Manipulation !

Madara was undoubtedly an outstanding fighter, but he had an extraordinary ability to use words and to use them to his advantage. Without the help of his clan's own illusions, Madara Uchiha knew how to handle words as skillfully as he used a sword. He liked to compare himself to the adage : the pen is stronger than the sword, because he knew that with his charisma and the power he had over others, he could exercise any kind of mental or psychological manipulation without any problem.

He therefore had the ability to deliberately use his oratorical talents to lead his interlocutors to have a different perception of reality and above all to influence or even control their thoughts, choices and even their actions. To do this, psychological manipulation brought into play a relationship of seduction, suggestion, persuasion, and non-voluntary or consenting submission.

The Uchiha thus relied on this invisible weapon, his ease with words, to positively influence the thoughts of the crowd in front of him. Indeed, just as a rumour spreads in the blink of an eye, an idea and a conviction can be spread even faster. With a simple sentence or an act done at the right time you can make an idea germinate in people's minds. That same idea will be thought about, nurtured and consolidated by people. And this is what Uchiha Madara wanted to exploit.

Day 189

For several days they had been travelling from Tsuchi no Kuni the land of earth towards Hi No Kuni the land of fire in order to conduct guerrilla raids. The Shodai Tsukikage had been formal, war would soon be declared and it was necessary to do as much damage as possible while Hi No Kuni was unaware of anything. So several teams, including his own, were sent to burn crops, set up ambushes, take prisoners of war, all without making themselves known. Stealth was paramount in this operation.

His group had already razed four villages between Tsuchi No Kuni and Hi No Kuni and they had almost reached a larger village. This one was closer to being a town than a village, however it was too small to have an armed force or even shinobi. If a ninja was there it would be by pure chance or because he had family here. But in any case, what could a single ninja do against his unit of ten soldiers.

Because of the danger of the mission there were no Genin in his squad, it was mostly composed of Chunin and some Jônin. Only he, Fuji, was an elite Jônin to oversee this operation. He was not just anyone, he was one of the disciplines of the great Ryôtenbin no Ônoki, himself a disciple of the highly respected Mû-sama, number one contender for the title of Nidaime Tsuchikage.

Of course he was not yet of their level, but was more than competent in the ninja arts. Only a few fighters in the world would be able to stand up to him. He didn't count the Kages of course, they were out of class ninjas that he wouldn't stand a chance against and he was ordered to run away when he saw them.

Fuji raised his arm in the air before closing his fist, signalling to his entire squad to stop advancing : they had reached their destination. From the edge of the forest where they were, it was easy to see the large village in the distance, smoke was billowing from the houses, some people were in the fields finishing the last harvest. For yes, Hi No Kuni was lucky enough to have a temperate climate for a longer period of time, allowing for larger harvests spread out over time.

— "You two," Fuji pointed to two shinobi dressed as earth ninjas, "go around and once you're in position, step aside and prepare to receive any escape from the villagers. As agreed, no prisoners."

— "Hai," said the two concerned, who disappeared in an instant to take up their positions.

— "Nanako, do you sense a source of chakra in the area ?" The squad leader asked, turning to a teenager. He was one of the newly appointed Chunin, he was part of this squad because of his sensory ability, which was an indispensable asset in this kind of mission.

— "No, for the moment there is nothing in the whole village and its surroundings... Keiko and Kenshi are positioned according to your orders," the ninja replied, his eyes closed to concentrate.

— "Fine, we won't destroy the grain silos, or the granaries," Fuji announced once more as he turned towards the village. "Let's go !"

And so, eight Tsuchi No Kuni ninjas charged towards a village and the carnage began. A villager who was chopping down wheat with a large scythe had no idea what was going on and never saw the blade that decapitated him in an instant. He felt no pain and it was with complete incomprehension that he saw his body a metre away from him. Then, after a few seconds, darkness invaded his thoughts due to the lack of oxygen... and he died.

They were trained to kill, they were professionals, they had done this all their lives, so the villagers didn't stand a chance. The men were killed, the women and children too.

— "Doton : Tarumi !" Exclaimed one of the shinobi as he performed seals before placing his hands on the ground. The release of chakra into the ground caused it to collapse nearly fifty feet, collapsing four houses with their occupants onto themselves.

— "Ahhh ! Run away !" Shouted one of the villagers before collapsing to the ground with a kunai stuck in his back.

— "Fuji-sama !" The sensory ninja shouted.

Fuji stopped what he was doing and quickly turned his gaze to the one who had shouted his name. This had never happened before in the middle of an assault, so it must have been important. Especially when he saw the look of terror on his subordinate's face. The latter's eyes were wide and he was shaking like a leaf.

— "Who is it ?" Fuji asked quickly as he approached while the others continued their mission.

