Standing on the water's surface, Yōkō stared at Mitokado Homura.
Stimulated by his son's death, Mitokado Homura fought like a madman with every move.
Compounded by Yōkō restraining himself to better impersonate Tobi, he was at a disadvantage.
However, intelligence was key in ninja combat.
You'd never expect that I, 'Tobi', also possess extremely covert Water Release skills, would you?
Yōkō, holding his wooden spear, and Mitokado Homura, wielding his broadsword, charged at each other.
Yōkō's eyebrow twitched as Mitokado Homura took the Giant Fūma Shuriken from his back!
He first threw the Senju Broadsword; it skimmed the water's surface towards Yōkō.
Yōkō jumped, dodging the Senju Broadsword.
However, hidden within the broadsword's shadow was another blade, concealed there at some unknown time.
A pure black ninjato!
Among the Fifth Hokage's five blades, the Senju Broadsword was the main weapon, and the Fūma Shuriken was Mitokado Homura's trump card.
Of the remaining three blades, the Nine-Sectioned Staff was a flexible weapon, the Chakra Metal Ninjato was likely used by some taijutsu-specialist powerhouse in the Senju clan's history.
And the last one was the pure black Assassination Blade.
This blade was entirely black, slender and long.
The black blade stabbed directly at Yōkō, who was still mid-air.
Yōkō precisely landed on the Senju Broadsword mid-air, altering his body's position, and narrowly avoided the swiftly flying black blade at the last moment.
What a sneaky attack.
Just then, Mitokado Homura threw the Fūma Shuriken.
Yōkō, having adjusted his posture hastily, found it even harder to deal with the incoming Fūma Shuriken.
He held his wooden spear, extended it, stabbed it into the cliff face to his side, and pushed himself away from his original position.
The Fūma Shuriken flew past at high speed, grazing his shoulder and flying towards the rear of the valley.
Mid-air, Yōkō turned his head to stare intently at the Fūma Shuriken, fearing the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder Technique hidden within would detonate.
Seeing the Fūma Shuriken fly into the distance, Yōkō breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the consecutive dodges left Yōkō in a very poor position.
Mitokado Homura, disregarding his own safety, charged recklessly into close range.
He locked Yōkō's hands, preventing him from forming hand signs.
Simultaneously, the Nine-Sectioned Staff segments separated, tightly binding Yōkō and Mitokado Homura together.
In Mitokado Homura's eyes was resolve, release, and the relief of vengeance achieved.
Not far away, the Fūma Shuriken, like a boomerang, flew back!
For Konoha!
Mitokado Homura gripped Tobi's hands.
Within the Fūma Shuriken, the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder Technique activated.
Millions of explosive tags detonated!
Mutual destruction!
Facing Tobi, who possessed Wood Release and the Mangekyō Sharingan, and with his son dead, Mitokado Homura's eyes held only the will to die.
Before death, Mitokado Homura felt some confusion. Why had he only seen Yono Shima, but not the Ameno Mihashira mentioned in the intelligence?
To impersonate Tobi, Yōkō was wrapped in a layer of wooden vine armor. Now, with his hands gripped, the vines were forced apart, giving his fingers a tiny bit of space to move.
He had to make it in time...
Just as Mitokado Homura had anticipated, the valley cliffs amplified the power of the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder Technique.
Mitokado Homura and Yōkō were instantly swallowed by the explosion.
The terrifying explosion lasted for several minutes.
The surviving Guardian Ninja heard the roar from the valley.
Even the ground beneath him was blasted away by the explosion.
He fell further away.
When he regained consciousness from the dizziness, the explosions had ended.
A figure leaped out from the thick smoke.
The Guardian Ninja first felt hope, hoping Advisor Mitokado Homura had defeated the rogue ninja. Then, his expression quickly turned to horror and despair!
It was the rogue ninja Tobi!
The valley banks were destroyed, leaving a circular lake hundreds of meters in diameter.
Yōkō gasped for breath, slowly straightening his back.
At the final critical moment, he had used several trump cards.
First, he used Water Body Flicker to escape Mitokado Homura's restraint, flickering to the maximum distance, yet was still swallowed by the terrifying explosion of the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder Technique.
