Inside the cavern, silence reigned as deep as a tomb.
Taiichi's figure had long since vanished.
The thick stench of scorched flesh and blood mixed together into a nauseating, unnatural reek.
The once-twisted altar was reduced to a half-charred base. The demonic bas-reliefs on the walls had been scorched beyond recognition by the extreme heat. The flowing magma had long cooled and hardened into black tears running down the earth.
A full half hour later.
Deep in the cavern, inside a narrow fissure cleverly concealed by collapsed boulders, space rippled silently like the surface of water after a stone is dropped.
Uchiha Obito, wearing his orange spiral mask, and Zetsu with its pitcher-plant head slowly emerged as if growing out of nothingness.
Obito's scarlet right eye coldly swept across the devastated battlefield through the holes in his mask. Zetsu's white half wore an exaggerated look of shock; its black half was dark as still water.
"Aiyaya—" White Zetsu broke the silence first in its trademark tone of schadenfreude. "What a… miserable sight! Are we late? No, wait—I should say that White Reaper's hands are just too fast and too clean!"
Black Zetsu's hoarse voice followed, heavy with gravity and disbelief. "Not late. We were here the whole time. We planned to wait until they crippled each other so we could pick up the scraps. Never expected—"
Its gaze swept over the scattered remains of the "Immortal Warriors," now nothing more than blackened skeletal outlines, and finally locked onto the deepest scorch mark at the base of the altar—the place where the final fused giant had been completely incinerated.
"This Matsushita Taiichi… his power has advanced far beyond our previous estimates. He actually crushed and sealed a fragment of the Evil God so easily in a direct confrontation!"
Obito remained silent, brows tightly furrowed beneath the mask.
They had watched the entire battle clearly from the other dimension.
The Evil God's descent had been formidable, but what truly put them on edge was Matsushita Taiichi.
"Sage art…" Obito muttered the two words, voice muffled by the mask. "And he uses it so skillfully. His Flying Thunder God… is no weaker than Namikaze Minato's."
He recalled the seamless combination of abilities Taiichi had displayed during the fight and couldn't help rubbing his temple. "And those golden chains… the Adamantine Sealing Chains of the Uzumaki clan. In his hands they actually bound a divine consciousness!" That completely overturned his understanding of sealing techniques.
"Yeah, yeah!" White Zetsu bobbed its head. "That big guy Blood Raven summoned by sacrificing himself… the aura was terrifying! I thought we were going to get a good show, but—tch tch—it got burned until not even dregs were left!
Has that brat gotten even stronger again? He didn't feel this ridiculous back in Konoha!"
"Not 'felt.' It's a fact." Black Zetsu's voice carried unprecedented seriousness. "His growth rate… is simply inhuman. Every time our intelligence updates, his strength seems to have jumped another full stage."
Obito's eyes grew even darker. They had arrived earlier than Taiichi and had investigated the Jashin cult far more thoroughly. Those Immortal Warriors were still only half-finished products, yet their results had already been quite impressive.
Especially against fragile shinobi—they would have been the perfect supplements.
Unfortunately—
"Blood Raven… the cult leader was taken by him," Obito said coldly, gaze turning in the direction Taiichi had left.
"Mm, still alive, but basically the same as dead. Probably going to be used as proof of mission completion," White Zetsu chimed in. "Should we go snatch him back? Or better yet—get our hands on that scroll that sealed the Evil God's fragment? That thing is definitely more valuable!"
Obito fell silent for a moment. His scarlet Sharingan spun slightly, as if rapidly weighing the pros and cons. In the end he slowly shook his head.
"Moving now is too risky. Matsushita Taiichi just finished a major battle. He looks like he's consumed a fair amount of energy, but his true condition is unknown. Risking everything for a cripple and an uncertain scroll isn't worth it."
He paused, a note of decision entering his voice. "But once he goes to the daimyo's mansion to hand in the mission… there might still be an opportunity."
Black Zetsu immediately understood Obito's intent. "You mean… the Second Prince? That idiot who colluded with the Jashin cult?"
