On top of a water tower three kilometers away, the wind howled, snapping Naruto's clothes. He did not move. Karsten's real-time feed from the optical scope was reflected in his ice-blue pupils. The image was perfectly steady, without the slightest tremor.
The moment the old man's head exploded on the bridge, Karsten's recording equipment faithfully captured it at hundreds of frames per second. Crimson blood, mixed with white brain matter and bone fragments, formed an efficient yet brutal tableau.
The shock on Kabuto Yakushi's face was real, as was the stunned daze of the two Root ninja.
Everything had gone exactly as rehearsed.
Naruto did not order a pursuit or a finishing blow. He casually shot down the summoned hawk in the sky.
He did not even have Karsten move the muzzle. He merely waited calmly, like a researcher patiently awaiting experimental results. He knew the real show had only just begun.
"Commissar, the target's vital signs have vanished. The mission—" Karsten's cold synthetic voice sounded in Naruto's mind, but Karsten cut himself off before he could finish.
"...An anomaly has appeared! Spatial parameters are distorting!"
On the bridge, just as the two Root ninja finally recovered from their shock and prepared to vent their fury on Kabuto Yakushi, a sudden change occurred.
Danzo's headless "corpse" lying on the ground suddenly rippled like a reflection in water. Its outline blurred, its colors rapidly faded, and it ultimately turned into a shadow of nothingness that vanished into the air without leaving a trace.
As though that fatal strike had been nothing more than a pointless Genjutsu.
The blood on Kabuto Yakushi's face had yet to dry. As he watched this utterly unnatural scene unfold, his pupils contracted to pinpoints. The two Root ninja also stopped in their tracks and stared blankly