Luckily, with Uchiha Fucheng, the clan head, holding the line, the young Jonin and elite Chunin grew much calmer.
Uchiha Kaen took the lead, splitting off two people to eliminate the enemy's Chunin and Genin.
Once they had cut down the Rain Ninja's rank-and-file, they would join forces to deal with the more troublesome Salamander Doshin.
The remaining Uchiha also performed admirably.
Though they lacked the experience of an old hand like Salamander Doshin, young people had nimble minds.
They took advantage of the large pools of water left behind by the Water Release and used the terrain to aid their ninjutsu.
With the battlefield around them as their ally, they unleashed large-scale Earth Release techniques designed to trap their foes.
(3 users) Earth Release: Earth Flow River.
(3 users) Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld.
These two specialized Earth Release techniques consumed a great deal of chakra.
But when combined and shared among several ninjas, the cost became negligible.
The murky water turned into a muddy swamp, churning beneath the Rain Ninja's feet.
Several great rivers of mud, like earthen dragons, repeatedly swept toward the cliff where the Rain Ninja stood.
The Earth Release mud clinging to the Rain Ninja became as adhesive as glue.
Most of the Rain Ninja fell into the Swamp of the Underworld.
"Use Earth Release to raise the ground! Hurry, raise the ground!" Salamander Doshin shouted.
He summoned another, smaller salamander mount.
In the middle of this wave of attacks, a purple-haired Rain Ninja failed to dodge in time and was bound by the mud.
Uchiha Kaen acted swiftly, firing a Kunai straight into the purple-haired ninja's forehead.
A rare one-hit kill with a throwing weapon!
The purple-haired Rain Ninja's corpse dropped straight into the dark, viscous Swamp of the Underworld.
[Changed Ajisai's fate]
The notification took Fucheng by surprise.
After the purple-haired ninja died, a system reward notification had appeared.
"Ajisai?"
The name sounded vaguely familiar.
"Could it be the Animal Path among the Six Paths of Pain, the one who could summon animals?"
Fucheng was pleasantly surprised.
"Didn't expect to hit a rabbit while mowing the grass this time!"
He marveled at the twists of fate.
The dead purple-haired ninja was most likely a direct relative of the future Ajisai.
Once a person dies, it's over. Better to die early and be reincarnated sooner.
After all, Ajisai's fate was tragic. She had died young, and in the end, her body had been turned into Pain's Animal Path.
[Reward: Ajisai's Fate Dice]
Now that he had accumulated quite a few Recognition Points, Fucheng decided to be generous and put in fifty at once.
[Obtained a small amount of Space-Time Ninjutsu talent; obtained summoning beast: Giant Panda.]
The moment he saw the reward, Fucheng perked up.
He had a clear memory of this unusual panda summon from Naruto.
The first time the panda appeared, it was used to fight a giant ant.
Later, the panda also appeared among the summoning beasts in the Naruto mobile game.
But after Ajisai became Pain's Animal Path, the Giant Panda seemed to have turned into a stone panda studded with black rods.
It had become a bizarre form with zombie-like super armor.
Fucheng didn't care how strong the panda was in battle.
As a Chinese person, he had an innate fondness for the appearance of the panda, a national treasure.
He didn't need it to be much of a fighter. Even if it only served as his mount, he would be overjoyed.
The panda had been Chiyou's mount in ancient mythology.
He, Uchiha Fucheng, might not amount to much.
Still, he wanted to experience the comfort of riding an ancient war god's mount.
Uchiha Fucheng happily examined his new summoning beast, the panda.
On the battlefield, the Rain Ninja launched an even fiercer counterattack.
First came a rain of poisoned Senbon.
Following the countless Senbon were Explosive Tags tied to transparent threads.
Fucheng knew that the Wind Release Ninjutsu of the people under his command was still unpracticed.
So he formed Hand Seals first, and as the Senbon had barely reached midair, his Wind Release swept them back in a whirlwind.
Explosions rang out one after another.
Under this Wind Release assault, at least seven or eight Rain Ninja were killed or wounded.
Smoke, mud, bloodied water, severed limbs...
Uchiha Fucheng stood atop the earthen wall, looking down over the battlefield.
His gaze swept across the enemy at a dramatic forty-five-degree angle, full of arrogance.
With his arms folded, Fucheng called out, "Salamander Doshin, I know your name. Give up resisting and surrender now. Don't waste more lives."
At those words, Salamander Doshin nearly choked on his rage.
"The Land of Rain will never submit!"
Salamander Doshin roared.
"You people from the great nations will never understand us."
Fucheng scoffed. "Don't spout nonsense about the dreams of a small nation, and don't give me that rubbish about how you want true peace.
"You're always gambling with your nation's fate, putting all your hopes on invading other countries. Don't you think that's laughable?"
The Rain Ninja wanted to argue, but when they looked at the miserable state of their comrades, they swallowed their words.
Fucheng looked down at the Rain Ninja in the swamp with disdain, commenting in an especially calm voice.
"You're always counting on an old man Hanzo who knows a little poison.
"You keep shouting, the fate of the empire will be decided in this one battle.
"You keep thinking, we have to invade other countries.
"You people have neither strength nor sense, yet you think you can become a great nation of the Shinobi World?
"A little country like yours doesn't even have the most basic self-awareness.
"You've lost this fight, so surrender obediently. If you refuse, then I'll just have to make sure you die obediently."
Uchiha Fucheng, done holding back, watched as his eyes shifted from Three-Tomoe to the Mangekyō form.
A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. The Mangekyō Sharingan, patterned with a lightning bolt and a pinwheel, was reflected in Salamander Doshin's eyes.
"I...?"
Salamander Doshin tried to shout, but the world before him seemed to spin and turn upside down.
He tried desperately to struggle, but his strength kept ebbing away.
The chill of the raindrops, the earthy stench of the swamp, the rush of the river.
All of it made Salamander Doshin feel as if his soul were slipping from his body, bit by bit, as he drifted away from the world.
Crack!
Thunder boomed.
Salamander Doshin found himself back in reality.
The world was still the same.
His companions were still the same.
But the Rain Ninja wore expressions of terror, as if they had seen a ghost.
"What's wrong with you?" Salamander Doshin asked weakly, feeling more and more hollow.
He looked down and saw that he was gripping a Kunai, driving it into his own chest with all his strength.
"I... killed myself?"
Salamander Doshin fell helplessly to his knees, standing motionless like a gravestone.
He watched the blood gush from his chest.
The last thing Salamander Doshin saw was Uchiha Fucheng's terrifying, chilling eyes atop the distant wall.
"He killed Salamander Doshin with just a glare?!"
Beside Fucheng, Uchiha Zanghu's mouth hung open in astonishment, wide enough to fit a fist.
His broad, square face and small eyes gave him a rather dopey look.
With that bewildered expression, he still looked like an adorable, dazed fox.
The Uchiha ninjas were ecstatic!
Cheers of excitement rang out across the battlefield. "Lord Fucheng is incredible!"
Though Black Zetsu, concealed underground, hadn't seen what Fucheng had done, he had heard the conversation.
But this sort of instant kill looked exactly like Madara using the Mangekyō to toy with weaklings.
Black Zetsu was astonished. He felt he might have underestimated Uchiha Fucheng, and the power of Fucheng's Mangekyō.
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