Lin Feng's words struck the stagnant pool like a boulder, sending up a thousand ripples.
The entire canyon fell into an eerie silence.
The surviving Amegakure shinobi stared at one another, their eyes filled with suspicion and fear—and a flicker of greed, forcibly kindled within them.
Kill Hanzo?
The "demigod" who had ruled Amegakure for decades?
And then... become the new leader?
The temptation was too great.
Great enough to make anyone forget their fear, forget their comrades, forget that they had only just been struggling on the brink of death.
"Gulp."
Someone swallowed with difficulty.
That sound became the fuse that lit the powder keg.
"D-don't listen to him!" shouted an Amegakure shinobi who looked like a squad leader, his voice trembling. "He's just trying to manipulate us! Don't turn on each other!"
His words sounded utterly feeble.
Because someone had already made a move.
A shinobi standing nearest to Hanzo flashed a ruthless look. He suddenly drew the short sword from his back and, with a roar, plunged toward Hanzo's back!
"Lord Hanzo's head is mine!"
"Splurt!"
But before his blade could reach Hanzo, a kunai stabbed through his neck from the side.
The attacker kicked his comrade's corpse aside and continued charging at Hanzo, his face twisted with savagery. "Die! All of you, die!"
The war had begun.
An ugly, bloody civil war, utterly devoid of honor, fought over a kneeling old man begging for his life.
Comrades who had once fought shoulder to shoulder were now their greatest enemies.
They used the ninjutsu they knew best against the people they knew best.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"
Ninjutsu clashes erupted in the narrow canyon. Screams, the clash of weapons, and the wails of the dying rang out without end.
They didn't even have a clear target. They simply attacked anyone who tried to get near Hanzo.
This was no longer a battle. It was a hunt.
The prey was Hanzo the Salamander's head.
And every shinobi was both a hunter and the prey of other hunters.
"Stop! All of you, stop!"
Yahiko's eyes were bloodshot. He tried to rush over and stop the senseless slaughter, but the moment he moved, Konan grabbed him and held on tight.
"Yahiko! Don't go over there!" Konan's face was pale as paper, but her gaze was remarkably clear.
"But... but they're comrades!" Yahiko's voice was full of pain and confusion. "Wasn't this exactly why we founded the Akatsuki—to stop them from killing each other like this?!"
"It's no use."
A cold voice came from behind them.
Nagato had somehow come to stand beside them. His Rinnegan stared unblinkingly at the hellish scene unfolding before them.
There was no pain on his face, like Yahiko's, nor any terror, like Konan's.
Only a kind of almost numb calm.
"When the stakes are high enough, when survival is threatened, so-called 'comrades' are nothing but baggage you can throw away at any time," Nagato said slowly, as if reciting some kind of truth.
Yahiko whipped around and stared at Nagato in disbelief. "Nagato! How can you say that? Have you forgotten? Our ideal is..."
"Ideal?" Nagato cut him off. He turned to face him, and for the first time, his purple eyes filled Yahiko with a trace of strangeness and dread.
"Yahiko, look."
Nagato raised his hand and pointed toward the chaotic battlefield.
"This is the result of your so-called 'mutual understanding.'"
"This is human nature."
Yahiko looked where he was pointing.
A shinobi had just cut down his comrade and charged toward Hanzo in a frenzy of triumph. But before he could take two steps, an Earth Spear burst from the ground and pierced his body.
Another shinobi seized the opportunity to confuse everyone with a shadow clone. His real body had already crept behind Hanzo, raising his blade to strike.
But in the next instant, dozens of shuriken flew in from every direction, turning him and his clone into pincushions.
Betrayal, ambushes, lies, slaughter...
The ugliest side of human nature was on full display.
Yahiko opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word.
He felt his world crumbling apart, piece by piece.
With his Gunbai resting on his shoulder, Lin Feng watched it all with interest, as if enjoying a carefully staged play.
