At the edge of the battlefield, fierce winds howled as the shock waves of the battle spread outward.
Konohamaru stood amid the wreckage, looking up at the two forces colliding in the sky with world-shattering power.
In that instant, he saw Miki Yūya punch straight through the clouds.
That power, beyond all reason and above everything else, made Konohamaru's heart jolt.
He lowered his head and looked at his dust-covered hands, overwhelmed by a helplessness he had never felt before.
"So... I'm still this weak."
He murmured to himself, his voice almost drowned out by the roar of the battlefield.
He had always believed that if he kept training in taijutsu, kept punching, kicking, and taking hits, he would one day catch up to that man.
Only now did he understand that the talent he was so proud of meant nothing before Miki Yūya.
"I've always wanted to prove myself..."
The light slowly faded from Konohamaru's eyes.
"But I've always wanted to prove myself as a ninja, as a Hokage... so I was never suited to taijutsu in the first place. I don't have Senior Yūya's will of domination."
Just then, the shock waves in the sky began spreading wildly. Air pressure powerful enough to crush everything swept toward the people behind him.
If he failed to stop it, the warriors of the Land of Demons behind him would all be caught in the blast.
The instant that thought crossed his mind, countless images suddenly flashed through Konohamaru's head-
It had been three years ago.
As a young child, he had hidden outside the door to the Hokage's Office, peering through the crack at his grandfather Hiruzen Sarutobi's weary back.
That day, Orochimaru had launched the Konoha Crush Plan.
To seal Orochimaru, his grandfather had used the Dead Demon Consuming