The screams in the canyon gradually faded.
Flames still burned. The air was filled with the nauseating stench of charred flesh.
Of the three hundred members of the Wind Resistance Army, only corpses remained. Not a single one stood.
Aramaki was thrown at Fugaku's feet like a dead dog. His limbs were broken, his Chakra sealed, making even suicide impossible.
With his one remaining eye, he stared fixedly at Fugaku, blood-tinged foam bubbling at the corner of his mouth.
"Konoha... will... eventually... face retribution..."
"Retribution?"
Fugaku took the towel handed to him and wiped the blood from his hands. "History is written by the victors. Only the defeated speak of retribution."
He tossed the towel aside and glanced around.
"Clean this up. Cut off all their heads."
The surrounding Uchiha did not hesitate. Kunai were drawn.
A new wave of slaughter began.
To these elites, veterans of the Ninja World War, this was routine.
Some of the younger Uchiha even looked flushed with excitement.
This was the intoxication brought by power.
As long as one was strong enough, they could trample on the enemy's dignity as they pleased.
"Captain."
A Hyuga approached.
Though he'd long known of the Uchiha's ruthless nature, witnessing this hellish scene firsthand still made him uneasy.
"No other ambushes detected," he reported. "Within a five-kilometer radius, not even a sand lizard was found."
"Looks like that guy Ao is smarter than expected."
Fugaku sneered. He had already gathered intel from other captives.
"They traded a few explosive tags and a bunch of fools for one of our camps."
"A good deal for Kirigakure."
"Then what now...?"
"What now?"
Fugaku looked down at Aramaki. "Take him and these 'trophies.'"
"We're going on a tour of the Land of Wind."
"A tour?" the Hyuga asked.
"No."
Fugaku shook his head. "A parade."
"I want those who are still watching, still fantasizing, to understand one thing."
"This is the consequence of resisting the Land of Fire."
…
Three days later.
In what was once one of the Land of Wind's largest towns.
An unprecedented display was underway.
No flowers. No ribbons.
Only carts hauling wooden cages slowly rolling through the streets.
Inside the cages were sun-darkened heads.
Aramaki was tied to a cross on the first cart. Naked, his wounds festering, he hovered between life and death.
But he was not dead yet.
Fugaku had specifically ordered medical-nin to keep him alive.
"Look! That's Lord Aramaki!"
"Oh no... that's the second son of our neighbor…"
More and more onlookers gathered along the street.
Some covered their mouths in horror. Others collapsed in fright. Many stood pale and trembling.
Fear.
That most primal, raw fear, spread through the crowd like a plague.
Konoha shinobi flanked both sides of the procession, their blades gleaming coldly in the sun.
Anyone who dared show even a flicker of hostility, even a disrespectful look,
The next second, their head would fall.
The procession finally arrived at the square in front of the Wind Sub-Division Management Office.
Fugaku stepped onto the high platform, gazing down at the dense crowd below.
Once the Kazekage Building, it now bore the title of the Management Office.
Orochimaru stood above, watching with amusement. "These methods make him seem more like a villain than me."
Fugaku ignored him and stepped forward.
The square fell instantly silent.
Even a baby's cries were muffled by its mother.
"I know what you're all thinking." Fugaku's voice, amplified with Chakra, rang out clearly.
"You think Konoha is an invader."
"You think one day you'll drive us out."
"You think the so-called Resistance forces are heroes."
Fugaku gestured to the cages of severed heads behind him.
"These are your heroes."
"Rats hiding in the dark, using cowardly ambushes, only to be crushed like insects."
The crowd stirred, but fear quickly smothered it again.
"The Land of Wind is gone."
Fugaku's voice grew louder. "This is now the Wind Province of the Land of Fire."
"Daimyo-sama is merciful. He gives you food. He gives you work. He lets your children read."
"And how do you repay him?"
"By harboring rogue shinobi? By secretly funding them?"
Fugaku raised his hand.
Several bound merchants were dragged forward.
These were well-known local nobles, and also the financial backers of the Resistance.
Now, they knelt, faces ashen, desperately begging for mercy.
"Please, have mercy! We were forced!"
"I'll give up all my wealth!"
"I don't want to die!"
Fugaku didn't spare them a glance.
He spoke one word coldly.
"Kill."
Swish.
Blades flashed.
Several heads rolled to the ground. Blood sprayed several meters, staining the clothes of the front-row civilians.
Screams finally erupted.
But under the cold pressure of the Konoha shinobi, no one dared to move.
"From today onward,"
Fugaku stepped through the blood, his gaze sweeping across the square like a sharpened blade.
"Anyone who dares speak of restoring the nation will meet this end."
"Anyone who shelters rogue shinobi will have their entire family executed."
"Anyone who obstructs Daimyo-sama's reforms... will be killed without mercy."
The phrase "killed without mercy" shattered the last of the Wind citizens' will.
One person knelt.
Then another. Then more.
Soon, the entire square was filled with people bowing their heads.
Whether it was true submission or fear-driven surrender.
In this moment, they all knelt.
Their spines broken.
Fugaku watched the scene, and the tension in his body finally began to ease.
It was done.
With the most brutal and bloody methods, he had broken this hard shell for Daimyo-sama.
His reputation would be in ruins. He might be remembered as a butcher.
But he didn't care.
The Uchiha Clan was a blade forged to walk in the dark.
If this brought their rise, if it earned Daimyo-sama's trust.
Then infamy was a small price to pay.
He turned to the dying Aramaki.
Though barely breathing, hatred still burned in that one remaining eye.
"It's over."
Fugaku drew his kunai and pressed it to Aramaki's chest.
"In your next life, be born to a stronger clan. Not a weak nation."
Pfft.
The kunai pierced flesh.
Aramaki's body trembled violently, then went limp.
That last glimmer of resentment vanished in his cloudy eye.
The final spark of resistance in the Land of Wind was extinguished.
Orochimaru stepped into the square and clapped slowly. "A wonderful speech, Fugaku-kun."
"Daimyo-sama should be very satisfied."
Fugaku sheathed his kunai, ignored the sarcasm, and looked eastward.
Toward Konoha.
"Write the report."
He spoke quietly. "Tell Daimyo-sama that the Land of Wind has been pacified."
"And…"
His eyes narrowed as he remembered the mastermind who had slipped away.
"Request special operations against Kirigakure."
"The Uchiha aren't finished with them."
The desert wind blew on, carrying the scent of blood far into the distance.
On this blood-soaked land, a new era was beginning to rise—cruel and unrelenting.
This was just the beginning.
(To be continued.)