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JST Chapter 150: Stabbed in All Directions
🕑 Added 2025-01-08 02:10:35 +0000 UTCIn the peace treaty signing room, Hiruzen had just signed his name alongside Chiyo, Fuguki, Kitsuchi, and Dodai.
Each with their own hidden interests, they maintained false smiles, celebrating the supposed arrival of peace.
"The first joint peace agreement in the shinobi world... A day worth remembering, don't you think?" Hiruzen said with a smile. "Truly touching."
Dodai, Kitsuchi and Chiyo nodded, showing superficial support. Only Fuguki, with a piercing gaze, seemed to be losing patience to continue pretending.
Just as Fuguki was about to speak, an overwhelming chakra of the Nine-Tails surged forth from the center of Konoha.
Hiruzen's heart moved, and he quickly put on a serious face and said in a deep voice: "Dear guests, please return to your village, Konoha has some unexpected situations!"
Without waiting for a response, Hiruzen disappeared the next instant.
Immediately after, several ANBU members arrived and, with a cold voice, indicated: "Please follow this way."
The representatives of each village, although they appeared calm, were filled with inner joy. The mission in Konoha had been extremely fruitful in terms of obtaining information.
As the ANBU escorted (or rather, expelled) the representatives, each of them returned with renewed confidence that they could take advantage of Konoha's weakness to solve their own internal problems.
...
Senju clan district.
Inside the sealed space, Kazuki and the Nine-Tails continued to converse.
"Alright, Nine-Tails, this is enough for now." Kazuki said, smiling as he walked out of the cage. He waved a hand, bidding the fox farewell. "I look forward to our next collaboration."
Kazuki closed the door of the seal, activating the Four Symbols Seal once again. Although the Nine-Tails was still sealed inside Kushina, it was no longer chained or trapped, giving him a sense of relief.
The Nine-Tailed Fox stared at Kazuki in a complicated way.
He knew that with Kazuki's pupil power, he could forcibly extract his chakra if he wanted to. But instead, Kazuki had chosen to cooperate with him, even shaking his hand in goodwill.
The Nine-Tailed Fox's not very smart head was filled with questions at this moment.
...
After Kazuki left, Kushina looked at the fox cautiously, trying to strike up a conversation. "Nine-Tails, did you notice that Kazuki has something special?"
"You might also know the story of the second Hokage, Senju Tobirama..."
The Nine-Tailed Fox frowned, who was that person?
It seemed to be a white-haired kid who was always scolded by Uzumaki Mito and Senju Hashirama, and then had a stinky face and was stubborn.
That was an irrelevant passerby, who seemed to know some forbidden techniques, but he couldn't compare to Kazuki's bloodline.
Kushina, the container, must have misunderstood something, but the Kyubi was too lazy to explain to her.
"You won't understand, container." He replied with disdain. With a sigh of satisfaction, the Nine-Tails laid back on the ground, spinning around nonchalantly as he muttered, "This isn't a secret of Konoha, but of the entire world..."
Kushina had a question mark on her head.
...
And outside the house.
Kazuki met up with Hiruzen. The two exchanged information about the ongoing chunin exams.
"Is everything normal?"
Kazuki said softly: "Yes. If there are no major setbacks, the war will not take more than a month to break out. With a very high probability of the tailed beasts getting involved from the start, they will not give us time to breathe."
Hiruzen nodded, understanding the situation. "Everything is going according to plan, there are no problems."
Kazuki nodded. "In that case, I will take charge of mobilizing the Root personnel. We must withdraw the Konoha forces and reorganize the shinobi who are on external missions."
After Kazuki left, Hiruzen took out a scroll and used a special method to contact Jiraiya and Minato, who were still on Mount Myoboku: The war is about to start, return quickly!
Hiruzen stared at the distant Hokage Rock. His heart fluttered like a young man's heart filled with passion.
It was a showdown between Konoha and the entire shinobi world.
