More than a dozen corpses lay scattered across the ground.
In the sky, immaculate white wings extended from Yūma's back as he hovered above the battlefield, gazing coldly at the shinobi of Kusagakure.
The sight made the village leader's heart sink.
At that moment, shouts and the clash of combat erupted from within the village itself. In the distance, golden chains whipped across the sky.
"Y-you have accomplices?!"
Yūma merely glanced over.
"Too slow, old man… I've been fighting for minutes already."
The leader's frustration turned into dread.
"What do you want? Who are those people?!"
"You still have the luxury to ask that?" Yūma replied calmly. "Worry about your own life first."
He formed hand seals.
"Fūton: Tsurubane Ranbu!"
White feathers filled the heavens like a storm cloud. In the next instant, they transformed into razor-sharp wind blades and rained down.
"A wide-area technique… How does he still have that much chakra?!"
Since appearing, the Hyūga renegade had unleashed multiple high-level techniques in succession.
Any Kage-level shinobi would have been drained after two or three such jutsu.
Yet Yūma showed no sign of fatigue.
How vast were his reserves?
"Ahhh!"
"No!"
Screams erupted.
Against elite jōnin, the technique was manageable. Against ordinary ninja, it was slaughter.
The jutsu had two forms—one for interference, one for annihilation.
And this was the latter.
When the feathers faded, the earth ran red.
The shinobi hiding behind the earthen walls never anticipated an attack from above.
Less than a third remained standing.
Kusagakure was finished.
Half its elite had fallen earlier in close combat. Now its regular forces were decimated.
For a minor village, this meant extinction.
From behind, an aged voice spoke:
"When you imprisoned and tortured innocents… did you ever ask why?"
Red-haired figures emerged.
"The Uzumaki Clan…?!"
Realization struck.
This was revenge.
Golden Adamantine Sealing Chains tore through the battlefield as Uzumaki jōnin advanced mercilessly.
After rescuing the surviving clansmen, they unleashed generations of fury.
From above, Yūma watched silently.
"Kusagakure ends today."
He descended beside Uzumaki Ashina.
Neither flinched at the carnage.
The shinobi world was not built on ideals.
It was built on survival.
Their next destination—
The Land of Birds.
Because hidden there lay the sacred entrance to the Ninja Crane clan's domain.
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