Then came Cutting Sprigs, followed by Semi-Absolute Defense: Coiling Snake and Absolute Defense: Copper Light.
Three layers of protection in succession allowed Yōkō to survive.
Fortunately, Mitokado Homura had been blown to ashes, otherwise Yōkō's identity would have been exposed.
Terrifying. Is this the strength of an old-school Kage-level ninja?
When Mitokado Homura had the resolve to die, even with Yōkō's intelligence advantage, he was almost killed in return.
One could say Mitokado Homura was greedy, but one couldn't say he was weak.
Yōkō and Danzo had been fighting back and forth, but in the end, it was Mitokado Homura who died.
It was like Coca-Cola fighting Pepsi, but Future Cola went bust first.
It was like JDB Herbal Tea fighting Wong Lo Kat, but Heqizheng vanished first.
A corner of the spiral mask was shattered. Yōkō quickly made the wooden vines grow to cover his exposed chin.
After wearing the mask for so long, having his real chin exposed felt as awkward as streaking.
Yōkō calmed his breathing.
The ninja world is too terrifying. One can never be too careful.
His strength had grown rapidly recently, leading to some arrogance. He had almost stumbled here with Mitokado Homura.
As a student of the Second Hokage, Mitokado Homura had access to many resources. Each of the Fifth Hokage's inherited five blades was powerful, and the Second's Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder Technique was comparable to a forbidden technique.
Yōkō saw four ninja suddenly appear in the distance.
All four wore Konoha forehead protectors; they were Konoha's Guardian Ninja.
So fast? That shouldn't be. I haven't delayed that long.
The four Guardian Ninja landed beside the injured one and asked:
"Trouble! The First Prince has been assassinated by a Suna Puppet Master! Where is Captain Mitokado Koshi? Where is Advisor Mitokado Homura?"
"What happened here? Why was there such a terrifying explosion?"
Yōkō understood. So they had discovered the First Prince's assassination.
His Wood Release imitation of a puppet was remarkably lifelike, fooling all the witnesses.
The injured Guardian Ninja glanced at the two pulpy stains that were Mitokado Koshi and his wife, then at the massive crater created by the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder Technique, and struggled to say:
"Dead... both the Captain and the Advisor are dead... killed by the rogue ninja Tobi..."
Good. You understand the truth.
The Guardian Ninja looked at Tobi in terror.
The subordinate of the rogue ninja Uchiha Madara looks a bit disheveled. Did Lord Mitokado Homura sacrifice his life, yet still fail to kill him?
Yōkō called out to the several Guardian Ninja from a distance:
"Tell the Konoha leadership! I will kill them, one by one! Every single high-ranking member of Konoha!"
"Before this Mangekyō of mine, no one will survive!"
Behind the mask, Yōkō's voice was muffled, hoarse, but resolute.
After delivering his threat, Yōkō slowly sank into the ground.
The Guardian Ninja all looked at the Hyūga Guardian Ninja. The Hyūga activated his Byakugan, but then immediately shook his head.
The rogue ninja Tobi's secret technique was too powerful; his Byakugan couldn't track him at all.
The Guardian Ninja murmured among themselves.
"The Land of Grass Guardian Ninja have died in waves, three captains already dead. Is it our turn now..."
"Yes, it's our turn..."
"Koshi was Advisor Mitokado Homura's son..."
"But Advisor Mitokado Homura is also dead..."
"I wonder how many of us have to die to weather this crisis..."
Death loomed over the Guardian Ninja; they just wanted to return to the village.
Being Guardian Ninja here, the benefits were all scooped up by Mitokado Koshi. They were not only exhausted from the three-shift defense duties but also bore immense risk.
One Guardian Ninja suddenly said, "Report to the village immediately! Suna-nin assassinated the First Prince."
"Advisor Mitokado Homura and Captain Mitokado Koshi were killed by the rogue ninja's subordinate. Request village reinforcements quickly! We can't handle these troubles!"
Deep in the river valley.
Yōkō wanted to search for the Fifth Hokage's inherited five blades, but found someone already in the valley.
The person turned his head under the cliff; it was a red-haired boy.
Sasori?
