The blood in Iron Wall Gorge had already reached above their ankles.
The remnants of the noble alliance huddled on the west side of the canyon, their bodies stained with blood after three days and three nights of fighting. Their once-bright family crests were now a deep brown from the blood, and the battle flags planted on the rock face were reduced to half, fluttering in the wind like the gasps of the dying.
"How many are left?" The second son of the Kurayoshi Family clutched his arm, which was corroded by snake venom, his voice hoarse like sandpaper grinding against stone. His retainer beside him flipped through the roster, his fingers trembling violently. "Young master, less than 500,000... Sixteen clan heads have died in battle, and the entire army of thirty-three clans has been wiped out."
Suddenly, a deafening cheer erupted from the opposite side of the canyon. It was the Iwagakure ninjas clearing the battlefield. Kurayoshi's second son peered out and saw Tian Uguisu's Eight-Headed Orochi carrying a nobleman in brocade robes as it crashed into a rocky cliff. His brains splattered onto the rock face, a glaringly red sight.
"We can't back down!" someone suddenly roared. It was the surviving old steward of the Akamatsu family. "We still have a trump card! The shamans said that as long as we offer enough sacrifices, we can summon Earth God Kō!"
These words were like a match, igniting a light in the eyes of the remaining soldiers. They stumbled and retreated deeper into the canyon, where the altar was piled high with offerings—captured rock ninja, captured civilians, and even the private soldiers of the nobles themselves. Twenty-seven black-robed wizards circled the altar, chanting obscure incantations, and crimson runes slowly lit up on the ground.
"Almost there... the aura of Earth God Kō..." The lead shaman plunged his withered fingers into the chest of the sacrifice, pulled out the still-beating heart, and threw it into the fire pit. "Once this last batch is sacrificed, the god will descend and crush those missing-nin and Uchiha together!"
The nobles around the altar knelt on the ground, some kowtowing to the array patterns, their foreheads bleeding from the friction, yet they continued, "Gods, please protect us... please protect us..."
Just as the array's light reached its peak, the ground began to tremble violently, as if a colossal creature were about to burst forth from the earth—
"Hiss--"
Countless white Kageko suddenly emerged from the cracks in the rock wall, surging towards the altar like a tide. They were White Zetsu, a strange smile on their faces, the bone blade in their hands gleaming coldly.
"What is that?!" The wizards panicked and tried to Hand Seals to defend themselves, but were instantly pounced on by the White Zetsu. Bone blades sliced through their black robes, drawing a string of blood beads. The leading wizard had only managed to utter half a cry of "Earth God" when his throat was pierced from behind.
"We've been waiting for you." A White Zetsu ripped off the wizard's head and waved it at the dumbfounded nobles around the altar, mimicking Tian Uguisu's tone, " Lady Tian Uguisu said that those who engage in charlatanry deserve to Hell."
The array patterns on the altar quickly dimmed, and the trembling ground slowly calmed down. The nobles who had placed their hopes in the gods watched as White Zetsu slaughtered the wizards like cutting melons into vegetables, and suddenly burst into desperate cries. Some drew their swords and committed suicide, some collapsed to the ground convulsing, and many more turned and ran out of the canyon—only to be beheaded by White Zetsu who caught up with them.
Kurayoshi's second son was dragged away by his retainers. He glanced back at the altar, where a mountain of corpses of White Zetsu and wizards had been piled up. Blood flowed into the grooves of the array patterns, like tears shed by the gods.
"It's over... it's all over..." He collapsed to the ground, watching the exit of Iron Wall Gorge blocked by Iwagakure ninjas, and suddenly laughed, tears streaming down his face. "Father, we were wrong..."
On the flat ground on the east side of the canyon, the nobles were bound together and knelt in a straight row.
Tian Uguisu sat on a makeshift stone platform, with the Eight-Headed Orochi coiled behind her, its serpentine eyes fixed on the trembling nobles. Ban leaned against the rock wall beside her, toying with a freshly severed head in his hand. He was the head of a certain family, and half of the Shiei ring family crest on his forehead had been crushed by his knuckles.
"Read the list." Tian Uguisu's voice was flat. A maidservant stepped forward with the list, and as each name was read, a ninja dragged the corresponding nobleman away.
"The remnants of the Kurayoshi Family, thirty-seven men, women and children..."
"Women and children?" Madara suddenly sneered, throwing the head in his hand to the ground. "When they raided the Asai Family, they didn't spare even three-year-olds."
Tian Uguisu raised her hand, and the maid immediately changed her words: "The entire Kurayoshi Family, be executed."
