The chill of late autumn enveloped the towering mountain peaks of Kumogakure.
Inside the recently repaired Raikage Building, however, the atmosphere was even more biting and piercing than the cold wind outside.
The Fourth Raikage, A, stood in the center of his office like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
His bare upper body was rippling with muscle, a few twisted old scars marring his bronze skin.
Beneath his thick, twin mustaches, his lips were pressed into a ruthless straight line. The veins on his thick arms bulged like coiling dragons.
Before him, a Kumogakure's Ninja reported: "Raikage-sama! The squad guarding Hell Valley has sent word! Shura has appeared at Hell Valley! And he has several companions!"
The name 'Shura' was like a spark thrown into boiling oil, instantly igniting the fuse of Raikage's silent volcano!
"Shura-!!!" A violent roar exploded like thunder!
Raikage's eyes instantly flooded with bloodshot veins. Rampant Lightning Attribute Chakra erupted uncontrollably from his body, emitting a piercing crackling sound!
Blinded by rage, he didn't think. The muscles in his right arm bulged, wreathed in dazzling blue lightning, and he brought it down like a battle-axe!
Boom!!!
The heavy desk, made of sturdy wood, shattered like fragile paper under the Raikage's furious blow!
Splinters, documents, and broken table legs flew everywhere. The loud noise made the entire office ring!
Amidst the billowing dust, Raikage's burly figure stood like an angry thunder god, his murderous aura almost bursting through the roof!
"He dares... he dares to set foot on the Land of Lightning's soil again?!!" Raikage's voice roared like an injured beast, every word saturated with overwhelming fury and deep-seated hatred.
The bloody assault three years ago had left hundreds of Kumogakure's Ninjas dead or wounded, buildings severely damaged. His brother-in-all-but-blood, Killer B, had been gravely injured protecting him, taking two full years to barely recover, and still bore horrific scars!
This blood debt had been burning his heart day and night.
"Mabui!!" Raikage turned sharply, bellowing at his female secretary who stood pale to the side, "Mobilize the troops! Immediately! All available Jonin! Anbu! Now! Immediately! I will lead them myself to Hell Valley to tear those bastards, especially that Shura, to pieces!!"
Mabui instinctively touched the long, thin scar on her temple.
It was a mark left from the disaster three years ago. If she hadn't run fast enough, she would likely have been vaporized in that terrifying explosion.
Hearing the Raikage's order, Mabui's heart clenched violently… the terrifying strength of Shura was branded deep in the memories of her and all survivors like a nightmare.
Those two bizarrely powerful humanoid summons, capable of floating in the air and absorbing Chakra, were extremely troublesome.
Shura himself had confronted the AB Combo with an unstoppable stance, and the dark purple Chakra Sphere he left behind before being teleported away by the Heavenly Transfer Technique...
The destructive power of it still made her shudder with fear when she remembered it.
"Raikage-sama! Please... please calm down!" Mabui mustered her courage and stepped forward, her voice carrying a barely perceptible tremble: "Shura's strength is unfathomable. He was already so... so terrifying three years ago! Now he has helpers. A large-scale operation rashly might..."
"What are you afraid of?!" Raikage interrupted her rudely, his bloodshot eyes glaring fixedly at her: "Just because the enemy is so powerful, are we going to let them roam freely in the Land of Lightning?! If I can't even avenge my fallen brothers, how can I, the Raikage, have the dignity to stand here?! What right do I have to lead Kumogakure?!"
His roar echoed throughout the shattered office, filled with unquestionable determination and violent will.
Just then, the office door was thrown open.
"Yo! Idiot brother! Fool brother! Flying into a rage is no good~" A voice with a unique rhythmic cadence rang out.
Killer B walked in.
He still wore his signature Kumogakure's flak jacket and sunglasses, but upon closer inspection, the exposed skin on his left shoulder bore a twisted, savage scar that extended to his collarbone. Beneath the loose flak jacket, large patches of skin on his back were visible, showing an unnatural, net-like texture as if from severe burns.
These were the permanent marks left by the devastating impact of Shura's Great Spiralling Ring three years prior.
Though his face wore the exaggerated expression of a rapper, the eyes behind the sunglasses were exceptionally sharp and grave.
"Enemy shows at Hell's Valley~ B-sama can't just stand by~ But this op needs caution~ Too many men become a burden~ Yugito Nii's combat strength is high~ Elite Anbu coordinate well~ Target locked on Shura's head~ One-hit kill is the only way to feel good~!"
