Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 101 Massacre of the Village
"what?"

Upon returning from a mission, Jonin Aoki, the team leader, looked at his subordinate with a bewildered expression and asked, "Are you kidding me?"

"Captain, team leader, they're all dead! Really! They're all dead!!"

Tears streamed down the face of the ninja, his features contorted with terror, and his voice was almost a scream.

"You bastard! Do you know what you're saying?"

Aoki frowned deeply, then led the group, some surprised and some doubtful, into Kusagakure Village, suppressing their inner turmoil.

As the darkest hour before dawn passed, a pale, lifeless gray, like the belly of a dead fish, appeared on the horizon, and the fog that had enveloped Kusagakure began to sink and dissipate.

However, the morning light only dissipates the moisture, bringing no warmth or vitality whatsoever.

What appeared in the faint morning light was an absolutely desolate wasteland.

An absolute dead zone.

At this moment, there was no movement in the Hidden Grass Village. There were no human voices, no birdsong, and even the insects seemed to have disappeared.

The wind blew through the empty streets, stirring up a cold current carrying morning mist and dust, its mournful sound like the sigh of the dead.

"..."

Aoki's astonishment and slight impatience remained frozen on his face.

The group of Kusagakure ninjas following behind, who had been looking forward to hot food and a bed after their exhaustion, all froze on their faces.

“No…it’s impossible…” someone squeezed out a dry voice from their throat.

But when they actually saw the entire Kusagakure village after the morning mist had cleared, even the last shred of self-deception vanished like a bubble.

Dead body.

There were corpses everywhere.

On the streets, in the courtyards, inside the houses...

Scattered among them were hundreds and thousands of corpses in various poses, all of whom were ninjas they knew.

Empty eyes reflected the deathly light of dawn; some were twisted, some were curled up, some were frozen, and some stretched out their arms in vain, silently telling of the terror and despair of death's arrival.

Every corpse had lost its color without exception, presenting an eerie mixture of waxy white and ashen gray.

Those are the traces left after life is depleted following the stripping away of the soul.

The density of these corpses was so high that they almost covered everything in sight.

An indescribable aura of death and fear, an almost tangible odor, assaulted everyone's nostrils, instantly triggering nausea and dizziness.

"vomit!"

A young ninja's legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees, the sound of violent retching shattering the silence.

No one helped him up, and the others, like clay or wooden sculptures, scanned the nightmarish scene with unfocused eyes.

“Really… all of them…” A Kusagakure ninja’s voice was dry, like sandpaper being rubbed.

"What on earth happened?" Aoki felt his hands and feet were ice cold, as if his blood had stopped flowing, and he subconsciously staggered forward a few steps.

But just then, a faint, suppressed sob, almost carried away by the wind, suddenly came from the house on the left.

In this absolutely silent graveyard, this faint sound was like a spark piercing the darkness, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

"There are still people alive!" a Kusagakure ninja exclaimed.

Like drowning people grasping at a last straw, the crowd, filled with fear and a hint of ecstasy, rushed haphazardly toward the source of the sound.

Seemingly hearing their footsteps, a head popped out of the house, its face pale and bloodless.

Upon seeing the group of Kusagakure ninja, a look of bewilderment, as if he had just survived a calamity, appeared on his face.

Not only him, but many more people heard the sound and began to emerge from their hiding places.

The group of Grass Village ninjas spotted their family members among them and immediately rushed over to hug each other and cry their hearts out.

But without exception, all those who survived were civilians.

"What's going on? What happened?"

Aoki grabbed the man's shoulders, his face twisted in a ferocious grimace as he demanded, "Why are you the only ones who survived? Where are the others?!"

"Dead...all dead..." the man murmured blankly, his eyes glazed over. "Monsters, unseen monsters, impossible to stop, impossible to escape..."

"What do you mean?" A chill ran down Aoki's spine. "What are you talking about?" An unseen monster?

Is he so frightened that he's talking nonsense?

"Captain! Captain! Look!"

A ninja from the Hidden Grass Village crouched in front of a corpse. Seemingly having discovered something, he looked up in terror and said in a trembling voice, "There are no wounds, and no signs of poisoning!"

"what?"

Aoki's heart clenched, and he rushed forward to examine the corpse closely.

He then ran to the other corpses and examined them one by one.

The first body, the second body, the third body...

No! No! Still no!

None of these corpses showed any signs of external injury or poisoning!

"How is this possible?" His voice was hoarse as he whispered, "How did they die?"

So bizarre, it's almost like someone...

The soul has been removed?
"Captain! There are more here, there are more here..."

Just then, a Kusagakure ninja staggered over, carrying a still-bleeding corpse on his back.

Blood?

Noticing the only different corpse, Aoki flashed in front of the person and snatched the body, seeing the chest that had been pierced and the heart was missing.

He suddenly looked up at the ninja and asked in a deep voice, "Where was this body found?"

“Yes, it is…” the grass ninja’s throat bobbed up and down, “in that woman’s house.”

"A woman?" Aoki was taken aback for a moment, but quickly remembered and said in disbelief, "Is it that woman from the Uzumaki clan?"

With her? How could that be? How could that woman have the guts to do such a thing, and how could she have the strength to slaughter most of Kusagakure?!
"Captain, Captain," the Grass Village ninja pointed at the corpse, his voice trembling, "You, look behind him..."

Aoki subconsciously lowered his head, turned the corpse over, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly.

Two lines of text were clearly etched on the back of the corpse.

[The pain of being torn apart by one's past physical body]

[If I do not enter the Pure Land now, I will repay everything.]

"It really is that bitch?!"

Aoki's expression gradually turned ferocious, his resentful anger overpowering his fear: "We took her and that brat in, and not only does she not know how to be grateful, she actually did something like this!"

Although I don't know exactly how that woman did it, those two sentences are very clear!
"Chase her!" He stood up abruptly, looked at the other Kusagakure ninja, and shouted sharply, "She's with that brat, she can't have gone far! Give it to her..."

"team leader!"

Before he could finish speaking, a ninja from the Grass Village couldn't help but interrupt, his body trembling as he said, "She's dead!"

"..."

There was a deathly silence; the air seemed to freeze instantly.

Everyone present looked on in astonishment, and someone blurted out, "What did you say?"

"She's dead! Dead! Her body has been burned, right there in that house!"

The ninja from Kusagakure finally succumbed to the soul-crushing fear, pointing at the blood-red words and screaming in despair, "It's that woman! She cursed us all after she died!"

These words ignited fear in those who survived.

"It's her? That monster, that monster is her?!"

The image of the invisible, soul-devouring Grim Reaper from last night merged with the image of a woman who died with resentment in her long agony.

A chilling fear originating from the depths of their souls instantly overwhelmed everyone present.

Even Aoki, who had been the most furious just moments before, felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

This is the deep-seated human fear of the unknown.

What's more, besides these dead people, he had also bitten that woman.

(End of this chapter)