After hearing his parents were killed, Sasori graduated early from Sunagakure's Ninja Academy, becoming the Third Kazekage's student. Now only 10 years old, Sasori was already a Suna Special Jōnin.
Sasori had just pulled a triangular blade from the cliff face—a quarter of the Giant Fūma Shuriken.
The Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder Technique had triggered the Fūma Shuriken's mechanism. The durability of the Fifth Hokage's weapons was truly high; they were actually intact.
The Senju Broadsword was reputedly indestructible. The Chakra Metal Ninjato and the Assassination Black Blade had missed Yōkō and flown far away; these weapons were likely scattered somewhere in the valley.
The Nine-Sectioned Staff had taken a direct hit from the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder Technique; it was unknown if it was damaged.
Sasori turned to look at the spiral-masked Yōkō.
His expression was serious. "The subordinate of Konoha's rogue ninja Uchiha Madara... Tobi?"
Tobi's name had already spread throughout the four great ninja villages.
Yōkō thought about it. He couldn't openly use the First Hokage's weapons either.
Yōkō needed to return to the Land of Rain quickly; he couldn't be away too long, otherwise it would be hard for the Antelope Squad to provide his alibi.
Might as well let Sasori take them, then confiscate them from Sasori later using his 'Fox' identity. That way, he could legitimately possess the First Hokage's weapons.
"Sunagakure, Special Jōnin Sasori," Yōkō said.
"It seems you're the one who poisoned the Land of Rivers Daimyō. Your poison has some skill."
"The Daimyō is between life and death. You could use the excuse of administering the antidote to control the Daimyō, or even the Land of Rivers, at any time."
Sasori's arms hung down, his fingers twitching constantly, preparing something unknown.
Sasori said, "Konoha is our common enemy. We could cooperate."
Yōkō snorted coldly, tilting his head to look at the water's surface.
A puppet was swimming underwater, already detected by Yōkō's senses.
The puppet burst from the water, heading straight for Yōkō.
The puppet's poison-tipped blade stabbed into Yōkō's body.
But Sasori felt no joy.
A Wood Clone?
Not only that, but a black dot appeared beneath the puppet's feet, rapidly expanding into the absolute darkness of Yono Shima.
Sasori's puppet instantly collapsed into a thin pancake.
His proud puppet was fragile beyond measure before Tobi's ocular technique.
The steel frame, the Yellow Hardwood shell, the numerous mechanisms inside the puppet—all collapsed.
Sasori looked around but couldn't find Tobi.
He only heard an echo reverberating through the valley.
"Konoha is our common enemy, which is why I won't kill you. Cooperate? You're not worthy."
Sasori's face turned extremely grim.
He hadn't expected Konoha's rogue ninja to be this strong, possessing such a fearsome ocular technique.
He stepped onto the water's surface and picked up the flattened sheet that was his collapsed puppet.
A few millimeters thick, like a top-down view of the puppet.
What a powerful ability... disregarding the puppet's durability, whether steel or Yellow Hardwood, it all collapses.
Sasori discarded the disc, feeling somewhat unwilling.
Puppet Masters had quite a few natural enemies.
Konoha's White Fang countered puppets. Konoha's Copper Fox countered puppets. And now, even the Sharingan countered puppets.
Were puppets truly an outdated ninja secret art?
A moment later, Sasori shook his head.
He had to prove that puppetry wasn't flawed, that his father's path wasn't flawed.
Ordinary steel and Yellow Hardwood were no longer suitable materials for puppets. There had to be better materials.
Sasori turned and entered the valley, continuing his search for other puppet materials.
Two Messenger Hawks departed from the Land of Grass capital, flying towards Konoha.
The hawks flew over rivers, flew over forests, and after two and a half days, landed in Konoha.
A ninja from the Communications Corps retrieved the hawks and saw the messages they carried.
He hurriedly reported to the squad leader, who took the small scroll and quickly leaped towards the Hokage Building.
Sarutobi Hiruzen read the contents of the small scroll, the pipe falling from his mouth and clattering to the floor.
He looked up blankly at the Communications Corps leader kneeling on one knee before him, then looked down at the scroll again.
Mitokado Homura... is dead?
"Black Ant! Notify all senior officials to come here immediately!"
***
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(Chapter End)