Splat.
A blade flashed.
Blood sprayed into the air.
The woman collapsed to the ground, clutching her wound as she trembled violently. Her lips parted, forming broken sounds as she tried—futilely—to beg for mercy.
Seeing that she was still breathing, Fushark thrust his sword straight into her chest.
Her body went limp.
She was dead.
Fushark let out a dark chuckle and turned to look around.
All across the village, Kirigakure shinobi were reporting their progress—chasing down fleeing figures, cutting them apart without mercy.
"Hahaha! Konoha is so weak!"
"All you Konoha trash know how to do is run!"
"Die!"
"Hm? Hiding inside a water barrel?"Fushark sneered. "Do you even know who we are? We're Kirigakure ninja—masters of Water Release!"
"What a one-sided massacre," he laughed, baring sharp teeth.
In his ten years as a ninja, he had never experienced such an effortless battle.
These so-called Konoha shinobi looked no different from ordinary civilians dragged onto a battlefield—panic-stricken sheep scattering at the first sign of blood.
Then he noticed someone different.
A boy.
Young.Thin.But still standing.
Unlike the others, this boy dared to fight back.
Clumsily—but stubbornly.
The boy gripped two kitchen knives, his eyes squeezed shut as he slashed wildly at Fushark, tears streaming down his face as he screamed:
"You monsters! You murderers! You even kill civilians—you're worse than rogue ninja!"
Fushark didn't even bother dodging.
With the boy's eyes closed, there was no chance he'd land a hit.
Bored, Fushark picked at his ear with his little finger, flicked the wax away, and shook his head.
"Rambling nonsense," he said lazily."If you step onto a battlefield, be prepared to die when you're weak."
His sword flashed.
The boy's hand—still gripping the knife—was severed cleanly.
The boy stared at the stump in disbelief.
Before he could even scream, Fushark's second strike pierced his throat.
"Ghk—"
Blood poured out uncontrollably as the boy clutched his neck, eyes wide with terror and despair.
His strength drained away.
He dropped to his knees.
Then, as consciousness faded, his body collapsed face-first into the dirt.
Blood pooled beneath him.
Until the very end, the boy couldn't understand why this was happening.
His eyes remained open—filled with confusion, hatred, and disbelief.
Fushark wiped his blade casually on the boy's clothes.
"We were told the mighty Konoha ninja would put up a fight," he said indifferently."Lady Mei Terumi ordered us to go all out. No survivors."
"So blame yourselves for being weak."
"I really wonder how trash like you even graduated from the Ninja Academy."
His voice was mocking, disdainful.
Under the vast sky, the battle ended quickly.
Standing atop a tree, Fushark surveyed the blood-soaked village below.
Only a few dozen Kirigakure ninja remained—laughing, comparing kill counts, and boasting loudly.
Occasionally, someone complained about not killing enough.
Fushark smiled faintly.
As the leader of this squad, he called out:
"Send someone to report to Lady Mei!"
A young ninja looked up.
"Captain?"
"Tell her the Konoha forces here have been completely wiped out," Fushark said casually."Over four hundred kills."
"Zero deaths on our side. One injury."
A fifty-man Kirigakure unit annihilating over four hundred enemies—
It was an unprecedented victory.
Though a vague sense of unease lingered in his mind, the sight of countless Konoha uniforms strewn across the ground quickly suppressed it.
It was as if something whispered to him—
Don't think too deeply.
He licked his lips and continued:
"The rest of you, take a short break."
"This was probably just a rookie squad. Konoha's main forces haven't shown up yet."
"We'll still have a real fight later—stay alert."
His warning was met with laughter.
"Captain, you're joking!"
"These Konoha ninja are worse than villagers from the Land of Waves!"
"After Neiki's rebellion and the Uchiha Clan's destruction, Konoha really fell this far?"
"What a boring massacre."
"If this is their rookie unit, the main force won't be any better."
"They've clearly never seen a real battlefield."
"In Kirigakure, trash like this wouldn't even survive academy training."
They kicked corpses, mocked the dead, and laughed at how Konoha ninja froze in terror at the sight of blood.
Their tightly worn forehead protectors looked as though they had fused with their skulls.
Even their blood smelled faintly fishy.
Unnoticed by them—
On a distant hillside, a group of figures watched in silence.
Hatred burned in their eyes.
A man wearing a wooden mask spoke calmly:
"Do you see?"
"This is the price of weakness."
"In peacetime, the great nations hide behind treaties and 'human rights,' pretending they don't massacre civilians, bully the weak, or execute prisoners."
"They call themselves righteous."
"But when war comes," he continued coldly,"they abandon all pretense."
"They slaughter civilians.They kill prisoners.They terrorize the weak."
"Anything that hurts their enemy is permitted."
"Hypocrites."
"Teacher!" Inari shouted, his eyes bloodshot, fists clenched."Can't we do something?!"
From Hanabi, he had learned that strength allowed one to do as they pleased.
From his teacher, he learned the opposite—
That weakness invited cruelty beyond imagination.
Those four hundred villagers from the Land of Waves had done nothing wrong.
Yet they were slaughtered like livestock.
Inari didn't understand.
He only felt one thing now.
Hatred.
Blood must be repaid with blood.
An eye for an eye.
He wasn't alone.
The twenty-odd A-rank talent students from Hidden Sword Village shared the same murderous resolve.
Hashirama was pleased.
It had been worth using Genjutsu: World's Purgatory—
Disguising the villagers who had not—or refused to—accept the Byakugan Curse Seal as Konoha ninja.
"I've recorded everything," Hashirama said quietly."Soon, everyone in the Land of Waves will understand what weakness costs."
"But what about now?!" a girl, Hiyara Fuyuka, demanded."I don't want to wait! Can't we make them pay right now?"
"No," Hashirama replied calmly, shaking his head."You're still too weak."
"You need more time."
Silence fell.
"Of course," he continued, a faint smile forming beneath the mask,"even if we can't strike directly… we can still do something else."
The children looked at him in confusion.
Hashirama raised his hand.
The thick mist in the distance slowly began to disperse.
At that exact moment, a Konoha ninja scouting the perimeter spotted the resting Kirigakure forces atop the rooftops.
Their eyes met.
Almost simultaneously—
Two signal flares shot into the sky.
One red.One green.
"We've found the Kirigakure forces!"
"They're here—Konoha's main force is coming!!"
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