— "Two sources of chakra are approaching at full speed in our direction," the shinobi explained.

— "Threat level ?" Fuji asked quickly, he hadn't planned on facing ninjas, even if it was a risk.

— "Level S Fuji-sama !" Exclaimed the concerned one who was shaking more and more.

Fuji froze for a moment as he heard the threat level. Very few people in the world had an amount of chakra that could be called S level. This was not good, this was really not good, most of his squad was mere B level and only two of them were A level.

— "How long before they get here ?" Fuji asked.

The sensory ninja didn't have time to answer as a surge of foreign chakra was felt in the village. It was so large and different that it could be felt by anyone who wasn't a sensory guy. Barely a second later he saw the body of one of his soldiers being blown away, dead.

He immediately turned his gaze towards the threat ready to defend himself. In this situation he had to either flee or buy his squad time to retreat. But would that be possible ?

— "Order 10 !" Fuji shouted to his men signaling that a threat was among their ranks and that the previous mission was being interrupted to deal with the new threat. There were two of them, a tall man dressed in a kimono in brown, a straw hat on his head, there were also two swords on his belt until he drew one. This one had very long hair that reached his buttocks and was black as night.

The other person was a... Fuji blinked twice as he saw what was in front of him. Was he in a Genjutsu ? In front of him was a pink haired woman in a combat outfit, a sword at her back. He couldn't mistake the two newcomers : they were ninjas. However, they didn't seem to be affiliated with any village as they had no protective headbands. Deserters ? Perhaps, or they were inhabitants of this village and that would be really bad luck for Fuji's squad.

The two protagonists had a hard, closed look on their faces. Fuji didn't have time to think any longer as the two split up and attacked his troops. It wasn't two seconds before two of his men were dead. One was simply decapitated, while the other had an arm ripped off and was thrown against a building.

When Fuji saw this, he knew they had no chance. He didn't know who they were, but they had to run if they didn't all want to die.

— "Retreat ! Direction point A !" Fuji ordered before charging towards the shinobi. He wanted to buy time for his fellow shinobi before he fled himself.

— "Sakura-san, you take care of him, I'll take care of the runners," Madara ordered as he saw the others fleeing towards the edge of the forest. He channeled chakra into his legs and propelled himself forward. It didn't take long for him to catch up to the first fugitive, whom he decapitated in one fluid motion without stopping his run.

— "He's chasing us !" Shouted one of the earth ninjas.

Three kunai were thrown at Madara from three different sources. The dark-haired man in turn threw a kunai that hit one of the approaching weapons, deflecting it from its trajectory. With his sword he blocked the second before shifting to avoid the third weapon. All this without ever stopping his run.

He jumped towards a tree in which one of his assailants was standing. He dodged and parried the earth shinobi's sword, then with a graceful swing of the sword, he aimed the Chunin's own weapon into his throat, killing him.

Thanks to his active Sharingan he had seen the movement of one of his enemies who was preparing his arm just before he turned his back to finish off the shinobi with his sword. Without turning around, he shifted to the side and grabbed the kunai that was aimed at him. He spun around before throwing the weapon at its owner.

The ninja dodged and prepared to flee, but Madara's intelligence and his overzealous use of simple E-rank techniques were not enough. Once the kunai was behind the soldier, Madara performed a Kawarimi no Jutsu with the kunai. Many ninja used this technique to escape a deadly technique or blow. But Madara used it as an offensive technique !

With this move, he switched places with the kunai, teleporting behind the shinobi who didn't understand what was happening to him as his head left the rest of his body.

Two of the earth shinobi were jumping from tree to tree before they came to a clearing. They were running for their lives after hearing Fuji's order. They had ignored the cries of their comrades behind them, meaning they were clearly being killed. They were running for their lives, after all they were mere Chunin, what could they do against these two people.

Nevertheless, the two of them stopped immediately once they reached the middle of the clarion. There... in front of them was one of the two enemies. He was moving slowly in their direction, his weapon drawn along his body. He was taking his time to instill fear in his enemies' bodies, he had after all just killed five ninjas without any difficulty.

He let out some of his killing intent and both Chunin shook with the knowledge that death was near. The sensory type literally fell to his knees as the effect was increased tenfold, he could feel the chakra of his opponent. Once within range of the two earth ninjas Madara raised his head to reveal his face to the two completely stunned people.

When they saw the man's face, they knew they had no chance from the start. In front of them was Uchiha Madara, one of the shinobi gods normally presumed dead. Had they been lied to ? Was it Konoha's strategy to make it look like Madara was dead in order to force them to attack ? So many questions that could never be answered because both were killed without scruples by the Uchiha.

— "Wh... why ?" Asked one of the shinobi as the life left his body.

