spreading through all four limbs and every bone in his body.
Yet he forced himself to remain standing. None of that pain compared to the heartache he had