A Night of Dark Winds, a Day of Murder and Arson

Narak calmly announced, "I've surrounded more than a hundred ninjas all by myself!"

Yet no one present found his words amusing!

Because in the slaughter just now, Narak had proven his strength!

"Damn it! Everyone, attack together! He's only one man. We can wear him down eventually. Otherwise, we'll all die today!"

The ninja leader who had just escaped Narak appeared on the other side. He was still shaken; if he had been even a moment slower activating the Substitution Technique, he would have died there!

He had been a ninja for so long, yet this was the first time he had encountered such a desperate situation. He had almost died here today!

Although he was panicking inside, he knew perfectly well that he could not back down now. Their feud had already begun. Either they killed Narak today, or Narak killed them!

So he could only force himself to summon his courage and issue orders to the others!

"Everyone, melee ninjas, hold him back! The rest of you, attack from range! Aim carefully!"

The leader's words seemed to give them courage again, and the rogue ninjas began launching an organized assault on Narak!

Some ninjas used earth walls to isolate Narak, while others began casting ninjutsu from behind them!

"Fire Release—Fire Dragon Bullet," "Wind Release—Great Breakthrough," "Water Release—Water Dragon Bullet"—all kinds of ninjutsu came crashing toward Narak in an overwhelming barrage, as though they cost nothing!

Narak calmly watched the ninjutsu flying toward him and unhurriedly raised both hands!

"Hado #54—Waste Flame."

"Hado #58—Tenran."

As the two Kido spells were cast simultaneously, a huge flame rose from Narak's left hand, while a small whirlwind took shape in his right!

Narak brought his hands together, and the Waste Flame in his left hand instantly merged into the Tenran in his right!

The Tenran, originally composed purely of wind, transformed directly into a flaming tornado!

"Have a taste of this!"

Narak flung the two fused Kido spells toward the enemies. The tiny flaming whirlwind rapidly expanded the instant it left his hands!

In the blink of an eye, it became a massive firestorm wrapped in raging flames, then swept straight ahead!

The enormous firestorm collided with the various ninjutsu on the other side. For a time, neither side could overpower the other, and they remained locked in a stalemate!

But after a while, the people on the other side sensed that something was wrong!

"What's happening? Why is my Chakra draining so quickly?"

"Look! The earth walls are melting from the flames!"

"No, those flames aren't normal! They're burning through the ninjutsu we released!"

A moment later, everyone finally realized what was happening. The ninjutsu they had released had actually begun burning when it encountered Narak's firestorm!

The earth walls they had cast earlier began rapidly collapsing under the firestorm's assault. Even Water Release ninjutsu was scorched by those strange flames!

"What kind of fire is this? It can burn everything?"

"Wait, isn't he a melee ninja from the Hyuga Clan? Why can he use such terrifying long-range attacks?"

"What... what kind of monster are we fighting?"

Wherever the firestorm formed from Tenran and Waste Flame passed, not a blade of grass remained. Every ninjutsu on the other side was burned away!

The scorching firestorm seared everyone's skin with pain, but their hearts were as cold as an ice cellar!

After burning away all the ninjutsu, the firestorm, now unobstructed, swiftly swept toward the people on the other side!

"Not good! Run!"

"Get out of the way!"

"Don't block my path!"

At that moment, all the rogue ninjas panicked and fled, wishing their parents had given them two more legs!

But how could they outrun a rapidly spinning storm?

The Tenran, transformed into a sky full of flaming tornadoes, surged forward and dragged in the ninjas who had not escaped in time. Those caught inside had only enough time to let out a brief scream before being burned to ash!

After burning the ninjas in front of him to death, Tenran continued forward without slowing and crashed straight into the manor!

"Boom!"

"Crackle!"

Wherever the storm passed, the massive manor was destroyed into fragments, then rapidly engulfed in flames!

Seeing the storm about to travel farther and farther away, Narak raised a hand and dispersed it. The manor, however, continued burning!

The enormous blaze illuminated everyone's faces!

That single firestorm killed dozens of people outright. Including those Narak had slain at the beginning, only fifty or sixty people remained—half their number had been wiped out!

Narak smiled and said, "A night of dark winds, a day of murder and arson! Give it up, everyone. Get on your way early. I still have to return and report on my mission!"

"Demon... he's a demon..."

"No! Don't kill me! Please, don't kill me!"

"I'm leaving right now! I won't oppose you! Please spare my life!"

Everyone present began begging for mercy. Even their leader was trembling like a sieve. Clearly, Narak's slaughter had terrified them!

"Begging for mercy now? Too late! Every one of you here—no one is leaving alive!"

Narak remained unmoved by their pleas.

They were nothing more than bandits who roamed everywhere, murdering and committing arson. Along the way, who knew how many villages in the Land of Grass they had destroyed? Everywhere Narak had passed, he had seen nothing but ruined walls and corpses!

Narak had never intended to let them go from the start!

"Damn it! You're forcing us to fight you to the death!"

"Don't push us too far! If we really risked our lives, you wouldn't get off easy either!"

The others began shouting as well, but their voices sounded more like bluster born of fear than genuine courage!

"Ninja from Konohagakure, we admit that you're powerful, but we still have fifty or sixty people. If you really attack, you may not come out unscathed either. An ultimate move like the one just now—you probably can't use it many more times, right? Like you said earlier, there's no irreconcilable blood feud between us. Why fight to the bitter end?"

The rogue-ninja leader suppressed his fear and spoke to Narak with forced composure!

"That's right. There's no deep blood feud between us. I'm sure you wouldn't seek revenge for the people who died either!"

The rogue-ninja leader's eyes lit up when he heard that. It seemed there was still hope!

"But your despicable nature disgusts me! Being a rogue ninja isn't shameful. In many cases, people have no choice but to leave their village. But once you became rogue ninjas and started attacking innocent civilians, you forfeited your right to live!"

"You..."

The rogue ninjas, who had just felt a sliver of hope, felt their hearts sink to the bottom when they heard Narak's words!

"And who told you I can't use an ultimate move like that more than a few times? Hmm? You seem to have misunderstood me."

"I'm not some chakra-starved brat like Kakashi! As for my chakra reserves, without exaggeration, I'm at least ten Kakashis!"

"Scum, face your judgment!"

"Ruler! Mask of flesh and blood, all things, soaring wings, bearing the name of humanity! Truth and temperance, the wall of sinful dreams! Stand upon it alone! Hado #33—Sōkatsui!"

Narak flashed into the air. Facing the desperate crowd, he chanted the Kido incantation. With the incantation's reinforcement, the Kido's power grew even stronger!

Blue light gathered in Narak's palm, then shot rapidly toward the crowd below, moving so fast that it was nearly impossible to track with the naked eye!

Upon hitting the ground, Sōkatsui erupted in a violent explosion, and everyone was instantly swallowed by the blaze!