"Hmph." Obito let out a cold, ambiguous snort. "Let's go. Follow and see for ourselves."
As the words fell, both figures slowly dissolved into the shadowed fissure like ink melting into water, as if they had never been there at all.
---
Deep inside a luxurious mansion, the Second Prince's study was already a complete wreck. Shards of precious porcelain littered the floor. Exquisite calligraphy and paintings had been torn to shreds.
He paced like a cornered beast, eyes bloodshot, chest heaving violently. The last shreds of his reason were being pulled back and forth between overwhelming terror and the madness of a final gamble.
"Trash! All of you are trash!"
The Second Prince kicked over a rosewood low table and roared at the trembling confidant samurai kneeling on the floor.
"That madman Blood Raven! Where's the Immortal Legion he swore by? Couldn't even stop one Konoha brat! Now he's finished, and next it'll be my turn!"
The confidant buried his head even lower, voice shaking. "Please calm your anger, Your Highness… The latest report only says that the squad sent out to capture sacrifices was caught by Matsushita Taiichi. He… he might not even be able to find the nest…"
"'Might'? You're talking to me about 'might'?" The Second Prince snatched up a teacup and hurled it. "Do you really think the White Reaper can't torture the intelligence he wants out of them?!"
His face was paper-white. He had personally witnessed the madness of the Jashin cult and the horror of those Immortal Warriors.
But whether even that kind of power could stop Matsushita Taiichi… he had zero confidence.
Fear coiled around his heart like an ice-cold serpent, tightening with every second.
The daimyo's mansion could hire Konoha once—it could hire them a second time!
Even if Taiichi returned empty-handed this time, what about the next?
If Taiichi brought back living members of the Jashin cult, every crime of colluding with a cult, slaughtering civilians, and plotting rebellion would be completely exposed!
What awaited him then would be the cruelest judgment and eternal shame. Even seppuku would become a luxury he no longer had!
No! He would not sit and wait for death! He still had one last card!
The Second Prince jerked his head up. Terrifying ferocity exploded in his eyes—the final greed for power mixed with a mad craving for destruction.
"Gather everyone! All our men! And… release those twenty 'samples' in the cellar! Feed them all the Mad Blood!"
The confidant's head snapped up, eyes filled with horror. "Your Highness! You… you mean those… those monsters? And feed them Mad Blood? That will make them completely lose all reason! They won't distinguish friend from foe! And… and there are only twenty of them. The daimyo's mansion is heavily guarded—"
"Shut up!" the Second Prince roared, looking completely insane. "Heavily guarded? This is the best chance! That walking disaster hasn't returned yet. The old man is already half-dead from illness. My dear elder brother only has a handful of useless samurai and a few pretty but useless wandering ninja by his side!
Twenty Immortals pumped full of Mad Blood are more than enough to tear them apart! As long as we seize control of the old man and my brother before they can react—no, kill them. Once they're dead, I become the sole heir!
No matter how strong Konoha is, can they interfere in the internal affairs of the Land of Hot Water? Move!"
Under the Second Prince's hysterical pressure, the coup was launched in haste and madness.
As dusk began to stain the sky over the capital of the Land of Hot Water, shrill alarms and earth-shaking battle cries suddenly erupted inside the daimyo's mansion!
The Second Prince, clad in ornate armor and gripping the treasured blade that symbolized his status, personally led more than three hundred rebels—death warriors, private soldiers, and hired ronin—charging toward the core of the mansion like a bursting dam.
Leading the charge were twenty figures radiating thick auras of blood and madness!
These "samples" were not human. They were slightly smaller than the experimental subjects from the cavern, but their skin was the same sickly gray-white. Their eyes were even emptier, having lost the last spark of obedience to commands.
They had been force-fed the special "Mad Blood" concoction of the Jashin cult. Right now their muscles bulged violently, veins writhing like earthworms beneath the skin. Drool ran from the corners of their mouths as they let out low, beast-like growls—reduced to nothing but the most primitive, most violent killing instinct!
