Keizumi did not know what those nobles of the Land of Water were doing, but he had just happened to hear a line that would stir up a shinobi world war, and he naturally let out a sigh.
"Who are you?!"
When the Daimyō of the Land of Water heard that sigh behind him, his entire body seemed to freeze.
In fact, the Daimyō of the Land of Water had already formed a guess about the identity of the one who had come, yet he still forced himself to maintain his expression, even letting out an angry shout in hopes of stirring up the morale of the ninja beside those nobles.
"I can't be bothered to waste words on you. You're not worthy of hearing them!"
"In these eyes of mine, the evil on you is so dense it's almost overflowing!"
Keizumi merely glanced at the Daimyō of the Land of Water. As his hands formed seals, one tree after another directly pierced through the Daimyō's body.
Until the final moment of his life, the Daimyō's eyes were still filled with disbelief.
He could not believe that Keizumi would not even say a few more words before acting directly. Was he not afraid that his actions would trigger a new round of shinobi world war?
"Wood Release: Cutting Technique!"
As Keizumi's cold voice fell, wails and pleas for mercy instantly filled the entire Daimyō residence.
But the Wood Release-derived technique showed no mercy whatsoever. In just a short time, the entire Daimyō residence of the Land of Water had completely turned into a blood-soaked ground.
The ninja whom the Daimyō and the nobles had placed their hopes on did try to resist, but before they could even react, they themselves were already impaled on the branches.
"Not even a decent resistance…"
"The power of the Blood Mist…"
Keizumi looked at the nobles and the Daimyō who were gradually losing the light in their eyes and could not help but shake his head.
Terumī Mei had already told him the truth about the Blood Mist. The reason Kirigakure carried out the Blood Mist policy was indeed that the Fourth Mizukage wanted to eliminate dissidents, but to a greater extent, it was due to the financial constraints imposed by the Daimyō of the Land of Water.
Without money, Kirigakure could not sustain so many ninja—those in excess could only die!
Boom—!!!
Massive trees began to grow within the Daimyō residence, and the force of their growth directly tore the entire compound apart.
Across the capital of the Land of Water, everyone stared blankly in the direction of the Daimyō residence.
"What… is that?"
Some uninformed minor nobles looked toward the Daimyō residence in confusion, not understanding how such a massive tree could suddenly grow there.
"Uchiha Keizumi!"
"That madman called Uchiha Keizumi really came—not only did he come, he went straight to the Daimyō residence!"
"He has already killed the Daimyō of the Land of Fire—he absolutely dares to kill our Daimyō of the Land of Water!"
Some nobles who knew about the upheaval in Kirigakure guessed that what had happened at the Daimyō residence must be connected to that man who had single-handedly flattened Kirigakure—Uchiha Keizumi.
Although they did not understand why what appeared at the residence was trees, rather than the Lava Release mentioned in the intelligence.
"Go, hurry!"
"Leave the capital—once we're out, we'll be safe!"
Some minor nobles were already whipping their servants, urging them to flee. With the Daimyō residence already fallen, they did not dare imagine what would happen if they remained.
As for the so-called absolute justice Uchiha Keizumi preached—that he would not slaughter the innocent?
Leaving aside the fact that these fleeing nobles had guilty consciences, just the fact that Konoha's ninja had already reached the capital of the Land of Water—who would dare believe that Keizumi truly only killed evildoers?
For the civilians of the Land of Water, tonight was undoubtedly the most intense night of their lives.
Countless trees burst forth wildly from underground. These trees seemed to possess a will of their own, impaling one person after another directly onto their trunks.
At first, the civilians were utterly terrified—these trees appeared to be killing indiscriminately. But as those who took advantage of the chaos to commit evil were impaled, some civilians gradually realized what was happening.
"These trees—these trees are killing the wicked!"
A civilian who had grasped the truth shouted loudly. Although those who had committed crimes in the chaos were already impaled, the horrifying scene had caused massive panic, and he wanted to keep others calm.
"A kind person, hm?"
Although Keizumi could not see the entire capital, he still noticed the person who was calling for others to remain calm.
"Still, Wood Release is indeed more suitable for use in a city than Lava Release."
"If it were Lava Release, I'd probably have to move from place to place."
"But with Wood Release, I only need to make it grow near those marked in red."
This was the first time Keizumi had used Wood Release on such a large scale. Even in Kirigakure, he had not used it to this extent—this time, it directly encompassed the entire capital of the Land of Water.
"The power of the Blood Mist… has spread to the Land of Water…"
Outside the capital, Genji had appeared at some unknown time, and he too witnessed the changes within.
Because he stood outside the capital, he could see even more clearly than anyone else.
Throughout the capital, those impaled upon the trees created by Wood Release numbered in the thousands—two or three thousand at least. Most crucially, every one of them had been hung at the tops of the trees.
From a distance, those evildoers looked as though they had been deliberately displayed there—to serve as a warning to all.
"The Land of Water…"
"It did not fall under Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, yet after their deaths, it suffers such devastation."
"Absolute justice…"
"Under absolute justice, can the Land of Water truly become better?"
Genji sighed. He did not know what future awaited the Land of Water. He knew full well that from top to bottom, there were problems—evils visible to the naked eye.
But to completely purge those evils carried consequences too severe—so severe that they were almost impossible to accept.
Seventy percent of the nobles of the Land of Water were gone. Only one-tenth of Kirigakure's ninja remained. Even knowing how blatant the corruption was, not a single person had dared to act.
Only Uchiha Keizumi—only that man who upheld absolute justice—would disregard all consequences and directly carve away a massive piece of the Land of Water's rotten flesh!
"If you do not die, perhaps the shinobi world truly could become better."
"But can you avoid death?"
"After consecutively slaughtering the nobles and even the Daimyō of the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, can the Daimyō of the Land of Earth, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Wind still sit still?"
"A shinobi world war… may truly not be far off!"