" Ichiraku Ramen, Extra Large Miso Chashu!"
As the first rays of sunlight shone into Konoha, the streets began to regain some life. A few young Genin, Earth Flow a ramen shop, hoping a bowl of steaming ramen would dispel the fatigue and unease of the night.
Ever since the village issued that unprecedented emergency conscription order, the entire Konoha has been shrouded in a tense atmosphere. The ninjas who stayed behind didn't even dare to think about how their comrades who went to the front lines were doing now.
"Something feels off." A sensory ninja slurped his noodles, his brow furrowed. "Since midnight last night, the air in the village has been filled with an overwhelming, pungent smell of blood and burning."
"Stop talking nonsense, it's probably just your imagination." His companion yawned. "It's probably psychological. Everything will be alright once we get news of Senior A and the others' triumphant return."
"That's well said..."
Before the sensory ninja could finish speaking, the curtain of the ramen shop was suddenly flung open. A villager, his face ashen, scrambled in, his fingers twisted in terror as he pointed toward the Hokage Building. He made strange gurgling noises in his throat, unable to utter a single complete word.
"Hey, sir, what's wrong with you?"
The ninjas felt a chill in their Genin, dropped their bowls and chopsticks, and rushed out.
When they stood on the street and saw the scene in front of the Hokage Building, the ramen in their stomachs churned instantly, turning into acidic water that rushed up their throats.
"Vomit!"
Several young ninjas could no longer hold back and began to retch violently, leaning against the corner of the wall, their faces covered in tears and snot.
That can no longer be called a square.
It had become a bloody and terrifying black forest made of wooden stakes.
1,321 thick, charred wooden stakes stood neatly in front of the Hokage Building. At the top of each stake, a crude iron nail was driven into the body of an unrecognizable, twisted, and charred humanoid skeleton.
Some were reduced to half a torso, while others appeared to have been forcibly pieced together by some terrifying force, their limbs and heads twisted at bizarre angles. A gentle breeze blew, and the tattered Konoha Forehead Protector and scattered fragments of clothing hanging from the remains rustled, as if they were crying out in silence.
These wooden stakes are not arranged haphazardly; they form a huge, ironic pattern—the flame Uzumaki symbol of Konoha.
In the very center of the square, on the tallest wooden stake carved from fragments of Hokage Rock, hung the corpse of Jia, the commander-in-chief of this operation. His eyes had been gouged out, his mouth torn to the roots of his ears, and his face was frozen with the most extreme fear and resentment before his death.
What's even more chilling is that, under the morning sunlight, the four enormous faces on the Hokage Rock, representing the glory of Konoha, are now stained with a shocking layer of blood.
A line of wildly cursive characters written in blood stretched from the top of the First Hokage's head to the chin of the Fourth Hokage, each character seemingly carrying overwhelming killing intent and disdain.
"This is the first return gift. Next time, your heads will be hanging on it."
The signature consisted of two characters.
Gen'yō.
"Ah!"
Finally, a villager whose psychological defenses had completely collapsed let out a piercing scream, breaking the deathly silence.
Panic, like the most ferocious plague, erupted throughout Konoha in an instant.
"Monster! The Uchiha are monsters!"
What kind of being have we messed with?!
"It's over! Konoha is finished!"
"It's all those two old hags' fault! They're the ones who sent our husbands and sons to their deaths!"
The villagers' fear quickly transformed into overwhelming rage. They spontaneously gathered and surged towards the Hokage Building like a tidal wave, but this time not to seek refuge, but for revenge.
They hurled stones and rotten vegetable leaves at the building that had once symbolized glory and stability.
" Utatane Koharu! Mitokado Homura! Get out here and give us an explanation!"
"Give me back my son's life!"
Konoha's Anbu Ninja attempted to maintain order, but their meager numbers proved utterly inadequate against tens of thousands of distraught villagers. Moreover, many of these villagers were their own family members.
On the top floor of the Hokage Building, in the office of the Supreme Advisor.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura stood motionless before the French windows like two stone statues, their faces bloodless as they looked down at the hell on earth that they had created with their own hands.
When Obito used Kamui to silently arrange more than 1,300 corpses and wooden stakes in front of the Hokage Building overnight, they didn't even notice.
They were only awakened by the first scream outside their window at dawn when they saw this most cruel and bloody "return gift" from Uchiha Gen'yō.
"Hehe... hehehehe..."
Utatane Koharu let out a dry, unintelligible laugh, her harsh old face contorted with extreme muscle tension, making her look particularly ferocious.
"We lost... we lost miserably..."
Mitokado Homura slumped to the ground in despair. This once hard-hearted Konoha High Command now resembled a helpless old man, with turbid tears streaming down his face.
They thought they had gambled everything and could gain a glimmer of hope.
But reality gave them a resounding slap in the face.
Faced with Uchiha Gen'yō's absolute and overwhelming power, their pride in their ruthlessness and the suicide squad they had assembled by squeezing every last drop of blood from Konoha were nothing but a self-humiliating joke.
Smash them! Kill those two old hags!
"Avenge our families!"
The villagers' roars grew closer, and some agitated ninjas even began attempting to breach the barrier around the Hokage Building.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura a glance, both seeing endless despair and utter hopelessness in each other's eyes.
They knew that from this moment on, they were no longer Konoha's heroes and advisors, but the eternal sinners who led Konoha to its destruction. Their prestige, power, and glory, along with the more than 1,300 lives, were burned to ashes by Uchiha Gen'yō in one night, and then trampled underfoot.
Just as the building's defensive barriers were about to be breached by the angry mob, and an unprecedented internal riot was about to erupt.
"Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"
A medical-nin responsible for caring for the Third Hokage came running frantically from the direction of the hospital. She even used the Body Flicker Technique to knock aside several villagers blocking her way, rushing to the foot of the Hokage Building in an almost frenzied manner.
She tilted her head back and let out a heart-wrenching scream with all her might.
"Stop it! Everyone stop!"
"Lord Third... Lord Third has awakened!"