"Does anyone else have any objections to what I said?"
Shengu Xuan's indifferent voice slowly echoed through the deathly silent hall, every word like a heavy hammer striking the Five Kage's already fragile nerves.
Objections?
Who dared object? Who was even qualified to object?
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, bowed lower than ever. Those old bones he took such pride in, unyielding all his life, creaked under the unbearable burden of Shengu Xuan's godlike pressure. He wanted to argue, to say, "The Shinobi World's future shouldn't be decided by one person," but when the words reached his lips, only dry gasps remained.
The Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, was deathly pale, sweat pouring down her lovely face. Before that pressure, which seemed capable of freezing the soul, she could not even summon the courage to mold chakra for the Lava Release and Boil Release she took such pride in. For the first time, she felt how pale and powerless beauty and strength were before an absolute "god."
As for Tsunade, Gaara, and Kakashi and the others behind them, they did not even have the courage to look Shengu Xuan in the eye.
Yet there were always one or two stubborn fools.
"B-bas... bastard!" An utterly suppressed roar broke the suffocating silence.
It was the Fourth Raikage A!
With his only remaining intact hand, his left, he braced himself against the ground, forcibly resisting that mountainlike pressure. Inch by inch, he tried to straighten his massive body out of its humiliating posture. Every muscle in his body trembled violently, veins bulging beneath his skin like coiled dragons. The hot breath pouring from his mouth could almost ignite the air.
"A shinobi... a shinobi's dignity... will not permit... will not permit kneeling before anyone!!" Raikage A's teeth ground together, every word seeming to squeeze