Fell for It

Shikaisen Nara frowned. The person with his back to him gave him a bad feeling; the aura emanating from him made him very uncomfortable. Moreover, the faint, lurking murderous intent made Shikaisen Nara feel extremely uneasy, and he immediately raised his guard to the maximum.

Shikaisen Nara gestured to a ninja dressed in a Windbreaker Hood, and to a blond male ninja beside him.

The two nodded slightly, and then, unnoticed by the others, several Kikaichū flew out. At the same time, the blond ninja reached out and aimed at a small bird outside the window, then he slumped onto the table as if he had fainted.

At the same time, the little bird outside the window seemed to have gotten lost and flew into the Izakaya. Then, as if startled, the bird circled around the Izakaya a couple of times, and finally, as if it had suddenly found the exit, it flew out through the door.

Meanwhile, the Kikaichū took advantage of the birds' flight to get closer to the mysterious person.

After a while, the blond ninja woke up and exchanged a few words in a barely audible voice with the Aburame Clan ninja dressed in Windbreaker Hood.

Then the Aburame Clan ninja controlled hundreds of insects to write a few words in front of Shikaisen Nara and the others: Takigakure, the missing-nin of Kakuzu.

Shikaisen Nara was startled. He knew about Kakuzu; not only had he assassinated the First Hokage, but he had also successfully assassinated a High-ranking Advisor of Konoha during the Ninja World War. The Nara Clan had even discussed this matter at the time, and the clan head at the time was Shikaku Nara's father. He analyzed that Danzo was also involved.

Kakuzu is now missing-nin wanted by Konoha with a large bounty. He is Kage Level in strength and proficient in multiple elemental attributes. As a member of Konoha's intellectual elite clan, Shikaisen Nara is well aware of this information.

He was still wondering whether the Iwa ninja knew that such a dangerous missing-nin Kakuzu had infiltrated Iwagakure. Judging from the faint killing intent emanating from Kakuzu, he was very likely coming for them. Was this Kakuzu's own idea, or was it instructed by the Iwa ninja behind the scenes?

Shikaisen Nara gave Sarutobi Akira another set of hand gestures, and Sarutobi Akira, got up, and went back to his room.

After a while, Sarutobi Akira returned, bringing Kakashi with him.

Upon sensing that Kakashi had also entered, Kakuzu immediately left.

Kakashi glanced at Kakuzu's retreating figure, but instead of chasing after him, he walked over to Shikaisen Nara and the others.

Shikaisen Nara gestured for Kakashi to eat something first, saying they could discuss Kakuzu's matter back home.

Kakashi nodded, this time without refusing.

When Sarutobi Akira to his house to contact the village, he alerted Kakashi. Kakashi worked in the Anbu and had some knowledge of Kakuzu, knowing how troublesome this missing-nin was. He understood that now was not the time to think about such troublesome matters. So, after Sarutobi Akira finished his report, they went out together.

The village responded much faster this time. Hiruzen Sarutobi said: Kakashi and the others should not leave the core area of Iwagakure, nor should they investigate Kakuzu's information. This is not something that ninjas of their level can handle.

That night, a group of Iwa Ninja Anbu brazenly broke into the courtyard where the Konoha delegation was located, claiming that the Konoha ninja were Kakuzu with Kakudo, a bounty ninja wanted throughout the entire Ninja World.

Of course, the Iwa ninja ultimately found nothing, but their attitude made Iwa ninja Shikaisen Nara and the others very uneasy.

Considering the precedent of the Cloud Ninja envoy causing trouble in Konoha, could the Iwa ninja think Konoha is planning to do the same? Remember how the Cloud Ninja envoy was completely wiped out? Shikaisen Nara is having a bit of a headache.

The next morning, Yichen, the Tsuchikage, actually came to Kakashi, Shikaisen Nara, and the others in person to apologize.

"This must be the Kakashi Hatake. As expected of a young genius, he's far stronger than I was back then. I remember your teacher, Minato Namikaze, and I once discussed how to bring about change in the Ninja World."

"Your teacher left a deep impression on me. He was a very charismatic person. If he were still alive as the Fourth Hokage, I would be more inclined to believe that he was the true Child of Prophecy."

"It's a pity your teacher died! But he was a hero, a true hero. In that situation, I might not have been able to make the decisive decision to sacrifice my life for the village. As a fellow Shadow, he was stronger than me."

"Minato Namikaze truly deserves the title of Kage," Yichen remarked, feigning seriousness.

"Kakashi Hatake, if you don't mind, could you tell me about your ideals? Do you have any thoughts like your teacher about changing the current state of the Ninja World?" Yichen asked, looking at Kakashi.

Kakashi remained silent. Forget about ideals; he was alive only because of the promise he made to live on for Obito. Otherwise, he would have committed suicide like his father, White Fang.

Seeing this, Yichen sighed dramatically, as if to say that Minato Namikaze's disciples were only this capable.

Kakashi was unwilling to answer, or rather, had nothing to answer, so Yichen changed the subject. "Yesterday, our village was infiltrated by Kakuzu, S-rank Rogue Ninja Kakuzu Takigakure. Someone saw him eating with you, so last night, the Anbu searched your residence."

"I'm very sorry, this is a dereliction of duty on our part of the Iwa ninja, and it was also due to the rudeness of my subordinates. I apologize to you on their behalf."

"To show our sincerity, all your expenses at this izakaya during your stay in Iwagakure will be free. This Izakaya is funded by the village, so please rest assured."

