Hatake Sakumo was regretting how he "shouldn't have shown off so much earlier" when the half-baked system chimed in:
[Ding! Host, you're awesome!] Hatake Sakumo: "..." [You just killed the fleet admiral Sengoku the Buddha, and now you've beaten the world's strongest man, one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard Edward Newgate, so badly he can't fight back!] The more the system said, the more excited it got, its pitch rising sharply. [Look at him! All he can do is shout in impotent rage, "Don't underestimate me! I'm Whitebeard!"] Hatake Sakumo's breathing grew heavy for a moment beneath his mask. *You decided he was Whitebeard just because Danzo said, "Don't underestimate me"?* [Please kill Whitebeard, host! Make the entire sea tremble and show the world what it means to be the "world's strongest swordsman"! Reward: one of Whitebeard's abilities, selected at random!]
Hatake Sakumo suddenly remembered that the system still owed him a reward!
"Ding, my ass!" he cursed inwardly as he steadied himself. "Screw you! I killed Hiruzen Sarutobi. Where's the reward you promised me?"
[Ding! Host detected successfully killing the fleet admiral Sengoku the Buddha. Calculating reward... Congratulations, host, you have drawn Sengoku the Buddha's Six Powers!] Hatake Sakumo: "..."
The Six Powers?
That was it? That was it?
Hatake Sakumo was so furious he nearly passed out. He was just about to open his mouth and let out a few last curses.
[Ding!]
The electronic voice sounded again.
[Host detected successfully killing the "world's strongest man," one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard Edward Newgate! Drawing reward... Congratulations, host, you have drawn Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit ability!]
Hatake Sakumo's eyes widened.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
His head buzzed, as though someone had flipped a switch. Two streams of information poured straight into his mind, just as they had when he obtained Hawkeye Mihawk's top-tier Armament Haki.
The ways to use the Six Powers and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the tricks to exerting their power-all of it was crystal clear, as though it had always been in his head.
There was no Haki in the world of Naruto, but after obtaining Hawkeye Mihawk's top-tier Armament Haki, Hatake Sakumo had been able to use it.
There were no Devil Fruits in the world of Naruto, but now he could wield the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit as well.
The system might have been half-baked, but its rewards were the real deal.
Beneath his mask, Hatake Sakumo grinned.
"Ha... Haha... Hahaha!"
His laughter was a little wild, and his face flushed red beneath his mask. The fear that had been gripping his throat moments ago was swept away completely.
What the hell was there to fear?!
I'm the "world's strongest man" now!
Hatake Sakumo happened to be holding White Fang in one hand, its blade stabbed into the wall to resist the suction. Now he clenched his free hand into a fist.
Following the techniques in his head, as though they were engraved in his bones, he channeled the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power into that fist.
Then he threw a punch!
"Crack..."
A crisp sound like shattering glass rang out in the air around the spot his fist struck.
Something had been "shattered" by his fist on the spot.
A white shockwave roared outward, carrying visible, fracture-like patterns through space!
"Boom...!!!"
The sky fell and the earth sank.
With Danzo's corpse at the center, the entire area seemed to be gripped hard by an invisible giant hand, then released. The whole expanse of earth cracked violently, heaved up, and collapsed!
A small earthquake had been "smashed" into existence just like that!
The dome, walls, beams, and pillars of the Root Base cracked apart inch by inch in the violent tremors. Stone and earth rained down, and the entire underground base became a collapsing "tomb" in the blink of an eye.
Danzo's corpse, which had already bled dry from activating the Four Symbols Seal, and the still-expanding area of the Sealing Jutsu were caught head-on by this "cataclysmic earthquake"!
At the center of the earthquake wave's exploding "sphere of light," the base's floor caved in with a crack, taking Danzo's corpse and the sealing patterns plunging deep underground.
The Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique, an S-rank Sealing Jutsu, was buried alive underground just like that. The wreckage of the collapsing Root Base crashed down layer after layer, burying it completely.
The terrifying suction of the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique plunged underground along with the corpse and the sealing patterns.
After Danzo's corpse fell underground and Hatake Sakumo escaped the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique's five-meter radius, his whole body felt lighter.
The deadly threat that had left him gasping for breath moments ago vanished completely.
The collapsing wreckage overhead was raining down indiscriminately. If he didn't leave now, he would be buried alive underground.
Hatake Sakumo kicked off with both feet, using Moonwalk from the Six Powers to propel himself into the air.
As he rose, he flicked his wrist and whisked White Fang out of the wall.
Simply put, Moonwalk involved repeatedly stepping on the air and using the force of each step to kick oneself into the sky, as though running up an invisible staircase.
One step, two steps, three steps-Hatake Sakumo stepped on the invisible air and rose into the sky!
Above him, the collapsing structures of the Root Base rumbled down: broken beams and pillars, chunks of stone...
Hatake Sakumo couldn't even be bothered to look back. He casually swung White Fang.
"Slash!"
A flash of the blade passed, cutting through the obstacles in his path and smashing them to pieces.
He climbed higher with Moonwalk, swinging his blade to cut through the wreckage falling all around him, and forced his way out of the doomed Root Base!
"Phew..."
Hatake Sakumo came to a steady stop in midair, standing on the invisible air as he looked down.
The Root Base, built underground in the western part of Konoha, had now become a sunken field of ruins. Dust billowed, and rubble lay scattered everywhere.
Only then did he feel that he could finally unclench his fist.
Good grief.
If Shimura Danzō hadn't died at the last moment from the Four Symbols Seal's excessive blood loss,
and if he hadn't been extraordinarily lucky and drawn Whitebeard's "Tremor-Tremor Fruit ability," mastering that "power of a natural disaster" that could alter the terrain, he really wouldn't have escaped the Four Symbols Seal.
And after killing Hiruzen Sarutobi, he had drawn the Six Powers.
Thankfully, they included Moonwalk, a move that let him step through the air and fly using Taijutsu techniques.
Without either one, he could forget about escaping tonight's "collapse of heaven and earth" unscathed.
Hatake Sakumo spat.
"System, well done!"
He hovered in midair using Moonwalk and glanced around the village. Thankfully, he had also obtained Whitebeard's consummate skill in using the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
His punch had produced only a small earthquake, its area of effect tightly confined to the underground area of the Root Base.
And because the Root Base itself had been built deep underground, the earthquake had caused shaking of at most magnitude two or three by the time it reached the surface. The village had barely been affected.
If he hadn't held back that punch and had overturned all of Konoha...
Hatake Sakumo didn't linger. Under the moonlight, he sped toward the other side of Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was dead, and so was Shimura Danzō.
Now, only the two advisers, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, remained.
The plan had just one final step left!