Looking down at the dead Mei Terumi...
Menma's expression remained perfectly indifferent. He smoothly pulled the Sword of the Thunder God free. When you've killed enough people, adding one more to the pile doesn't stir a single ripple of emotion. This was the nature of the world: when facing an enemy, if you don't kill them, they will kill you.
This was the brutal reality of war.
Not to mention that in Menma's future plans, all Five Great Nations were potential enemies. The logical course of action was to seize every opportunity to cripple their military strength. Letting the Fourth Raikage escape during their last encounter still sat like a knot of frustration in Menma's chest. If he let Mei Terumi escape today, he might as well go find a block of tofu and smash his head against it until he died. At least the Fourth Raikage had Yugito Nii risking her life to cover his retreat, which genuinely restricted Menma's options, and the Raikage himself was undeniably stronger.
But here? Mei Terumi was completely isolated.
The surrounding Mist shinobi were being aggressively suppressed and slaughtered by Utakata, Shibuki, and the Waterfall forces, falling into pools of blood one by one. Who could possibly come to her aid?
Furthermore, with Menma's current strength...
Ordinary shinobi didn't even have the right to challenge him.
In his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, he was solidly in the Super Kage tier. Combine that with the Flying Thunder God, the Adamantine Sealing Chains, and the monstrous sensory range of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura...
His overall combat power already rivaled the legendary Third Raikage in his prime. And as Menma continued to refine his mastery over his jutsu, he had the potential to completely surpass the Third Raikage.
Of course, reaching the god-like heights of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha was still a long way off.
But in the current ninja world?
Menma was practically invincible in a one-on-one fight. Even in a massive group battle, it would require a highly coordinated, elite force just to defeat him, and actually killing him was nearly impossible.
The Flying Thunder God guaranteed that even if Menma couldn't win, he could always escape.
He would never end up like the Third Raikage, surrounded and slowly exhausted to death.
No matter how fast a body moved, physical speed had absolute limits. It could be physically intercepted.
Space-time ninjutsu possessed no such limits.
Because of this...
Any enemy significantly weaker than Menma fundamentally could not escape his pursuit.
Mei Terumi's death...
Was a microcosm of the entire battlefield for the Mist forces.
Menma's arrival had completely freed Utakata. Previously, the Waterfall shinobi, led by Shibuki, had barely managed to hold the line against the Mist's encirclement, and their casualties had been skyrocketing.
But once Utakata was able to join the general melee...
The situation flipped entirely.
The Mist vanguard didn't have a second Mei Terumi. The strongest Jonin they had left could, at best, block a few of Utakata's attacks before being slaughtered one by one.
A total reversal.
The Mist lines were collapsing into a full rout.
Acting as the central commander, Ao had immediately recognized the disastrous shift and decisively ordered a full retreat.
Something catastrophic must have happened at the main stronghold where the Leaf was attacking.
Right now, only Menma Uzumaki had arrived.
If they delayed any longer and the main Waterfall army arrived, every single Mist shinobi here was going to die.
Ao wasn't just scaring himself.
It was a very real, imminent threat.
However, Ao had vastly overestimated his own forces and severely underestimated Menma's strength. He had assumed Mei could at least stall Menma, and he hadn't expected Utakata to be this obscenely powerful.
But when he saw Utakata tearing through the center of the Mist formation in his semi-Tailed Beast state, followed by the sight of Menma effortlessly executing Mei Terumi with a single stroke of his blade... the veteran Mist shinobi felt a profound shock rock his core, his face twisting in pure disbelief.
The meticulously planned, organized retreat...
Instantly became a joke.
It wasn't that the Mist shinobi lacked discipline or broke formation out of cowardice. On the contrary, their resilience was incredibly high. Even at such a massive disadvantage and taking horrific casualties, almost all of them still tried to follow Ao's orders, attempting to execute a staggered, covering retreat.
But Utakata and Shibuki were simply too overwhelming!
One was in a Version 2 Tailed Beast State, and the other was recklessly chugging Hero Water.
Furthermore, Menma's arrival had caused the morale of the standard Waterfall shinobi to skyrocket!
They launched wave after wave of furious assaults.
The Mist shinobi simply couldn't hold them back. Being steadily crushed and pushed back was the brutal reality of the battlefield. The massive gap in raw combat power could no longer be bridged by "tactics." Sometimes, ninja battles were incredibly complex; other times, they were brutally simple and direct.
The strong survive, the weak perish.
This was the eternal, unchanging truth.
It was a forced, violent rout.
Ao was entirely unable to effectively organize the retreating forces.
He could only watch helplessly as his army cascaded into an avalanche of defeat.
Meanwhile, Menma pulled out a sealing scroll, carefully storing Mei Terumi's body to take back as experimental research material.
Once that was done, he locked directly onto Ao's position.
Among this entire Mist force...
If one had to quantify their value...
Ao was actually worth more than Mei Terumi. Boil Release and Lava Release were certainly potent Kekkei Genkai, and Mei's ability to wield both made her highly valuable for general research.
But to Menma...
The Byakugan in Ao's right eye was infinitely more important.
Strictly speaking, the Byakugan was the most direct manifestation of Kaguya Otsutsuki's bloodline. If Menma eventually wanted to reach Kaguya's level of power...
The Byakugan and the Sharingan...
Or more accurately, the spiritual energy they represented, were absolutely indispensable. The only reason he hadn't actively pursued them yet was that he hadn't fully pushed his physical body to its absolute limits.
Only when his physical constitution rivaled Hashirama Senju's would he be ready to begin the next phase of his experiments.
However, gathering the necessary materials early was always a good idea.
While the absolute purity of Ao's specific Byakugan remained to be seen, it was undeniably an intact, functional Byakugan, giving it significant value.
Swish!
Therefore...
The moment he expanded his sensory net and pinpointed Ao's location...
Menma launched himself forward.
He hurtled toward Ao at terrifying speed.
Caught in the chaotic surge of retreating shinobi, Ao didn't even notice Menma's approach at first.
By the time he finally spotted him...
Menma was already at point-blank range.
Swish!
"Ugh!?"
With a casual, effortless swing of the Sword of the Thunder God...
Squelch!
Two or three Mist shinobi immediately surrounding Ao were instantly slaughtered.
Blood sprayed through the air.
Their lifeless bodies collapsed limply to the ground.
Witnessing this, Ao felt a freezing chill shoot straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull. A look of absolute, unadulterated terror filled his eyes.