"It's the Raikage, isn't it?"
"It is the Raikage."
"The Third Raikage, right? The Ultimate Spear and the Ultimate Shield."
"That's definitely him..."
"But this wound... He was pierced straight through the heart. It's a strike that broke his defense and killed him in a single blow."
For some reason, hearing these words come out of Danzo Shimura's mouth, Kamishiro Hagoromo couldn't help but feel a distinct hint of schadenfreude.
Was it just an illusion? Could a guy like Danzo, with his perpetually tight, gloomy old face, actually experience an emotion like taking joy in someone else's misery?
The Uzumaki clan's sealing jutsu was a brilliantly advanced storage method. Several days had already passed since the Raikage's death, but his corpse remained in the exact pristine state it was in at the moment he died.
The moment Hagoromo pulled out the corpse, the four old fossils of Konoha quickly swarmed it. The vibe was a bit like vicious dogs pouncing on... wait, that description a bit disrespectful.
Like starving ghosts who hadn't eaten in ten days discovering a feast... that wasn't great either. A bit too visceral.
Like a bunch of old patrons discovering a high-class courtesan... yeah, that description felt right.
Because they didn't just look at the Raikage's corpse; they poked and prodded it, even tearing his clothes open to thoroughly inspect the fatal wound caused by the Super Electromagnetic Cannon.
If the Raikage's spirit was watching from heaven, he would definitely regret not exploding into a mist of blood like those Hidden Stone ninjas, instead of ending up intact in the hands of this bunch.
For a massive figure like the Raikage, his identity was confirmed almost instantly. There was zero possibility of faked death or a body double.
"No other injuries... He suffered a fatal, one-hit kill while in peak condition."
Arriving at this conclusion, the four elders unanimously shifted their gazes to Hagoromo.
Regardless of their high-ranking political positions, these people had never forgotten their roots as ninjas. Therefore, after evaluating the sheer destructive power of the Super Electromagnetic Cannon, they instinctively began to calculate: Could I block a jutsu like that?
They arrived at the answer after only a moment of thought. However, for some reason, none of them wanted to say that answer out loud.
What would happen if they took that shot? The mental image of that, they refused to imagine it.
Unfortunately, while Hagoromo possessed such a devastating technique, it came with an incredibly long cooldown time. He probably wouldn't be able to use the Railgun for about two years.
Or rather, fortunately, Hagoromo's powerful technique had an incredibly long cooldown time.
Having confirmed that this was indeed the Raikage himself, the upper echelon had no mood to continue discussing the current war situation. Danzo and the two advisors immediately summoned the Intelligence Division.
They needed to haul the Raikage's corpse over to the interrogation facilities to see if they could peer into his brain and extract some secret Hidden Cloud intel.
You couldn't really blame Danzo and the advisors for placing so much importance on the Raikage. This was probably the best biological specimen Konoha had ever captured in its entire history.
As a bonus, Yoshida's corpse was also taken away. Even the smallest mosquito is still meat; who knows, they might squeeze some vital intel out of him too.
The nature of intelligence work required this kind of meticulous and thorough attitude.
And just like that, the Hokage's office emptied out in the blink of an eye, leaving only Hagoromo and the Hokage himself.
The Hokage hadn't followed the others out. After all, if they actually managed to extract any useful intel, he would be the first to know. Besides, he didn't hold out much hope for their attempts to pry open the Raikage's brain.
"Ahem. Hagoromo, brief me on the mission."
Only now did the Hokage realize they probably should have maintained a bit of dignity in front of their subordinate. Squatting in a circle and groping the Raikage's corpse had indeed been a bit of a lapse in decorum.
As for a fellow Kage being assassinated, Hiruzen didn't seem particularly overjoyed. Instead, he felt a sense of sorrow—the Third Raikage's actions easily reminded him of his own teacher, Tobirama Senju. That kind of absolute resolve to willingly sacrifice oneself for the future of the village was truly worthy of admiration.
Of course, that admiration would have been a lot more convincing if Konoha had chosen to give the man a proper burial instead of dissecting him.
Assassinating someone purely for the sake of assassination was never the Hokage's goal. As the supreme leader of Konoha, he wasn't that shallow. Every consideration and action stemmed from the singular goal of gaining an advantage in the war and bringing it to a swift end.
"Understood."
Hagoromo straightened his expression and gave a detailed, comprehensive debrief of the mission.
Because he had to cover every single detail, he spoke until his mouth was completely dry. An hour later, he finally finished his report.
Hagoromo's execution of the mission was fundamentally flawless, but there was still one glaring point of contention.
"Hagoromo, what you did was near perfect. The only issue is... why did you announce Kushina's name?"
"You must know that Kushina is a Jinchuriki. While this isn't exactly a secret among the great nations, further boosting her fame is not a wise move. Actions like this will only bring her unnecessary trouble. It was a meaningless and unnecessary choice."
Doing that was indeed highly illogical.
"I didn't think it through properly at the time..." Hagoromo admitted to the Hokage's reprimand. He wasn't going to argue with the Hokage about his reasoning, nor was he going to reveal his inner thoughts.
He used the excuse of "not thinking it through" not to brush the Hokage off, but because he knew the Hokage was smart enough to realize that he wouldn't just scream Kushina's name in front of an enemy army for absolutely no reason.
Sure enough, the Hokage just gave Hagoromo a piercing look and didn't press the issue any further.
"There is one more thing. This mission has proven your capabilities. Therefore, Konoha will be making alternative mission arrangements for you going forward."
"Alternative arrangements?"
No matter how you sliced it, that phrasing sounded like bad news.
The Third Hokage thought for a moment, then said, "Nothing is finalized yet. Just stay in Konoha for now. Jiraiya will notify you when the time comes."
Since he couldn't figure out what the Hokage wanted him to do, and the organization had already made its decision, Hagoromo had no room to argue.
After all... As a ninja, he just had to follow the Kage's orders and win his battles.
Following that, the Hokage discussed the previous mission with him a bit more, and Hagoromo mentioned bumping into Tsunade and her subsequent unannounced departure.
This plunged the Hokage into a brief silence.
Finally, before Hagoromo left the office, the Hokage spoke:
"Hagoromo, you need to understand what it means to be a ninja. On the battlefield, a ninja must adhere to certain core principles..."
"So regarding Kushina... when you decide to act on her words, you must carefully consider the consequences beforehand."
Hagoromo nodded and left.
Everything he did was done only after the consequences had already been fully considered.
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