Chapter 257: Zabuza's Shock
Zabuza Momochi finally dragged his heavily injured body back to the Hidden Mist Village. The makeshift bandages wrapped around him had started to seep blood, and his pale face was etched with exhaustion.
But at this moment, he had no time to worry if his wounds would endanger his life.
Nor did he rush immediately to the Hidden Mist Hospital to seek treatment from the medical ninjas.
Because he was looking at the carnage in the Hidden Mist Village with overwhelming shock!
In Zabuza Momochi's view, bathed in the hazy moonlight, a massive wooden sphere, hundreds of meters in diameter and covered in spiraling patterns, stood silently within the village. Beneath the sphere appeared to be a vast pool of uncoagulated blood!
The dense, cloying smell of blood could be clearly detected by Zabuza Momochi from a considerable distance away.
Zabuza Momochi found it hard to imagine how many people must have died to produce such a concentrated scent of blood.
A few hundred? Or over a thousand?
If this were anywhere else, it would be bad enough, but this was the Hidden Mist Village!
After an unknown number of seconds, Zabuza Momochi finally snapped out of his shocked trance. Gritting his teeth, he continued to drag his severely injured body, limping urgently towards the interior of the village.
Before long.
Zabuza Momochi began to see scattered corpses of Hidden Mist ninjas lying "higgledy-piggledy" on the ground.
The vast majority of the bodies had their heads severed, separated from their necks.
It was clear they were killed instantly, without even a chance to resist.
As he walked further, getting closer to the massive, bizarre wooden sphere, the number of corpses on the ground grew.
But suddenly, he entered a certain area, and everything became desolate. There were no more corpses.
However, the ground before Zabuza Momochi was utterly a mess!
The earth looked like it had been plowed over and over with iron tools. The soil beneath had been churned up, and it was covered in deep, bottomless fissures, with gurgling blood visible flowing into the cracks.
It was then.
Zabuza Momochi finally saw a living person.
"J-Jūzō Biwa "
His hoarse voice caught the attention of Jūzō Biwa, who was standing ahead. When Jūzō Biwa turned around, carrying his Executioner's Blade, he saw Zabuza Momochi, dragging his severe injuries, barely managing to kneel-stand.
"You're actually still alive," Jūzō Biwa made no attempt to hide the shock on his face. But the shock wasn't due to seeing Zabuza Momochi alive. Rather, it was from the overwhelming Wood Release that Ikeizumi Uchiha had used to instantly kill a massive number of Hidden Mist ninjas!
Zabuza Momochi gritted his teeth, blood still oozing from the corner of his mouth: "What exactly happened? The village what took place?"
Jūzō Biwa's expression grew somewhat complicated as he answered: "Everything you see before you is what happened in the village. Roughly, Ikeizumi Uchiha wanted to cleanse the sin of the Hidden Mist Village, and some incorrigible individuals tried to stand against Absolute Justice. As for the fate of those incorrigible individuals..."
Jūzō Biwa turned to look at the massive wooden sphere and slowly said: "You should have seen a small portion of them on your way here. As for the rest, let's hope they still have a complete corpse. Perhaps... they've already become nourishment for the trees."
Zabuza Momochi was dumbfounded.
He didn't know what to do, so he could only ask a senseless question: "How many ninjas died in the village?"
Jūzō Biwa shook his head: "I don't know, maybe two or three thousand?"
Zabuza Momochi: "..."
Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, the Sand Village and the Mist Village were the weakest.
The Hidden Mist Village used to be slightly stronger than the Sand Village, but with the continuous implementation of the Bloody Mist Policy and the village's increasing decline, the Hidden Mist Village's fighting strength was almost on par with the Sand Village's.
Currently, the entire Hidden Mist Village probably only had around three thousand ninjas in total.
Now Jūzō Biwa was telling him that two or three thousand ninjas had died in the Hidden Mist Village?
Would the remaining ninjas in the village even reach a thousand?
Or were there only a few hundred left?
This
This was roughly the size of a medium-sized, minor ninja village now!
The Hidden Mist Village had completely fallen to the bottom of the Five Great Ninja Villages, hadn't it?
Zabuza Momochi, known as the "Demon," felt a surge of apprehension and a chilling coldness deep in his heart.
He couldn't imagine how bloody and ruthless one person had to be to instantly kill two or three thousand Hidden Mist ninjas without blinking?
This wasn't even during a war!
All because of
That so-called Absolute Justice?!
Zabuza Momochi's fists had unknowingly clenched tightly. His muscles, fatigued to the point of almost screaming, trembled slightly. His tightly bitten jaw showed that his current state of mind was far from calm.
Just then.
Zabuza Momochi suddenly heard Jūzō Biwa's voice again: "The Hidden Mist ninjas killed by Ikeizumi Uchiha were all those who chose to support the Bloody Mist Policy, those who chose to support the Fourth Mizukage."
Zabuza Momochi froze, and his clenched fists seemed to relax slightly.
He heard Jūzō Biwa continue: "Ikeizumi Uchiha actually gave them several chances. They had multiple opportunities to make the correct choice. They could have openly opposed the continued enforcement of the Bloody Mist Policy. They could have cooperated with Ikeizumi Uchiha to dismantle the Hidden Mist Village's Bloody Mist Policy."
"But they didn't. They were stubborn, but their stubbornness was directed at the wrong place. In their hearts, the Hidden Mist Village was only strong because of the Bloody Mist Policy. They believed that only bloodshed could allow the Hidden Mist Village to stand firm among the Five Great Ninja Villages."
"Ikeizumi Uchiha only decided to kill them all after realizing they were completely incorrigible. Otherwise, only some of the villains who rightfully deserved to die would have been killed."
As Jūzō Biwa spoke, the shock on his face gradually faded, and his tone became somewhat calmer: "Since they made their choice and stood on the opposing side of Absolute Justice."
"Since they ignored Ikeizumi Uchiha's warnings and ignored the chances he gave them "
"Then paying the price with their lives is what they earned. If stubborn individuals like that remain alive, they will only bring huge obstacles and trouble to the implementation of justice."
"They will only keep the Hidden Mist Village stagnant in the bloody mist."
The anger on Zabuza Momochi's face had completely dissipated.
He fell silent.
Because at this moment, he found that he actually agreed strongly with the actions of that "Magma Monster"! Those incorrigible individuals should all be killed!
"So "
Zabuza Momochi couldn't help but ask: "The Fourth Mizukage and all his supporting factions... have all been killed?"
Jūzō Biwa replied: "There might be some who slipped away, especially those ninjas who were out on missions. But there aren't many left."
Zabuza Momochi slowly took a deep breath.
He suddenly felt that the dense, nauseating smell of blood had suddenly become... pleasant.