Chapter 109: Storm Rising
"Ha! Looks like the gear from Lord God Space actually works as advertised. After all those times that damn Lord God fleeced me—for once, it's acting halfway decent."
Roughly a kilometer from the secluded loft house, a plainly dressed middle-aged man stood cradling what looked like a smartphone in his hands.
He studied the readout on the screen, and a flash of elation crossed his face.
All I have to do is release the Tailed Beast, and Konoha gets leveled. Mission complete.
"Don't get cocky," another voice cut in beside him. "According to the intel I pulled, the Nine-Tails in the Naruto world eventually gets sealed by Namikaze Minato. We need to be careful."
"Plus this world has depths we probably can't see. Word is the biggest behind-the-scenes final boss of the Naruto world is some guy named Orochimaru—absolutely obsessed with human experimentation. You, with your T-Virus enhancement—watch yourself. Don't catch his eye."
"I know plenty of ninjutsu myself, but if I end up squaring off against Orochimaru—the top hidden boss of an entire world—the one getting wiped is more likely to be me."
* * *
The "T-Virus-enhanced" one was the middle-aged man cradling the device. If Ryū had been at the scene, cross-referencing against the Chat Group's intel, he'd have identified this man immediately—Imiao Ichirō, one of the three Rogue Reincarnators.
And the voice warning him to stay cautious? That would be An Zhaoxie.
Also one of the three Rogue Reincarnators, and apparently specializing in the Naruto power system. Per the Chat Group's briefing, this guy wielded Fire Release, Lightning Release, sealing techniques—classic Naruto-world kit. All three Reincarnators, and only one of them knew ninjutsu.
T-Virus enhancement: Imiao Ichirō. Fire + Lightning + Sharingan ninja: An Zhaoxie.
Which meant the third figure standing behind them had to be the remaining Rogue Reincarnator—Jin Sheng-lü, the poison specialist per the briefing.
All three had already swapped into Konoha-style clothes. They blended in almost perfectly—just a little unfamiliar, face-wise, but Konoha's population was sizeable. Who could recognize every single resident?
* * *
An Zhaoxie lowered his head to check the strange black watch on his wrist, then spoke grimly: "The Lord God artifact we used to induce labor wiped out every Point the three of us had saved. If this mission doesn't land a perfect completion, we walk away with nothing."
Jin Sheng-lü, who had been silent until now, finally spoke: "As long as you're certain you've loosened the seal, we're fine. Once the Nine-Tails draws Konoha's manpower away, I can get my poison into the shinobi cafeteria."
"I will say, these shinobi are genuinely tricky. I almost got caught just planting the stuff. Lucky I bolted early—another second and I'd have been done."
Imiao Ichirō pursed his lips and tucked the device away.
He turned to An Zhaoxie: "You sure your intel is solid? Konoha only has two real powerhouses—Hiruzen and Namikaze Minato?"
An Zhaoxie's brow furrowed. His voice went cold. "Are you doubting me? Sure, intel on the Naruto world in the Lord God Space is thin, but I'm certain about those two. Even Orochimaru, the biggest boss, is only 50/50 against Hiruzen."
"And Orochimaru—being the boss—is definitely not in Konoha right now. One Tailed Beast is enough to tie up Minato and Hiruzen. That leaves the three of us plenty of room to operate."
* * *
The mission the three Rogue Reincarnators had been assigned was to destroy half of Konoha.
For three veteran Reincarnators, it didn't feel particularly daunting. They had intel on the world. They had exotic artifacts purchased from the Lord God Space. And in their view, the job was manageable.
The Naruto world's combat power is high, sure. But the strongest unit is just the Hokage. And the current and former Hokage are both going to be tied up with the Nine-Tails. All the other elite jōnin will rush to support them.
If the two strongest fighters plus the bulk of the jōnin are all occupied elsewhere… that means three veteran Reincarnators get free reign to trash the place.
Even if the Nine-Tails could only destroy a third of Konoha on its own, the three of them combined could handle the remaining two-thirds. Add in the mass poisoning to pick off the support-tier shinobi, and the "destroy half of Konoha" objective should clear itself—barring unforeseen interference.
"Once the Nine-Tails pulls most of the shinobi away, we dump the lethal-grade poison we bought from the Lord God Space into the guarded water sources," An Zhaoxie said, sighing softly. "Pity they'd already sold out of T-Virus. A single T-Virus release would've been enough to wipe Konoha off the map by itself."
Imiao Ichirō said helplessly: "The T-Virus strains available in the Lord God Space are all the evolved version—they can't turn people into zombies anymore. They only grant enhancement. So even if they had T-Virus in stock, it wouldn't have done what you're imagining."
* * *
The three didn't linger. They split up and departed in different directions—three unfamiliar faces moving separately was unremarkable, because one stranger alone attracted no attention.
But three strangers moving together? That would get noticed. Some vigilant jōnin with sharp eyes would absolutely flag the anomaly.
And everything they'd just discussed was only Plan A. The simplest, cleanest, most brute-force of their options.
They were veteran Reincarnators. They weren't about to run a mission with just one plan in their back pocket.
* * *
Several kilometers away from the scene of that conversation, Ryū was walking aimlessly through the streets of Konoha. He tilted his head back to look at the sky—thick black clouds had massed overhead.
It wasn't raining yet, but the inky cloud cover gave off a faint, unplaceable sense of pressure.
Of course, that kind of pressure would only be felt by ordinary civilians, or low-to-mid-ranked shinobi. At Ryū's power level, no pressure registered at all.
But he had a subtle feeling something was about to happen. And the feeling only grew stronger as the minutes ticked by.
Where the hell are those three scampering Points-balls hiding… Konoha isn't exactly a tiny village. Finding them on foot is going to be like looking for needles in a haystack.
Ryū muttered to himself, turning over possibilities for how to flush out the three Rogue Reincarnators.
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