Chương 49: You want to try dying once?

These are five hot air balloons, woven from invisible strands of hair. At the bottom of each balloon, five ghostly blue flames burn. As the flames flicker, the hot air rises and twists, and along with them, visible human faces formed from the resentment of the souls within the flames tumble and twist.

The villagers were stunned when they saw this.

The bizarre and cruel images assaulted my mind.

Below the unseen balloon hangs a person, covered in wounds, limbs twisted into bizarre shapes, wearing a blood-red fox mask with a sinister smile on their face, hair disheveled, head bowed, seemingly unconscious. In excruciating pain, their limbs twitch strangely from time to time, accompanied by muscle spasms.

Dried dark red blood drips from the numerous fine cuts all over their body, splashing down from the sky, following a straight trajectory, hitting rooftops, ledges, leaves, streets, stone slabs, and people's faces and hearts.

From everyone's perspective, the defeated ANBU ninjas were eerily suspended in mid-air, their bodies engulfed in five balls of ghostly fire. Like guards escorting criminals, they steadily and ostentatiously passed through the gates of Konoha and headed deeper into the center of the village. Many people witnessed this scene.

They knew the ninjas of the Anbu, though they didn't know who they were, but they were ninjas from the village.

The village's ninjas were defeated in battle and were sent back in this way.

Without a doubt, this is a provocation and a humiliation against Konoha's authority. If not handled properly, it will be a serious blow to the village's authority.

"Can we take it down?" A Jonin wearing a Konoha vest looked up at the sky and asked.

"What should we attack?" another ninja asked with a wry smile.

"Attack people, or those five will-o'-the-wisps? Throw kunai? Can we even reach them from this height? Or use Wind Release? Water Release?"

Water Escape: Water Severing Wave Some people act faster than them.

A line of water rose from the village, spanning a distance of hundreds of meters, and shot precisely at an angle into the sky, aiming at a ball of will-o'-the-wisp.

"It's Tobirama-sama's technique."

The sharp water line pierced through the will-o'-the-wisp, the two intersecting. In just a few seconds, the spell's duration ended, and the will-o'-the-wisp was still flickering.

Upon seeing this, the pupils of many eyes contracted simultaneously.

Is there a Fire Release technique that is not afraid of Water Release?

An inextinguishable flame?

On the roof tiles, the Senju brothers stood with their arms crossed. Upon seeing this, Hashirama said in a deep voice, "This is an enemy not to be underestimated, Tobirama."

"Brother, do you have a solution?" Tobirama asked in a deep voice, his face cold.

"Let's wait for the enemy to show themselves," Hashirama said.

"She won't show up." Tobirama was certain of this, glancing at his older brother, "Do you want to be beaten to death if she shows up?"

"Then there's nothing we can do." Hashirama frowned as he looked into the air. He could vaguely sense that something existed there, something difficult to describe, something different from chakra, surrounding the ANBU ninja. It was a very dangerous thing.

It's not that there's no way to deal with it; if you can't handle it even if you take action yourself, then it's going to be difficult to manage.

Also, Hashirama was a little worried that his intervention might provoke the other party to kill him.

If possible, he still wanted to save his companion.

"Have you sensed anything unusual, Tobirama?" Tobirama's sensory abilities were far superior to Hashirama's.

"No." With his arms crossed and eyes lowered in thought, Tobirama asked, "Is there a problem?" His older brother seemed to sense something was amiss.

Hashirama said, "It might just be my imagination."

Compared to fighting such bizarre ninjas, Hashirama preferred to engage in a fair and square ninjutsu duel with Madara.

The people on the other side are a bit too much like ninjas.

This allowed Hashirama to reminisce about normal confrontations with ninjas after a long absence.

"The Demon Princess?" Hashirama sighed.

"I couldn't sense any chakra fluctuations at all. Your name is truly fitting, Tobirama." This meant that one of the Wood Release's most powerful weapons, chakra absorption, would be ineffective. Furthermore, fire counters wood. Hashirama was curious whether his Wood Release could absorb this flame, especially if it possessed a Fire Release technique of Madara's level...

Hashirama's eyes flashed...

It's quite interesting that there are ninjas who aren't afraid of me.

Tobirama's eyelid twitched. He had simply named this woman Oni-hime because he thought she liked to dress like a dead person. Who knew she would be this troublesome? Even though he had overestimated her abilities, he had underestimated her when they actually faced each other.

The opponent's fire style seems to counter my water style.

If you can't counter an element, then you're the one being countered.

The complete lack of chakra felt to Tobirama like the ghostly flames that floated in the night sky on the battlefield when he was a child—a feeling of emptiness that Tobirama experienced in the same way.

"Is it magic, brother?"

"No," Hashirama confirmed.

Wearing a blood-red fox mask, the ANBU ninja flew through the air, plunging the entire village into an eerie silence, until he steadily came to a stop above the Konoha Hokage Building, floating openly and honestly.

In terms of behavior, it's no different from defecating on someone's face.

Tobirama's face was grim, but he always had a gloomy expression, so it wasn't very noticeable.

"Look! What's that!?"

Konoha Academy wasn't far from the Hokage Building. The kids in the academy, who were only a few years old, noticed something strange happening near the Hokage Building. One ninja after another was leaping over the nearby rooftops, the sounds of them flashing through the air filling the air.

The duel had come to an abrupt halt, and the kids all jumped over the school wall to watch what was happening at the Hokage Building.

"What happened?"

"Was that Tobirama-sama's technique just now?"

"So many ninjas, are they enemies?"

In the past three years, the village has rarely seen such a spectacle.

"It seems something bad has happened in the village. Hiruzen, let's fight again next time." Danzo stared at the Hokage Building, his eyes filled with curiosity and eagerness.

The most distinctive feature of these young boys is their boldness. They always ask, "Do you dare?" and then, "I dare!" Some of these little devils all have the same expression.

Adult ninjas dared not act rashly due to their many concerns, but the teenagers had fewer such concerns. Some boys had already slipped away and headed towards the Hokage Building.

Seeing his classmates' actions, and after thinking for a moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi followed suit.

An enemy? Who could it be? Madara Uchiha?

The ninjas gathered at the top of the Hokage Building, scattered around, and all looked up at the figure in the sky.

It was unclear how it took to fly, there was no obvious target to attack, and it was impossible to sense the caster's location. The conspicuous, eerie blue flames and water escape techniques were ineffective, leaving it completely helpless.

All everyone could do was watch and wait for further instructions.

The will-o'-the-wisp, carrying gifts, moved and circled around the Hokage Building in a showy manner. After several circles, its altitude began to decrease.

Seeing this, the ninjas became alert and silently drew their kunai swords.

Until the gift arrived safely and landed on the ground.

The gift has been delivered...

"Let's go, little demon." Jielu gave the command, and Lucy flapped her wings, pulling Jielu away. Through the layers of clouds, her scarlet eyes looked down at Konoha.

I want to say that I will come again.

But it's too much of a mixed bag.

What should I say as parting words?

"You want to try dying, Tobirama Senju...?"

Jieluo smiled faintly and flew away without looking back.

On the ground, Tobirama watched with a gloomy expression as Yura left, ultimately not even knowing her name.

"Brother, she's gone," Tobirama said coldly, his face expressionless except for his gloom.

Hashirama nodded, thought for a moment, waved his hand, said nothing, and turned to leave.

Looking at his desolate and gloomy older brother's back, Tobirama lowered his head, his older brother still immersed in the pain of losing Uchiha Madara.