What gave him peace of mind, however, was the knowledge that this war had been meticulously planned for decades by Tobirama, who had now returned with a long-conceived plan to dominate the shinobi world.
For a moment, Hiruzen felt like he was in those years of youth full of fervor.
"Danzo… do your best. I hope that in this upcoming war, you will be able to prove yourself and survive." He muttered somewhat sadly. "Perhaps my leniency was what made you arrogant, but I never intended to punish you this way. It's just that none of us could have foreseen that sensei would return to Konoha in this form." He sighed deeply. "This… is fate."
...
Meanwhile, on the way back of several of the representatives to their respective villages, some were filled with joy, and others, with grief.
Chiyo looked at her grandson whose hands were cut off by Kazuki, and the anger in her eyes almost materialized...
However, what worried her the most was that Sasori had been laughing strangely the entire way while muttering about his plans to modify human puppets.
Chiyo was extremely worried.
Although the technique of turning people into puppets greatly increased combat power, it also destroyed the humanity of the person who practiced it. For this reason, it had been classified as a forbidden jutsu.
But in the current situation, Chiyo could not persuade Sasori to stop his crazy ideas.
After all, the only thing keeping her grandson in Sunagakure was the desire to avenge his family with his own hands.
Unable to do anything else, Chiyo decided to engrave that anger into her heart and return it to Konoha in spades in the upcoming war.
...
In contrast to Chiyo's fury and melancholy, the Kirigakure team opted for much more direct actions.
During a pause on their way back, Fuguki looked at Kisame with obvious discontent.
The mission had failed!
Although Fuguki believed that the Konoha shinobi posed no real threat to Jinzaburo or Mei, failure was still failure. And failure, he thought, must be punished.
But just as he was pondering the right moment to act...
A bone edge, an acid mist, and two intimidating swords pierced his body from four directions.
Fuguki didn't even have time to pull out Samehada. He fell to the ground helplessly, his eyes wide open and an expression of disbelief.
“Well, now that we have all committed an act of treason against the village…” Jinzaburo smiled and put away the bone blade, and said softly: “So, what plans do you have for the future?”
“Will you continue to serve the Third Mizukage or, like me, will you try to be transformed by that man, to know the tranquility and beauty of life?”
Kisame, Zabuza and Mei looked at each other, exchanging meaningful glances.
It was a difficult decision to make...
Mei stared at Jinzaburo who smiled slightly and rolled her eyes in obvious displeasure.
Kisame broke the awkward silence with a deep voice, "Although Fuguki was a direct subordinate of the Third Mizukage, the village probably wouldn't suspect that our two opposing sides might join forces to falsify the facts..."
"It's not that we want to betray the village, but just to survive!"
Jinzaburo shrugged. "If you feel happy staying in this village, I don't care. Just pretend that what happened today never happened and continue your own lives..."
"But since we have cooperated before, we can be regarded as having friendship. I can tell you a secret."
His eyes reflected a mix of complex emotions as he continued: "Kazuki-sama's Shikotsumyaku has a strength superior even to mine, considered a genius of our clan..."
"You've seen it, right? Even the Sharingan copied Kisame's ability to absorb chakra." He added, his tone gaining enthusiasm as he spoke. "Such talent and power... The Shikotsumyaku could reach the next level in his hands!"
Jinzaburo began to get excited, his face regaining a hint of madness. "In ancient times, the Shikotsumyaku could evolve to another level! Just like the Uchiha clan's Mangekyo Sharingan!"
“The Kaguya clan has pursued this for centuries, and now, at last, I see a spark of hope.” He continued, his voice filled with admiration. “Not only is he powerful, he also has a kind heart. Though he possesses such overwhelming strength, he has taken the time to teach me, a stubborn lost soul, what the beauty of life means…”
While Jinzaburo got lost in his monologue, Mei, Zabuza and Kisame chose to ignore him, disconnecting from his words.
