" Kushinadahime!"
Toyouke-no-Kami shouted.
Kushinadahime lay on the ground, barely breathing, unable to speak.
Madara Uchiha heard the commotion in the distance. He was about to get up when he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
Heh, trying to use this kind of tactic against me?
A massive amount of Chakra surged from Madara Uchiha's body.
It wraps around the area in the direction of the stomach pain.
The moment his Chakra came into contact with the source of the pain, Madara Uchiha immediately sensed that it was a special kind of Natural Energy.
Is this the power of some deity?
It seems I was too kind after all.
External Chakra surged wildly into Madara Uchiha's body, combining with his internal spiritual and physical energy to rapidly form Senjutsu Chakra.
The immense and violent Senjutsu Chakra enveloped this Natural Energy, Setsuna pulverizing it.
Having reached his current level of power, Madara Uchiha is no longer afraid of poison or curses.
Its regenerative abilities, comparable to those of Hashirama Senju, are enough to instill despair in ordinary ninjas.
He leaped forward, landing several times before reaching the edge of the field. He crouched down and reached out to touch her forehead. It was burning hot.
It's not normal heat; it's scalding hot, burning from the inside out.
Kushinadahime opened her eyes, saw Madara, and her lips moved.
"Ban? I'm fine. Go check on them. Don't let them get hurt."
Ha, what a foolish woman.
Can't you see that the harm you suffered was caused by them?
He turned his head and looked at the Toyouke-no-Kami.
The bowl in Toyouke-no-Kami's hand fell to the ground with a "crack" and shattered into several pieces.
"I... I don't know! I gave her the same food as you! Right, save her! Save her!"
Madara didn't listen to him anymore. He bent down and picked Kushinadahime up from the ground.
Her body was very light, as light as a bundle of dry firewood. Her face was pressed against his chest, her breathing becoming shallower and shallower. Ban held her and took two steps toward the courtyard, then suddenly stopped.
He felt a pain in his chest.
It was very light and blunt, like being slowly pushed in by a needle.
He hadn't felt this way in a long time. The last time was when he lost Hashirama at the Valley of the End.
" Lord Madara," Toyouke-no-Kami called from behind, "I really didn't..."
Ban glanced back at him.
Toyouke-no-Kami's knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground.
Ban ignored him.
He carried Kushinadahime into the courtyard and placed her on the stone bed in his room.
Kushinadahime's eyes were half-open, the moonlight reflected in her pupils.
Kushinadahime coughed twice, and a faint wisp of black smoke escaped from the corner of her mouth.
She didn't answer. She just looked at Ban and suddenly smiled.
"You... don't worry about me," she said. "If I die... just bury me in the rice paddy."
Madara Uchiha felt an indescribable discomfort in his heart.
It felt as if I was about to lose something extremely important.
What happened?
Why do I have this feeling?
I had this feeling before, when I lost Izuna and when I heard the news of Hashirama's death.
Kushinadahime, she just shares the same name as Hashirama Senju.
Why should I care about her?
Ban clenched his fists, stood up, turned and walked out of the yard.
When Ban walked out of the yard, the area outside was already empty.
Only a few broken pieces of bowl remained on the ground where Toyouke-no-Kami had knelt; the person had long since disappeared.
The Ōtoshi-no-Kami has also disappeared.
From the depths of the distant, withered forest came the rustling sound of footsteps, like a group of startled mice desperately scurrying toward the edge of the wasteland.
Ban didn't give chase immediately. He stood at the courtyard gate, the night wind blowing his hedgehog-like long hair backward.
His Rinnegan glowed with a ghostly purple light under the moonlight, slowly sweeping across the entire camp.
The slower gods remained huddled behind their respective wooden huts.
Some didn't even dare go back to their wooden huts, instead lying down under the withered roots, wishing they could bury themselves in the soil. When Ban walked by, they didn't even dare to look up.
Ban walked to a withered root and looked down at Ashinazuchi, who was huddled there.
She trembled like a leaf about to be blown away by the wind, repeating the same phrase over and over again.
"It's none of my business, it's none of my business."
Who poisoned it?
Ashinazuchi dared not speak. She only dared to point with her finger towards the depths of the withered forest.
Ban turned around and walked in that direction. After a few steps, he stopped.
After he finished speaking, he lifted his foot and took a step forward. When his foot landed, a very fine crack appeared in the ground.
The gods hiding behind the wooden huts simultaneously felt a chill seep up from the soles of their feet, making their bones tremble.
Madara ignored them. He accelerated toward the withered forest, blue Chakra exploding beneath his feet, and he shot into the night like a shadow.
Deep in the barren forest, the Plague God runs the fastest.
He was short and had short legs, but he was surprisingly fast at running.
He dared not look back. He only knew to run towards the edge of the wasteland.
He can survive as long as he runs out of the God Tree's range and out of Madara's sight.
But the sound of the wind behind him grew closer and closer, and the terrifying aura made his legs go weak.
"Where are you going?"
Ban's voice came from above.
The Plague God suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked up.
Ban was already standing on the branch of the withered tree in front of him, arms crossed, looking down at him.
The moonlight shone from behind Ban, casting him as a dark shadow.
