Further away, several surviving messengers were trying to count the number of people, but with each step they had to step over broken bones and charred entrails. Some slipped and fell to the ground, their faces, covered in blood and ash, instantly losing all color. Their stomachs churned, and they collapsed to the ground, vomiting violently.
The morning wind swept across the scorched earth, stirring up Mars that landed on their armor, leaving black marks, yet no one dared to brush them away—all eyes were fixed on the eastern sky, where the clouds had calmed, but the terrifying scene of the thunderstorm that had just ravaged the fields was etched into their very souls like a brand.
The battle flag with the emblem of grass and leaves fell into the scorched earth, burned to ashes by thunder and fire, leaving only half of the charred flagpole swaying in the wind.
On September 15th, just as the morning sun rose over the walls of Kusagakure Castle, a muffled tremor suddenly came from the ground. The Tenkai Second-Generation Mecha stormed into the battlefield from low altitude. Yin-Yang Release flowed across the three-zhang-tall mech bodies, and the " Yin-Yang Rune Shield " deflected all the Kunai and Ninjutsu thrown by the ninjas of the Land of Grass.
The lead mech gripped its ship-slaying sword, and the moment the runes on the blade lit up, a silver-white Vacuum Wave swept out—the armored warriors that the Land of Grass was so proud of were like tofu cleaved by an invisible giant axe, a thousand-meter-long bloody path split open vertically, severed limbs and broken armor rose into the air in the wave, and the blood mist was swirled into a three-zhang-high red cloud by the morning breeze, even the city walls were shaken open by the Vacuum Wave and fine cracks appeared.
"That iron lump... how could it be so fast!" The noble general of the Land of Grass tried to Hand Seals to summon Earth Release barrier, but the mecha's " Body Flicker Technique " was faster than his hand seal. The moment the ship-slaying sword swung past, he didn't even have time to scream before he was shredded into a bloody mist by the Vacuum Wave.
Three hundred Heavenly Chief Mecha swept through the enemy ranks as if they were nothing. Each strike of their ship-slaying swords was accompanied by chorus of screams. The Land of Grass's formation began to crumble from the center, with soldiers trampling over the corpses of their comrades as they fled. By the time a large number of ninjas arrived to surround them, the mechs had retreated en masse, but the ninjas couldn't even catch Kageko of them. In the end, they had no choice but to retreat into Kusagakure Castle for defense.
The gates of Kusagakure Castle were tightly shut, the remaining soldiers were building fortifications on the walls, and nobles were huddled in the towers praying. Suddenly, the tremors of the earth turned into a rhythmic roar— the Vermilion Bird Corps's Thunderbolt Lightning-Fire Cannon were arrayed fifteen miles outside the city, and the moment the cannons were aimed at the walls, Violet Thunder runes swirled on the barrels.
"Fire!" With the commander's order, the first volley of shells rose into the air, trailing purple flames, and exploded with blinding lightning the Setsuna they hit the city wall.
The second volley of fire struck the city gate directly, tearing the massive bronze gate and the guards behind it to shreds.
The third volley of shells struck the hundred-meter-high city wall, and the chain reaction of explosions triggered by the runic energy shattered the wall like a biscuit. Debris and corpses mixed with smoke and dust shot into the sky, and even the roofs of buildings inside the city were shaken and teetered on the verge of collapse.
The daimyo of the Land of Grass was hiding in a secret chamber, watching the image of the city walls collapsing in the crystal projection, his fingers gripping the armrests of his throne tightly.
In the scene, his three million-strong army fell like wheat cut by a sickle. Under the bombing of fighter jets, war and blood mist covered half the country. Those noble warriors who had pledged their loyalty to him yesterday were now either turned into charred remains or screaming and fleeing for their lives in pursuit of mechs.
When the final image of the collapsing city wall appeared, a metallic taste rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground. The crystal projection screen shattered into points of light as he fainted.
Outside the secret room, the high-ranking officials of the Land of Grass were in complete chaos.
"Daimyo has fainted! What should we do?"
