Chapter 335: Unexpected Trouble
Inside the Kazekage Building, Amamiya Kenichi had no time to admire what was undoubtedly the absolute center of power in the Hidden Sand Village. He slipped into the building in silence and quickly made his way toward the Kazekage's office.
"I wonder where Sasori and the others struck. The defenses here are much weaker than I expected," Kenichi muttered as he scanned his surroundings.
As the administrative heart of the Hidden Sand Village, the Kazekage Building still retained some defensive strength even in the middle of an attack.
Even so, that strength was far too weak.
When Kenichi entered, there had only been two Hidden Sand Anbu guarding the entrance. After getting inside, he had not encountered a single person until now.
At that moment, he was already approaching the Kazekage's office.
Then he heard voices from inside.
Kenichi frowned slightly.
There was still someone in there?
Still, that was not strange. If no one had been guarding the place at all, he would have suspected he had been set up like Naruto back then, lured into conveniently stealing the Forbidden Jutsu Scroll under the Third Hokage's watch.
"...Uwah... ah...!"
Kenichi's expression turned strange.
That odd sound did not sound like anything a mature ninja would make. It sounded more like a child.
So what exactly was going on inside?
"This is not the time to worry about that," Kenichi muttered, shaking his head.
He quickly began preparing what he needed, quietly setting up a simple Temple of Nirvana Technique.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled open the door to the Kazekage's office in one motion.
At the same time, his Sharingan spun at full power.
The moment the door opened, Kenichi took in everything inside with a single glance.
Three Hidden Sand ninja were stationed around two young boys and a young girl. The girl was staring out the window anxiously. The three shinobi instinctively turned toward the door as soon as they heard it open.
That was a basic human habit.
It was the same as when someone called your name from behind on the street. Most people turned around instinctively. Hearing a door open behind them, most people would also look without thinking.
And it was that single instinctive glance that brought them face to face with the spinning tomoe of Kenichi's Sharingan.
Under the combined effects of the Temple of Nirvana Technique and Sharingan genjutsu, two of the three ninja dropped immediately. The third stiffened in place for a split second, dazed.
Kenichi did not hesitate.
Using the Body Flicker Technique, he crossed the distance instantly and silenced the last man with a single lethal blow.
"Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro?" Kenichi glanced at the three children who had collapsed under the effects of the Temple of Nirvana Technique. He recognized them immediately.
Then his expression changed.
Wrong.
Kenichi froze, because beside the unconscious Temari and Kankuro, the red haired boy had opened his eyes.
And the bloodthirsty, violent gaze in those eyes fixed directly on him.
It was Shukaku.
Kenichi's pupils contracted.
He understood instantly.
The kanji carved into the boy's forehead, his cold expression, and the dark circles under his eyes had told Kenichi at a glance that this was Gaara. After becoming a jinchuriki, Gaara had suffered from chronic insomnia under Shukaku's torment, and his temper had become notoriously unstable.
Although, strictly speaking, the characters on Gaara's forehead were formed from separate components, together they still created the meaning of "love," so Kenichi naturally found it easier to remember that way.
And if Gaara fell into a deep sleep, Shukaku could take control of his body with ease.
As everyone knew, even though some of Naruto's early settings had later been revised, tailed beasts still possessed considerable resistance to genjutsu.
The Temple of Nirvana Technique might work on ordinary people, but using it against a tailed beast was another matter entirely. More importantly, Kenichi had not considered this possibility just now, so he had not immediately targeted Gaara with Sharingan genjutsu.
"Shukaku, if you dare cause trouble here, I don't mind helping you relive some old suffering," Kenichi said coldly, narrowing his eyes at Gaara, who was already beginning to raise a protective shield of sand around himself.
At the same time, Kenichi's hand tightened around a test tube, and he glanced briefly at the progress of one of his current research projects.
Current research subject: Wood Release
Research progress: 99.98%
Wood Release was nearly complete.
With that, fighting a tailed beast would be like swatting away a child.
But even if Shukaku did not give him the time to finish it, Kenichi still had a backup plan.
The Mangekyo Sharingan he had received from a certain heavily bandaged individual who would prefer not to be named was already in his possession inside a sealing scroll.
