He wasn't sure who released the ninjutsu that caused such a massive explosion. He hoped Torifu was the side with the advantage, and he hoped he would come back alive.
Jiraiya looked gravely toward the direction of the explosion. The sky there had only revealed a small patch of blue before, but now almost half of Amegakure's sky had lit up.
"He will. He definitely will. He is Kumotsuru Torifu, the strongest person in the entire ninja world."
"That's right, Master will definitely win!" Although Yahiko and Konan spoke with great certainty, Konan's tightly clutching hand revealed the worry in her heart.
The ninja in the city understood that the Kage were fighting for their future peace, so they all began to pray silently, praying for the Kage's safe return.
It seemed that the ninjas' prayers had taken effect, or perhaps the Kazekage and the Tsuchikage had already run to a safe zone.
The shockwave behind them gradually began to slow down.
The Tsuchikage and the Kazekage looked back, speechless for a time. They truly didn't know what to say.
After a long while, the Kazekage quipped, "Perhaps you can send a compensation agreement to the mastermind and ask him to pay for the Land of Earth's losses."
The Kazekage said this because the explosion had reduced half of the Land of Earth's rain province to ruins. With the constant high-temperature scorching, the soil had surely crystallized and become unusable for normal purposes.
The Tsuchikage hit the Kazekage's shoulder after hearing this. "You seem to have forgotten what we in Iwagakure are best at."
For Earth Style ninja, restoring the terrain was incredibly simple. Even if the area was large, they just needed to mobilize more ninja.
It was not a major issue; there were more important matters at hand.
The two exchanged a few jokes, and the shockwave from the explosion had gradually weakened and dissipated.
The air was filled with a large amount of scorched scent and dust, which was not a particularly pleasant smell, and everything visible was utterly devastated.
Even the trees near them that had not been swept up by the shockwave were all snapped and could no longer survive.
"Let's go. We must go back and see how the Hokage is!"
The Kazekage did not object to the Tsuchikage's suggestion. The two merely exchanged glances and immediately returned to search for Torifu's whereabouts.
They were also looking for Blaze's trace. In this situation, if Blaze was still alive, she would certainly be extremely weak, and the two of them would definitely deliver the killing blow.
"Oh my gosh, how far did we run?"
The two had been running in the direction they had just fled for nearly ten kilometers but still hadn't found any trace of Torifu or Blaze.
They also couldn't pinpoint the exact location of the explosion anymore, as there were no longer any landmarks.
Everything within sight was desolate, without a single tree, showing only crystallized ground.
It shone brilliantly under the sunlight.
When the two approached the location of the battle, they began searching but found nothing.
"This… could they have perished together?" the Kazekage said worriedly.
Ninja technology was just beginning to develop, and peace had finally been secured once again.
They could not lose the Hokage at this critical juncture!
"Impossible! We keep searching! The Hokage has many tricks; nothing could happen to him!"
After Ōnoki finished speaking, he immediately resumed searching for the Hokage's trace.
The Kazekage, seeing this, could only continue the search, hoping desperately that nothing had happened to the Hokage.
Just when they had searched another round without results, and their hopes had hit rock bottom, a golden mark suddenly appeared not far from the Kazekage, and it was flashing with light.
He immediately called for the Tsuchikage to be on guard! He dared not step forward rashly.
Because they couldn't confirm whether this was a leftover trap from the Hokage or Blaze.
However, the two quickly broke into smiles. "Oh goodness, I knew you were alive!"
After a flash of light, Torifu appeared before the two. Aside from some dirt, there was not even a single tear on his body.
"Hokage, you actually know a Space-Time Ninjutsu!"
Seeing that the Kazekage misunderstood the technique as a Space-Time Ninjutsu, Torifu just went with it. "Yes, having more tricks means more chances of survival."
The Tsuchikage stepped forward with a smile and clapped the Hokage on the shoulder. "It's good that you're alive. The Kazekage and I came back to look for you immediately after escaping the shockwave. We knew you had many ways out."
Torifu laughed heartily upon hearing this. He hadn't expected these two to be quite loyal, not immediately abandoning him and running away.
"Right, where is Blaze? That fellow didn't…"
"Dead. There's not even ash left." Torifu said very easily. He was so certain because the system displayed that his second mission was complete, and the reward would be issued after calculation.
Torifu and Blaze had clearly exerted too much force, only thinking about defeating the opponent, but entirely failing to consider the catastrophic impact of such powerful ninjutsu colliding and exploding.
Blaze had been instantly vaporized the moment the shockwave swallowed her, not even leaving her time to think or regret. It was merely an instant.
As for Torifu, the moment he saw the ninjutsu collide, he felt things going wrong and immediately burrowed into the leaf mark, appearing beside Kakuzu.
That is, he returned to the central city.
After the sounds of the explosion could no longer be heard in the central city, he returned. He had been worried that the Tsuchikage and the Kazekage might have been killed by the shockwave.
However, he had underestimated the two's ability to escape death.
Thus, everything worked out well in the end.
"Then, does this mean we've won? We successfully protected the future peace again?"
Torifu nodded. "Yes, that's right. We won."
He not only secured the peace of the ninja world for the next few years, or perhaps even longer, but also successfully guarded his body.
Over the years, two strong individuals had coveted his body, and Torifu didn't know why his body was so desirable, always leading to a massive fight.
But since someone was after his life, he wouldn't be merciful.
Therefore, those two had already gone to hell, but Torifu still felt that Ōtsutsuki Isshiki would not give up easily.
He guessed Isshiki might take action himself at some point.
So, he had to quickly break through to the Six Paths level. Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's strength was definitely at the Six Paths level; after all, even Ōtsutsuki Kaguya was merely his subordinate.
Even in his current body of Jigen, which only allowed him three days of full power, Torifu wouldn't be able to survive against him.
"I still need to focus on increasing my strength. Even after becoming a Kage-level peak, there is still the constant risk of losing one's life in this crisis-ridden ninja world."
Torifu's handling of this Chaos event could be said to be quite perfect. There were no mistakes in either the first or the second mission.
Therefore, the rewards should be much more generous.