CHAPTER 200: THE WEIGHT OF ALLIANCE
Onoki stood frozen, shock written plainly across his aged features. Of all the possibilities he had considered in this nightmare of a battle, this was the last thing he expected.
The Third Kazekage. Sunagakure's ninja. They were helping him.
Yes, they had formed a temporary alliance. Yes, they were technically cooperating against Konoha. But their relationship was never so close that they would risk their lives to rescue each other.
If their positions were reversed—if it were Sunagakure in danger—Onoki knew with absolute certainty that he would not help. In fact, he might even attack the weakened village to recoup his own losses from this disastrous war.
"Why?"
"Why are you doing this?!"
The Tsuchikage's voice cracked with confusion. This shadow-level master, one of the pinnacle existences of the ninja world, was deeply doubting his own understanding of things at this moment.
"Do you WANT to die, Onoki?!"
The Third Kazekage's roar cut through the chaos. He controlled his iron sand with desperate intensity, endless black grains rising to form shield after shield in the air. The strongest defense he could muster ground against the meteorite, violent sparks exploding from the friction with every passing second. He clutched his chest with one hand, blood still leaking from his lips, feeling as if an invisible hammer pounded his abdomen with each heartbeat.
"Just accept your fate?! You're still the Tsuchikage—the strongest in your village! Have you no shame?!"
"Lord Kazekage!"
The Sunagakure medical ninja watched in horror, but they couldn't stop their Kage's decision. They couldn't even try.
Onoki heard the Kazekage's scream—a cry that seemed to come from the soul itself. It struck him like a revelation. Like enlightenment.
Slowly, something shifted in his expression. Bitterness. Helplessness. And then—a self-mocking laugh.
"I'm being taught a lesson by a young boy like you... heh?"
His back straightened. His eyes cleared.
"I am the Tsuchikage!"
"I will not accept my fate like this!"
Determination blazed in Onoki's eyes. He launched himself into the sky, flying upward until he hovered directly beneath the descending meteor.
"Earth Release: Super Light-Weight Rock Technique!"
"Earth Release: Super Weighted Rock Technique!"
Invisible waves swept across the meteorite's massive form. Its fall slowed—then stopped its acceleration entirely. The celestial rock lost tremendous weight under the Light-Weight technique while simultaneously gaining crushing mass from the Weighted technique applied in specific areas, throwing it off balance.
At the same time, the Third Kazekage's iron sand multiplied in weight and power, pressing against the meteorite with renewed force.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
"Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
"Lava Release: Ash Cloud Combustion!"
Below, the Iwa ninja—who moments ago had lost all fighting spirit—rose as one. Techniques flew toward the sky, each one striking the meteorite.
The combination of Earth Release and Lava Release proved particularly devastating. Streams of earth and stone shot upward, and from Kage Assistant Onihei came something unexpected—Lava Release itself, a genuine bloodline limit.
So even a quasi-shadow master wasn't ordinary.
Onihei spat forth extremely hot liquid rock from his mouth—molten stone that burned with terrible heat. This ash cloud, when it encountered the other ninja's Earth Release torrents, created a chemical reaction between two completely different substances.
Rock. Earth. Stone. Combined with burning ash.
They formed cement. Concrete.
From all directions, streams of this mixture condensed in the air around the meteorite.
One pillar. Two. Three.
Thousands of ninja working together meant thousands of cement pillars, supporting the meteorite from below, surrounding it from all sides.
For the first time in this entire war, the Iwa ninja and Sand ninja had truly joined forces.
The Third Kazekage allowed himself a moment of relief. His gamble had been correct. If he had let the Iwa forces be crushed by meteorites, Sunagakure would stand alone against Konoha on this battlefield. That would place them in an impossibly disadvantageous position.
He understood this truth clearly.
Both villages had been defeated. That was unavoidable. But when negotiations came—and they would come—Sunagakure alone would be politically slaughtered by Konoha.
With Iwa Ninja Village at the table, however? Different story entirely. Onoki was an old fox. Even in defeat, he might not emerge at a disadvantage during negotiations.
Konoha was strong, yes. But they also had to consider the national power of two great nations—the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth.
He had saved the Tsuchikage. He didn't expect repayment. He only hoped that when negotiations came, old man Onoki would remember this moment and help secure some advantages for Sunagakure.
In war, two against one meant certain defeat. But in politics? Two against one might be a very different matter.
At this moment, the fates of Iwa and Suna had become inextricably linked.
"Kazekage." Onoki's voice carried across the chaos. "I owe you for this."
The meteorite's fall had nearly stopped. Thousands of ninja from two villages working together had finally halted this catastrophe.
In the Konoha camp, every ninja watched in silence.
"Unexpected," Jiraiya murmured. "They actually joined forces at the last moment."
"The Third Kazekage is a clever man." Orochimaru's dark yellow pupils flickered with understanding. He had already guessed the Kazekage's calculations.
"This is actually a bad sign," Hatake Sakumo said quietly. But his eyes weren't on the alliance below—they were fixed on the fading figure in the sky.
High above, Ragnar sighed softly.
Sunagakure's intervention had caught him off guard. And the Iwa ninja, who moments ago had no will to fight, had found desperate strength in unity.
The main problem: he had no more physical strength to suppress them with gravity. Without that, without preventing the combined Earth and Lava Release techniques, this meteorite might not have been so easily stopped.
Below, thousands of ninja surrounded the celestial rock.
An iron sand shield supported it from below, its center slightly dented from the pressure. Behind that shield, massive iron sand pillars provided additional reinforcement. And surrounding everything, cement pillars of varying thickness pressed against the meteorite's surface, leaving deep impressions in the earth where their bases anchored.
The scene was undeniably grand. Shocking.
Human power, fighting against the power of nature itself.
Resisting a meteorite. Something previously unimaginable.
"It's over!"
"It's finally over!"
The Iwa ninja erupted with relief, expressions of survival flooding their faces. Excitement beyond words.
Ragnar's expression darkened.
Over? How could it be over so easily? He had never been soft-hearted.
This ridiculous alliance, fragile as it was, held together only by mutual interest. He would end it. Now.
"Over?" His voice carried across the battlefield, cold and cutting. "It's not over yet."
He looked down at the assembled Sand and Iwa ninja—at their desperate coalition, their fragile unity.
"You initiated this war. You will pay the price for everything that happened here."
"And this farce of an alliance? It's held together by nothing but interests. Fragile. Weak. Easily broken."
His palms extended outward. Purple halos condensed around them, growing more dazzling, more strange, more terrifying with each passing second.
"Gravity Suppression."
"Lord Ragnar!" The little slug emerged from his collar again, its voice sharp with alarm. "You truly cannot fight any longer! The physical energy loss is too severe! It will damage your very life force—your vital essence!"
If something happened to Ragnar, where would she find another source of natural energy to bask in?
(End of Chapter)
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