How exactly should we choose?
The Anbu Ninja's last question struck Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart like a heavy hammer.
How to choose?
He looked into the crystal ball at the Uchiha Divine Army, which had already crossed the Iron Wall Mountain and was advancing at high speed towards the heart of the Land of Lightning, as if it were nothing.
He then glanced at the "letter of advice" in his hand, written by Sunagakure and Kirigakure, which was humble in its wording yet tinged with a hint of schadenfreude.
An unprecedented sense of humiliation and powerlessness welled up in his heart.
He's the Third Hokage! The Professor of Ninjutsu! A hero who led Konoha to victory in two Shinobi World Wars!
Now he's being forced by two juniors to bow down to a young man in his early twenties?!
"Asshole!"
Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen Sarutobi his fist on the table, shattering the Hokage's desk, crafted from precious wood, into pieces!
"Those two spineless bastards Rasa and Mei Terumi! They're trying to trample the dignity of the entire Shinobi World under their feet!"
Seeing the enraged Hiruzen Sarutobi Tsunade n't help but speak up, "Sensei, we can't just give in like this! Konoha has Konoha pride! We'll fight him to the death!"
"Spell?"
Jiraiya, gave a wry smile and pointed to the crystal ball.
"What can we use to fight? Our flesh and blood against that iron legion? Or our Ninjutsu to go head-to-head with that monster who can play with Tailed Beast Bomb like a ball?"
" Tsunade, wake up!"
Jiraiya's voice was filled with weariness and bitterness.
"As that letter of advice said, times have changed."
" The Ninjutsu, tactics, and even the entire pattern of warfare that we are familiar with all seem as laughable as children's games in front of that man."
"The question now is no longer whether we can win a war, but how we choose to welcome the arrival of that new era."
Jiraiya's words plunged the entire office into silence once again.
Yes, they all understand.
Resistance is a dead end.
The only difference is that, like the Kumogakure, they were utterly crushed, both physically and mentally, by the other side in the most cruel way, and nailed to the pillar of historical shame.
Or should they, like Sunagakure and Kirigakure, voluntarily lower their heads, abandon their so-called dignity, and exchange it for a chance to eke out a living under the new order?
"Let me think about it. Everyone, get out of here. Let me think about it."
Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand weakly, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant, and slumped down in the ruins.
Just as the Konoha High Command was facing a painful decision.
Above the Land of Lightning, a true "dimensional reduction attack" is unfolding.
The command center of the flagship " Amaterasu ".
Gen'yō looked at the scattered red dots on the sand table within the Land of Lightning, which were still trying to gather and prepare for street fighting or guerrilla warfare, and a trace of impatience flashed in his eyes.
"Too slow."
" Fugaku and his men are still advancing too slowly."
"I don't have time to play urban warfare games with these rats hiding in the gutter."
He slowly stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside the window lies the deep, boundless universe.
" Amaterasu."
"Yes, my lord."
"Switch to 'Space-based Weapon Strike System'."
"Command received. Unlocking ' Divine Punishment ' space-based kinetic weapon systems 1 through 12."
"Locate the coordinates of all points on the sand table marked as 'enemy armed forces assembly points'."
Target locked.
"Very good." A cold, death-like smile curled at the corner of Gen'yō's lips.
He slowly raised his hand and gently clenched it towards the starry sky outside the window.
"Let this tedious war end early with the next grand fireworks display."
"To demonstrate the true power of my Divine Kingdom to the entire world."
"Tell them—what true 'divine punishment' really is!"
"Execute -- Saturation orbital bombardment!"
The moment the words fell!
In near-Earth orbit, invisible to everyone on the Shinobi World Continent, twelve " Divine Punishment " space-based weapons, resembling small satellites and crafted entirely from mysterious black metal, exuding a blend of science fiction and violent aesthetics, slowly adjusted their positions.
Their menacing cannons were pointed at the blue planet below.
There was no fluctuation of Chakra, no glint of Ninjutsu.
Only the purest, most primal, and most terrifying—the laws of physics!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Twelve giant tungsten rods, each over ten meters in diameter and fifty meters in length, made of ultra-high-density alloy, were propelled off the track by an electromagnetic accelerator!