The power of that Mangekyo was enough to trap Shukaku in a genjutsu and dominate him.
After all, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had bullied the tailed beasts so badly back then that they had practically turned it into a tradition.
Still, if Shukaku was willing to pretend he had seen nothing, that would naturally be for the best.
Kenichi had come here to take something, not to fight a tailed beast.
"You're asking to die, brat!" Shukaku roared in rage.
Its temper had never been good to begin with. After the death of the old monk Bunpuku, it had only grown worse. And with Kenichi openly threatening it just now, there was no way it would stay still.
The next moment, a huge compressed sphere of wind burst from the half formed sand body that was rapidly taking shape around Gaara.
Kenichi used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge at once.
The sphere of wind blasted past him, punching straight through the wall of the Kazekage Building and sending a violent tremor through the structure.
"Hmph." Kenichi could not help cursing inwardly.
If he had not found Shukaku so irritating, and if he had not been in a rush to find what he came for and regroup with Sasori and the others, he would absolutely have taught this idiot tanuki what it meant to recognize the times and submit.
"Forget it."
Kenichi clicked his tongue, then stomped the ground and kicked out with explosive force.
His strike smashed directly into the sand shield forming around Gaara.
The sheer power instantly sent both Gaara and the partially manifested Shukaku flying out of the office, crashing through the wall and tumbling outside.
"If only I'd already mastered the Eight Inner Gates..." Kenichi muttered with a pout.
Then he immediately turned and began searching the Kazekage's office for what he needed.
Originally, he had not been in a hurry and could have searched more carefully.
Now that option was gone.
He had been careless, forgetting Shukaku's existence, and that mistake had allowed Shukaku to seize Gaara's body and cause him a bit of trouble.
Fortunately, with the help of the Shadow Clone Technique, Kenichi quickly found the Forbidden Jutsu Scroll inside a nearby room protected by sealing techniques.
He opened it at once, flipped through the contents, and found the jutsu he needed on one of the later pages.
One's Own Life Reincarnation.
"Didn't expect them to have recorded this one too... and Earth Release: Corpse Soil Rebirth is here as well," Kenichi murmured.
He did notice another resurrection related technique among the entries.
Earth Release: Corpse Soil Rebirth.
It was a rather unusual resurrection technique, but compared to the Impure World Reincarnation, it was complete trash.
The preparation was cumbersome, the practical value was poor, and it was nowhere near as useful as Edo Tensei. Kenichi only glanced at it briefly before moving on.
There were also several other strange techniques recorded inside the Forbidden Jutsu Scroll, but most of them required specific bloodline abilities to use. Kenichi only skimmed a few of them before closing the scroll and leaving.
He could not stay any longer.
The uproar outside was already growing louder and louder.
"Roar!"
A furious beastly roar exploded through the air.
Then a massive hand formed from sand and earth smashed through the wall and clawed toward Kenichi.
"You're still not done?" Kenichi frowned.
He did not waste time tangling with Shukaku inside the building. Instead, he dodged swiftly and ran toward the outer edge of the Hidden Sand Village.
"Shukaku!" Just as he left the Kazekage Building, he heard Rasa's furious roar.
At the same time, Kenichi pulled out a simple fireworks tube and ignited it. Brilliant fireworks shot into the sky, blooming in the darkness like a flower.
This was the retreat signal he had arranged with Sasori beforehand.
"Hmm? Heavenly Demon?!" Rasa's gaze snapped toward him the moment the fireworks went off.
In the next second, huge waves of sand surged toward Kenichi from every direction.
"Kazekage dono, I'm already preparing to leave. Are you really going to chase me, or are you going to deal with the Tailed Beast that's rampaging through your village?" Kenichi called out as he dodged Rasa's attack with ease, not forgetting to remind him of the more urgent problem.
Rasa gritted his teeth.
He looked at the half formed Shukaku.
Then he looked at Kenichi, who was already retreating at speed.
At that moment, Rasa wanted nothing more than to ignore everything and hunt him down to the end.
But as Kazekage, he knew exactly what the greater threat was.
Shukaku.
Kenichi quickly escaped the village perimeter, and Rasa could only watch him go.
That smug feeling made Kenichi inwardly pleased.
