"Aaaaargh-!"
Gaara let out an inhuman roar and slammed both hands against the ground.
"Feigning Sleep Technique!"
In an instant, his body and everything around him began turning into sand. Yellow sand erupted skyward like a volcano, trying to build one final barrier before him.
But it was all too late.
The Radiant Light Cannon struck.
BOOOOOM-!!!!!!!!!
The entire world fell silent.
A cyan pillar of light shot into the sky, piercing the clouds as though it would punch a hole through the heavens. Then an enormous mushroom cloud, thick with sand and steam, slowly rose from the center of the arena.
A terrifying shock wave swept outward, obliterating everything in its path. The arena floor vaporized instantly, leaving a bottomless crater. Sturdy walls were torn apart and pulverized like paper. Violent tremors spread through all of Konoha, as though an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude had struck!
An invisible blast of air pinned the spectators and ninjas in the stands to their seats. Unable even to breathe, they could only stare at the apocalyptic scene, like divine punishment made manifest, their minds utterly blank.
Yet amid that silence and destruction, something suddenly changed!
No one knew who noticed first. Pure white feathers appeared from nowhere, drifting down from the sky like the first snow of winter.
"What... is this?" A Jonin instinctively reached out and caught a feather.
A second later, his eyelids grew unbearably heavy. His body went limp, and he fell straight into a deep sleep.
Thud, thud...
Like toppling dominoes, the vast majority of the ninjas and every civilian in the stands fell into a deep slumber the moment they touched the feathers. Only a handful of powerful Jonin and members of the Konoha High Command who had received advance warning remained awake.
"**Genjutsu: Temple of Nirvana