They hurtled down at terrifying speeds exceeding twenty times the speed of sound, leaving long, meteor-like trails of flame created by friction with the atmosphere, towards the locked coordinates within the Land of Lightning!
This is a death sentence from outer space, one that is inescapable and impossible to defend against!
In the Land of Lightning, somewhere in an underground bunker that had been converted into a temporary command post.
Dozens of Kumogakure Jonin arguing fiercely over a map.
"No! We can't afford to scatter any longer! We must gather all our remaining forces and fight them to the death on the outskirts of Kumogakure!"
"A decisive battle to the death? What are we going to fight with? Didn't you see how Iron Wall Mountain fell? Our spirits simply couldn't withstand that Uchiha Fugaku's Genjutsu!"
"What are we going to do? Just wait for them to storm the village?!"
Just as they were arguing...
A ninja in charge of observation suddenly tumbled in, his face filled with a look of terror that seemed more like he'd seen a ghost!
"Everyone, look at the sky!!"
"In the sky?"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked up at the sky through the surveillance crystal above the bunker.
Then they saw it.
Twelve—no, twelve wheels of "suns" that descended from the Greater Yang, brighter and hotter than the Greater Yang itself!
"What is that?!"
This was the last thought that flashed through their minds.
The next second.
boom!!!!!!!!!!
It was as if the whole world had been Shizune.
What followed was a terrifying, earth-shattering explosion powerful enough to shatter eardrums!
The first tungsten rod hit their underground bunker precisely.
Its terrifying kinetic energy was completely released the moment it touched the ground!
Its power is equivalent to the simultaneous explosion of millions of tons of TNT! It's also equivalent to a small, clean, and unpolluted " Tailed Beast Bomb "!
The earth was like a fragile piece of paper before this force, easily torn apart, lifted up, and pulverized!
Everything within a radius of tens of kilometers, whether mountains, rivers, towns, or forests, was instantly razed to the ground and vanished into nothingness!
The powerful earthquake waves even spread throughout the entire Land of Lightning!
And this is just the beginning!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Then the other eleven " Rod of God " landed precisely on their respective target points one after another.
For a moment, the entire Land of Lightning seemed to be plunged into apocalyptic judgment!
Twelve enormous mushroom clouds, billowing with dust and flames, slowly rose over this mournful land.
The global live broadcast was interrupted once again due to severe energy interference.
But all the ninjas who witnessed the twelve "meteors" falling through various channels were petrified.
Their brains were completely unable to process what they were seeing, a scene that was beyond their cognitive limits.
What was that just now?
"A meteorite falling from the sky?"
"No, that's not right! That's not a meteorite! That's a weapon! It's Uchiha Gen'yō's weapon!"
"Space-based weapon!"
"My God! He can actually launch an attack from the sky?!"
If the previous War Puppet Legion and Susanoo were still within their comprehension, then this time, this purely physical attack launched directly from space orbit completely shattered their entire understanding of the word "war"!
This is no longer Ninjutsu!
This is Divine Punishment!
It is a true, unparalleled divine punishment from the heavens above!
The flagship " Amaterasu ".
Gen'yō quietly looked at the twelve newly appeared huge black pits on the sand table, representing "complete purification," and nodded in satisfaction.
"Reporting to my lord, no large-scale hostile Chakra reactions have been detected within the Land of Land of Lightning."
"Very good."
Gen'yō slowly sat back on the throne.
"Order Fugaku's ' Fire God Legion ' to halt its advance and remain in place."
"Command Itachi's ' War Puppet Legion ' to take over the battlefield and begin 'post-war cleanup'."
He paused, then turned his gaze to the last red marker on the sand table, which stood alone amidst the mountains and now appeared incredibly fragile.
--Hidden Kumogakure.
"The road leading there is now completely clear."
His gaze seemed to pierce through the screen, landing on Itachi's calm, expressionless face.
"Itachi."
"Exist."
I'll give you ten thousand war puppets.
"Before nightfall, I want you to have your troops at the city gates, completely surrounding the entire Kumogakure."
Tell them--
A chilling killing intent flashed in Gen'yō's eyes.
The time to surrender has passed.
"Now it's time for the trial."
"I'm curious, when faced with absolute death, how much of their so-called 'pride' remains?"