Kakashi didn't respond; Yichen had stirred up some unpleasant memories for him. Shikaisen Nara spoke for him, saying, "Lord Tsuchikage, you're too kind. We also bear responsibility that our people didn't cooperate with the investigation from the beginning."

"Nara Senior, what are you saying? Please rest assured, I guarantee that Kakuzu will never appear near your Konoha ninja again."

Shikaisen Nara felt something was amiss. If the Iwa ninja hadn't found Kakuzu's whereabouts, how was Yichen ensuring their safety?

After Yichen took his leave, Shikaisen Nara immediately communicated with the village again. This time, it was more direct, and the two sides discussed it back and forth for a long time, but neither could guess the purpose of the Iwa ninja's series of actions.

Then, Shikaisen Nara encountered one problem after another.

Either the Takigakure suddenly come to cause trouble for them, saying that Konoha has taken their Tailed Beast and won't return them.

Either the Kusa Ninja quietly come to their door, saying they heard that the Iwa ninja are targeting them, and they've come to Konoha for help.

Or they might suddenly bump into Sunagakure interacting intimately with Iwa ninja, as if they've reached some kind of agreement.

Or suddenly Genin from some village comes to challenge Konoha Genin to a duel.

Either a large number of civilians from Iwagakure suddenly appear, saying they want to see what the legendary White Fang's son, Minato Namikaze's disciple, looks like, and want to ask him why he didn't defect to Konoha.

Or suddenly, an Iwa ninja would come to check the identities of the Konoha Genin, saying that a ninja from another country had reported that some of the Konoha Genin were Chunin in disguise.

Alternatively, Kitsuchi could bring Neji Hyuga to the Konoha ninja to ask about the state of his Hyuga Clan peers.

Or suddenly, a spy ninja hiding in Iwagakure sends word that they saw Uchiha with Sharingan appearing in Iwagakure.

Or perhaps Yichen, the Tsuchikage, will come over in person again and say something that sparks the imagination.

In short, Shikaisen Nara seemed to have experienced all the bizarre things in his life in those ten days. None of these unexpected events were something he could solve, and he had to repeatedly contact the village to ask for solutions.

This chaos continued until two days before the start of the first round of the Joint Chunin Exams. Just when Shikaisen Nara and Kaname believed that the Iwa ninja were trying to prevent them from participating in the exams, all the troublemakers disappeared.

It was as if they no longer existed in Iwagakure; they were no longer treated specially, and no one deliberately caused trouble when they went out. This left Shikaisen Nara, who was used to dealing with all sorts of abnormal situations, momentarily stunned.

This should have been a good thing, but Shikaisen Nara's intuition told him that there was a problem, and a big one at that. He guessed that Iwagakure might have already achieved their ulterior motives and no longer needed them, which was why they stopped sending people to bother them.

"But what exactly is it?"

After a whole day of leisure, Shikaisen Nara lay in bed all night pondering the problem, the more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. The next morning, with dark circles under her eyes, Shikaisen Nara went to Sarutobi Akira again and said, "Let's contact the village again. I'm still worried something might go wrong."

Upon hearing this, Sarutobi Akira shuddered, his already pale face turning even paler.

Shikaisen Nara gave a wry smile. For the past ten days or so, Sarutobi Akira had been overdrawing his chakra to perform Chakra Summoning Jutsu, and he had even eaten Soldier Pill like candy.

I finally got a day and a night of rest, but I haven't recovered from the previous overexertion, and now I'm going to Shikaisen Nara again?

Shikaisen Nara stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "You've worked hard. Nobody expected there would be so many things to contact the village about. You can continue..."

Halfway through the conversation, Shikaisen Nara seemed to realize something.

He had been searching for commonalities in the events of the past ten days, hoping to find Wind Release: Breakthrough, but he hadn't found any clues. Each of these events was abnormal, yet they seemed unrelated to each other.

Whenever a new problem arises, he contacts the village and communicates with them to see if they can identify the issue.

But now he seems to have found that common ground.

"It's Summoning Jutsu of the Sarutobi Clan. The common point is that they need to summon the Monkey Clan every time. The Iwa ninja might be searching for the Monkey Clan's location. Quick, quickly notify the village, the Monkey Clan is in danger." Shikaisen Nara's voice changed as she said this.

Sarutobi Akira was also shocked and broke out in a cold sweat. No longer caring about the Chakra depletion, he quickly bit his finger to cast Summoning Jutsu. But...

"I... I failed," he stammered.

"Failed?" Shikaisen Nara said as if in a daze, "Yes, a whole day and night has passed."

Shikaisen Nara and Sarutobi Akira naturally understood what the failure of their Summoning Jutsu meant, and both of them felt somewhat dizzy.

Shikaisen Nara was even worse off than Sarutobi Akira, who was also exhausted. He collapsed to the ground with a thud. All his energy and spirit seemed to have been drained away, making him look decades older.

Shikaisen Nara had always been proud of his high intelligence, but he never expected that his cleverness would backfire. He overthought things and ended up harming the Monkey Clan.

Kakashi and the other Konoha ninja standing nearby exchanged glances, seemingly realizing something as well.

At this time, in a dense jungle in the southernmost part of the Land of Fire, in the settlement of the Monkey Clan, corpses were everywhere.

With a bang, Hiruzen Sarutobi's Summoning Beast, Enma, slammed its fist into the ground, letting out an extremely shrill roar.

Since midnight last night, their Monkey Clan has suffered a catastrophic disaster.