Uchiha Chizumi had no idea what these nobles of the Land of Water had been discussing, but he just so happened to catch that one line about igniting another great ninja war, and he naturally let out a quiet remark.
"Who are you?!"
The moment the Daimyo of the Land of Water heard that sigh behind him, his whole body seemed to lock up.
In truth, he had already guessed who it was, but he still forced himself to keep a straight face and barked out a furious demand, hoping to rally the morale of the ninja standing beside the assembled nobles.
"I can't be bothered to waste words on you. You're not even worthy of hearing them."
"In these eyes of mine, the evil clinging to you is practically overflowing."
Uchiha Chizumi gave the Daimyo of the Land of Water a single glance. As his hands flashed through seals, tree branches burst forth and pierced straight through the daimyo's body.
Even in his final moment, the daimyo's eyes were full of disbelief.
He couldn't believe Uchiha Chizumi had attacked without even exchanging a few more words. Wasn't he afraid that actions like this would trigger another great ninja war?
"Wood Release: Cutting Jutsu."
As Uchiha Chizumi's icy voice fell, screams and desperate pleas instantly filled the daimyo's residence.
But the Cutting Jutsu born from Wood Release showed no mercy at all. In only a short span of time, the entire residence of the Land of Water's daimyo had turned into a bloody slaughterhouse.
The ninja in whom the daimyo and nobles had placed such high hopes tried to resist, but before they could even react, they too were skewered onto the branches.
"Not even a decent struggle…"
"So this is the Bloody Mist…"
Uchiha Chizumi looked at the nobles and daimyo as life slowly drained from them, and couldn't help shaking his head.
Mei Terumi had already told him the truth about the Bloody Mist. It was true that the Fourth Mizukage had pushed that policy to eliminate political enemies, but one major reason behind it was also the financial restrictions imposed by the daimyo of the Land of Water.
Without money, Kirigakure couldn't support that many ninja.
And the surplus ninja had only one place to go—death.
"RUMBLE—!!!"
Enormous trees began growing inside the daimyo's estate, and their violent expansion tore the entire compound apart.
Across the capital of the Land of Water, everyone stared blankly in the direction of the daimyo's residence.
"What… is that?"
Some lesser nobles who knew nothing about what was happening stared in confusion, unable to understand why such a gigantic tree had suddenly erupted there.
"Uchiha Chizumi!"
"That madman called Uchiha Chizumi really came—not only did he come, he went straight to the daimyo's residence!"
"He already killed the daimyo of the Land of Fire—he'll absolutely dare to kill our daimyo too!"
Some nobles knew about what had happened in Kirigakure, and guessed that whatever had happened at the daimyo's estate had to be connected to Uchiha Chizumi, the man who had flattened Kirigakure all by himself.
Though even they couldn't understand why what had appeared at the daimyo's residence was wood, not the Lava Release mentioned in the reports.
"Go, hurry!"
"Leave the capital! As long as we get out of the capital, we'll be safe!"
Some minor nobles cracked whips and screamed at their servants to flee with them. With even the daimyo's residence already fallen, they couldn't bear to imagine what would happen if they stayed.
As for that nonsense Uchiha Chizumi preached about Absolute Justice not killing good people?
Never mind that these fleeing nobles already had guilty consciences. A Konoha shinobi had already come all the way to the capital of the Land of Water—who in their right mind would believe he truly only killed evildoers?
For the common people of the Land of Water, this was undoubtedly the most terrifying night of their lives.
Countless trees burst wildly up from the ground. These trees seemed almost alive, impaling one person after another.
At first, the civilians of the capital were terrified. The trees looked like they were killing indiscriminately. But as more and more people who had been taking advantage of the chaos were impaled on the branches, some of the civilians finally began to realize what was happening.
"These trees… these trees are killing the wicked!"
One civilian who had figured it out shouted at the top of his lungs. The troublemakers had already all been skewered onto the trees, but the sheer horror of the scene had caused massive panic, and he wanted the others to stay calm.
"A kind man, hm?"
Uchiha Chizumi couldn't see every corner of the capital, but he still noticed the one person trying to calm the crowd.
"But Wood Release really is better suited to fighting in a city than Lava Release."
"If I were using Lava Release, I'd probably have to go through the place district by district."
"But with Wood Release, all I have to do is make the trees grow beside the people with red names."
This was the first time Uchiha Chizumi had ever used Wood Release on such a large scale. Even back in Kirigakure, his Wood Release hadn't reached anything close to this size.
This time, it covered the entire capital of the Land of Water.
"The Bloody Mist… has spread across the Land of Water…"
Outside the capital, Genji had arrived at some point. He too saw what was happening inside the city.
In fact, standing outside the capital gave him a clearer view than anyone else.
Across the whole capital, the number of people impaled atop the trees born from Chizumi's Wood Release was probably in the range of two to three thousand.
And the most chilling part was that all of them had been hung high on the tops of the trees.
From a distance, it looked as though they had been deliberately displayed there—to serve as a warning to everyone.
"The Land of Water…"
"The Land of Water survived Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama… only to suffer a wound like this after their deaths."
"Absolute Justice…"
"Can a Land of Water ruled by Absolute Justice really become better?"
Genji let out a long sigh. He had no idea what the future of the Land of Water would look like.
He knew perfectly well that the country was rotten from top to bottom, and that its sins were plain for anyone to see.
But the consequences of purging all of that evil were simply too severe—so severe that people could hardly bear to accept them.
Seventy percent of the Land of Water's nobles were gone.
Kirigakure's ninja had been reduced to a mere tenth of what it once was.
Even knowing how obvious the country's corruption was, no one had ever dared make such a move.
Only Uchiha Chizumi—only that man who upheld Absolute Justice—would ignore every possible consequence and carve a massive chunk of rot straight out of the Land of Water.
"If you survive, the shinobi world really might become a better place."
"But can you survive?"
"You've already slaughtered the nobles and daimyo of both the Land of Fire and the Land of Water in succession. Do you really think the daimyo of the Earth, Lightning, and Wind Countries can sit still after this?"
"Another great ninja war… may truly not be far off."