"So our opponent is most likely Uzumaki Klara, or... Yuugure of the Rain.", Sakumo said with a frown.

"We don't know what she want... but killing civilians is an act nobody could accept.", Jiraiya gritted his teeth, "We don't know enough about her capabilities."

Orochimaru was examining the soil, touch it and even eat it to feel the properties of the dirty. It made him furrowed his brows into a deep frown.

"The soil here is strange.", he commented, "There aren't enough Nature Energy in them... rather, the imbalance of it is abnormal and... creepy."

"We had already evacuated everyone from the front... worst case scenario is The Blood Demon aim for the capital.", Sakumo sighed, looking to the West.

Then...

Everyone tensed up and got into battle position. Whatever come their way, they would fight to the bitter end...

But... what came was not what they expected.

Laughters, joyous laughters of children. Appearing out of the forest, on top of trees... are shadows, Shades, of children.

""Look!""

""Hehe!""

""Can we eat them?""

""Hungry""

""Kill!""

""Shinobi?""

""Fun! Fun! Fun!""

Sakumo drew his sword out cautiously, facing the Shade children. He cannot measure their Chakra level... since their are none.

"What... are you.", he think out loud.

The children stopped chatting with each other, now all of their wispy purple eyes landed on the White Fang.

""Ginga""

""We are Ginga""

""Zero Tails""

""People of Sky""

""Hatred""

""Hatred created by You""

""Land of Fire...""

""Must burn.""

The Shades attacked at the same time, they flickered all around the three Kage level shinobi. But Sakumo used his Chakra blade to slice three of them, Jiraiya shot out hair needles pinning severals, and Orochimaru just stayed back to observe the situation.

""Hehe!""

""We will be back!""

""Let us have more fun!""

One caught the White Fang off guard, sinking her teeth into his left arm. In an instant, he sliced through the Shade's neck, returning her to a misty purple smoke.

But it was too late as Corruption veins started to grows on his arm. Saying it was painful is an understatement, he felt his Chakra becoming more erratic and uncontrollable.

Seeing that their opponent does not fear death, he made his decision.

"Orochimaru! Make an escape!", Sakumo commanded, seeing the situation unsolvable.

Orochimaru nodded, he performed several Hand Seals, "Great Serpent Road!"

A mass Summoning Jutsu, summoning hundreds of snakes to make a path. Even if the Shades are immortal rage filled spirits, they can only take so much before returning to Klara.

Having a path filled with serpents biting the Shades, Orochimaru performed an Earth Style Jutsu to fling the snakes away for the other two.

They made their escape... but the sound of laughing children haunts them, mocking them for running away— they simply do not have enough shinobi at hand with the four way attack.

"Why aren't they chasing us?", Sakumo wondered, looking back at the darkness filled with purple glints.

"We simply don't have enough information about them...", Jiraiya clicked his tongue in frustration. It was like dealing with a massive horde of zombies, undying and possess no fear of death.

But Orochimaru had made observations on what exactly they are. Well, the Shades told them. With some quick thinking, he made a theory of what the Shades are and spoke to the other two.

"They are most likely cursed spirits, remnants of what was once people, made of resentments and hatred in life...", Orochimaru hung a silence in the air, afraid of speak his next words.

But Jiraiya spoke for him, "Their target is the Land of Fire itself..."

To dispell a cursed spirit you need to absolve them of their regrets and resentments, that much Orochimaru knew after the incidents with Klara - he dug deeper into all available records about the spiritual world... without an Exorcist or an Onmyoji, destroying them is impossible...

Then again, they are all a part of the Zero Tails, so if they destroy the main body... Klara... it seems even more impossible as Orochimaru remembered the last time he faced her. Indestructable armor, overwhelming power, and a Madness to match.

An Uzumaki on a warpath, filled with hatred for this very world.

=0=0=

Klara wander the land filled with red mist, it reminded her of her second home, the Chishio Forest. The smell of blood in the air is pungent with the smell of blood that would nake anyone vomit... but for her, it was a wonderful scent.

"Around ten thousands are dead, becoming fertilizer for our new nation...", she smiles, baring her mouth full of sharp teeth to the sky, her eyes blindfolded by the Adamantine Chains but a purple glow can still be seen.

Dragging her war axe behind, the sharp blade facing upward, she relied on her sense of smell to look for victims, not even using her Mind's Eye of the Kagura... because it is way more fun this way.

Her steps were quiet as the dead land around her, only her occational hums break the silence of the cursed land.

After a few hours of just walking, she came across a grave... no, just a mound where a body was burried. Villages usually does not have gravestone, since they usually take up ground for farming...

But this made Klara stopped, a faint smile formed on her face.

"Right... I should come back to Uzushio... they deserve gravestones.", she spoke with a whimsical tone, "I guess I should go there..."

And she swung her axe down, crashing all the energy she saved up in the axe to destroy the grave, sending Corrupted energy down— everything was blown apart, debris flying everywhere, some even got on Klara's face.

"Ew...", she wiped the dirt off her face, then she pouts while looking at the eye craved on the war axe, "Couldn't you be more clean? I'm trying to put desecration of a grave on my checklist here!"

The eye remained unmoving, so Klara could only sigh.

"Ketsuha was more clean than you, why can't you be as good as it?", she furrowed her brows and pouts.

Like talking to her child, like a mother scold her kid when they did something bad. Well, to be fair to Ketsuono, the last weapon acted cleanly and nice, it got eaten by Klara. So maybe being uncooperative might be better.

She let out a tired sigh, moving forward.

"Arachi, how much ground had we gotten?", she asked the cursed spirit inside her.

""Tomorrow we will be able to reach our mark.""

"Second day of the war and we are already here finish! Go team Yuugure! Up top!", she high fived herself with a cheerful laugh.

""So what about the situation of the Land of Earth?""

Klara smiled wickedly, "Something this world of direct confrontation isn't familiar with... Artillery fire!!"

She was talking about none other than the flying palace, Ancor Vantain, a fortress that was made to house and even restart civilization. Then made into a weapon that can destroy a small country. She found that funny, it's story mirrored her own. Something that was meant to help the world got turned into a weapon of mass destruction. 

Then again, fate is just that fickle~