— "For peace," Madara replied as he twisted his blade through the soldier's body, finishing him off. Madara made a quick motion with his arm around him to remove as much blood from his blade as possible, then he pulled out a piece of cloth and cleaned his blade before returning it to the scabbard.

All the while Sakura had been fighting Fuji.

When Madara had gone towards his fellow soldiers Fuji tried to hold him back, but the one called Sakura stopped him. He had to move aside to avoid a fist aimed at his face. Why had he avoided this blow ? She was just a common woman, but strangely enough his sixth sense had been screaming at him to avoid her. He also had the sensation of having escaped death.

He quickly aimed his katana at the young woman's neck in an attempt to decapitate her, but the young woman conjured a kunai in her hand with a puff of smoke. She parried his weapon at the same time.

Normally the force put into the movement would have allowed that even if he was parried the blade would continue its trajectory. But no, it felt like hitting an iron post and the impact of the blow spread through his whole arm, it was really painful.

Seeing the cloud of smoke he understood that his opponent had some knowledge of Fûinjutsu. The pink haired shinobi was once again directing her fist towards his face. He quickly channeled chakra throughout his arm and a layer of stone covered it to use it to take the punch.

It was the worst idea in his life and he knew it immediately when he felt the blow hit his arm. The stone shattered in an instant and he felt the bone inside his arm break, causing him to cry out in pain. He channeled energy into his legs to get away from her.

— "Damn it ! Who the hell are you ?" Asked Fuji, who still couldn't believe that he had been overpowered in an instant by a vulgar woman ! He received no answer, however, except that she charged him again. He had to run, or he would die. He jumped once more into the air and saw the young warrior hit the ground this time where he had been standing before. A crater formed under the impact which made Fuji's eyes widen.

— "What kind of force is this ?" Said the squad leader before running towards the edge of the forest hoping his comrades were alright.

Sakura correctly positioned her kunai in her hand to throw it at the runaway. She took her bearings and threw it with her legendary strength.

However, Fuji dodged it at the last moment and it went to plant itself in a tree. Or rather, it went through... no, destroyed the trunk of a tree more than thirty centimetres wide. Fuji was thus speechless when he saw the tree fall to the ground. If he had been hit by this attack he would have died for sure. Realizing this, fear began to invade Fuji's heart, especially when he saw the second protagonist coming out of the forest, a sign that his comrades were probably dead.

He didn't have time to think any longer about what to do as the dark-haired man in front of him charged and stuck his blade into his body. He was going to die, that was a certainty. He was exhausted, the pain was overwhelming him and the blade in his body was numbing him. He dropped his own weapon and tried to remove the straw hat to find out the identity of his captor. Madara did nothing to stop him and Fuji was able to recognize the legendary Uchiha Madara before he died.

They should have fled from the beginning.

Once Fuji was dead Sakura turned to the villagers who didn't know how to react.

— "It's alright ! We're friends and we're here to help you," Sakura shouted to reassure them and put a smile on her face. Hearing this the peasants breathed a sigh of relief and ran to the injured and dead. Sakura heard moans and cries of agony coming from one of the buildings. She didn't waste a moment and quickly cleared the rubble to see two people. It was a woman and her child. The mother had positioned herself so that her child would not be hurt, but the child had landed on her legs with one of the beams of the house.

Sakura lifted the beam with ease and pulled the young woman out. She placed the injured woman on the ground and immediately activated her Iryô Ninjutsu as the residents looked on in amazement. She must have been an envoy of the Gods to have healing magic.

— "It'll be fine, the pain will go away miss," Sakura reassured her as the bone structure fell back into place. There had been no damage to the nerves or tendons, it was just the bones in her legs that had cracked from the impact.

— "Who... who are you ?" Asked the brunette who must have been in her mid-twenties in a very small voice.

— "Me ? I'm Sakura," Sakura answered with a soothing smile, "this should be good, you should be able to stand up."

And indeed, the young woman managed to get up without any problems. She just couldn't believe it, she thought her life was completely over because she would never be able to walk again.

— "Thank you, thank you very much !" Said the brunette before bowing.

— "It's alright miss, get up," Sakura said before turning to the other villagers who were staring at her wide-eyed, while others were mourning their dead, "Are there any more injured ?"

She got no response from the people of this village. As she looked around she saw Madara return with two bodies in his arms and pile them up with the others. He was gathering up the bodies of the Tsuchi No Kuni shinobi before heading towards Sakura.

— "How can we thank you for saving us strangers ?" Asked a man who seemed to be the village leader due to his advanced age.

— "By living !" Madara exclaimed loudly to get everyone's attention. "What you have suffered today is only the beginning. A world-wide war is coming and you will be the first to be targeted. Small villages will be looted, ravaged and will be the battlefield of the coming war."

— "What ? But that's awful !" Exclaimed the village leader as a great hullabaloo broke out in the crowd.

