I heard the whispers in my vast throne room, carved from the bones of some forgotten beast.
In front of me, a dark figure was kneeling, holding a report in his hand.
They formed a pathetic alliance in Land of Lightning, a bunch of old, retired guys.
Kage Level ninjas and elders are trying to restore the era that I ended.
I tapped the scepter made from the relic of Warring States Era, and the low knocking sound echoed in the hall.
So interesting.
Do they really think that an armistice will outlast the laws I established?
"Chiyo," I ordered, my voice low and melodious, "I want detailed records of all their crimes. Send the red thread puppet. I want to hear every breath they take in that shrine."
Sunagakure, hidden deep under the sand dunes, is the territory of Chiyo.
I observed her without her seeing me through the crystal connected to her neural network.
She stood in front of her Hundred-Puppet Calculation Array column, the cold blue light of the monitor shining on her face.
She used the blood crystals collected from me to reverse analyze their memories and sift out the pathetic excuses that drove them.
The bereaved, the glorified ideals, the faces of their dead.
It's really sad.
She saw a dead son and a burning village, all stemming from blind nostalgia.
"They don't even know who their dying son is calling," she snorted contemptuously, her voice emotionless.
"They foolishly thought the past wasn't hell." She knew the routes, guards and weak points of their little fortress.
"I will lead the assault."
The seventh night, midnight.
This is the best time to launch an attack, when the shadows are clinging to the ground.
I walked along an underground waterway, Baba Tesshin beside me, and Funeral Law puppets guarding us on both sides.
We silently sneaked through the dripping tunnel and headed towards the temple.
We broke through the temple floor, and a sudden light broke the silence of the temple.
I stood on a beam, looking down at these self-proclaimed saviors of the old days.
Their faces were full of shock and fear.
Useless.
I turned on my Sharingan.
Where do you want to go back?
I asked through the projected vision, my voice echoing in their minds.
Go back to the chaos that I ended with my own hands?
They saw endless village wars, children killing each other, and the earth being torn apart by raging chakra.
A symphony of silent slaughter.
A wave of madness.
The rebel's eyes were wide with fear and regret.
It's a testament to my power and the reality I bring that these old fools are turning on each other.
The shrine was set on fire and became the cremation pile of their delusions.
I melted their "Co-Government" plaque, the metal flowed like blood, and molded it into a new monument.
Those who miss the past are listed here.
I used the Global Communication Crystal to broadcast the news to the entire ninja world.
"From now on, anyone who misses the old system or talks about 'sages' is a traitor. History has only one voice - my voice." These words echoed in the air.
The fire had accomplished its mission, but the real embers were just beginning to glow in the darkness.
I stood in front of the monument, and the name of the first traitor exuded a cold aura of finality.
I took a slow breath.
He doesn't intend to wipe them all out at once.
A carefully controlled fire can remove the last traces of decay from the forest floor.
The faint blue light of the abandoned shrine swayed like a will-o'-the-wisp in the night fog deep in the mountains of Land of Lightning for seven days. This strange information was finally turned into a cold cipher text and presented in front of Xuan.
He sat on a throne carved from the bones of giant beasts from the Warring States Period, and his fingertips gently tapped a scepter that was also made from the remains of the defeated, making a clear and rhythmic sound.
Outside the hall, the wind and sand roared past rows of silent stone tablets, which were the final resting places of countless "dead people" whose names had been erased from history by his own hands.
"Shinobi World Co-Governance Alliance?" The corner of Xuan's mouth curled up with an almost indifferent arc. It was not so much anger as a sense of absurdity. "They thought that an armistice agreement made decades ago would last longer than the iron law I forged?" His voice was not high, but it seemed that it could penetrate the palace and blend with the wind and sand outside the palace, carrying a bone-eroding chill.
He raised his eyes, and saw the scarlet three Tomoe rotating slightly in the dim hall, and his eyes fell on the cemetery named "Stele Forest" outside the window.
"A group of wretches living in memory, trying to use the ashes of the past to extinguish the flames of the present."
"Send the order Chiyo," he finally stopped tapping, "Suspend the issuance of all new external tax orders. Mobilize the 'Red Silk' puppet group and infiltrate along the Land of Lightning underground water veins. I want to hear their every heartbeat, every breath, every... stupid dream about the past in the shrine."
The command was instantly transmitted through the chakra network to the Sunagakure depths thousands of miles away.
Chiyo Saori, this puppet genius with a pale face and sharp eyes is standing in the center of a huge "Hundred-Puppet Calculation Array".
At the core of the formation, a scarlet blood crystal given by Xuan was suspended, exuding an ominous halo.
As her fingers Hand Seals flew like flying, countless Chakra Threads as thin as hair extended from her fingertips, connecting hundreds of calculation puppets of different shapes, and the whole cave buzzed.
The "Red Silk" puppets have already arrived at the designated location. They are lurking silently in the underground river below the shrine, clinging to the rock walls like water plants, continuously transmitting the collected faint chakra residue and sound fluctuations back.
Hundred-Puppet Calculation Array reorganizes and analyzes these fragmented information.
Soon, the afterimages of the memories of those secret gatherings were forcibly stripped out in reverse direction under the guidance of the blood crystals, turning into scenes of distorted light and shadow.
