"Hadō No. 58: Tenran."
As Chiya's indifferent voice fell, a visible, violent whirlwind erupted from his palm!
BOOM-!!!
The torrential rain, which had been falling like an iron curtain, suddenly broke apart.
It had not been scattered by the wind. A far more overbearing, brutal force had torn a hole straight through it!
The terrifying tornado carried densely concentrated reiatsu, roaring into the curtain of rain ahead like an invisible dragon.
Rainwater swept into the wind instantly became countless sharp water blades, slicing through everything around them. The air shrieked, as though space itself were groaning beneath that power.
In the space of a single breath.
On the only road leading into Amegakure's core district, the oppressive curtain of rain was blasted open by the whirlwind, forming a rainless tunnel a full kilometer long!
Not a single drop remained inside!
"Let's go."
Chiya lowered his hand with a casual motion, as though he had merely shooed away a fly.
He stepped through empty air, walking along the forcibly carved "rainless road" toward that jungle of steel.
Behind him, Sasuke and Izumi stared in utter disbelief.
No hand seals, no violent surge of chakra. Simply uttering a strange name had produced destructive power comparable to A-rank Wind Release?
"So this is... kidō?"
Sasuke clenched his fists, longing nearly spilling from his eyes. Without further hesitation, he hurried after Chiya, terrified of losing the man who could guide him to the pinnacle of power.
[Amegakure · Central Tower]
This was the highest point in the entire Land of Rain, and the place from which "God" looked down upon the mortal world.
There was not a trace of light inside the dim room.
Only countless thick pipes connected to a mechanical wheelchair that resembled a throne.
Seated in the wheelchair, the skeletal red-haired man with black rods embedded all across his back-Nagato-suddenly opened his tightly shut eyes.
Hum!
His pale purple Rinnegan shone with a chilling light in the darkness.
"What's wrong, Nagato?"
Nearby, Konan, wearing a black cloak patterned with red clouds, sensed the change in Nagato's aura. It held a gravity she had never witnessed before.
"The rain... has been disrupted."
Nagato spoke slowly, his voice low and hoarse.
"The Rain Tiger at Will Technique has been forcibly broken."
"An extremely evil, violent chakra, filled with the will to destroy, is entering the village without the slightest restraint."
Nagato raised his hand, as though sensing the source of that power through the omnipresent rain.
In his perception, it was no longer a person.
It was a burning mass of black flame, driven by a greed that would devour everything, poised to rampage through his "god's domain."
"Is it Chiya Uchiha?" Konan's expression darkened as well. "The man rumored to have burned down Konoha."
"Who else could it be?"
Nagato gave a cold snort, a trace of a "god's" arrogance flashing through his Rinnegan.
"To think he would dare enter Amegakure so brazenly..."
"Does he think this is Konoha, rotten to its core?"
"Konan, notify the Six Paths of Pain."
Nagato tapped his fingers lightly against the wheelchair's armrest.
"Since our guest has arrived, let the 'believers' down below greet him first."
"If he can't even handle those small fry, he has no right to behold the face of God."
[Amegakure · Streets]
As Tenran's effects faded, cold rain fell from the sky once more, filling the rainless tunnel.
But that brief disturbance had already been enough to alert Amegakure's entire Defense System.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Countless dark figures darted out from the shadows of the steel buildings.
They wore gas masks and specially made raincoats, carrying sickles, senbon, kunai, and all manner of other weapons.
Amegakure's Anbu.
These ninja had spent years living amid isolation and civil war. Every one of them was a killing machine who had crawled out of a pile of corpses. Their eyes were hollow and cold, utterly devoid of warmth, just like the rain filling the sky.
"Intruders! Kill them without mercy!"
There was no wasted talk.
At the command, hundreds of Rain Ninja attacked at once.
"Ninja Art: Rain Shower Senbon!"
Senbon filled the sky, mingling with the rain until it was impossible to distinguish the raindrops from the lethal steel needles.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
"Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!"
Bolstered by the rainy conditions, these relatively low-level water release ninjutsu unleashed astonishing power.
The overwhelming barrage instantly cut off every escape route for Chiya and his two companions.
"So these are the Rain Ninja..."
Sasuke's expression changed. He instantly drew a kunai and took a defensive stance back-to-back with Izumi. "There are too many! And the rain strengthens their ninjutsu!"
