The sun struggled to rise from the distant horizon. Its faint red glow barely pierced the heavy, thick clouds, but it couldn't dispel the nauseating stench of blood and death that permeated the Uchiha clan grounds.
The rain was still cold, washing over the scorched earth, but it couldn't clean the piled-up corpses or the streams of blood that had turned the mud a dark, murky red.
"Get out of the way! My body..."
"Captain, it's me! Don't..."
"No, don't come near me! Please! Stop!"
Countless, almost transparent, hair-thin threads, like a spider's web, extended from the "Puppeteer's" wings in the sky, connecting precisely to the necks and joints of the Konoha shinobi below.
The "Puppeteer's" ability was certainly not strong enough to control every single Konoha shinobi present; controlling living people with their own will was a completely different level of difficulty than controlling corpses.
But it didn't need to.
The Konoha shinobi controlled by the threads hadn't been stripped of their minds; their bodies were simply being manipulated like puppets. Their eyes were filled with terror, despair, pleading, and pain. Tears, mixed with rain, streamed down their twisted faces. They could feel their bodies moving uncontrollably and could see whose hearts they were stabbing with their kunai.
One controlled jounin's eyes were bloodshot as he watched himself thrust a kunai into his comrade's heart.
Thwack!
Blood sprayed. The shinobi, who had been fighting others, clutched his throat and slowly fell.
"No!"
The controlled jounin roared, his body trembling violently, unable to stop. The threads pulled his arm, and he swung again at a former subordinate.
And the Konoha shinobi who weren't being controlled were also in a state of near despair. Their enemies were not monstrous, snarling beasts or shinobi from another village. They were their own comrades! How could the un-controlled shinobi bring themselves to kill when faced with the familiar, terrified, and tear-filled faces of their peers?
"Damn it! Damn it!"
"Do something! Cut those threads!"
"Don't kill him! He's being controlled!"
They could only desperately dodge and block, trying to attack the threads to wake their comrades or subdue them without causing fatal harm. But while one side hesitated and held back, the other pleaded with their mouths while their bodies' attacks were merciless, swift, and ruthless, striking at vital points.
"Thump!"
"Ugh, ah!"
"You..."
Hesitation came at the cost of life.
The battle had become a one-sided slaughter. Screams of agony rose and fell, despair hung in the air, and blood stained the ground. The Konoha shinobi, both the first wave who had besieged "Evil Eye" and the reinforcements who had arrived later, were like moths caught in a spider's web, quickly perishing in a battle of self-destruction.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was also deeply surrounded. Three controlled Konoha jounin, with tears streaming down their faces, were attacking him relentlessly and fearlessly. Their eyes were filled with pain and struggle, but their bodies' attacks were precise and ruthless.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
A giant fireball came roaring toward him. Several sharp wind blades sealed off his escape, and an earth wall restricted his movement.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face was ashen, and a fiery rage burned in his eyes. He could have instantly killed the three of them, but they were all jounin he had personally promoted, who had once held positions in the ANBU. He could not afford to lose any of them.
He couldn't kill them! Absolutely not!
"Dammit!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi grunted in anger. Ignoring the drain on his chakra, he wove hand signs, and a shadow clone appeared beside him.
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
Boom!
The fireball struck the rising stone wall, turning into a wave of heat that flowed to either side, causing them to lose sight of Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!
In the next moment, a pair of hands suddenly appeared beneath the feet of one of the jounin, completely in their blind spot. But before the jounin could even realize it, his body had already reacted uncontrollably, raising his hands to weave a hand sign, concentrating chakra in his palms, and slamming them on the ground.
Earth Style: Earth-Rending Palm!
Crack! Crack!
His legs were already being pulled underground, but under the effect of "Earth-Rending Palm," the softened ground instantly hardened.
"Ugh, ah!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's shadow clone exploded underground. The jounin's legs were also crushed by the hardened mud, and he let out a shrill scream of pain.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's main body, which had already appeared beside the other two, looked even more furious upon seeing this, but he quickly threw his Adamantine Staff and wove a hand sign.
"Adamantine Prison Wall!"
The staff divided into dozens of Adamantine Staffs, binding and immobilizing one of the jounin. At the same time, he quickly retreated, narrowly avoiding a wind blade that came from a distance. He appeared like a ghost behind the last jounin, extended his hand, and yelled, "Four Limbs Sealing!"
The jounin's body instantly stiffened. His limbs lost all sensation, and his body slumped to the ground, temporarily losing all ability to act.
