On the battlefield at the border plain between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning—
Countless souls streamed out from freshly fallen corpses, their bodies still warm, and were pulled inexorably into the Hōgyoku within Kenya.
Kenya didn't need to move. Any soul that perished within range was devoured automatically.
It proved one thing clearly: war was the best fuel for the Hōgyoku's evolution.
And that realization made Kenya's smile all the darker.
"No, don't come near me! Don't come near!!!"
"I surrender! I surrender! Please, don't kill me!"
"No! No—my hands—I don't want to die!"
"What is this!? Why can't we break it!?"
The Cloud Shinobi's front lines had been utterly shattered. Their commander, Yugito, was dead, their morale broken.
Terrified, they hurled ninjutsu at the radiant barrier behind them—a translucent wall of shimmering light, dazzling like a rainbow under the sun.
But the wall did not yield.
"An enchantment!" the survivors muttered, panicked, sweat pouring down their faces.
Kenya chuckled softly.
"No… not an enchantment. A gift prepared especially for you."
The "Millionfold Barrier."
Constructed from one million overlapping layers of concentrated Reiatsu.
A new ability birthed from the Hōgyoku's amplification.
Its defense was so overwhelming it could withstand multiple Tailed Beast Bombs at once.
But it required enormous preparation time, so it had to be laid out in advance.
Now, the Cloud Shinobi had nowhere to run.
"Remember this," Kenya's voice rang across the battlefield, smooth and magnetic, yet laced with something irresistible—like a curse.
"The corpses of your enemies will become the cornerstone of your lives in the new era. Therefore… there is no need to hesitate. Kill them."
The words slipped into the ears of every Allied Shinobi.
The Cloud Shinobi were on their knees, sobbing, begging, clinging to life.
But Sand and Mist Shinobi felt no pity. Their eyes burned red as they raised their blades high and brought them down without hesitation.
Even Konoha shinobi, who trembled at the scene, clutching kunai with white knuckles, could not resist the pull of Kenya's words.
A vision had been planted—of a future where there would be no more struggling for food, no endless missions for scraps. A new life.
And with that hope shining before them, their hesitation cracked. Kunai pierced the hearts of helpless Cloud shinobi.
This was no longer war.
It was slaughter.
Kenya himself did not strike the fallen.
Kyōka Suigetsu was sheathed, his hands folded before him, standing in his black robes like the very image of Aizen the moment he revealed his true self in Soul Society.
Though weaker foes provided little in terms of power, their sheer numbers made the Hōgyoku's unlock rate climb steadily.
Yet Kenya didn't greedily swing his blade.
Instead, he watched—his gaze calm, almost curious—as Sand and Mist shinobi butchered their enemies.
This raw display of humanity's darkest desire…
To him, it carried a strange, inexplicable beauty.
"W–What is wrong with them…?"
Konoha shinobi whispered, their voices heavy with dread as they looked upon their "allies."
Shiranui Genma bit down so hard on the senbon in his mouth it nearly snapped, his eyes fixed uneasily on Kenya's faint smile.
"That man…"
Far away, in Konoha, Yamanaka Haiichi—using his clan's secret mind-linking techniques—witnessed the scene through a surveillance device.
His face went pale, sweat dripping down to his chin.
In the Hokage's office, Tsunade turned sharply.
"What is it, Haiichi? Is there a problem?"
Haiichi swallowed hard.
"No… no, Hokage-sama. The Cloud battlefield is ours. A perfect victory. It's just that…"
His voice faltered. "…the scene is…"
Even as a veteran of the Third Ninja War, one whose name had thundered across nations as part of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio, he had never seen such horror.
The enemy had surrendered. They had no will to fight.
And still, their throats were slit, their hearts pierced without hesitation.
This wasn't a victory. It was eradication.
Uchiha Kenya.
He had no intention of letting Cloud Shinobi survive.
His goal was not victory in war—it was the destruction of an entire nation.
Haiichi couldn't comprehend it.
How could such a ruthless, blood-soaked man be worshipped as a savior in Sand and Mist?
How could his words alone make their shinobi kill without hesitation?
If he ordered them to take their own lives… Haiichi realized with horror, they would obey.
Konoha shinobi could not understand it.
And of course, they couldn't.
Because the impression of "Aizen" was split.
To Sand and Mist, he was the savior who had rescued them from disaster, the architect of a new era. To them, his words were absolute.
But to Konoha, he was nothing more than a dangerous outsider with a traitor's past, wrapped in mystery and menace.
Kenya had no desire to be their "Captain Aizen."
Konoha was not his Seireitei. It was his Hueco Mundo.
And in Hueco Mundo, he no longer needed to hide who he truly was.
Trust?
Faith?
Dependence?
They were nothing but the weakness of the weak.
For Uchiha Kenya, trust was no longer necessary.
Cloud Shinobi vs. Allied Forces of Konoha, Sand, and Mist.
On the very first day of battle, two thousand shinobi were annihilated.
Utterly destroyed.