B's rap carried a clear suggestion: this revenge mission valued quality over quantity.
Raikage's savage rage stalled for an instant upon hearing B's voice.
He looked at the shocking scars on his brother's body… testaments to Kumogakure's shame and pain.
B's appearance and advice were like a bucket of ice water, dousing some of his blind fury, but making his will for revenge even more resolute.
"B..." Raikage's voice lowered, becoming a suppressed rasp, "You're right."
He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing his boiling killing intent. His gaze swept over Mabui and the two kneeling Ninjas before he finally made a decision: "Mabui, notify them immediately! Darui, Toroi, Nurui, C! Have each of them select two of their most elite Anbu! Assemble at the village gate in ten minutes! I will lead them personally! Target: Hell Valley! This time, we will make that bastard... pay in blood!!"
"Yes, sir!" Mabui's heart clenched, knowing further persuasion was impossible. She immediately accepted the order and left.
B stood beside Raikage, his gaze behind the sunglasses turning icy and focused.
Soon, this revenge team, composed of Kumogakure's strongest fighters, surged towards Hell Valley with thunderous momentum.
…
Meanwhile, deep within the barren, desolate canyon known as Hell Valley in southern Land of Lightning, the atmosphere was equally tense.
Unlike the blazing revenge sought by Kumogakure, the air here was oppressive, closed-off, and reeked of decay and deathly stillness.
The towering reddish-brown rock walls on either side of the canyon were like the walls of a prison. Scattered across the canyon floor were simple stone houses, forming a small village of just over thirty people.
The place of exile for the Chinoike Clan.
Led by Oyashiro En, Menma's group moved silently through the barren valley, arriving at the center of the village.
Kakuzu's low, hoarse voice broke the silence as he explained to Kisame, who was warily surveying their surroundings: "The Chinoike Clan was quite famous over a hundred years ago. Pity. A woman from the clan married the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning as a concubine.
"Soon after, the Daimyo died suddenly, and the official wife, who came from a prominent noble family in the Land of Lightning, blamed the concubine, calling her a demonic seductress."
In the end, the entire Chinoike Clan was implicated, exiled and imprisoned here, forbidden to leave for all eternity."
He paused, a trace of mockery on his stitched face, "The ones responsible for escorting them here back then, rumor has it... were the Uchiha Clan."
As they spoke, the group arrived at a small clearing in the village.
Their appearance, especially Oyashiro En returning with a group of obvious outsiders, immediately drew the attention of everyone in the village.
A few clansmen, sallow-faced and hollow-eyed, cowered behind stone houses, peeking out. A middle-aged man dressed relatively well, with a goatee and gloomy eyes, strode forward aggressively, surrounded by several younger men.
He was the current leader of the Chinoike Clan, Oyashiro Jin.
"En!" Oyashiro Jin's voice was shrill and filled with anger, his gaze sweeping over Oyashiro En and the others behind him: "You have the nerve to return?! And bringing these outsiders?! What do you think you're doing?!"
His eyes were especially wary as they scanned Kakuzu, Kisame, and the masked figure with an unfathomable presence… Menma.
'These people are definitely not ordinary Ninjas!'
Facing the leader's interrogation, Oyashiro En instinctively shifted his position, blocking the door of a simple stone house behind him more securely.
Through the half-open door, a young woman, pale and haggard, holding a white-haired girl of about seven or eight years old, could be seen nervously peering out.
Oyashiro En took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice calm, "Head, I have no intention of starting conflict. I only want... to take my wife and daughter, Chino, and leave Hell Valley. Our family of three will live outside and never return."
His words carried a note of pleading.
"Leave? Hahaha!" Oyashiro Jin laughed as if he had heard the biggest joke, a sound full of venom and scorn.
"Leave?! Oyashiro En, do you know why our clan has been trapped in this godforsaken Hell Valley for over a hundred years?! It's because of your wife's ancestor! That bitch! If she hadn't shamelessly clung to the Daimyo and then caused his death, offending that high and mighty official wife, how could our entire clan have suffered this unjust disaster?!"
"Imprisoned here like pigs and dogs, never seeing the light of day! And you have the nerve to talk about taking them away? They are the disaster-"
"Enough!"
A cold, low voice, yet one that exploded like thunder in everyone's ears, mercilessly cut off Oyashiro Jin's venomous tirade.
All eyes instantly focused on the speaker.