He turned to Nagato beside him and offered a quiet assessment in the tone of a teacher.
"Do you see, Nagato?"
"Order is built upon absolute force."
"Only when your power is enough to make everyone fear you will they willingly abide by the rules you set."
"And peace isn't some dream that can be achieved through mutual understanding."
Lin Feng tapped the handle of his Gunbai against his own eyes.
"It must be watered with pain. Only when everyone has tasted true, bone-deep pain will they fear war and yearn for peace from the bottom of their hearts."
"Just like they are now."
A playful smile curled the corners of Lin Feng's mouth.
"Every time they kill a comrade, their pain deepens. By the time they've trampled over everyone's corpses and stand before that old man, they'll understand just how terrible a price they must pay to get what they want."
"This is your first lesson."
Nagato remained silent. The purple ripples in his Rinnegan swirled faster and faster.
He seemed to be mulling over every word Lin Feng had said, engraving these cruel "truths" deep into his soul.
Meanwhile, Hanzo the Salamander had been frightened out of his wits.
He scrambled about, dodging the ninjutsu and blades flying in every direction, and let out incoherent howls.
He wanted to fight back, but fear had already caused the Chakra in his body to seize up. He couldn't even perform the simplest Substitution Technique.
His vaunted "salamander" poison, deadly to all, had become a joke in the face of overwhelming power and humanity's madness.
"Thud!"
A broken blade flew over and sank deep into his thigh. The pain drew a scream from him, and he fell to the ground.
An opening!
The eyes of every Amegakure shinobi still alive instantly turned red!
"Kill him!"
"He's mine!"
The remaining seven or eight shinobi rushed in from every direction like sharks scenting blood.
"Aaaah!"
Hanzo let out one final wail and flailed his arms, trying to fend off the blades swinging at him.
But it was all in vain.
Blades flashed.
Blood stained the muddy ground red.
The melee, which had lasted nearly ten minutes, finally came to an end.
An Amegakure shinobi with one arm severed and blood covering his body stood atop a mound of corpses. Beneath his feet lay Hanzo the Salamander's head, its eyes fixed open in death.
He panted heavily and looked around at the former comrades who had become cold corpses.
There wasn't a trace of sorrow on his face, only the twisted elation of someone who had survived against all odds.
He had won.
He had survived.
He was the new leader of Amegakure!
He raised his head and looked toward the man standing in the distance like a god or demon, his gaze a mixture of reverence and feverish excitement.
Dragging his battered body, he walked over step by step, then dropped to his knees before Lin Feng.
He raised the head high in his hands, his voice hoarse with excitement.
"L-Lord Madara! I did it! I killed him! I..."
His words cut off.
A huge weapon, broad as a fan, had already come to rest lightly against his neck.
Lin Feng looked down at the "victor" with his indifferent Rinnegan, as if gazing at a poisonous insect that had struggled out of a breeding jar without knowing what awaited it.
"You did well."
Lin Feng's voice remained calm.
"You proved through your actions that you wanted to survive more than the others."
A sycophantic smile appeared on the victor's face. He was just about to say something.
"But..."
Lin Feng changed tack.
"When did I ever say that you were the victor?"
The smile froze on the victor's face.
"I only said that whoever cut off his head would live. And become the new leader of Amegakure."
A note of mockery crept into Lin Feng's voice.
"Those two things aren't necessarily connected."
"You..." The victor's pupils shrank. A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to his scalp.
He finally realized that he—no, everyone—had been played from the very beginning.
This man had never intended to keep his promise!
He wanted to run, but the Gunbai pressed against his neck like a mountain, leaving him unable to move.
Lin Feng no longer looked at him. Instead, he turned his gaze to Nagato, who had remained silent beside him.
"Nagato."
"Now it's your turn."
Lin Feng pointed with the handle of his Gunbai at the victor, kneeling on the ground with a face ashen with despair.
"Kill him."
"From this day onward, you are the God of Amegakure."
Before you continue