Massacre

"Whew—"

A crosswind swept over the ridge, carrying a thick stench of blood. The vast wilderness had fallen utterly silent.

After his brief shock, Shemu Xin gradually came back to his senses. Realizing that his beloved son had died on the spot, his eyes immediately turned bloodshot, and his fists clenched tightly. No longer concealing himself, he flashed onto the hilltop and looked down at the murderer who had killed his son.

"Who exactly are you?!"

Madara's brows furrowed slightly, and his voice grew colder. "No one has ever dared speak to me while looking down on me."

"..."

Shemu Xin's eyelids twitched. It was his first time seeing such an arrogant scout ninja. After being discovered, shouldn't a scout immediately retreat and report the information? Yet this man actually dared to provoke them here?

But the last shreds of reason told him that the person before him was no simple opponent. His son's strength might not have been exceptional, but throughout the Land of Waterfalls, he had still ranked above average. Yet he had not even been able to withstand a single exchange with this man. Even Shemu Xin himself had failed to see how he had struck.

"Whew." Knowing he had no confidence in winning a one-on-one fight, Shemu Xin drew his blade and pointed it forward. "Kill!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

As soon as the command fell, countless figures streamed out from their hiding places, wielding all manner of weapons as they charged toward Madara. It was as if a rain of people had fallen upon the wilderness!

Shemu Xin led the charge, sword in one hand, attacking Uchiha Madara dozens of paces away. As the strongest man in the Land of Waterfalls, Shemu Xin moved like a soaring swan. His robes snapped in the wind as he ran, and in the blink of an eye, he had reached Madara!

Even facing the encirclement of nearly a hundred men, Madara's expression did not change. A red gleam flashed through his eyes as he slightly shifted aside to evade Shemu Xin's thrust. Then he seized Shemu Xin's wrist with lightning speed and twisted it. With a crisp crack, the entire wrist bent at a grotesque angle, and the longsword fell from his hand!

"Argh!"

Before the scream had even left his mouth, Madara spun and delivered a side kick. Shemu Xin shot backward like a cannonball, his momentum carrying him into the ninja charging behind him. He plowed through five or six of them before crashing to the ground!

With a hook of his foot, Madara sent the falling longsword flying into his hand. He stomped heavily on the ground, and amid a thunderous boom, he surged forward like a mighty dragon bursting from the sea, crashing straight into the attacking ninja force!

"Kill!"

"Argh!"

The ambushers charging at full speed were thrown into disarray in an instant. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, while agonized cries rose in unison!

The single blade in Madara's hand flashed up and down, and there was almost no one who could withstand even one exchange. Like a sharp blade piercing the enemy ranks, he tore a gap straight through their formation, splitting the entire force in two. Corpses and severed limbs carpeted the path behind him as he ripped a bloody trail across the mountain plains in an instant!

Within the crowd, Shemu Xin struggled to rise from the ground. He stared blankly at Madara's figure, watching him kill as though cutting grass, his face filled with terror!

"Who the hell is this guy?"

As if recalling something, Shemu Xin reached into his robes and pulled out a transparent bottle. It was filled more than halfway with clear liquid that reflected shimmering light beneath the sun.

This was the Hero's Water that the Shemu Clan regarded as a priceless treasure. Drinking it could increase a ninja's chakra by more than tenfold, but its side effect was obvious: it consumed a vast amount of the user's lifespan.

The Shemu Clan had relied on this treasure to reverse the situation within the Land of Waterfalls, securing their position as the victors in one stroke.

"You forced me to do this." A vicious gleam flashed through Shemu Xin's eyes. He opened the bottle and tipped his head back, pouring all the Hero's Water into his mouth.

Boom—

A massive surge of chakra shot into the sky, drawing even Madara's glance amid the slaughter!

Crash—

Shemu Xin's black hair stood straight up, veins bulging across his forehead. Under the immense chakra, his skin instantly became engorged with blood and took on an unhealthy flush. His eyes were filled with the frenzy of newfound power!

"So this is absolute power?!" Feeling chakra continuously welling up within him, Shemu Xin snatched a tachi from someone beside him and said viciously, "Die!"

Boom—

The next second, the ground beneath Shemu Xin shattered. The burst of force sent every ninja around him flying, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished from where he stood, leaving a white afterimage behind. His tachi swept out like a returning wild goose, tearing through the air with a piercing shriek!

This strike was as swift as lightning, flawless in every movement. Empowered by chakra, it was undoubtedly the peak strike of Shemu Xin's life!

Whoosh—

The airflow lifted the long hair before Madara's forehead, revealing his cold, expressionless face—and a pair of scarlet Sharingan!

Shemu Xin's pupils constricted sharply as an incredulous thought flashed through his mind. Those eyes are—

The thought had barely arisen when Madara stepped forward, grasped the sword hilt with one hand, and delivered a simple yet flowing horizontal slash!

Slash—

The cold gleam vanished in an instant, and the two had already passed one another!

Madara took two steps forward and raised a hand to inspect his sleeve. A gash several inches long had appeared at the cuff. He could not help but remark, "Not bad."

After passing him, Shemu Xin's eyes flashed with viciousness. Just as he was about to reverse his blade and stab Madara in the back, he suddenly realized that his body could not turn. The chakra within him had become as sluggish as a spring cut off from its source, while his lower body seemed to have lost all feeling and gone numb!

"Gurgle."

A froth of blood spilled from Shemu Xin's mouth. Lowering his head, he saw that at some point, a bloody line had appeared from the left side of his waist all the way to his right ribs!

"Why would the Uchiha Clan appear here..."

His vision began to tilt as his upper body slowly separated, crashing onto the ground with a thud.

Blood spread and seeped into the earth. Together with the severed limbs scattered everywhere, the scene had become a hellish slaughterhouse!

The people who had been brimming with momentum suddenly came to their senses. They stopped in unison, weapons in hand as they surrounded Madara. Terror filled their eyes, and none dared rashly step forward again.

Madara raised his head and swept his gaze around. Everyone immediately retreated a step. A hint of boredom flashed through his eyes as an enormous surge of chakra, far greater than Shemu Xin's, suddenly erupted from his body!

Seeing the ever-expanding shadow beneath their feet, everyone present completely lost the will to fight. As the first person cried out and fled, the rest immediately scattered in all directions, scrambling to escape as though they wished they could grow wings!

Boom—

Hearing the distant commotion, Yan Hong helplessly shook his head. Then he suddenly heard the flapping of wings overhead. Looking up, he saw a messenger hawk circling through the air.

Yan Hong raised a hand to catch the hawk, removed a secret letter from its leg, and read it through. A smile curved his lips as he turned to face his clansmen behind him and called out, "Let's go, everyone. We're moving into the Land of Waterfalls!"