Chapter 253: Ch-253 The Bomb Meant for Headquarters.

Itachi deduced that Inoiki had left the battlefield of the First Division without even staying to enjoy the celebration spreading among the ninjas around him after he had lifted the Reanimation Jutsu. All across the battlefield, the reanimated ninjas were finally being freed, their bodies crumbling away as their souls returned to the afterlife.

The Allied Shinobi Forces would no longer have to continue fighting those reanimated shinobi who were practically indestructible, unkillable, and possessed endless chakra reserves that never seemed to run dry. They were finally free from that nightmare, and the countless losses they would have suffered in the future no longer needed to happen.

Even after such a major victory, Inoiki was not celebrating.

For Itachi, there could only be one reason for that.

The revival of the Ten-Tails.

When the Ten-Tails had come into existence, even the non-sensory ninjas had felt that monstrous chakra appearing from one side of the battlefield. It was so vast and suffocating that, for a moment, it had made even experienced shinobi freeze where they stood. The air itself had seemed heavier.

Not to mention, ever since that chakra had appeared, the ground had been rumbling from time to time, shaking beneath everyone’s feet in violent waves. Dust would fall from broken rocks, and cracks would spread across the battlefield floor with every distant tremor. Clearly, the Ten-Tails was going on a rampage somewhere far away.

According to Itachi’s guess, Inoiki had most likely left to deal with the Ten-Tails itself. Perhaps the beast was targeting one of the battlefields, or maybe it had already begun slaughtering shinobi in large numbers.

There is no one else who would move immediately toward that kind of threat...

With his genius, Itachi had almost perfectly deduced the real reason for Inoiki leaving the First Division battlefield.

And he was absolutely correct about it.

Inside the headquarters of the Allied Shinobi Forces, they had also learned about the revival of the Ten-Tails. From time to time, the Ten-Tails had been using Tailed Beast Bombs, but all of them had been detonating somewhere near its own vicinity, and its attacks appeared completely random.

This greatly confused Shikaku.

He could not understand what exactly the Ten-Tails was trying to do.

Then suddenly, one of the Tailed Beast Bombs was fired in a very particular direction.

The moment it launched, several sensory ninjas immediately focused on it. Inoichi also closed his eyes and concentrated, tracing the chakra signature and the path of the attack. At first, according to their deductions, the trajectory seemed to be heading in the direction of their headquarters.

However, none of them immediately thought that the headquarters itself was the target.

They assumed that perhaps it was aimed toward some civilian area, a supply route, or maybe another battlefield located somewhere far behind them.

But as the Tailed Beast Bomb continued to move without changing course, the truth became more and more obvious.

The massive sphere of chakra tore through the sky like a black sun, leaving destruction in its wake even from afar. The pressure it emitted could be felt despite the enormous distance between them and the Ten-Tails. Some of the shinobi inside the headquarters could already feel their hearts trembling just from sensing it.

Then, finally, its target became unmistakably clear.

That Tailed Beast Bomb was heading directly toward the headquarters.

It was aimed at them.

And within the next few minutes, it would strike the headquarters without fail.

A heavy silence fell over the room.

Evacuating the entire headquarters was impossible. There were simply too many people, too much equipment, too much information, and not enough time. And even if they began evacuating immediately, the range and intensity of that attack were so massive that they definitely would not be able to escape from it.

The moment that attack hit the headquarters, everyone there would be engulfed almost instantly.

Realizing this, Shikaku did not waste even a single second.

His expression remained calm, but there was a sharp seriousness in his eyes as he immediately turned toward the Raikage and Tsunade, who were both present inside the headquarters.

"Lord Raikage, Lady Tsunade, you both should immediately leave from here," Shikaku said.

The room fell silent as everyone turned toward him.

"With your strength, there is a high chance that both of you will be able to avoid this attack and escape from here. Especially Lord Raikage... if you take Lady Tsunade with you, then it will be for the best. With your speed, you should be able to escape the range of the explosion."

As soon as Shikaku explained the situation and told the Raikage and Tsunade to escape, Mabui, being the assistant of the Fourth Raikage, immediately stepped forward and added, "Mr. Shikaku is absolutely right. Lord Raikage, you should leave from here immediately."

Despite the tension filling the headquarters, Mabui’s voice remained steady, though there was still urgency hidden beneath it.

"I can use the Heavenly Transfer Technique," she continued. "Normally, my technique can only transfer inanimate objects because of its limitations. The speed at which objects travel through it causes severe damage, and if a human body is transferred at that speed, the body would almost certainly be torn apart or heavily injured. Most people would die instantly."

Several shinobi in the room went silent after hearing that.

"But you are the Raikage," Mabui said firmly as she looked toward him. "Your body’s defense is extremely high. You should definitely be able to survive the Heavenly Transfer Technique."

The moment Mabui said this, Shikaku’s eyes lit up slightly.

"Then that will be for the best," Shikaku immediately said.

He turned toward Tsunade.

"Lady Tsunade, you can leave using the Heavenly Transfer Technique as well. Mabui can use it on you too. With your Creation Rebirth Technique, you should be able to survive it unharmed. After all, your Creation Rebirth can heal any amount of injury simultaneously, no matter how severe it is."

For a moment, the room became quiet again.