Three million troops... just like that, gone?
"The weapons of the Land of Fire are simply beyond human resistance!" someone wailed, collapsing to the ground.
Someone secretly packed their valuables, intending to escape through the secret passage.
Some pointed at the Kakkō outside the city and screamed, "They're coming in! We're all going to die!" Panic spread among the nobles like a plague. The ambitions that had once clamored for the division of the Land of Fire had now turned into fear of death.
News of the post-war inventory quickly reached the Land of Fire command. As the staff officer wrote the numbers on parchment, his pen trembled with disbelief. "Of the three million soldiers of the Land of Grass, eighty percent were killed in action, countless others fled, fewer than thirty thousand were captured, and their Chakra pathways have been completely destroyed."
Mito Uzumaki stood before the sand table, watching as all the black pieces representing the enemy were swept away, and said calmly, "The power of the rune weapons is more reliable than expected." Meanwhile, the Vermilion Bird Corps's casualty statistics column showed only a cold "zero."
As night fell, in the secret chamber of Hozuki Castle, the awakened daimyo stared unfocusedly at the ceiling. His hand trembled as he reached out and pointed to a hidden compartment in the corner. "Bring... bring the Hozuki Castle prison roster... and... the seal on the Box of Ultimate Bliss..."
The candlelight flickered at the end of the rusty iron corridor, making the sealing runes coiled on the stone wall appear like a congealed river of blood. Six hundred guards knelt on one knee, their trembling barely contained in the soft clinking of their armor. Their jaws were taut beneath their visors, and their faces were paler than the perpetual fog of Hozuki Castle.
"Daimyo!" Hayato, the commander of the secret guards, couldn't suppress the sob in his throat, his knuckles turning white from gripping the hilt of his sword so tightly. " Hozuki Castle holds the most heinous criminals in the Shinobi World! Are you really going to activate that cursed ultimate weapon?"
From deeper within the dungeon came the soft clatter of chains dragging on the ground. The bronze casket, the " Box of Ultimate Bliss," lay silently in the center of the icy pool. The box was covered with Spiderweb -like cracks, and a ghostly green phosphorescence seeped out along the cracks, as if countless wronged souls were scratching and howling inside the box, and even the air was tainted with a nauseatingly sweet and pungent smell.
"My lord, please reconsider!" another old guard kowtowed, his forehead bleeding. "If you activate it, the Land of Grass will truly become a living Hell!"
The daimyo of the Land of Grass slowly turned around. His once gold-embroidered brocade robe was now soaked in blood, and his magnificent crown hung askew on his head, revealing his sunken eye sockets that exuded a crazed, bloodthirsty aura.
"Without forbidden techniques..." His voice was hoarse, like the scraping of a broken gong, each word seeming to be vomited from the depths of his throat, yet it conveyed a mad, resolute determination to burn everything away, "What else do we have?"
" The Vermilion Bird Army of the Land of Fire has ravaged seventeen of our cities! They've slaughtered the nobles!" He suddenly raised his voice, his knuckles turning white from the force. "Yesterday, an urgent report arrived: our defenses have been completely destroyed! The last thing our commander saw before committing seppuku was them carrying the ' Land of Fire ' over the corpses of their comrades! Tomorrow at dawn, that damned flag will be planted all over the ruins of the Land of Grass!"
The daimyo slowly raised his hand, revealing a dark gold key in his palm. The emerald embedded in it emitted a chilling energy fluctuation—it was a token secretly passed down through generations of daimyo in the Land of Grass, and the only correct key to open the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
"Since they intend to destroy us," he grinned, revealing his gleaming white teeth, "Then let them see the Land of Grass's nobles' final 'gift'."
The moment the key was inserted into the lock, the candlelight in the iron corridor went out abruptly.
boom--!
The heavy, sealed Tetsumon shattered into countless fragments with a deafening clang of a key turning in the air. Sharp metal shards grazed the faces of the guards, leaving bleeding wounds. The crisp sound of breaking chains echoed through the empty dungeon. The hardened criminals in the 372 cells simultaneously raised their heads, their murky pupils instantly reflecting a ghostly green light, and their lips curled into eerie smiles, as if they had already foreseen this fateful judgment.
