Chapter 90: Serpent Eyes in the Dark Night
Hidden Rain Village, Central Tower.
Through the tower's platform, the black line wriggling like an insect in the distant rainforest was clearly visible—it was the approaching Fire-Wind Allied Forces.
The interlude where the Allied Forces encountered villagers in the Village had long been reported back to Yahiko and the others by the Amegakure scouts. Although they couldn't hear what was said, their actions clearly showed hatred.
"Yahiko."
Konan stood by the window, looking at the marked red defense zones, her delicate brows slightly furrowed. "We've already given up over thirty kilometers of buffer zone. At this rate, they'll be at the foot of the tower by sunset tomorrow."
She turned around and looked at the man sitting on the sofa, playing with a specially made kunai.
"Why aren't we using the terrain to block them layer by layer? With the abilities of Kakuzu, Sasori, and others, they could easily deplete at least thirty percent of their forces along the way. Letting the enemy come in directly like this... isn't it too risky?"
In her opinion, while this scorched-earth strategy could cut off the enemy's supplies, it also meant abandoning strategic depth. Once besieged, the Hidden Rain Village would have no retreat.
"Konan, we're not fighting a skirmish."
Yahiko stopped his movements. The Three-pronged Kunai, engraved with the Flying Thunder God technique, spun deftly between his fingers before resting steadily on the table.
"If it were just to kill people, we could have wiped them out at the border."
He looked up, his tone calm to the point of ruthlessness. "But I don't want a victory achieved after days of dragging it out. That kind of victory means nothing to the current Hidden Rain Village."
"What I want is for the entire Ninja World to feel pain, to make the Ninja World revere the god of the Hidden Rain Village!"
Yahiko stood up and walked to the French window, standing side by side with Konan.
The smile on Yahiko's lips gradually widened, carrying a sense of calm control over everything.
"Let them walk a little longer. Let them carry this guilt, this hunger and fatigue, step by step into the 'judgment ground' I have carefully prepared for them."
"Only when they are convinced that they are about to win, and divine punishment descends, will this despair be etched into their bones, becoming a nightmare that the entire Ninja World will not dare to forget for the next fifty years."
"I understand." Konan lowered her head. "I'll go prepare the final stage."
"Go."
Yahiko lightly flicked the Kunai, producing a crisp 'ding' sound.
"Don't rush, let the Kunai fly a little longer."
In the depths of the shadows.
Nagato, who had been sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.
The ripples of the Rinnegan glowed faintly in the darkness, like the vortex of the Six Paths of Reincarnation. He seemed to hear the roar of the old man, the cries of the children, and felt the longing for 'peace' from countless living beings on this land.
That heavy sense of being needed, of mission, made his heart pound violently.
"Yahiko is right."
Nagato's voice was hoarse, yet it carried an unprecedented divinity and coldness: "This world is sick... and we are the potent medicine."
...The steel jungle of the abandoned industrial zone looked particularly menacing in the night, twisted pipes like skinned giant pythons, coiled over broken walls and ruins, exhaling cold, damp air. The air was thick with the suffocating smell of rust.
"Clang!"
A deformed metal piece of trash was kicked away violently, hitting a moss-covered wall, and the piercing impact instantly tore through the tomb-like silence of the surroundings.
Uchiha Yashiro retracted his foot, feeling his patience being slowly eroded by the pervasive rain.
"Are these Amegakure ninja rats?" Yashiro impatiently shook his soaked sleeves, his crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan bloodshot from prolonged vigilance, rotating uneasily in the darkness. "Walked five kilometers, dismantled eighty traps, and haven't seen a single ghost."
This was an abandoned refinery on the outskirts of the Hidden Rain Village. Gigantic pipes intertwined like a monster's intestines, and steam vents occasionally hissed, releasing white mist that mixed with the rain, severely interfering with the Sharingan's perception.
This was the first 'appetizer' Yahiko had prepared for the Allied Forces.
No massed army waiting, only omnipresent booby traps, tripwires, and malice hidden in the shadows.
"All personnel, stay vigilant, do not disperse."
Uchiha Fugaku walked at the front of the team, his expression stern. But the knuckles of his hand, tightly gripping a Kunai, were slightly white, indicating that his inner state was not as calm as it appeared.
As Clan Chief, his intuition told him that something was watching them from the shadows. That gaze was sticky, cold, like a venomous snake crawling up his spine.
"Hiss..."
A very faint scraping sound came from the pipe above.
"Above!" Fugaku suddenly looked up, forming hand signs as fast as lightning.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Boom!
A huge fireball evaporated the rain curtain, illuminating the dark steel beams above.
In that instant, all Uchiha clan members felt their scalps tingle.
Illuminated by the firelight, dense masses of venomous snakes poured out from the pipe's crevices, cascading down like a black waterfall. And in the center of the snake swarm, a pale human face was pressed against the pipe wall, its golden, vertically slit pupils greedily watching the Uchiha below.
It was the gaze of someone looking at food, and even more, the gaze of someone looking at 'Materials'.
"Orochimaru?!" Someone cried out the name in horror.
"So many vibrant Sharingan... truly touching."
Orochimaru's voice was hoarse and magnetic, filled with undisguised obsession. "Fugaku-kun, the equipment Konoha gives you is so poor, why not come to me? I will preserve each of your eyes very well... in formaldehyde."
"Bastard!"
Fugaku roared, his Chakra erupting. The flames of his Fire Release instantly surged, incinerating the falling snakes into charcoal, and a nauseating smell of burning flesh permeated the air.
However, when the flames dissipated, the pipe was already empty.
Only a faint, mocking voice echoed in the wind and rain: "Don't rush... the night is still long, I will slowly choose the most perfect pair."
"Damn it!" Yashiro gritted his teeth, about to give chase.
"Don't pursue!" Fugaku sharply ordered.
He looked at his shaken clan members, the sense of unease in his heart growing stronger. A powerhouse of Orochimaru's caliber was not fighting head-on, but instead playing mind games like a perverted stalker.
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