Kairen lowered his gaze. A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood—an apocalyptic scene.
Long halberds hung with human bodies, flames illuminating the crimson.
At the center, about eight thousand people formed a defensive formation; those on the outermost ring had been burned into charred husks.
Only the nobles inside, and the samurai generals wearing flashing, glowing armor, remained unstained by blood.
The funniest thing was the expressions on their faces—terror as though the end of days had arrived, pale like paper dolls.
At the very center, the Fire Country daimyō sat numbly on a carriage platform, pupils dull and unfocused.
He truly seemed scared stupid, muttering, "...Impossible… impossible… my hundred-thousand army…"
"Daimyō-sama, we must flee!"
A samurai general beside him lifted the Fire Country daimyō onto his back. Several samurai guarded left and right, slowly pushing open a path through the circular formation.
"Roar—!"
A thunderous dragon roar shook human ears.
The samurai trembled, their fearful eyes fixed on the giant creature in the sky, like a demon of night, a death god of hell.
"Bang!"
Kairen burst into a puff of white smoke, returning to his true form as he descended from the heavens.
He patted his renewed red war armor, then gazed coldly ahead.
In the distance, samurai holding various weapons shrank back timidly in fear of Kairen.
Kairen's cold, indifferent voice carried across: "Get lost."
"Clatter!"
Weapons hit the ground in chaotic noise.
Immediately, several hundred men fled from the formation guarding the Fire Country daimyō.
"How dare you flee! Do you not want your lives?!"
A few noble samurai went mad, hacking down deserters, shouting: "The time to honor the daimyō-sama has come! Taking a single step back is blasphemy against the samurai code!"
Fewer and fewer samurai continued running. Seeing that they truly sought death, Kairen decided to grant it.
Blue chakra flames swelled from his body. He snapped his fingers, and white smoke erupted around him.
"Bang bang bang bang bang—"
"Hiss…"
Warhorses neighed. A fiery red banner shimmered with archaic script under the flames—it read
"Han."
Shouts of several thousand cavalry exploded like thunder, shaking heaven and earth.
Weapons stood like forests, armor gleaming coldly.
"Wooo…"
An ancient horn echoed mournfully across the blood-red earth, its desolation telling of this cavalry from another timeline.
Kairen waved his hand downward.
"Give them a proper burial!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
"Charge!"
The leading general charged first, iron horse screaming. Then three thousand iron cavalry surged forward like a steel flood, rushing fiercely toward the samurai formation.
"Kill!"
Soon the two forces clashed. One cavalry charge, and the samurai could no longer hold.
Gradually the screams weakened, until only the red banner fluttered in place.
About a dozen cavalry surrounded the Fire Country daimyō and the nobles around him. One by one, the cavalry killed everyone except the daimyō.
"M-my army…"
The Fire Country daimyō curled up in the blood-red mud, trembling, face deathly pale.
"Come meet the Son of Heaven!"
Clone Kairen grabbed him, tucked him against his horse's belly, and galloped like a storm ahead of Kairen, then flung the daimyō beside him.
The daimyō looked up in terror and saw Kairen exhaling spiral smoke rings from a cigarette.
Kairen crouched down, picked up the cigarette butt, and pressed the burning ember against the daimyō's face. The daimyō screamed in pain, begging for mercy.
"Spare me! Spare me!"
"Where was your courage just now? Seeing you like this is truly disgraceful."
The daimyō wept, begging abjectly: "Ninja-sama, please spare me! I will never dare again!"
A beheading greatsword suddenly appeared in Kairen's hand, its cold edge touching the daimyō's neck.
The daimyō trembled violently, pupils stretched wide.
"No! No! Ninja-sama, don't kill me! You can have my palace—no, no… I will give you the entire Fire Country!"
Kairen sneered. "If I feel like it, I can take the entire Fire Country myself. I don't need you to give it."
"Go die, coward!"
Kairen's wrist flicked, and silver light swept from the blade.
But then a chaotic gust erupted. Darkness obscured his vision. He opened his Byakugan and saw a gigantic toad.
When the gale passed, the daimyō beneath his feet was gone.
Kairen looked up.
A colossal toad eight stories tall, a greatsword strapped to its waist and a huge smoking pipe in its mouth—Jiraiya's summoned beast.
On its head stood three people: Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and the Fire Country daimyō they had just saved.
Jiraiya steadied the daimyō. "Daimyō-sama, you're safe now!"
The daimyō exhaled in relief, wanting to curse the two ninjas beside him, but thinking of someone like Kairen, he swallowed his harsh words.
He pointed his fan downward at Kairen.
"Is that ninja from your village?! What is the Third Hokage thinking?! Is he trying to rebel?!"
Jiraiya looked down. His face turned grim. Corpses overran the earth—who knew how many had died?
"Caw! Caw!"
Crows and vultures circled, waiting for their feast.
Jiraiya took a deep breath, calming his fury, then called to Kairen:
"Kairen! Do you know what a ninja is?!"
Kairen held his beheading sword and snapped his left fingers.
The cavalry shadow clones vanished one after another. His greatsword also dissipated into smoke.
Kairen folded his arms, raised his proud gaze, and replied:
"To endure what ordinary people cannot—that is a ninja."
Jiraiya nodded. "Correct. A ninja must endure what ordinary people cannot."
"But what you're doing—is this something a human should do? Turning your blade on your employer—is that what a qualified ninja does?"
"And you killed so many samurai. Do you feel no guilt at all?!"
Jiraiya's voice grew louder, questioning Kairen's professionalism and morality.
Beside him, Orochimaru quietly smirked, his golden eyes reflecting Kairen's armor like world-devouring flames.
Below, Kairen suddenly removed his forehead protector. He clenched it—metal shattered.
He opened his hand. White fragments scattered into the wind.
Kairen didn't even want to be an abandoned ninja anymore. He fully discarded the identity.
He continued folding his arms, black eyes looking upward.
Calmly he said: "If ninjas contribute anything to this world, it's only speeding up war—turning long ancient wars into ninja wars, making ninjas the executioners of nobles."
"Whenever a spark rises from the earth, ninjas rush to extinguish it with their so-called miraculous jutsu. I've seen the cruel truth clearly, so I will reignite the flames!"
Hearing these words, the Fire Country daimyō pointed his fan and cursed: "Treason! Treason!"