Uchiha Soren staggered — just barely catching himself before he hit the ground. His face paled; his breaths came thin. He swallowed several ration pills to steady the hollow ache of chakra depletion.
In his long-term plan, the Flying Thunder God network would be anchored across the entire shinobi world, powered continuously by an artificial chakra engine — perhaps a Zero-Tails–type tailed beast born from humanity's accumulated negative emotions.
But for now, without a power source nearby — and because he'd refused to let the Ino–Shika–Chō trio die — even the "invincible" Soren felt drained.
"Looks like I need a portable charger."
His voice was a dry mutter.
Chakra scarcity — the one persistent irritation in his otherwise perfect system.
His thoughts drifted to the Two-Tails, and to Kaori. He had promised to hunt that great cat with her. No time to drift now.
Once his chakra recovered enough, Soren resumed his two-kilometre spatial hops and closed in on Cloud Village. His Mangekyō blazed crimson as he materialized in the densest section of the ruined settlement.
And then—
A towering third-stage Susanoo, blood-red and seventy meters tall, erupted around him.
Its forty-meter blade sang through the wind.
A thunderclap of violence answered the dying sun.
The Slaughter of Cloud Village
"Why—why is an Uchiha Susanoo HERE?!"
"Where is the Raikage?!"
Two Kage-class sentinels guarding the inner village froze.
The Susanoo answered for Soren.
One swing —
One became pulp.
The second turned toward the sealed Two-Tails relics, perhaps to unleash the beast — but Soren's gaze rooted him mid-motion.
A single step crushed his body under Susanoo's heel.
Soren disliked wasting time with cat-and-mouse games. Under the field of Tenchō Risshon, nothing hid from him; no trickery or feints mattered.
The two Kage-class defenders died in seconds.
The Third Raikage was absent.
Cloud Village was now full of prey.
Elite jōnin combined lightning, wind, and storm techniques, ripping the air with pillars of thunder—
—only to be erased by the Susanoo's blade.
Some shinobi surrendered to despair.
Some fled mindlessly into alleys.
Some screamed commands.
Some prayed.
None escaped Tenchō Risshon.
Cloud shinobi fell like wheat under a great crimson scythe:
Two hundred.
Four hundred.
Eight hundred.
Blood soaked the earth into a red mire. Screams died under dust-choked air.
When Soren looked back, only a handful remained trapped in Sharingan genjutsu. Everything else — every home, every life, every shinobi — had been reduced to silence.
Arrival of the Third Raikage
Footsteps thundered at the ruined gates.
Third Raikage Ai, skin dark as iron, the kanji 雷 branded on his shoulder, stood frozen before the genocide.
His village — once poised to reclaim dominance after the fall of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, bolstered by the Daimyō's wealth — now lay annihilated.
His pupils trembled.
"You— BASTARD! GO TO HELL!"
Soren tilted his head, amused.
His Mangekyō spun lazily like a predator at rest.
"To hell?"
He chuckled softly.
"You're nothing but a puppet. A clown dancing on stolen Sharingan."
"Come claim your death. Your subordinates are already on the road to Yomi."
"I am the Raikage! I will not be controlled!"
Lightning detonated around Ai.
Armor of thunder erupted over his skin — the purest form of his clan's Lightning Style.
His body vanished.
Super-Kage speed.
Soren's breath caught—
Then he grinned.
Raikage vs Uchiha — Death in an Instant
"Hell Piercer — Ippon Kanade!"
Ai's lightning spear drove through the Susanoo's ribs —
Bone and chakra splintered
An entire arm severed
Thunder detonated across the battlefield.
Ai flipped backward, incinerating his own severed arm to prevent Sharingan theft.
But—
The Susanoo reformed instantly, crimson and unbroken.
Ai's face lost all color.
"How… how can such jutsu exist?"
"Such blood… such monstrous power!"
Soren smiled.
"Is that your deathbed speech?"
He stepped forward.
The Susanoo mirrored him.
Forty meters of blue-crimson chakra carved downward in a dozen strokes, each splitting rock and air alike.
Ai fought desperately — but each movement became slower.
His thunder armor flickered.
His breath rasped.
Fear — cold, rational fear — overtook him.
(We must unite the other villages… the entire shinobi world… or the Uchiha will consume us all…)
But there was no time.
Soren appeared in front of him —
Timing perfect.
Arc flawless.
"Uchiha Style — Wind–Thunder Slash!"
A single shining arc cut through flesh, bone, chakra armor—
Ai's head separated cleanly from his body.
His corpse collapsed to the ruined earth.
And with that strike—
The Hidden Cloud Village — one of the Five Great Villages — ceased to exist.
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