Izumi activated her three tomoe as well, cold sweat beading on her forehead. She sensed chakra all around them, as though they were surrounded by a school of bloodthirsty piranhas.
And yet.
Chiya, standing at the center of the storm, did not even raise his hands.
He kept both hands in his pockets, calmly watching the Rain Ninja charging toward him.
"Sasuke, Izumi."
Chiya's voice was soft, yet it carried clearly through the curtain of rain.
"Keep your eyes wide open and watch."
"True slaughter doesn't need flashy ninjutsu."
"Nor does it require drawing a blade."
The instant his words fell.
Chiya's figure... vanished.
It was neither the concealment of ninjutsu nor the misdirection of the Substitution Technique.
He had simply, utterly-disappeared!
Sasuke's Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun furiously, trying to track Chiya's movements.
Where is he? Where?!
The next second.
Slash!
A faint sound, like fabric tearing, rang out through the rainy night.
The Rain Ninja Elite leading the charge suddenly froze.
Without warning, a thin line of blood appeared across his neck. Then blood gushed out like a fountain, instantly staining the rain before him red.
He had not even seen his enemy or felt any pain before his consciousness sank into darkness.
But that was only the beginning.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
It was like the Death God's sickle harvesting a field of wheat.
One Rain Ninja after another suddenly collapsed mid-charge.
Some had their throats cut, others had their hearts shattered, and some even lost their heads entirely.
"A ghost... it's a ghost!!"
The remaining Rain Ninja finally panicked.
They could not even see their enemy!
All they could make out was a black afterimage weaving through the dense curtain of rain, like a gust of wind or a bolt of black lightning.
The raindrops seemed to stand still.
Chiya moved through the gaps between them, his speed pushed to the absolute limit, beyond even the eye's ability to register an image.
This was-Flash Step!
A high-speed movement technique from the death god system, powered by an explosive release of densely concentrated reiatsu!
It required no hand seals and no external leverage, only a pure burst of physical and spiritual power!
To Sasuke, the world seemed to move in slow motion.
He saw Chiya suddenly appear behind an enemy. With nothing more than a light sweep of his finger, that enemy's carotid artery burst open.
Then, before the blood could splash onto Chiya, he had already appeared before another enemy ten meters away.
One finger, a shattered head.
One kick, a crushed heart.
There were no flames, no thunder.
Only the purest, most absolute-speed!
What... what kind of speed is this?!
Sasuke felt as though his brain were trembling.
The Uchiha's motion-tracking vision, which he had always taken pride in, could not keep up with Chiya's movements!
At that speed... even Kakashi's Lightning Blade couldn't hit him, could it?!
In barely half a minute.
The entire street fell silent.
The hundreds of Rain Ninja who had been charging so fiercely moments before now all lay in pools of blood.
Rain washed over the ground, gathering the dark red blood into streams that flowed deep into the sewers.
At the end of the street.
Chiya's figure slowly reappeared.
He stood amid a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, yet not a single drop of blood or rain had touched his black robe.
Perfectly clean.
Utterly spotless.
He looked like a nobleman who had just returned from a stroll, elegant and unhurried.
[Ding! Congratulations, host! First use of "Flash Step" in actual combat!] [Killed 128 Rain Ninja Anbu!] [Kill points gained: 12,800!] [Flash Step proficiency greatly increased!]
Chiya lightly flicked his hand, as though shaking off dust that was not even there.
He did not look back at the corpses, nor at Sasuke and Izumi, who stood behind him in utter shock.
He slowly raised his head, his gaze passing through layer upon layer of rain and beyond the steel buildings, settling directly upon the High Tower at Amegakure's very center.
Across several kilometers, his scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan clashed fiercely with the pale purple Rinnegan atop the High Tower.
"Had enough of watching?"
A provocative smile curved Chiya's lips.
He knew that the man named Nagato was staring intently at this place through the rain filling the sky.
"Stop watching, Nagato."
Chiya's voice was not loud, but he knew the other man could hear him.
"Small fry like these can't stop me."
"If you don't want the village you worked so hard to build turned into ruins..."
Chiya raised a finger and drew it across his throat, facing the High Tower.
"Then send out all six of those corpses of yours."
"Otherwise..."
"I'll come up there myself and... dismantle your wheelchair!"
BOOM!
At Chiya's provocation, the aura atop the High Tower surged.
An immense fluctuation of repulsive force seemed to answer his arrogance.
A battle was on the verge of erupting!
Before you continue