Do You Want to Try Dying Once?

These were five balloons—hot-air balloons—woven from invisible strands of hair. At the bottom of each balloon burned a cluster of ghostly blue Demon Fire. As the flames flickered, heat rose and warped the air, along with faces made from the souls and resentments within the Demon Fire, visible to the naked eye.

The villagers stood frozen at the sight.

The bizarre and cruel scene slammed into their minds.

Beneath the invisible balloons hung a person, covered in wounds. Their limbs had been twisted into strange shapes, and a blood-red fox mask bearing an eerie smile covered their face. With disheveled hair and head hanging low, they appeared to be unconscious. Under the agony, their body occasionally convulsed unnaturally. With every muscle twitch, dried dark-red blood dripped from the countless fine cuts covering their body, splattering down from the sky in a straight line onto rooftops, awnings, leaves, streets, paving stones, people's faces, and their hearts.

From the crowd's perspective, the defeated Anbu ninja floated eerily in midair, five clusters of Demon Fire burning around him like guards escorting a prisoner. It had steadily and brazenly crossed through Konoha's gates and advanced toward the center of Konoha. Many people had seen it.

They knew the Anbu ninja. Though they did not know who he was, he was a ninja of the village.

A village ninja had been defeated outside and sent back in this manner.

Without a doubt, this was a provocation against Konoha's dignity—and a humiliation. If mishandled, it would deal a severe blow to the village's authority.

"Can we shoot it down?" an elite jonin in a Konoha flak jacket asked, looking up at the sky.

"Shoot down what?" Another ninja gave a bitter smile. "The person, or those five clusters of Demon Fire? Throw kunai? At that height, could we even reach it? Or use Wind Release? Water Release?"

Water Release: Water Severing Wave

Someone acted faster than they did.

A stream of water shot up from within the village, crossing hundreds of meters in an instant and precisely slanting toward the sky, targeting one cluster of Demon Fire.

"That's Lord Tobirama's technique."

The razor-sharp water stream pierced through the Demon Fire. The two passed through each other, and after only a few seconds, the technique ended while the Demon Fire continued flickering.

At the sight, pupils everywhere constricted.

Was there really Fire Release that did not fear Water Release?

An inextinguishable flame?

On a tiled rooftop, the two Senju brothers stood with their arms folded. Seeing this, Hashirama said gravely, "This is an enemy we cannot underestimate, Tobirama."

"Big brother, do you have a solution?" Tobirama asked in a low voice, his face cold.

"Let's wait for the enemy to show herself," Hashirama said.

"She won't appear." Tobirama was certain of it. He glanced at his brother. Would she show herself and wait for him to kill her?

"Then there is nothing we can do." Hashirama frowned at the air. He could vaguely sense that something was there, though it was hard to describe precisely. It was something different from chakra, surrounding that Anbu ninja. Something dangerous.

It was not as though there was no solution. But if even he could not handle it after making a move, then it would truly become difficult to deal with.

Besides, Hashirama was a little worried that acting would provoke her into killing the hostage.

If possible, he still wanted to save his comrade.

"Can you sense anything unusual, Tobirama?" His younger brother Tobirama's sensory abilities were far superior to Hashirama's.

"No." Tobirama folded his arms and lowered his eyes, deep in thought. Had his brother sensed something unusual? "Is there a problem?"

"Maybe it was just an illusion," Hashirama said.

Compared to fighting such a bizarre ninja, Hashirama still preferred exchanging ninjutsu head-on with Madara.

The enemy was a little too ninja-like.

It reminded Hashirama, after a long time, of ordinary fights between ninjas.

"Ghost Princess?" Hashirama sighed. "I can't sense even the slightest chakra fluctuation. Your name for her was quite fitting, Tobirama." That meant one of Wood Release's great weapons—chakra absorption—would be useless. Moreover, fire countered wood. Hashirama wondered whether his Wood Release could absorb those flames. If it possessed Fire Release on Madara's level...

Hashirama's eyes flashed...

A ninja who did not fear him was truly an interesting thing.

Tobirama's eyelid twitched. He had only named her Ghost Princess because she liked wearing dead people's clothes. Who could have known she would be this troublesome? Though he had tried to estimate her strength as highly as possible, he had still underestimated her when facing her for real.

Her Fire Release seemed to restrain his Water Release.

If there was no elemental advantage, then he was being typically countered.

Being unable to sense even the slightest chakra gave Tobirama the same insubstantial feeling as the ghostly fires floating everywhere across the battlefield at night when he had been a child.

"Is it Sage Art, big brother?"

"No," Hashirama said with certainty.

Wearing the blood-red fox mask, the Anbu ninja drifted all the way through the air. The entire village fell into an eerie silence until he steadily came to a stop directly above Konoha's Hokage Building, floating there in broad daylight.

As far as behavior went, it was no different from shitting on their faces.

Tobirama's expression was ugly, though he always wore a gloomy expression, so the difference was not very obvious.

"Look! What's that!?"

Konoha Academy was not far from the Hokage Building. The half-grown brats in the academy had all noticed the disturbance there. One ninja after another leaped over nearby rooftops, the sounds of Body Flicker tearing through the air in rapid succession.

The match could no longer continue. The brats all jumped onto the academy walls and watched what was happening at the Hokage Building.

"What's happening?"

"Was that Lord Tobirama's technique just now?"

"So many ninja... Is there an enemy?"

In the past three years, the village had rarely seen such a spectacle.

"Looks like something bad has happened in the village, Hiruzen. We'll fight again next time." Danzo stared at the Hokage Building, his eyes filled with curiosity and eagerness.

The greatest trait of half-grown boys was their courage. It was always, Do you dare? followed by, I dare. Several of the brats wore the same expression.

The adult ninja did not dare act rashly, burdened by too many concerns. But half-grown brats had no such concerns. Some boys had already slipped away, heading toward the Hokage Building.

Watching his classmates' actions, Sarutobi Hiruzen thought for a moment, then followed.

An enemy? Who could it be? Uchiha Madara?

Ninjas gathered atop the Hokage Building, scattering around the area as they all looked toward the figure in the sky.

They did not know how he was flying. There was no obvious target to attack, and they could not sense the caster's location. Even those conspicuous, bizarre blue flames could not be affected by Water Release. They were completely helpless.

All they could do was watch and wait for further orders.

The Demon Fire circled around the Hokage Building with its gift, moving as though showing off. After several laps, it began descending.

Seeing this, the ninjas focused and went on guard, quietly drawing their ninja swords and kunai.

Until the gift landed safely on the ground.

The gift had been delivered...

"Let's go, Little Monster." Yura gave the command. Lucy flapped her wings and pulled Yura away. Through layers of cloud, her scarlet eyes looked down upon Konoha below.

She wanted to say that she would return.

But that sounded too much like something a small fry would say.

What should she say as a parting message?

"Do you want to try dying once, Senju Tobirama...?"

Yura smiled faintly and flew away without looking back.

On the ground, Tobirama watched Yura leave with gloomy eyes. In the end, he did not even learn her name.

"Big brother, she's gone," Tobirama said coldly. Apart from his gloominess, no other expression could be seen on his face.

Hashirama nodded. After thinking for a moment, he waved a hand without saying anything and turned to leave.

Watching his brother's lonely, despondent back, Tobirama lowered his head. His brother was still unable to pull himself free from the pain of losing Uchiha Madara.