Screams rose and fell. A nobleman struggled and cursed, only to have his jaw broken by a ninja's kick; an old lady cried and begged for mercy, offering all her treasures, only to be dragged away laughing by the White Zetsu, their bone blades flashing in the sunlight, blood splattering onto the grass.
Kurayoshi's second son was the last. He was pressed onto the guillotine, watching as the heads of those before him were severed one by one. Suddenly, he screamed hysterically, "You can't kill me! We've already called for help! The Land of Ghosts, the Land of Bears, the Land of Birds... they'll be here soon! Then we'll tear you to pieces!"
Tian Uguisu stood up, walked to him, squatted down, and pinched his chin. "Ask for help? To whom? Those hungry wolves who have long coveted the land of the Land of Earth?" She smiled, her fingertips tracing the artery in his neck, "You think they're here to help you? They're here to dismember you."
The knife fell, splattering blood on Tian Uguisu's skirt. She didn't turn around, but simply gestured with her chin to Ban: "Master, we need to clean up quickly and prepare to welcome our new guests."
As night fell, the stench of blood in Iron Wall Gorge attracted countless Crow.
The surviving nobles hid in makeshift burrows, writing letters in blood by the dim light of an oil lamp. The paper was torn from the clothes of the dead, and the ink was blood squeezed from pricked fingers. The handwriting was crooked and distorted, revealing a dying madness.
"What about the letter to the Land of Ghosts?" A Earl, clutching his bleeding stomach, asked, his voice trembling. "Tell them that if we send troops, all seven western cities will be theirs! Including that jade mine!"
"We need to be even more ruthless with the Land of Bears!" another marquis gritted his teeth, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "The northern mines! Gold, iron ore, Chakra crystals... give them everything! As long as they're willing to send troops!"
Suddenly, someone burst into tears. "Has the Land of Birds replied? If only their Wind Release Flying Feather Unit could pick us up from the air..."
"Shut up!" The head of the household, Duke Shiei, slammed his fist on the table. His left hand was gone, the wound haphazardly bandaged with strips of cloth. "Write again! To the Land of Demons!"
The cave fell silent instantly, everyone staring at the Duke with fear in their eyes. The Land of Demons —a cursed land, the lair of Moryo.
"You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub!" The Duke grabbed a pen, plunged it into his chest, and squeezed out a large pool of blood. "Tell Moryo that we are willing to offer a million souls! As long as he sends troops, the Iwagakure in the Land of Earth... he can eat them all!"
Blood-written letters were stuffed into the leg bands of carrier pigeons, which fluttered out of the burrow, only to suddenly plummet in mid-air— the White Zetsu hung like ghosts on the treetops, clutching the pigeons by the necks, blood dripping from their fingers.
"The twenty-seventh letter." A White Zetsu handed the blood-stained letter to his companion, smiling innocently. " Lady Tian Uguisu said that burning these scraps of paper will be good for keeping warm."
Inside the cave, the old duke, seeing that even the last carrier pigeon had vanished, suddenly grabbed a knife and slashed his wrist, writing a blood-written message on the most exquisite scroll of silk, "I am willing to exchange half of the land of the Land of Earth for the swift southward advance of the Moryo army. Shiei weeps blood and kowtows."
He stuffed the silk into the arms of his most loyal retainer. "Take the secret passage, even if you have to crawl, deliver this message to the Land of Demons!"
As the retainer disappeared into the darkness with the blood-written letter, the Moryo statue of a demon, which had stood for a thousand years in the cave on the border of the Land of Demons, suddenly moved. The stone eye cracked open, revealing no pupils, only churning black mist.
"Humans..." A deep voice echoed across the wasteland, and countless bony claws emerged from the black mist, "Another blood feast has been delivered..."
The ground around the stone statue began to undulate, and countless stone golems crawled out from the ground, forming a silent puppet army. Their eyes gleamed with the same black mist as the stone statue, and they moved step by step toward the Land of Earth.
Three days later, at the border of the Land of Earth.
The first to cross the boundary marker were the undead ninjas of the Land of Ghosts. They rode skeletal horses, followed by a dense army of undead—human skeletons, animal bones, and even cobbled-together monsters. As they passed the first village, the leading ninja raised his bone staff and chanted an incantation—the villagers suddenly seemed to have their souls ripped away, their eyes vacant Earth Flow the undead army, their skin rapidly withering away until they became new undead.
"Not enough... not enough..." The undead ninja licked his lips, watching his army grow ever larger. "Turn all living things into food!"
In the western mountains and forests, the Star Ninja Force of the Land of Bears was running wildly. Their Mysterious Peacock Method was pushed to its limit; some transformed into tigers, tearing apart fleeing civilians; some became giant eagles, grabbing children and slamming them against rocks; and others became venomous snakes, crawling into houses and gnawing at the elderly hiding there.
