Laughter echoed wildly through the woods, even drowning out the faint sounds of the Cloud Village stragglers fleeing in the distance.
Uchiha Ling stood before the Third Raikage's unfallen corpse, feeling wave after wave of emptiness and stabbing pain inside him.
The burning sensation from the Mangekyō was branded deep into his soul. His chakra was nearly depleted, and every muscle in his body groaned under the strain.
It had been a long time since he'd been this battered, this close to death.
Yet just as his strength hit rock bottom and his mind relaxed ever so slightly after the exhilarating battle, an oppressive force far greater and heavier than the Third Raikage's killing intent descended from every direction, suffocating him like an endless bank of dark clouds!
Rumble...
It wasn't thunder. It was the sound of thousands of pounding feet, like a stampede! Their steps were orderly and heavy, carrying the will to crush everything in their path!
The wild grin on Uchiha Ling's face froze. He whipped around. His eyes, temporarily returned to their ordinary black after the strain of overusing his ocular powers forced him out of his Mangekyō state, contracted to pinpoints!
As far as he could see, a wave of ocher surged toward him on the horizon, sweeping forward with unstoppable force!
It wasn't a wave. It was an army of shinobi—countless Iwagakure Ninja in ocher-colored flak jackets!
They were like silent locusts, like a flood bursting through a dam: densely packed and seemingly endless, as if they'd stained the entire world ocher!
Banners fluttered, their emblems of rocks and mountains glinting coldly in the sunlight.
At the very front charged Kitsuchi, a tall man with a resolute face. Beside him were the fierce members of the Explosion Corps, along with Mahiru and the other