"Found it." Chiyo Saori stared indifferently at the picture that appeared in the center of the formation.
She saw faces twisted with hatred and fear.
These people, without exception, have lost loved ones and friends in past wars. The trauma is deeply rooted in their souls, which makes them have a morbid obsession with the absolute order of "one man's power" established by Xuan. They actually beautify the war-torn and precarious old era into the so-called "root of peace".
"It's ridiculous," she whispered contemptuously.
With a slight movement of his fingertips, a puppet accurately cut off the family scroll that a clan elder was caressing in his sleep in the light and shadow.
"The so-called 'sages' you kneel down to can't even hear clearly the name that your own son yelled out hoarsely before he died."
The next moment, she sent all the three secret infiltration routes, the rotation schedule of the night watchmen, and a detailed analysis of psychological weaknesses back to Xuan's throne.
At the end of the report, a brief but resolute request for instructions was attached. "I would like to ask you to lead the 'Sand Scorpion' troops to break in at midnight on the seventh night and offer their heads to the king."
However, Xuan's reply was beyond her expectation. He decided to go in person.
On the seventh night, at midnight, the moon was dark and the wind was high.
The candlelight inside the shrine swayed, making the shadows of dozens of old men thin and long. They were passionately discussing how to restore "Allied Forces Charter" and how to rebuild the "golden age" in which the five major villages checked and balanced each other.
They were unaware at all that the shadow of death was rising from the depths of the earth beneath their feet.
Genqin led the iron-silent Baba Tesshin, as well as twelve "Funeral Law" class puppets that were completely black and had forbidden spells engraved on their joints, along the freezing cold underground waterway, and accurately arrived at the bottom of the shrine.
Without making any unnecessary noise, they were like ghosts crawling out of hell, breaking through the rotten wooden floor and quietly appearing inside the shrine.
Xuan didn't draw his sword, or even stepped off the rafter.
He just stood quietly at the highest point of darkness, overlooking the group of "retroverts" below who were immersed in fantasy.
Then, he slowly opened his eyes.
The pair of scarlet Sharingan instantly transformed into a strange and gorgeous Mangekyō Sharingan pattern.
The invisible eye power swept through the entire shrine like a tide.
Illusion·Eternal Hell!
In an instant, the world of all participants was turned upside down.
The "golden age" they admired before their eyes has truly arrived - it is not a peaceful and prosperous era of multi-polar balance, but an endless purgatory.
In order to compete for water and land, villages are fighting endlessly day and night; children as young as seven or eight years old hold the Kunai, which is taller than themselves, with numb eyes, and engage in bloody massacres with another group of equally young enemies; the earth is constantly tearing and groaning under the bombardment of out-of-control Tailed Beast Chakra and forbidden magic, with corpses strewn across the fields and rivers of blood.
They saw their ancestors die in betrayal and conspiracy, and saw their cherished relatives turned into a handful of scorched earth in a meaningless conflict.
"Where do you want to go back?"
Xuan's voice didn't seem to come from the rafters, but from every corner of this hellish scene, from the mouths of every dead person, cold and majestic.
"Go back to... the chaos I ended with my own hands?"
"Ahhhh--!"
The screams pierced the night sky.
Some people had a complete mental breakdown, holding their heads and banging against pillars crazily; some mistook the "ally" beside them for enemies with a blood feud, pulled out their weapons and stabbed them crazily; some even went berserk with chakra in extreme fear, and burned themselves to death on the spot.
A silent massacre was staged in a real hell constructed by illusion.
Before dawn, there was no one left alive in the shrine.
Xuan fell to the ground and ordered Baba Tesshin to light up this building carrying stupid dreams.
In the raging Kakkō, he picked up the bronze covenant plaque with the word "co-governance" engraved on it from the mess, and threw it expressionlessly into the ultra-high temperature furnace with the chest of a "Funeral Law" puppet.
The bronze was twisted and melted in the flames, and finally recast into a brand new stone tablet.
Xuan personally took the iron and branded eight characters on the stele. "Those who have restored the old ways are all included in this list." Then, he carved the name of the elder who first initiated the rebellion as the first mark, deeply engraved on the stele.
After doing all this, he activated the communication crystal covering the entire Shinobi World, and his voice was clearly transmitted into the ears of every ninja village:
"From now on, anyone who recalls the old system and discusses the sages will be regarded as treason. History has only one voice - my voice."
It was declared over, and the light of the communication crystal dimmed.
Xuan stared at the new stele that had just been cast and was still warm. The name of the first rebel on the stele seemed to still exude a burnt smell in the morning light.
This vigorous crackdown is undoubtedly the most direct warning to the entire Shinobi World.
However, deep in Xuan's eyes, there was no sign of relief that he was done.
He knew that those intertwined ancient families, the true core of "Council of the Former Sages" hidden in the dark, would not disappear just because of the destruction of a shrine and the death of dozens of old guys.
The fire has been lit, but the real embers are just beginning to glow in the darkness.
He stood in front of the monument, and the name of the first traitor exuded a cold aura of finality.
He doesn't intend to wipe them all out at once.
A carefully controlled fire can remove the last traces of decay from the forest floor.