Chapter 73: The Concession of the Land of Wind
The southern border of the Land of Rain, beside the boundary marker.
On the muddy plains, two thousand elites from the Land of Wind spread out like a tide. Sand-gold cloaks rustled in the wind and rain, and cold Kunai reflected the dismal lightning. Logically, such a terrifying force, capable of destroying a small nation, should be enough to flatten any obstacle.
But now, all two thousand people stopped in their tracks simultaneously.
In front of them stood only three people.
Three figures wearing black robes with red clouds stood like an impassable chasm of death across the border.
On the left was Kakuzu. Masked in black cloth, his eyes betrayed his greed. The red cloud robe on his back bulged, and four Black Tentacle Monsters with eerie masks squirmed on his shoulders, looking like evil spirits crawled out of Hell. He was a desperado who even dared to assassinate the First Hokage.
In the middle was Orochimaru. His skin was a sickly pale green, and his golden snake pupils flickered with viscous malice. He was playing with a small white snake at his fingertips; as its tongue flicked in and out, he seemed to be selecting his next experimental subject.
On the right was Biwa Jūzō. The massive kubikiribōchō was propped on his shoulder; on that door-like broadsword, dark red liquid was dripping down the blood groove along with the rain.
"Kakuzu... Orochimaru... Biwa Jūzō..."
Chiyo's withered hand suddenly clenched tight. Her nails dug into her palm, causing a piercing pain.
She had lived for so many years and was accustomed to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood. But each of the three people before her was an S-rank wanted criminal whose presence would cause the bounty on the Ninja World's wanted posters to skyrocket.
She looked down at the remains on the ground. That was Sunagakure's most prideful Vanguard Assassination Squad, but now it was just a pile of parts.
"Elder Chiyo, it has been a long time. You have even more wrinkles." Orochimaru bowed elegantly.
His tongue slid across the corner of his lips, bringing out a trace of crimson. "Inside this aged shell, the quality of the Soul seems even more bitter than before. I wonder if you would be willing to become an 'Honorary Specimen' for my new laboratory?"
"Akatsuki... what on earth do you lunatics want!" Chiyo spat out the words through gritted teeth.
Kakuzu looked up. His eerie green eyes stared straight at Chiyo's head as if looking at a pile of shining gold coins. "The leader has ordered that the Land of Rain shall maintain armed neutrality. This is a war between great nations; you are not allowed to step into this territory. I will kill anyone who dares to cross the line."
He cracked his knuckles, making a series of crisp snapping sounds.
"Chiyo, your head is worth eighty million ryo in the Bounty Station. If you take one more step forward, I will assume you are voluntarily delivering this huge sum of money into my pocket."
"Presumptuous!"
A roar erupted from the Sunagakure army. Several hot-blooded Jonin could not stand such contempt and quickly formed hand seals. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Stop! Everyone, fall back!" Chiyo's voice was hoarse and shrill.
But it was already too late.
The wind-attribute Mask Monster behind Kakuzu suddenly opened its mouth.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
Boom!
The extremely compressed tornado storm exploded in a fan shape, splashing mud a hundred meters away. The Sunagakure Ninjas' Wind Release was as weak as a baby's breath before that violent power.
The few people who had rushed forward didn't even have time to scream before they were shredded into a mist of blood.
Dead silence filled the field. The army of two thousand was actually intimidated by this casual move.
Biwa Jūzō curled his lip and brandished his greatsword. "Do you want to continue? My blade hasn't tasted the blood of a strong person in a long time."
Chiyo closed her eyes tightly. Her eyelids were trembling violently.
She was old, but she wasn't senile yet.
At this time, the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure had mysteriously disappeared, and Rasa had only recently succeeded him, leaving the people's hearts unsettled. Sending troops this time was originally intended to plunder Konoha to recover, but if they were to get bogged down in this quagmire of the Land of Rain... Sunagakure would be devoured clean by the other great nations following closely behind.
For the sake of the Village, what did her dignity matter?
"All troops, change course! Detour through the Land of Rivers!" Chiyo opened her eyes suddenly, her tone resolute.
"Elder! Are we just leaving like this?" a Ninja in the back row roared unwillingly.
"Shut up! If you want to live, get moving!" Chiyo turned back and shattered a nearby boulder with a palm strike.
Thus, the two thousand Sunagakure troops turned around dejectedly under the gaze of the three people. At this moment, the dignity of the Five Great Nations was trampled into the mud by these three rogue Ninjas.
"Heh, don't let the door hit you on the way out." Orochimaru sneered as he stepped aside... Hidden Rain Village, Rain Shadow Building.
Nagato sat in a specially made wheelchair. His purple spiral Rinnegan was currently controlling the six paths of pain on the eastern front.
Black and White Zetsu slowly emerged from the ground.
"Great victory on the southern front." Zetsu's hoarse voice carried a sense of schadenfreude. "That old woman Chiyo was so angry she spat blood. Kakuzu took the opportunity to land a few more blows, taking the hearts of over thirty Sunagakure elites. Now, the people of Sunagakure probably don't even dare to hate; they just want to leave this place where monsters roam as quickly as possible."
"Where are those people from Konoha now?" Nagato's voice was cold.
"Konoha is smarter." White Zetsu grinned. "Nara Shikaku saw that the situation wasn't right and led his people to retreat to a camp five kilometers away. Now they are mainly defending the directions of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Grass."
It was a success.
A flush appeared on Nagato's pale face.
The roaring boy in the valley back then had finally become the one who set the rules. This was what Yahiko meant by "letting the world feel the pain." If you don't make them feel pain, they will never learn what respect is.
"How is Yahiko now?" Nagato turned his head.
He knew that the only remaining trouble was Iwagakure on the northern front. Iwagakure had the most people and the fiercest attacks.
"The leader is with Konan." Black Zetsu said in a low voice. "The Iwagakure army is blocked outside the border. Kitsuchi seems to have returned to Iwagakure alone. However..."
Zetsu's words were not yet finished.
Boom—!!!
A faint fluctuation that made the Soul tremble swept across from the far northern horizon.
Nagato's expression changed drastically. That was... the feeling of space being erased.
He suddenly looked toward the north.
Even from a hundred miles away, the sky there was incredibly bright. A pillar of light, pure to the extreme and carrying a deadly white glow, tore through the firmament without warning.
It didn't look like fire, nor did it look like lightning.
It was more like an eraser from the gods.
Wherever the pillar of light passed, the rain in the sky was instantly annihilated. The heavy rain clouds were pierced through, leaving a charred hole hundreds of meters in diameter. At this moment, the sky looked as if it were leaking.
"That is... Dust Release?"
Nagato tried to stand up. Because of the exertion, his fingers, so thin they were just skin and bones, gripped the wheelchair armrests tightly. His knuckles were pale and trembling violently.
He had heard of it from Jiraiya. Kekkei Tota. It could decompose everything in the world at the molecular level.
In the entire Ninja World, only one person had this ability.
The anchor of Iwagakure—Ōnoki!
"Damn it! Is that old man crazy?" Nagato's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks. "He actually took the field himself?"
Ōnoki was an old monster who had lived from the time of the First Hokage until now. He was a true old fox and the head of a Village. According to the rules, he should be sitting in the center and would never easily show his face at the border.
To force him to use Dust Release directly... what on earth happened in the north?
What exactly did Yahiko do to make this living fossil of the Ninja World disregard his status and jump out to use his ultimate move right from the start?
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