In the underground chamber of the Land of Fire's Daimyo's Residence, a heavy door of dark iron and stone shut out every sound from outside, but it could not shut out the fear surging through the Daimyō's heart.
He slumped in a cold stone chair, his obese body trembling uncontrollably. His hands clutched the Space-Time Teleportation Scroll so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, and he did not even notice his nails digging into his palms. Beyond the stone door, the residence's guards had already fallen silent. Not even a sound of fighting reached him. That deathly silence terrified him more than the thunder of battle ever could.
He knew Chiya's strength all too well.
The man who could slay Kaguya, the Progenitor of Chakra, crush Six Paths Madara, and end the Fourth Shinobi World War single-handedly was not someone his hired Jonin guards could withstand. Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had launched an assassination attempt with over two hundred elite ninja, only to be wiped out without so much as touching Chiya's clothes. Before Chiya, his own meager strength was nothing more than an ant trying to topple a tree.
"Quick... activate the scroll..." The Daimyō's teeth chattered as he tried to tear the sealing tag from the scroll with trembling hands. He wanted to escape to a secret hideout near the Land of Fire's border. As long as he could get out of Konoha and beyond Chiya's control, he would still have a chance to contact the old nobles in other countries. He could still turn things around.
But just as his fingertips were about to touch the sealing tag, the candles in the chamber went out without warning.
A bone-piercing chill instantly swept through the chamber. It was not the cold wind of the night, but