"Stop them! Protect the Daimyo and His Highness!" The samurai commander loyal to the Crown Prince roared until his eyes nearly burst, leading the elite samurai guard into formation.
Blades and steel clashed instantly!
Yet the battle was almost a one-sided slaughter!
The samurai were well-trained, their swordsmanship exquisite. Their long blades chopped into the Immortals with heavy thuds, easily slicing flesh and even severing bone.
But the terrifying part was that the wounds writhed and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye!
"Aaaagh!" One samurai had just severed an Immortal's arm when the next second the creature headbutted him full in the face. His nose shattered. Immediately afterward the remaining hand clamped around his throat with crushing force. The wet crack of bone was sickening.
"Monsters! These are monsters!"
Fear spread through the samurai ranks like wildfire. They did not fear death—but facing enemies that could not be killed, could not be broken, and felt no pain, courage rapidly crumbled before pure physiological terror.
Every swipe of claw or weapon from the Immortals carried berserk strength. The samurai's fine armor might as well have been paper. Anyone struck was either dead or crippled!
Under the lead of the twenty berserk Immortals, the three hundred rebels cut through the samurai guard's defensive line like a red-hot knife through solidified fat, advancing toward the inner court with unstoppable force. They left a trail of mutilated corpses and glaring blood in their wake.
The Crown Prince, protected by a handful of loyal samurai and two pale-faced wandering ninja who were nearly out of chakra, half-carried the old Daimyo—whose face was the color of gold paper and who could barely walk—in a desperate retreat to the last and strongest fortress of the mansion: the Tenshukaku keep.
The heavy refined-iron gate slammed shut behind them with a thunderous boom, temporarily cutting off the slaughter outside.
But the violent impacts that followed—like battering rams—and the ear-piercing groan of twisting metal made it clear this final barrier would not last much longer.
"Father—hold on!"
The Crown Prince settled the old man onto the soft couch in the center of the pavilion, then drew his own blade and took position at the top of the stairs. His face was pale but resolute. Beside him remained fewer than ten wounded samurai and the two ninja whose chakra was almost completely exhausted.
Despair filled the narrow space.
The old Daimyo coughed violently. His cloudy eyes looked from the shaking gate to his eldest son standing guard in front of him with drawn blade. His lips trembled, finally releasing a long, sorrowful sigh full of regret and bitterness.
Outside the Tenshukaku, the last rays of the setting sun dyed the sky a vivid, tragic blood-red.
The Second Prince stood among the rebels, watching the iron gate that was continuously deforming and wailing under the Immortals' berserk impacts. A twisted, delighted smile spread across his face.
Soon! Very soon he would step over the corpses of his father and elder brother and claim the position he had dreamed of!
Just as the iron gate was about to be completely smashed open and the people inside sank into the deepest despair—
A pure blue streak of light, like lightning tearing through the blood-colored dusk, shot across the distant sky at a speed beyond the limit of anyone's vision!
Almost the instant the light appeared, it was already hovering above the Tenshukaku!
The radiance faded, revealing Taiichi's figure. In one hand he dangled the barely-breathing Blood Raven like a dead dog. His cold gaze, colder than ten-thousand-year ice, swept across the bloody battlefield below and the monsters still madly ramming the gate.
No words. Not even a flicker of unnecessary emotion. The chakra light wings behind Taiichi simply gave a light flap.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several wind blades condensed to the absolute limit, almost transparent, shot out without a sound! They moved so fast the naked eye could not even track their paths—only faint, distorted ripples remained in the air.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
In a single instant the open ground in front of the Tenshukaku was completely cleared.
The ruthless efficiency combined with overwhelming presence forced the Second Prince and his men to retreat step by step. Even the mindless Immortals were cowed by that aura.
The commotion naturally drew the attention of the Crown Prince's group inside. When they realized Taiichi had arrived and successfully held the enemy at bay, pure joy flooded their faces.
The heavy refined-iron gate of the Tenshukaku slowly opened with a teeth-grinding groan.
The Crown Prince stepped out first, supporting the old Daimyo who could barely stand.
Behind him came the few remaining wounded samurai and ninja, their faces a mixture of the relief of survivors and shock at the carnage outside.
