Blood splattered across the grand hall's luxurious carpet.
The Land of Wind Daimyo's head, wearing an expression of utter disbelief, traced an arc through the air before landing with a thud at a minister's feet.
Warm blood even spattered across the minister's face.
"Ahhh—!!!"
A shrill scream rang out!
The minister's eyes rolled back, and he fainted from sheer terror!
The remaining ministers could no longer hold on.
At that moment, their psychological defenses completely collapsed!
"Spare us! Hokage-sama, spare us!"
"We were wrong! We truly were wrong!"
"We are willing to submit! We'll do anything!"
Thud! Thud!
The remaining five or six ministers scrambled to their knees and frantically kowtowed in Uchiha Yao's direction.
Before the Daimyo was killed, they had still clung to a sliver of hope, believing he was merely trying to frighten them.
But now, that illusion had shattered.
The headless corpse still gushing blood was the coldest, cruelest reality!
Uchiha Kenji flicked the blood from his short blade, slowly sheathed it, and returned expressionlessly to stand behind Uchiha Yao.
The only sounds left in the hall were the ministers' heart-wrenching pleas and frantic kowtowing.
Uchiha Yao looked down at this pathetic group from above.
"Shut up."
All cries and kowtowing in the hall stopped at once.
Every minister froze where they were, not daring to even breathe.
Uchiha Yao's gaze slowly swept across each of them.
"Your ruler died because of his stupidity and arrogance."
"Now, I'll give you a chance to live."
"Cooperate with me and take over everything in the Land of Wind."
"From today onward, the Land of Wind will cease to exist. Everything it has will be incorporated into the Land of Fire."
"You will become ministers of the Land of Fire."
"Who agrees? Who objects?"
Annex the Land of Wind?!