The Plague God's knees buckled, and he knelt down.
" Lord Madara, Lord Madara, I... I was wrong. I was just confused for a moment."
Ban jumped down from the tree. He landed silently. He walked up to the Plague God, slowly squatted down, and looked him in the eye.
The face of the Plague God was ashen in the moonlight, like an old sheet of paper.
"A cowardly god, what a disgrace to the name of the gods."
Madara Uchiha casually made a move, and the jet-black Amenonuhoko appeared in his right palm.
The Amenonuhoko swung downwards, swiftly piercing through the body of the God of Pestilence.
A deafening roar erupted.
The God of Pestilence was blasted to pieces by the powerful Amenonuhoko.
The blood mist was blown away by the wind, leaving only a sliver of white light suspended within it.
Madara Uchiha reached out and pinched the white light in his hand, then casually pressed it into his head.
Ban closed his eyes, feeling the power sink into his body.
The power of disease—he had never possessed this ability before.
Now he has it, but the knowledge about detoxification hasn't entered his mind along with the ability.
Ban opened his eyes and looked down at his hands.
He could feel the power of the plague flowing between his palms, and he could feel that it could release various plagues and even change the form of the plagues.
But he didn't know how to solve it.
Do they really lack the ability to eradicate this epidemic?
Ban stood silently in the withered forest, the wind blowing from the wasteland, making his clothes flutter.
He turned around and ran back towards the courtyard. He ran even faster than he had come, his Chakra exploding beneath his feet, each step causing the ground to crack like a spiderweb.
When they returned to the courtyard, Kushinadahime was still lying on the stone bed.
Her breathing was shallower than before, her face was ashen, and her lips were beginning to turn purple.
Ban reached out and pressed his hand against her forehead. It was still hot.
But the heat was no longer gushing outwards as before; instead, it was receding inwards.
The power of the disease is seeping into her bones.
Madara gripped the Amenonuhoko and walked step by step toward the group of gods kneeling on the ground.
His face was expressionless. But it was precisely because his expression was unreadable that the gods were even more afraid.
The Toyouke-no-Kami knelt at the very front, his forehead pressed to the ground, his whole body trembling like a leaf.
The Ōtoshi-no-Kami huddled behind him, muttering something over and over, though he himself didn't know what he was saying.
" Lord Madara, spare us! We didn't poison them! It was the Plague God, he did it all by himself!"
Toyouke-no-Kami's voice trembled and his expression was filled with fear; at this moment, where was his divine majesty?
The lightning on the Amenonuhoko glowed eerily in the moonlight, like a snake slithering in the shadows.
Madara Uchiha walked up to Toyouke-no-Kami, raised the tip of his Amenonuhoko, and aimed it at Toyouke-no-Kami's chest.
Just then, a very soft, weak voice came from inside the room.
"Spot... don't..."
The Amenonuhoko stopped at the chest of Toyouke-no-Kami.
He turned his head, and saw that Kushinadahime had somehow gotten up from the stone bed and was leaning half her body out of the doorway.
Her hands gripped the doorframe tightly, her knuckles white. Her face was even more ashen than before, and her lips were a deep, dark purple.
"Stop the killing, Madara."
She walked out of the house step by step, her steps unsteady, as if she might collapse at any moment.
Toyouke-no-Kami raised his head, his eyes filled with fear and confusion as he looked at her.
He was just cursing her behind her back and accusing her of poisoning her, yet she's now pleading for him.
The Ōtoshi-no-Kami burst into tears, whether from fear or shame, it was unclear.
Kushinadahime finally stood before him. She looked up at him, taking several breaths before she could finish speaking.
Killing them... wouldn't make a difference.
"They want to harm you, are you still going to protect them?"
"Even if you kill them all, I will still die. They are not gods of war, nor have they used humans to enhance their abilities."
Let them go, let them perish along with Takamagahara.
Madara stared at her, Kushinadahime stared back at him.
There was no pleading or fear in those dark, bright eyes.
"How foolish!"
Madara Uchiha coldly and reached out to catch the collapsing Kushinadahime in his arms.
"Ban, this is my destiny. Takamagahara to fall, and we gods are destined to die with Takamagahara. My early death is no big deal."
I hate fate.
Madara Uchiha's words were so low that even he himself could barely hear them.
Kushinadahime paused for a moment, then chuckled softly.
The laughter was so soft that it tugged at her lungs, making her cough twice.
Kushinadahime sat on the ground, looking up at Madara. The moonlight shone on her ashen face, giving her a strange and beautiful appearance.
This momentarily stunned Madara Uchiha.
Kushinadahime's breathing became shallower and shallower, and she slowly closed her eyes.
"Ban, I'm tired, let me sleep for a while."
For no apparent reason, Madara Uchiha felt a pang of heartache, and he shook Kushinadahime's body.
"Don't sleep!"
"Spot."
"What?"
"I should have met you sooner..."
Kushinadahime's words pierced Madara Uchiha's heart like Amenonuhoko Madara Uchiha.
It made him feel a flutter in his heart that he had never experienced before.
For a moment, he had only one thought.
Absolutely not!
Never let Kushinadahime die!