Boom!
The moment the meteor struck the Land of Earth, a deafening roar erupted.
A shockwave like a missile detonation blasted outward, dragging a sky-blotting cloud of dust as it tore in every direction.
Within a radius of more than ten miles, the land convulsed as if an earthquake had descended.
Hundreds meter long fissures wriggled out across the ground like colossal serpents, twisting and branching until they formed a horrifying web of destruction.
Rocky mountains and vast stretches of stubborn, deep-rooted forest were caught in the impact and ripped apart as though someone had flipped the world upside down.
First torn from the earth, hurled into the air, then pulverized into fragments.
"..."
No one knew how long it took before the dust finally settled and the trembling earth grew still.
Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya crawled up from the ground, staring blankly at the scene before them.
Once, their field of vision had been nothing but towering mountains.
Now, the land for a full mile had become a basin.
A single shattered boulder lay in the center of it. Aside from that, not a single intact Iwa-nin remained.
"Hundreds of Iwa shinobi… just gone like that?"
With Tsunade's emergency treatment, Jiraiya had barely regained enough strength to move.
He took in the apocalyptic ruin, then let his heavy gaze shift toward the towering figure in the black suit.
"So this is a legend of the Warring States Period… someone who fought both the God of Shinobi and the Ghost of Uchiha?"
Carrying Jiraiya on his back, Orochimaru stared at Garp with pupils like cold serpents. Shock, horror, and awe flashed through them one after another.
"This scene… I feel like I've seen something like this before."
Tsunade frowned lightly. As she looked at Garp, her beautiful eyes held not only shock and wonder, but also a flicker of recollection.
"I remember now. When I was little, there was one time, I cried nonstop. My grandpa and granduncle tried everything and still couldn't calm me down.
In the end, it was him who used Flying Thunder God to take me into a forest… and then, he lifted a mountain right in front of me and kicked it like a ball. Only then did I stop crying."
It wasn't until Garp approached that the memory surged back in full, and she pointed at him, now standing before her with a broad smile, and blurted out.
"He uprooted a mountain."
Jiraiya froze.
"Kicked it like a ball…" Orochimaru murmured.
So that was Tsunade's childhood?
Plain. Brutal. Straightforward.
No wonder she was so obsessed with raw strength.
Turns out the source of it all was the man standing right in front of them.
"Bwahaha..... I thought you'd forgotten it."
Garp's smile grew even brighter.
Everyone from his generation, dead or aged beyond recognition.
Among those with any connection to him, Tsunade was the only one left.
"Of course I remember. I've lived this long and never seen anyone casually rip a mountain out of the ground and kick it like a toy. Even Grandpa couldn't do that.
I just didn't know back then that it was you, uncle Garp. Grandpa and Granduncle never told me who you were, they even made me forget everything about you and forbade me from telling anyone."
Tsunade clutched Garp's arm, her stunning face filled with admiration and reverence.
'This guy is seventy or eighty years old… how is he still this powerful?'
Watching Tsunade look at Garp like a starstruck fangirl, Jiraiya's heart twisted with both gratitude and envy.
'So Tsunade knew a man like this…'
A glint flashed through Orochimaru's eyes. Who knew what he was thinking.
"Don't blame them. They promised me they wouldn't reveal anything about me to anyone.
The very fact that they brought you to see me already shows how much they treasured their granddaughter."
Garp reached out and gently ruffled Tsunade's hair, his expression softening with affectionate warmth.
Back then, when Tobirama brought young Tsunade to him, Garp already understood.
The Senju brothers wanted him to remember her, so that in a critical moment, he could lend her a hand.
And aside from that one time, the brothers never came to him again.
Madara rode the Nine Tails and attacked Konoha. The First Shinobi World War erupted. Neither of them ever appeared.
"Uncle Garp… you came specifically to save me?"
Tsunade suddenly understood everything.
"What else would I be here for?"
Garp chuckled, just opening his mouth to continue, when his ear twitched lightly.
"You three wait here."
He tossed the words over his shoulder and headed toward the basin he had carved out.
It didn't take long before the maimed, half-destroyed form of Kitsuchi entered his sight, lying helpless on the ground, barely clinging to life.
Hearing footsteps approaching, Kitsuchi forced his eyes open with great effort.
When he saw Garp's towering silhouette, his expression turned painfully complicated.
There was fear, awe, hatred, but above all, despair and regret.
If… if he had been more decisive, more ruthless, without the slightest wishful thinking… he could have withdrawn with his hundreds of comrades.
They might have escaped, rather than meeting such a miserable end.
"You're here to kill me, aren't you?"
A bitter smile twisted Kitsuchi's lips.
"You think too highly of yourself. You're just the Tsuchikage's son. Don't act like you're anything special."
Garp stopped, eyes settling on Kitsuchi's face.
"Th-then… what do you intend to do?"
Kitsuchi's expression darkened with resignation.
Yes… compared to the Iwa-nin who died here, he might seem to have the special status of being the Tsuchikage's son, but in Garp's eyes, that meant nothing.
He was just another nameless, faceless shinobi.
Not even worth remembering.