The distant rumbling outside continued, and the faint vibration beneath the floor reminded everyone that the Tailed Beast Bomb was still approaching.

After hearing the suggestion from Mabui and Shikaku, neither Tsunade nor the Raikage showed even the slightest hint of fear in their eyes.

On the contrary, both of them remained standing exactly where they were.

The Raikage folded his arms across his chest, while Tsunade’s expression hardened with determination.

"No," they said.

There was not even a second of hesitation in their voices.

"We are staying here," Tsunade said firmly. "We will help however many people we can escape from here."

Her eyes narrowed as her mind rapidly searched for a solution.

"I will do something about this," she continued. "I will see if I can use Katsuyu to take people away from here directly to the Shikkotsu Forest."

Even in the face of certain death, neither of them had any intention of abandoning the others behind.

Just as both the Raikage and Tsunade showed their conviction not to leave and instead help however many people they could escape from the headquarters, suddenly a voice echoed directly inside everyone’s mind.

"All of you, there is no need to worry."

The moment that calm voice appeared, everyone inside the headquarters froze.

"I will deal with that Tailed Beast Bomb. Anyways, that thing is nothing more than a distraction for me. It was purely designed to distract me."

Several people immediately recognized the voice.

It was Inoiki.

Outside, the ground still trembled from time to time, and the pressure from the approaching Tailed Beast Bomb only continued to grow heavier.

"How can I allow my father to die?" Inoiki’s voice continued inside their minds, completely calm despite the situation. "After all, among all of you there, my father is also present. And I know my father is stubborn. If everyone is going to die, then he will die with them."

A few people instinctively looked toward Inoichi after hearing those words.

"No need to worry. I will deal with the Tailed Beast Bomb. Be at ease."

The moment the message ended, a strange silence spread through the headquarters.

At that moment, Inoiki had already teleported directly onto the path of the incoming Tailed Beast Bomb.

Far away in the sky, the massive sphere of condensed chakra continued approaching him at terrifying speed. The Tailed Beast Bomb was still heading directly toward the headquarters, and from its trajectory, there was no doubt that its intended target had always been the command center of the Allied Shinobi Forces.

But for Inoiki, the real purpose behind that attack was obvious.

Its main goal was to distract him.

Obito had deliberately fired the Tailed Beast Bomb toward the headquarters knowing very well that Inoichi was present there. As long as his father was in danger, Inoiki would definitely move to stop it.

And even if Inoiki somehow chose not to go there, then the entire headquarters would be destroyed. Along with it, Inoichi would also die.

Perhaps Obito believed that losing his father might shake Inoiki emotionally, even if only for a few moments. Maybe he hoped that such a loss would leave Inoiki unable to fight properly for some time.

That was clearly the purpose behind this attack.

And Inoiki could easily deduce that much.

Anyways, he was going to stop it.

Suddenly, the air around Inoiki shifted violently.

He floated high in the air, directly in the path of the incoming Tailed Beast Bomb, his body remaining completely still while his eyes stayed fixed on the massive sphere of destruction racing toward him.

Then, within a radius of nearly two to three hundred meters around him, the earth itself began to tear apart.

Massive rock cliffs ripped free from the ground. Small hills cracked open and rose into the sky. Countless slabs of stone, broken earth, uprooted trees, and enormous chunks of land began floating upward as if gravity itself had suddenly lost all meaning.

The scene was grandiose.

Pure destruction.

The ground below split apart with deafening sounds as huge masses of earth continued to rise higher and higher into the air. Dust clouds spread everywhere, and the sound of grinding stone echoed in all directions.

Then all of it started gathering directly in front of Inoiki.

The countless broken hills, giant rock cliffs, and slabs of earth were compressed together by his power, forming a massive wall made of stone, soil, and debris. It was not smooth or refined in any way. It was a rough, monstrous structure that looked as though someone had ripped apart an entire mountain range and shoved it together into one place.

Layer after layer of earth continued piling up.

The wall quickly reached an enormous thickness of nearly fifty to a hundred meters.

However, this wall was never meant to stop the Tailed Beast Bomb.

Its real purpose was to force the Tailed Beast Bomb to detonate early, right there in that empty area where there was no one around. There were no shinobi fighting nearby, no divisions stationed there, and no civilians present.

No one would die there.

The Tailed Beast Bomb continued approaching at terrifying speed, growing larger and larger in Inoiki’s vision with every passing second.

And then, just moments before impact, Inoiki disappeared.

He teleported away from that location directly toward where the Ten-Tails truly was.

The next instant, the Tailed Beast Bomb slammed into the enormous wall of stone and earth.

A blinding explosion erupted.

The entire world seemed to shake.

The explosion was so enormous that, in modern terminology, it could only be compared to a thermonuclear detonation. A massive sphere of light and destruction spread outward in every direction, swallowing the wall instantly and vaporizing everything around it.

The shockwave tore through the land like a giant invisible hand, flattening forests, splitting apart the ground, and sending hurricane-like winds racing across the battlefield.

Even from far away, countless shinobi felt the ground shake beneath their feet once again. Many instinctively turned their heads toward the distant explosion, their faces filled with shock as they saw the enormous cloud of smoke and fire rising into the sky.

For a brief moment, it looked as though the world itself had been swallowed by destruction.