"Fellow prisoners," the daimyo said, spreading his arms wide, his voice echoing in the damp cell, " the Land of Grass has given you cages; today, I will exchange your freedom for your flesh and blood—with your bodies, forge an unyielding new army for the Land of Grass!"
Suddenly, Spiderweb- like cracks appeared in the bronze outer shell of the Box of Ultimate Bliss, and the lid slowly rose with a creak. A ghostly green light surged out like a tide, instantly dyeing the entire dungeon in an eerie hue. The light was not a soft halo, but rather had a substantial, viscous feel, like the saliva of countless wronged souls flowing in the air.
The cracking of dislocated bones, the hissing of tearing flesh, the crunching of teeth gnawing on bones... countless inhuman sounds intertwined in the green light, merging into a chilling chorus of death.
The first monster stepped out of the box, its body covered in viscous blood. This monster had wings on its back and six arms, each wielding a different weapon. One of its arms was futilely clawing at the air, as if unwilling to become part of the monster.
The second monster followed closely behind. With each step it took, it would ooze dark green liquid, dripping onto the stone slab with a hissing sound and rising acrid white smoke.
The third monster... the fourth... the hundredth...
In the green light, the daimyo, accompanied by his guards, slowly walked towards the open Box of Ultimate Bliss. Countless seductive whispers emanated from within the chest, as if countless voices were calling his name.
"We will be of the same form and substance as the Land of Grass," he whispered, before leaping into the verdant expanse.
boom--!
A blinding green light suddenly exploded, causing the entire Hozuki Castle to tremble violently. As the light dimmed, a completely new "being" emerged from the box: it retained the outline of the daimyo, but its spine had grown into a three-zhang-long bone whip, with each bone engraved with glowing runes; its pupils had transformed into swirling, eerie green vortexes that could devour the surrounding light; its once magnificent robes were gone, and beneath the peeling skin lay writhing flesh, every inch of which flowed with magical power.
The newly born "Great Name" opened its mouth, emitting an inhuman hoarse laugh, its spine, like a whip of bone, leaving afterimages in the air. "From now on, there is no distinction between ruler and subject, no distinction between noble and lowly—all are servants of 'Paradise'."
He raised his hand and waved it lightly, the bone whip drawing complex trajectories in the air. The frantically roaring monsters suddenly fell silent, turning in his direction as if bowing to a king. Within the eerie green light emanating from the Box of Ultimate Bliss, an invisible thread of magical power connected all the monsters, and the source of the thread was the Cursed Seal pulsating in the palm of the "Daimyo".
In the last moments before dawn, the heavy gates of Hozuki Castle slowly opened with a creak.
The monster tide surged forth like a black tide, instantly turning lush vegetation into charred ashes wherever it passed, and clear rivers billowed with pungent poisonous mist. Even hard rocks were eroded into dust by the curse's power.
"The Daimyo has become the Monster King." It stands atop the highest castle tower of Hozuki Castle, its spine, like a whip, pointing eastward, the very direction in which the Land of Fire's army is advancing.
" The Land of Fire wants to annihilate us nobles?" He let out a maniacal laugh that blended with the voices of countless people, the sound waves causing city bricks to fall. "Then let this Shinobi World be devoid of humanity!"
He swung his bone whip down fiercely, and all the monsters roared simultaneously, charging wildly towards the Land of Fire's army in the east.
"A Gift from the Land of Grass-- "
"It's about letting the entire Shinobi World fall into bliss with us!"
The candlelight in the castle tower was extinguished completely in the wind, leaving only a ghostly green phosphorescence dancing on the stone walls, making the ancient runes appear even more grotesque, as if foreshadowing the arrival of a blood-red dawn. In the Yin Shadow of Hozuki Castle, countless new monsters were brewing in the green light, and even more monsters were about to be born, while their master stood atop the castle, admiring the "final gift" he had prepared for the Shinobi World.