Blood-Red Wheat Cut Down by a Scythe

This scalp-numbing scene unfolded right before everyone's eyes.

The ground beneath their feet had actually collapsed downward in the shape of a funnel. The buildings, already reduced to rubble by the explosion, found an outlet and all poured into that sunken hole.

It was as though someone had punched a hole beneath a sandbox. With a light poke, all the sand and gravel collapsed into the hollow below.

Countless stones tumbled into the deep pit, and the tremendous roar filled their ears, sounding like some colossal creature chewing its food.

"What's going on?"

"How did the ground suddenly collapse?"

Everyone was still using Shunshin to move away from the center of the collapse, their gazes fixed on the distance with uncertainty and alarm.

Yet it was like enormous waves crashing upon the sea, bursting into a raging tide amid thunderous roars and splashing water. An uncontrollable gale swept up clouds of dust more than ten meters high, obscuring their vision as well.

Only after the rumbling within the dust gradually subsided did everyone stop. They stared fixedly at its center as rainwater slid down their temples and shattered against their hand seals. Their instincts told them that something seemed to be inside...

The remaining lights had gone out. Darkness enveloped the rainy night. No one panicked, but no one spoke either. Everything had fallen deathly silent, save for the sound of breathing, wind, and rain.

"Could Kumogakure have done this?"

Akamichi Chodo stared solemnly into the dust, then cast a sidelong glance at Toroi in the distance. That mangled, bloody face bore the same grave expression.

So it was those Iwagakure bastards after all?

But what was the point?

"C-Chodo-senpai."

Just as Akamichi Chodo was growing doubtful, a voice reached his ears from beside him.

There seemed to be a trace of fear within that trembling voice.

He instinctively turned toward it, only to see Hyuga Yunchuan with his Byakugan activated, staring fixedly into the distance. A droplet of rainwater—or perhaps sweat—gathered at his temple, ran down to his chin, and fell.

"Something... is coming out!" Hyuga Yunchuan said in a trembling voice.

Lightning struck the night sky at that moment, branching bolts spreading across it like limbs.

Under that blazing white flash, a figure flickered through the dust in the distance, vanishing in an instant.

Rumble!

Thunder rolled in from the distant night sky. This peal was especially deafening, as though the heavens themselves were enraged and disgusted.

What were they enraged by?

No one needed to guess, because the answer had already walked out.

Tap... tap...

The footsteps entering their ears were crisp and hollow. There was nothing strange about them, yet they pierced straight into their hearts. Every step caused the air to resonate, making their eardrums, scalps, even their bones tremble with the sound.

Reflected in their pupils, a figure slowly emerged.

They finally saw the figure approaching on foot: a black robe as dark as the stormy night itself. It was like gazing at an empty, fallen shadow, one that exuded fear, decay, and the aura of the Abyss.

Only those eyes—those blue-white eyes—glimmered within the darkness, as though suppressing something.

"..."

Toroi suddenly had a feeling, an instinct that came from nowhere.

Even if he attacked it now, he would only cut through that flowing black shadow. His blade would not be stained by even a trace of blood or flesh.

He had always trusted his instincts. His entire body tensed.

That guy was not right.

"You..."

Aburame narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, intending to say something.

The Root ninja before him instinctively raised their hands, gripping their Kunai and short blades...

At that moment, those hollow, unfocused eyes seemed to finally find their target. They turned toward Aburame, and he raised a hand, giving it a light sweep.

"Move!"

Aburame felt his scalp go numb. That bone-deep, invisible chill sent the insects within his body into turmoil. He shouted and retreated without hesitation.

Screech.

An invisible Wind Blade, shaped like a full moon, tore open the air before them. A curved flash extended several meters in an instant, slashing toward the Root ninja ahead.

The Root ninja, who had just begun to move, seemed to have been frozen. Without warning, they were fixed in place. Even the faces beneath their masks looked stunned, as though time itself had stopped in that brief instant.

Gradually, the divided air began to fill back in bit by bit, and the shriek of the blade was drawn out longer and longer.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

The next moment, it felt as though a storm current, like a sweeping blade, had cut across them. The several people still "standing" before them were sliced in half at the waist as if swept by an invisible blade.

The upper bodies of those Root ninja separated from their lower halves. Their faces were filled with confusion and helplessness as their severed torsos slid to the ground, like blood-red wheat cut down by a scythe.

Blood burst skyward from the clean breaks at their waists, pouring down a chilling storm of blood in the rainy night.

It quickly pooled into a lake of blood, reflecting the blank expressions on everyone's faces.

"Ahhh!!"

The Root ninja who had been cut in half did not die immediately. The agonizing pain finally traveled along their nerves to their central systems, and terrified, incomparably miserable screams erupted all at once.

"What... what Ninjutsu was that?"

"Wind Release: Great Sickle Weasel Technique?"

The screams seemed to awaken everyone. Akamichi Chodo suddenly snapped back to his senses, his entire body shuddering as he muttered, "You've got to be kidding me. It's only a B-rank Ninjutsu—how could it possibly have this kind of power?"

Several hundred meters in distance, and it took only a second—how had that guy done it?!

Huge amounts of horrifying blood continued to spurt out, like a blood fountain from a severed artery. The thick scarlet blood swallowed their vision, and everywhere they looked was filled with sinister crimson.

Wind, rain, thunder, wails, and screams converged together, like accompaniment to amuse demons as they cruelly tortured their victims.

In the distance, the figure slowly raised his arms and spread his hands, his black robe gradually lifting like great wings.

"Killing, death, blood, Hatred, fear, despair, pain, screams, wailing, wind, and rain..."

The hoarse voice rose step by step from a low murmur until it became distinctly delighted. He laughed. "Ha, what a beautiful night!"

He truly seemed to regard the Root ninja's screams as music. He had deliberately kept them from dying immediately. The terror, madness, and delight in his words sent chills through everyone's bodies.

Branching lightning flashed amid the dark clouds, dyeing the world gray-white once more. The flash illuminated everyone's pale faces.

They had no idea who this person was, but that did not stop them from recognizing the undeniable fact before them.

A monster.

This suddenly appearing man was absolutely a monster!

A monster that fed on killing, death, despair, pain, wailing, and screams—and possessed tremendous power!