The silent, black-robed leader wearing the white three-eyed fox mask.
Menma slowly stepped forward, placing himself between Oyashiro Jin and Oyashiro En.
His gaze, piercing through the cold mask, fell upon Oyashiro Jin's face, twisted with rage and venom. He felt a deep disappointment towards this clan, who was once reputed to be even more powerful than the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan.
Menma's voice dripped with undisguised contempt and scorn:
"Cowardice is cowardice. Why find excuses and push the blame onto a woman?"
Oyashiro Jin was stunned by this sudden rebuke and the blatant disdain in the other's words, momentarily forgetting to retort.
Menma's voice continued, cold as a hammer, striking the heart of every Chinoike clansman present: "You possess power enough to terrify ordinary people. Yet, as Ninja, you allow yourselves to be bullied, imprisoned, and enslaved for generations by so-called nobles who can't even tie their own shoes, without even daring to entertain the thought of resistance."
"You only dare to turn on each other, to shift blame internally... Hah. The Chinoike Clan? You're nothing but a pack of cowards whose fangs and claws have been filed down, only capable of snarling and barking at those weaker than yourselves."
His words were filled with disappointment at the Chinoike Clan's self-inflicted degeneracy.
"Shut up! What do you know?! You—" Oyashiro Jin trembled with fury, his face turning from red to purple, the finger he pointed at Menma shaking violently.
The young men behind him also looked angry, stirring restlessly, but the intangible aura emanating from Menma made them instinctively fearful, not daring to step forward.
"These so-called nobles are just ordinary people!" Menma's voice suddenly rose, carrying a cold, oppressive force that seemed to pierce the soul: "If you're slandered, just kill their entire family!"
"If this place won't have you, there are others that will! Is the Ninja World so small that you can't find a place to belong? You possess power far exceeding that of ordinary Ninja, yet you willingly remain locked up, penned in like livestock for a hundred years!"
"Even the courage to resist has long been worn away! No wonder you can only cling to life in this Hell Valley like rats in a sewer, generation after generation, forever without hope!"
The moment his words fell, Menma moved!
No hand seals, no earth-shattering explosion of Chakra.
He simply raised his head slightly.
Upon the scarlet background of his left eye, three tomoes spun, and a black vortex pattern, as if capable of devouring everything, suddenly appeared, rotating slowly, emitting an aura that made souls tremble.
His right eye, like the purest ruby, suddenly blazed with a magnificent light containing the power to perceive and interfere with everything!
Both eyes activated simultaneously!
An indescribable and extremely heavy terrifying aura, like an invisible tsunami, erupted with Menma as the center!
This aura wasn't released Chakra, but a pressure originating from a difference in soul hierarchy!
Dojutsu: Pressure!
This was an ability Menma had comprehended after obtaining the Mangekyo Sharingan and a purer version of the Akaigan, inspired by the pressure once used by Kaguya. (T/N: Conqueror's Haki?)
Merely releasing this pressure could shock those around into a state of unconsciousness, and could even cause substantial damage to objects.
Thud!
Thud!
Oyashiro Jin, being the closest, bore the brunt of it. His mind 'exploded' as if struck by an invisible sledgehammer!
His legs gave way, and he directly collapsed to the ground, the color draining from his face, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word!
The young men behind him fared even worse. Like kites with cut strings, they were thrown back before their bodies hit the ground, shaking like leaves in a sieve, unable to even lift their heads!
The entire Chinoike Village instantly fell into dead silence.
All the prying, resentment, and numbness were completely crushed under the gaze of these eyes, which contained completely different yet equally terrifying powers. Only boundless, endless fear remained, like icy tidal water, drowning every single person.
Even Kakuzu, Kisame, and Oyashiro En behind Menma had to exert extreme caution just to keep their footing.
In the doorway of the stone house, the woman holding the little girl was frightened pale.
Oyashiro En stood behind Menma, feeling the terrifying pressure that swept over the area like a tangible force. His heart, too, was roiling with shock.
He looked at the clan's head and clansmen slumped on the ground like mud, then at the black-robed figure standing imposingly before him. An indescribable mix of complex emotions welled up in his heart.
Menma's words were like icy blades, laying bare the most wretched and cowardly scars of the Chinoike Clan's past hundred years.
And the pressure brought by these eyes completely shattered the last pitiful shreds of so-called 'dignity' these prisoners had built upon oppressing their own clan.
The prison of Hell Valley… its invisible locks were utterly shattered by a far greater power.