Darkness Before Dawn

Night deepened.

Stone Village had also been more than half destroyed. Some of the Iwagakure who had risen up in resistance vanished amid the raging flames.

There was no way around it. Change inevitably brought war, and war was bound to kill many people. It was not that those who resisted deserved to die. On the contrary, Uchiha Qingfeng admired them somewhat. Not everyone could devote themselves to their ideals.

All he could say was that they had died for a worthy cause.

Most of Stone Village's ordinary civilians were still hiding in the underground fortifications. Uchiha Qingfeng had no desire to even take a look. On one hand, he feared he could not bear such a sight; on the other, it would be easy for those people to hold a grudge against him.

Ordinary families were not without Ninja. Besides, with Stone Village in this state, there might well be a few hot-blooded youths who wanted to fight him to the death. It was better not to get involved.

Once everything was completely over and the overall situation had been decided, there would be nothing to worry about.

Now that even Ōnoki had fled, there was no real point in staying here. But they had nowhere else to go. Only one path remained: defeat the Allied Shinobi Forces and seize back the Eight-Tails. They might as well keep the battlefield in the Land of Earth. At least then they would not cause any more harm to Rain Village.

Everyone knew that the Eight-Tails was destined not to be easily taken back. The people chatting together today might never be seen again tomorrow.

After witnessing the battle between Ōnoki and Deva Path Pain, though they were somewhat reluctant to admit it, the strongest Deva Path Pain had indeed lost—to an