The stench of blood in the Throne Hall was thick enough to turn the stomach.
The one-eyed old man's consciousness broke free of the haze, and his pupil constricted violently.
The chain sickle in his hands had not struck the empty Throne.
Its sharp tip had pierced his deputy's back and emerged through his chest.
The deputy looked down at the blade protruding from his chest, the fervor of his charge still lingering on his face.
He opened his mouth. Blood poured out, but no sound came.
"No... that's not..." The old man tried to let go, only to discover that his fingers were welded to the handle, utterly immovable.
He looked around in horror.
He was not the only one.
All thirty-three radical Rain Ninja who had stormed into the Throne Hall stood frozen in place.
The people their weapons had pierced, hacked, and slashed were not the enemies they had imagined.
They were their companions.
Their comrades.
The brothers they had lived alongside for over a decade.
"Why..." A Rain Ninja stared at the kunai he had driven beneath his comrade's ribs, his voice trembling.
No one answered.
There was only the sound of blood dripping onto the floor. Drip, drip, drip.
Then Kyoka Suigetsu's hypnosis lifted completely.
Thud.
The first body fell.
Then the second, the third... thirty-three bodies collapsed across the Throne Hall's floor in a tangled sprawl.
Confusion, terror, and disbelief still lingered on their faces in death.
Their blood gathered into streams, flowing along the cracks in the floor until it pooled into a dark red lake before the Throne.
Footsteps sounded from the shadows.
Liuyu emerged at an unhurried pace. The hem of his white robe swept across the pool of blood without picking up a single stain.
He walked up to the