In a matter of seconds, Hiruzen Sarutobi had temporarily subdued the three controlled jounin using non-lethal means, thanks to his extensive experience and repertoire of jutsu. However, this kind of fighting, where he was tied down and couldn't use his full strength, was even more draining on his chakra than facing a true enemy.
He was already old. He had exhausted his mental and physical energy when facing the "Evil Eye." Now, he was fighting on pure willpower. Feeling the almost depleted chakra in his body, Hiruzen Sarutobi subconsciously looked in the direction of Hyuga Kawa.
He saw that while Hyuga Kawa was not being controlled, he was also facing several jounin. Furthermore, whenever Hyuga Kawa wanted to use a wind-style jutsu to cut the threads controlling the Konoha shinobi or attack the "Puppeteer," several people would jump in front of him, forcing him to hold back. Several corpses were already lying around Hyuga Kawa. From the pained expression on Hyuga Kawa's face, Hiruzen Sarutobi could tell that those were people he had accidentally killed because he hadn't held back in time.
They were deliberately using the lives of their comrades to make the kind-hearted Hyuga Kawa unable to retaliate! They were forcing him to abandon his best wind-style jutsu and instead use his less-practiced Gentle Fist and Lightning-style jutsu to dodge and maneuver.
"Bastards!!"
Seeing this cruel scene, Hiruzen Sarutobi's chest heaved with anger. He couldn't help but curse, his voice shaking with rage.
At the same time, five more controlled Konoha shinobi, with despairing and painful roars in their mouths, charged at him like mad dogs!
Cutting the threads could only temporarily break the control, and genjutsu was useless since their minds weren't being controlled, only their bodies. He could only use sealing jutsu...
If he could defeat the "Puppeteer" in the air, the control would stop immediately. But the other two monsters, named "Whirlpool" and "White Fang," were standing right in front of the "Puppeteer"!
This wasn't working at all!
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes were bloodshot. His gaze pierced through the chaotic battlefield, fixed on the black shadow standing in front of "Evil Eye," watching everything with an indifferent look. A volcanic eruption of rage and helpless humiliation burst within his chest.
"Who are you?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's roar cut through the noise, his voice hoarse with fury. He couldn't help but bellow, "Who are you people? Why are you doing this to Konoha?!"
Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's question, "Shadow" slowly turned around. The face shrouded in the hood's shadow lifted slightly. Its raspy voice was tinged with a hint of a smile. "Lord Third Hokage, you are very forgetful."
"I think you should have heard of our deeds long ago."
Even though the tone contained a smile, there was no mockery or anger. There was only a chilling, pure indifference.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face twitched with anger. While he responded to the attacks of the few Konoha shinobi, he constantly thought about what "Shadow" had said. This kind of power and speed, which no human should possess, and these strange, unheard-of abilities... They had never existed in the ninja world before, and they didn't even seem like something a shinobi could use...
Thinking of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze suddenly froze. He looked sharply at one of the three figures, at the "Whirlpool" with red hair and feminine features!
"Whirlpool..." His heart pounded with the unbelievable guess he was making. His voice was hoarse. "Hidden Grass Village, the Hidden Grass Village was destroyed by you!"
"That 'Whirlpool'... is the 'Vengeful Spirit' from the hidden Uzumaki clan that destroyed the Hidden Grass Village?!"
How could this be? How could this be! So the so-called "Vengeful Spirit" was a real being and not some "secret jutsu" as they had guessed? In other words, the monster that Shisui had mentioned, born from Fugaku Uchiha's body, the monster named "Evil Eye," was also a "Vengeful Spirit"?!
"No, no. They are called 'Hollows' and they come from the 'Hollow World.' They are not some so-called 'Vengeful Spirits.'"
"Also, please don't get the cause and effect mixed up. 'Whirlpool' was born from the pain that the Hidden Grass Village inflicted upon her. The destruction of the Hidden Grass Village was merely the result of a cause."
"Shadow" gently shook its head, correcting Hiruzen Sarutobi's mistake. It then looked at the devastated, blood-soaked Uchiha clan grounds and smiled. "By the same logic, this is what you deserve."
"The Uchiha's blood and tears have dried up. Now, you can no longer use your so-called Will of Fire to restrain the Uchiha's 'power.'"
As the voice faded, "Evil Eye" slowly stood up behind "Shadow," like a shadow of "Shadow." The chilling aura filled with hatred and anger made Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils contract.
The Hollow... was this monster also born from the souls and hatred of Fugaku Uchiha and the other deceased Uchiha clansmen?!