Hagoromo, Minato, and the others sat atop the Rashomon all night silently observing the situation opposite them.
The explosion caused by detonating the Dragon Vein wasn't a one time event; there were several subsequent aftershocks, though their scale couldn't compare to the initial blast.
When early morning arrived the next day, the Konoha group finally prepared to conduct a close-range reconnaissance to see exactly what had remained of the country and whether the Dragon Vein's destruction was thorough. Due to the Queen's earnest pleas, they brought her along as well.
When there were clearly faster methods, why fly over there?
The answer was that not only had most of Minato's Flying Thunder God markers vanished in that explosion, but even if they hadn't, he had no desire to teleport directly into the epicenter of a blast zone. Clearly, Minato had zero interest in self-termination.
The scene they had witnessed from that distance, at night, with the naked eye, was shocking enough; no one knew for sure what the epicenter actually looked like.
After a night passed, with everyone calmed down and the explosions thoroughly subsided, Hagoromo finally summoned his twin-row, ten-seater flying beast, the Yatagarasu, and flew toward the country of Roran—or, more accurately, the crater of Roran.
Only after arriving directly above it did Hagoromo make a rough assessment of the explosion's scale.
If one didn't know beforehand, no one would believe a city-state had existed here just a night ago.
Because right now, all traces of artificial structures had been completely wiped from existence.
At this moment, the ground only featured a massive, circular crater that transitioned from white to gray, from gray to black, and from black to glowing red as it reached the center.
It looked like a giant, single eye opening up on the earth.
"Core blast radius: 15 kilometers."
"Secondary lethal blast radius: 50 kilometers."
"Total blast area: radius of over 100 kilometers."
"Explosion height: immeasurable. Maximum crater depth: over 1 kilometer."
"All artificial structures obliterated. Estimated mortality rate for all lifeforms within the radius: 100%. The country of Roran... is completely gone."
Hagoromo reported these statistics with seeming calm and precision, but internally, he was terrified by the aftermath.
Back then, he had even thought about going to the center to defuse the bomb if it turned out to be a dud... He had naively treated a nuke like an oversized firecracker.
Thank goodness he hadn't gone. Even if the explosion happened later, this kind of blast could have shattered even protagonist plot armor into a halo for a dead body.
Looking now, the central location of the Dragon Vein was still glowing red, flickering whenever the wind blew, eerily resembling a blinking eye.
Everyone had severely underestimated the danger of detonating the Dragon Vein.
Honestly, just blowing it up like this was a bit of a waste. They should have considered the possibility of weaponizing it as a throwable bomb. Then, whichever village refused to submit, they could just drop it right on their heads... Just thinking about it was a little exciting.
"Hagoromo, lower the altitude. Let's get a closer look," Minato said.
"Does this thing have nuclear radiation?" Hagoromo was about to ask, but on second thought, chakra and chakra-like energies should technically be clean, non-polluting bio-energy, right?
So not only does it clean well, but it's also gentle on the hands?
Anyway, better lower the altitude first.
At 100 meters, they could feel a noticeable rise in temperature.
At 50 meters, the air was scorchingly hot.
Ignoring the heat radiating from the ground, Sara knelt on the back of the Yatagarasu, peering down carefully. Kakashi stood guard cautiously behind her, terrified she might accidentally fall off the bird.
Her face bore a sorrowful expression, tears shimmering faintly in her eyes... The city filled with memories of her and her mother had completely vanished.
Seemingly sensing the girl's deep grief, Hagoromo attempted to comfort her. "Sara, you should feel lucky that the Dragon Vein is gone. Otherwise, sleeping while hugging onto something like this every day, you might have might your mother on any random night..."
"Now everything is fine. This crisis has been nipped in the bud, the people of Roran have gained peace, and you haven't lost much. Your title just changed from Queen to Mayor. Sure, it sounds a lot less classy, but your actual authority hasn't changed that much..."
Sara: "..."
Facts proved that Hagoromo's method of comforting people... was extremely effective. After hearing his words, the tears welling up in Sara's eyes stubbornly refused to fall. Instead, she threw her head back and glared at Hagoromo with fiery eyes.
The sorrow faded exponentially...
What Hagoromo said made perfect sense, even if it was highly inappropriate for the occasion.
At this moment, Minato vanished from the bird's back, descended to the ground for a short while, and then returned moments later.
"The power of the Dragon Vein has been essentially eradicated. Though there is a tiny amount of residual energy, it can no longer be exploited. Although we bear the sin of destroying a nation, the latent threat has been eliminated."
Minato's expression showed no joy of a successful mission; his emotions leaned more towards empathy for Sara. Deep down, he was clearly resistant to the idea of destroying a harmless nation.
But there was no time for him to lament right now.
"Minato, I've spotted a Hidden Sand squad," Shibi Aburame suddenly reported.
Hagoromo followed Shibi's gesture and sure enough, saw a small squad of Hidden Sand ninjas moving around within the blast zone.
It wasn't surprising. Setting off fireworks on someone's doorstep and making such a huge ruckus, it was only natural they'd come out to take a look, right?
"Should we attack?" Choza Akimichi asked.
If they actually launched an attack, even putting aside Minato; the rest of this squad were absolute elites. Choza and Shibi were both capable Jonin, Kakashi was close to their strength aswell, and they had the extra member, Hagoromo. Regardless of the Sand squad's strength, this lineup was enough to insta-kill them ten times over.
"No need. Our mission is complete, and the Hidden Sand is currently our ally..."
"Hagoromo, let's retreat," Minato ordered.
The Yatagarasu was a very conspicuous target, flying so low. Such an aerial object was easy to spot, and the Sand ninjas had already seen it.
"Look, it's the White Yaksha's bird!"
"It really is!"
"Did he do this too?!"
"Nani?!"
Many Hidden Sand ninjas, perhaps even the majority, recognized Hagoromo's bird. After all, it had been publicly exposed before...
The Roran explosion incident was the first in history to be rated as a Level 10 explosion on the ninja world scale. In addition to the annihilation of Roran, its shockwaves affected large and small nations including the Land of Wind, Land of Rivers, Land of Rain, and Land of Birds. The full danger and consequences of the explosion were impossible to accurately measure, but the environmental damage was particularly severe. Not a single blade of grass would grow in the core blast zone for decades.
Aside from Konoha, other nations failed to determine the cause of the incident for a very long time. However, rumors continuously circulated in the Land of Wind, with some ninjas swearing up and down that the Konoha White Yaksha's exploding bird had blown up Rouran.
But this claim wasn't very credible. The incident was clearly beyond human capability. Rather than believing the White Yaksha did it, it was easier to believe it was a natural disaster.
Hidden Sand, stop constantly demonizing the White Yaksha, and don't just dump every single blame on his head. That's highly immoral.
In short, this incident triggered high alert and repeated investigations from neighboring countries, but the cause remained a mystery.
Later on, people would refer to this incident as "The Disappearance of Roran" or the "Cherno-Rouran Incident," and various rumors would continue to be passed down.
However, Hagoromo and the others returned to the Land of Fire after the mission concluded. Perhaps there would be more stories involving the country and the Dragon Vein in the future, but it would have little to do with Him.
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