They Believe It

The sky over the Land of Grass had transformed into a gloomy canvas, painted with shreds of dark clouds.

Through the sparse gaps between these clouds, rays of sunlight filtered through, creating a surreal contrast between light and shadow over the Konoha camp.

At the center of this almost dreamlike scenario was the body of the fallen ninja with his head missing.

The eyes of countless ninjas were fixed on this spectacle.

The shock was palpable.

No one, not even in their darkest nightmares, would have imagined witnessing something like this in the very heart of their camp.

Luo Lei's act had been so sudden, so brutal, that the minds of those present struggled to process it.

"Gurgh..."

The guttural sound broke the silence that had fallen over the camp.

Obito, who had moved away from the scene, could no longer contain his nausea. With a violent spasm, he doubled over and began to vomit uncontrollably.

Despite his experience on the battlefield, where he himself had killed, this was different.

Luo Lei's brutality, the way he had eliminated a ninja without blinking, was something that went beyond the horrors he was used to.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he turned to Kakashi, seeking support from his friend.

With a trembling voice, he placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder.

"Kakashi, your friend is a damn psychopath," he muttered with a pale face. "It's a good thing you're not that crazy. If you were, I could never be your friend."

Kakashi, visibly disturbed but maintaining his composure, looked at Obito's hand with disgust. "Get your hand off me," he growled, moving away and wiping his shoulder.

"You're disgusting. Who said we're friends?"

"Incredible!" Rin's enthusiastic exclamation cut through the tension between the two boys. Her eyes shone with a mixture of admiration and something darker.

Obito and Kakashi were petrified, exchanging looks of perplexity.

Rin's reaction was unexpected, so out of place, that for a moment they forgot the horror they had just witnessed.

"Incredible?" Obito finally articulated. "Rin, how can you think that was incredible? He just blew someone's head off!"

Kakashi studied Rin with a penetrating gaze. "Interesting," he murmured. "It seems the perception of brute force varies significantly between genders."

"Wow... this?" Yūgao's voice also sounded.

Like Rin, Yūgao found herself hypnotized by Luo Lei's display of power.

Her eyes now shone with an almost feverish light.

Luo Lei, apparently oblivious to the effect he was having on the kunoichi, shifted his attention to Jiraiya.

With a casual gesture, he threw the headless body he was still holding in front of the Sannin, raising a small cloud of dust.

Yūgao observed every movement of Luo Lei with a palpable intensity.

The way he moved, the confidence in every gesture, the brute force combined with grace... Everything about him exuded a raw and powerful masculinity that left her breathless.

"A real man," Yūgao thought, feeling a shiver run down her spine.

"L-Luo Lei-sama, again?" An ANBU's voice resonated. The tremor in his words revealed his fear.

"Jiraiya-sama, what should we do?" Another ANBU pleaded.

"You have to decide for us, Jiraiya-sama," implored a third, desperately seeking an authority figure who could contain this madness.

"Luo Lei-sama, your arrogance surpasses all limits," another dared to say, his voice a trembling whisper.

"He... he's killed another one of ours..." Disbelief tinged every word, as if they still couldn't process what they had just witnessed.

The six surviving ANBU, those who had dared to raise their voices against Luo Lei, now looked at Jiraiya with pleading eyes.

The atmosphere in the camp had transformed. The air itself seemed charged with tension.

Everyone's thoughts converged on a single idea: Luo Lei was a lunatic, a monster in human form.

How could someone, something, act with such disregard for life? And yet, there he stood among them, his hands still stained with the blood of their comrades.

The rest of the Konoha ninjas, though shocked and saddened, wisely opted for silence.

Their eyes, lowered to the ground, carefully avoided looking directly at Luo Lei or the fallen body.

They weren't fools; they had heard the rumors about what happened in Kikyoyama. They knew that Luo Lei was exactly as they said: volatile, unpredictable, lethal.

In the depths of their minds, an idea began to form.

Provoking Luo Lei was suicide.