"These lowly people of the Land of Earth!" A Star Ninja, transformed into a wolf, snapped a villager's neck and hissed incoherently, "Their ninjas killed my father and brothers back then, and today I will pay with their blood!"
Most terrifying of all were the Wind Release Flying Feather Unit from the Land of Birds. Hundreds of winged ninjas swept in, darkening the sky like a black cloud pressing down on the towns of the Land of Earth. Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere destroyed houses, Wind Release: Kamaitachi slicing open the throats of all living things. Wherever they passed, flames spread with the wind, and the cries of women, the screams of children, and the pleas of the elderly were quickly swallowed up by the wind.
"Burn it all! Loot it all! Kill it all!" The leader of the bird-like ninjas laughed in the air, tossing the stolen baby in his hand. "Our lord has said that the land of the Land of Earth will be turned into a barren wasteland!"
On the western front of the Land of Earth, three shocking events occurred in a single day.
The road to Iwagakure was crowded with fleeing civilians, carrying tattered bundles and dragging their wounded family members, with Kakkō and black mist spreading behind them. Someone glanced back and saw the undead army and the Star Ninja appear on the horizon, and suddenly his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.
"The sky has fallen... the sky has collapsed..."
On the walls of Iwagakure, Tian Uguisu gazed at the towering Kakkō in the west, her black and gold haori fluttering in the wind.
"Disciples of Ryūchi Cave, follow me." She turned and leaped off the city wall. The Eight-Headed Orochi was already waiting below, its runic armor gleaming coldly in the sunlight. "The spirits of the Land of Ghosts fear poison, and the Star Ninja of the Land of Bears dread fire. Tear their bones to shreds."
The swarm of snakes surged westward like a black tide. The Eight-Headed Orochi bit into the bone dragon at the forefront, venomous mist spewing from between its scales, instantly turning any undead it touched into pus. Tian Uguisu stood on the snake's back, her hands Hand Seals, and countless small snakes crawled out of the ground, slithering into the bodies of the flying beasts transformed by Star Ninja — the Star Ninja, now a tiger, suddenly screamed and rolled on the ground, countless small snakes emerging from his body, until soon only a skeleton remained.
"This poison..." The surviving Star Ninja, seeing the horrific state of his companion, was so frightened that he transformed back into human form and turned to run away, only to be whipped into a pulp by a snake tail that fell from the sky.
On the other side, Madara Uchiha's Susanoo already risen from the ground. The pale purple giant, wielding a long sword, cleaved through the undead formation of the Land of Ghosts with a single strike, then Hand Seals: " Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Towering flames erupted from Susanoo's mouth, hotter than the sun. The dead wailed in the inferno, their bones crackling as they burned, and the soul-driven puppets instantly turned to ashes. Madara stood in the center of the flames, his red eyes reflecting the hellish scene, a cold smile playing on his lips, "A bunch of dead, daring to run wild in the mortal world?"
In the sky, Tenchu and Gi Senju were pursuing the Land of Birds's Wind Release Flying Feather Unit. Gi Senju, clad in mecha, emerged from the clouds and unleashed various Ninjutsu, piercing through swarms of birds; Tenchu's Wood Release resembled a dense barrage of wooden spears falling from the sky, easily slicing through the wings of the bird ninja. The falling bird ninja screamed in the air, only to be caught by the White Zetsu waiting on the ground—who then snapped their necks.
"Those who surrender will not be killed?" A bird-like ninja panicked and threw away his weapon, only to have it pierced through the heart by the Gi Senju.
"You didn't say this when you were killing civilians." Gi Senju's voice was as cold as ice.
As the last bird ninja was burned to a crisp, Tian Uguisu and Madara reunited on the ruins of the western front. In the distance, the puppet army of the Moryo had broken through the last line of defense of the Land of Earth, and bone claws in the black mist were tearing apart fleeing civilians.
Madara's Susanoo raised its long sword once more, the blade reflecting a red light that flickered within the black mist.
"Tell those nobles hiding in the shadows," his voice echoed across the battlefield through Chakra, like an ancient bell tolling over ruins, "That the reinforcements they summoned, I will kill; their land, I will take; and their lives... will not be spared."
Tian Uguisu raised her hand, Eight-Headed Orochi let out a deafening hiss, swimming towards the direction of the black mist. The white phosphorescent flames on the snake's scales danced in the wind, illuminating the cold smile on her face.
"And that dark, ghostly thing Moryo," she whispered, as if speaking to the white snake beside her, "Since it wants to eat souls, then drag it out and burn it."
As night fell once more, the sounds of fighting, screams, and the crackling of flames mingled together on the land of the Land of Earth, creating a blood-soaked tragedy.