The Crown Prince's eyes immediately locked onto Taiichi hovering in the air, radiating that cold, imposing presence, and the lifeless figure dangling from his hand.
He hurried forward several steps and bowed deeply, voice thick with uncontrollable excitement and gratitude. "Lord Taiichi! You—
You came at the perfect moment! If not for Your Lordship's divine might, we would have—"
He glanced at the wreckage and the monster remains shredded by wind blades, the lingering terror plain on his face.
Taiichi slowly descended and gently set the Blood Raven—now looking like a sack of rags—on the ground.
"Mission accomplished." Taiichi's voice remained perfectly calm. "The leader of the Jashin cult, Blood Raven, is here. His nest has been destroyed. The remnants have been completely wiped out. This man is the mastermind behind the disappearance cases in the Land of Hot Water."
Every gaze instantly focused on Blood Raven.
He looked… truly miserable.
But this was not the time for that.
The Crown Prince's eyes ignited with fury. He waved for two samurai to step forward. "Take him into strict custody! Use the strongest chains!"
At that moment a hysterical scream tore from the rebel ranks. "No! Impossible! How can he be this fast?!"
The Second Prince's face was deathly pale. His body trembled violently as he stared at the Blood Raven on the ground as if looking at a vengeful ghost come for his soul.
The Crown Prince whipped around, eyes like lightning locking onto his younger brother. His voice was ice-cold and cutting. "So it really was you! Colluding with a cult, slaughtering the people, bringing disaster to the nation—and now you dare attempt patricide and fratricide! Second Brother, do you still have anything to say?!"
Under the piercing gazes of his elder brother and father, the Second Prince's mind completely collapsed. He howled, "So what if it was me?! This position should have been mine! All of you—all of you deserve to die! Immortal Legion! Kill them! Kill them all!"
He shrieked the order at the remaining Immortals that were still restlessly stirring.
Taiichi took one step forward, placing himself between the Crown Prince's group and the enemy. He gave the Crown Prince a slight nod. "Since this man has already confessed, the rebellion ends now. Please wait a moment, Your Highness."
Before the words finished, his figure vanished.
The next instant, blue light exploded among the Immortals!
Against these half-finished products that had lost all reason and fought only on instinct and regeneration, he no longer needed to probe for weaknesses. Wind-nature chakra condensed around his short blade. Every flash, every strike, sliced precisely across the necks of those gray-white monsters.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
The wet sound of heads rolling never stopped. Headless bodies twitched and collapsed. Regenerating flesh buds writhed uselessly at the severed necks for a moment before losing all vitality.
Taiichi's figure moved through the blood rain like the reaper himself. Everywhere he passed, the berserk Immortals fell like harvested wheat. In only a few breaths, every remaining monster on the field had been reduced to a pile of headless corpses.
The surviving rebels, witnessing this demonic spectacle, completely lost the last shred of fighting spirit. They threw down their weapons and dropped to their knees in surrender.
The Second Prince was slammed to the ground by two samurai loyal to the Crown Prince. His ornate armor was covered in dirt as he let out hopeless wails.
A grand rebellion that had shaken the capital collapsed in an instant before Matsushita Taiichi's absolute power.
The blood-red dusk hanging over the capital of the Land of Hot Water seemed to lose some of its ferocity as the rebellion was crushed.
The Crown Prince looked at his subdued younger brother and the kneeling rebels, then let out a long breath. He was just about to thank Taiichi and discuss the aftermath—
When a samurai tasked with watching the Blood Raven suddenly screamed, "My Lord! Something's wrong!"
Everyone turned at the shout. The samurai lay on the ground, neck twisted at a grotesque angle, clearly dead.
And the Blood Raven who had been lying there… was completely gone!
Taiichi's eyes instantly sharpened to knife edges. His powerful sensory ability flooded outward like a tide. His brows knitted tightly.
"The residual aura of space-time ninjutsu… Someone took him away in the chaos." Taiichi's voice dropped, heavy with gravity. "This is… Uchiha Obito."