— "I don't want to die !" Said one of the men of the village to his colleagues.

— "We should run away !" Said another villager.

— "Silence !" Madara ordered, putting a tiny bit of killing intent into his voice. It had the desired effect and everyone around him fell silent. He was truly a born leader, he was no longer the person who had to hide. He was Uchiha Madara !

— "We know a safe place where you can live in peace and security. We are here to warn as many people as possible before this war comes. We come from a country that has been granted neutrality for the upcoming war," he declared forcefully.

— "Where ?" Asked the old man.

Was it the fear he had witnessed ? Or the presence of this man ? Or was it the fact that he had seen them do unusual things that made him trust this man ?

— "Heading northeast, towards Heiwa ! You will be housed, fed, have a new home, a new job and a safe place to live in peace !" Madara argued with great emotion in his words. "You can also stay here and die, but I advise you to take as much of your belongings as you can carry and head for Heiwa... the choice is yours."

Then, without giving any more details, Madara walked over to the corpses of the ninjas.

— "What do we do, Chief ?" Asked many of the villagers.

It was common knowledge that the village headman was the one to turn to in such matters. He was currently thinking, should they stay here ? Should they warn Konoha ? Or should they accept this man's proposal ? After all, what did Konoha care about their village ? If what this man said was true and war was near, why hadn't he sent anyone to protect them ? So with all these questions in mind, the village leader made a decision.

— "Gather your things, for our safety, we are leaving !" The man announced and the villagers each went to their homes to collect their belongings.

— "What do we do with the bodies Madara-san ?" Sakura asked as she saw the earth shinobi before her.

— "Let's get all the headbands and leave one here. That will leave a message to Konoha that there is something wrong," Madara replied before untying said blindfolds from the enemies.

— "Should we burn the bodies ?" Sakura asked after sealing the blindfolds in a prepared scroll.

— "No, you're going to seal them as well, they'll be useful for another time," Madara explained before lining up the bodies to make Sakura's job easier. Sakura conjured up a large scroll in a cloud of smoke and unrolled it on the floor. She sat cross-legged in front of it and began a long series of hand signals before placing them on the large scroll.

— "Fûin !" Sakura exclaimed, sealing the ten bodies in the scroll.

— "You understand why I wanted us to start moving ?" Madara asked as he watched the young woman make the large scroll disappear.

— "Yes, I admit you were right about that," Sakura admitted as she straightened up. She never thought the land of the earth would act so quickly. After all, the history books spoke of the war in broad strokes, without giving much detail.

Within an hour, a makeshift caravan was set up by the villagers with the help of Sakura, who did her best to appear friendly, kind, helpful and concerned for everyone's welfare. She answered people's questions about this town called Heiwa.

Sakura walked up to the village headman as they were about to leave and gave him information that only he heard.

— "Head for Ta No Kuni and its capital. When you get there tell one of the guards you're coming for true peace," Sakura explained with a smile.

— "Hai, thanks again for all the strangers," the village head thanked. "Let's go !"

Then nearly one hundred and eighty people left the village. They had no time to mourn their dead, their safety was at stake.

— "I'll leave you to go seal up the remaining supplies in the attics and silos, I'll search the rest of the village and gather anything that might be useful."

And so Sakura headed for the food supplies that the caravan had failed to bring with it as it disappeared in the distance towards Ta No Kuni. And it was when she saw the amount of reserves that Sakura congratulated herself for having learned Fûinjutsu, for that would have been a huge waste of resources. She once again made a large scroll appear and placed it on the ground. This time she had to place all the boxes and barrels around the scroll. It took her a good hour to do all this and it was with a relief of satisfaction that Sakura uttered the word.

— "Fûin !"

There were enough supplies here to last a whole winter and then some. At least for a village of two hundred people, but anything was good to go when a war was on the horizon. She found Madara moving the bodies of the villagers to various places in the village.

— "Why are you doing this ?" Sakura asked curiously.

— "I don't want anyone to understand what happened here, so I'm spreading the bodies out so that it looks like the others were taken prisoner," Madara explained as he placed the last body next to a house. "Are you done, Sakura-san ?"

— "Hai."

— "Fine, I'll leave you to destroy houses and do as much damage as possible, use as many Doton techniques as you can to discredit the land and draw suspicion towards them," the dark-haired man said before heading towards the wheat fields.

Once there he channeled chakra into his lungs while making two signs with his hands.

— "Katon : Gokakyuu No Jutsu," Madara said before a tidal wave of flames engulfed the field and it burned for several hundred meters. With such heat and flow, the flames would spread across the field in no time. At the same time he heard Sakura do several Doton techniques and even saw the attic explode into a thousand pieces due to the use of explosive tags. God he loved this woman and her ways.

— "Heading to one of the vassal countries so as not to be around when Konoha comes here."

— "Hai. "