The roar of the Chainsword surged to its peak in an instant, then stopped abruptly.
The upper half of the Kirigakure ninja raising his butcher's blade, along with the shock on his face, was ground into chunks of flesh and blood that scattered through the air beneath the rapidly spinning teeth.
Clean, swift, brutally efficient.
There was no scream, no struggle—only a basinful of warm blood raining down over the old fisherman collapsed behind him.
The old fisherman shuddered, yet he felt no warmth at all, only a chill spreading from the depths of his bones.
He blankly raised a hand and wiped at the sticky red-and-white mess smeared across his face. His muddled mind could process nothing. There was only emptiness.
Naruto's Shadow Clone flicked his wrist, precisely flinging away the scraps of flesh clinging to the Chainsword and leaving a horrifying streak across the ground.
He put away his weapon. Those inhuman, crimson beastly eyes slowly swept across every villager present.
The expressions on their faces remained numb, but something beneath that numbness was beginning to crack.
"I am Naruto Uzumaki."
The calm declaration, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, rang clearly in every ear.
"From this moment on, your lives belong only to yourselves. Raise your heads."
His words carried an irresistible force of command, making several villagers instinctively straighten their hunched backs.
"Pick up everything you can find, whether it's a harpoon, an oar, or even a stone. Cowardice and obedience will not buy you survival. Only resistance can earn you dignity."
"Submit to my Order, and I will grant you strength."
This was not comfort, much less encouragement. It was coercion.
He was not asking sheep to stand up. He was ordering them to learn how to become wolves overnight.
Naruto met the villagers' eyes one