For people bound by duty and attachment, there was always a way to tie their hands.
Of course, if the person in question was a complete egoist who did not care whether anyone else lived or died, then that method was useless.
But just as he cleared the Hidden Sand Village and prepared to disappear into the night, Kenichi noticed someone waiting ahead.
Under the moonlight, Granny Chiyo stood in silence, her aged eyes narrowed as she watched him. Beside her floated ten puppets in a silent line.
"Granny Chiyo, shouldn't you be helping over there?" Kenichi stopped in place.
His opponent was prepared, and without a technique like the Flying Thunder God, breaking through cleanly would not be easy.
"That's Rasa's business. I have mine," Chiyo said hoarsely.
The next instant, the ten puppets attacked together.
"Starting with all ten at once?" Kenichi muttered irritably as he dodged.
Fighting a puppet master was never easy.
Those troublesome people always had strange attack patterns, and their chakra strings were not easy to sever.
In fact, trying to cut the strings often only opened you to attacks from the other puppets. That was why the more puppets a master controlled, the harder they were to deal with.
And there were very few puppet masters capable of manipulating so many at once.
"Granny Chiyo, I know something," Kenichi said while evading the assault.
At the same time, dense mist began to spread around them.
Even if Chiyo used Wind Release to clear it, the mist would just fill the area again, forcing some of her puppets to turn back and guard her.
Still, she ignored his words completely.
She had seen too many tricks like this in her life, both in battle and in negotiations.
"Sasori of the Red Sand. Do you know him?"
Kenichi's voice echoed through the thick fog, drifting in and out as if it came from everywhere at once.
That single sentence made Chiyo's calm heart tremble.
Sasori of the Red Sand.
How could she not know him?
That was her grandson.
Her poor grandson.
The grandson who had abandoned the Hidden Sand Village.
At that moment, Kenichi had already slipped behind her, hidden by the dense mist. Lightning gathered soundlessly in his hand.
With one strike, he could have pierced through the old woman's frail heart.
This was his best chance.
Most of Chiyo's ten puppets were still occupied fighting his shadow clones out in front. None of them had noticed his real position.
Then Kenichi paused.
"Forget it," he muttered.
He quietly withdrew.
By the time he had moved far enough away, his shadow clone burst into smoke as well, leaving nothing behind.
"He didn't make a move?" Chiyo murmured.
She was holding a bottle in one hand. Then she slowly turned her head and looked behind her.
There was nothing there except the silent desert.
Her aged eyes shifted toward the distance, toward the place where that enormous machine had fought earlier.
She had gone there.
And she had seen something.
After leaving that site, her heart had refused to settle. And now, after this encounter with Heavenly Demon, a guess had begun taking shape in her mind.
"Sasori of the Red Sand..."
Chiyo sighed.
Her ten puppets returned to her side, protecting the old woman as she turned and headed back toward the Hidden Sand Village.
There was still another battle awaiting her there.
Or perhaps there was not.
"Finally got it. Now I can give Mr. Amado a proper answer too."
Far away, Kenichi quickly rewrote the contents he had memorized onto another scroll.
The Sharingan was exceptionally good at seeing and remembering detail, but just to avoid any small oversight, he chose to record everything immediately.
"Amamiya nii san!" Hikari came running over happily.
She looked delighted, her face bright with excitement.
"You all worked hard." Kenichi smiled at the three people waiting for him, then gave Sasori a pointed glance.
Hikari and Deidara both looked fine, and neither showed any particular discomfort.
Sasori, however, wore a complicated expression.
He looked troubled. Distracted.
Kenichi scratched his head.
Reality was not anime.
He did not possess some absurd Talk no Jutsu bloodline. Persuading someone in real life was never that easy.
"Granny Chiyo really is tough. She came at me with ten puppets the moment she arrived." Kenichi ruffled Hikari's head and casually began recounting what had just happened.
Sasori's body stiffened for an instant.
Then he continued staring into the distance as if nothing had changed.
"But she's old, after all, and I'm not interested in bullying old people. So I just used the Hidden Mist Technique and ran," Kenichi said with a laugh.
Only then did he notice the subtle breath of relief Sasori let out.
.....
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