Obedience, on the other hand, not only guaranteed survival but potentially offered the opportunity to be on the winning side, to reap the benefits of his power.

"How is this possible?" Minato felt a wave of amazement course through his body.

Luo Lei's speed was supernatural. It wasn't a space-time ninjutsu, definitely not the Hiraishin no Jutsu that Minato had perfected. No, this was something completely different.

Luo Lei had exploded into movement with pure supersonic speed, without seals, without marks, without anything but the brute force of his own body.

The Hiraishin no Jutsu, the pride of his arsenal, suddenly seemed rigid and limited in comparison. The flexibility and freedom of movement that Luo Lei had shown were simply incomparable.

"How much time has passed?" he wondered, feeling a twinge of unease. "How has Luo Lei been able to improve so much in such a short time?"

His own confidence now seemed naive and distant.

Even after mastering the Hiraishin and Sage Mode, Minato realized that he had severely underestimated Luo Lei's potential. The gap between them not only existed but seemed to be growing at an alarming rate.

"Tsk...." Beside him, Shikaku observed the scene with resignation. "So this is what the ninjas in Kikyoyama experienced,"

His brilliant mind was paralyzed by Luo Lei's irrationality and brute power.

"Not even I can find a way out of this," he realized, feeling a rare sense of helplessness. "There's no option but patience... and submission."

Inoichi and Chōza, standing next to him, were in no better state.

Both audibly swallowed, any spark of anger or defiance in their hearts extinguished by fear and the realization of their own mortality.

"Impossible...." Inoichi murmured.

"Too maniacal... too dominant," Chōza added, his large hands trembling slightly at his sides.

At that moment, an uncomfortable truth settled over them.

In this era that Luo Lei had created with his mere presence, brute force was the supreme law.

Strategies, diplomacy, even the most advanced techniques, all paled before the overwhelming power he possessed.

"Luo Lei..." Jiraiya's voice sounded with his eyes fixed on the lifeless body of the ANBU.

Clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white, he managed to say, "Can't you show at least a little respect for my position?"

Fury boiled inside him, his blood pressure shooting to dangerous levels.

In all his years as a ninja, in all the situations he had imagined when thinking about Luo Lei's arrival, he would never have imagined such a scenario.

Guilt also weighed on his shoulders. His original plan to confront the Iwagakure team ahead of time, thwarted by Luo Lei's arrival, now seemed trivial compared to the current crisis.

This feeling of guilt undermined his confidence, making him feel vulnerable in the face of Luo Lei's imposing presence.

"Can't I?" Luo Lei's response came with a casual shrug. "I discovered they were in cahoots with Iwagakure. They deserved death."

Making a broad gesture towards the ninjas in the camp and with a voice full of confidence, he said. "If you don't believe me, ask them. They all saw it. I only acted after confirming who the traitors were."

"....."

A silence fell over the camp.

The Konoha ninjas, aware of the danger, kept their gaze low, carefully avoiding eye contact with Jiraiya.

Their silence was a tacit acceptance of Luo Lei's words.

"You see, Jiraiya?" Luo Lei smiled. "No one opposes. Clearly, everyone agrees with me."

Jiraiya trembled with rage and pointed his finger at Luo Lei. He wanted to scream, he wanted to demand justice, but the words refused to leave his throat.

'What the hell is going on?' he thought.

The accusation of conspiracy with Iwagakure was absurd, but how could he refute it when everyone else seemed to accept it silently?

The cowardice of his own ninjas hurt him almost as much as Luo Lei's actions.

'Why don't they say anything?' he wondered, feeling a pang of disappointment.

But deep down, he knew the answer. The fear of Luo Lei was palpable, a fear that he himself felt growing inside him.

With the forces of Konoha and Iwagakure in a delicate balance, an internal conflict now would be disastrous.

Not only would it weaken their position against the enemy, but it would also draw the ire of Konoha's high command upon him.

Jiraiya felt as if invisible claws were scratching at his heart. Helplessness, frustration, fear... everything mixed inside him.

________

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