Kazan soon left Takigakure again.
Only after everything had settled did Takigakure's chief arrive at the battlefield with his subordinates.
"What happened here? That presence just now was..."
Horror was written across many faces. That presence had been terrifying. Thunderclaps had stained the sky red, and the shockwaves from the battle had been violent beyond belief.
The battle had only just ended. The Seven-Tails was nowhere to be seen, and their Jinchūriki, Kaede, had been beaten unconscious.
Kaede lay motionless amid the ruins.
This place had once been a sea of flowers. Now nothing remained but scorched earth.
The people of Takigakure stood frozen. The fight had not lasted long, and the Ghost of Konoha had barely stayed, yet the place was devastated.
Every one of them felt a chill down to the bone. How powerful did an attack have to be to cause destruction on this scale?
"Take Kaede back," Takigakure's chief said, drawing a deep breath.
"Chief, are we just going to let this go?" someone asked, unwilling to accept it.
After being humiliated like this, how could they hold their heads up in the Shinobi World?
"What else can we do? Are you going to seek revenge on the Ghost of Konoha?"
The man fell silent at once.
"Let's go. We'll act as if nothing happened. Keeping the Seven-Tails is the best outcome we could have hoped for."
In the end, this was a world where strength ruled.
If Takigakure had someone as powerful as Kazan, they would be even bolder. They would force their way into the ranks of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Meanwhile...
After leaving Takigakure, Kazan was in no hurry to head for Kirigakure.
Before setting out, he had ordered people to gather information on the Kusanagi Swords.
Though four Kusanagi Swords had