But that was perfectly reasonable.
He broke from tradition, possessed self-healing abilities, tremendous strength, incredible speed, and abundant Chakra...
The Chakra he gave off felt like a fiercely burning Black Will.
Dark, yet not despairing.
Strange, yet somehow astonishing.
There was probably no second person like him in the entire Ninja World.
More importantly,
Amakawa Mingren had broken with tradition and shattered the rules ninjas had always obeyed.
His existence would become a thorn in many people's eyes.
But the countless evils breeding in the Land of Rain were also an undeniable fact.
The girls rescued from the Underground Exchange had already been properly settled.
And those were only the victims who had been discovered.
With every passing second, how many more innocent people were being harmed?
That was why Asuka felt those people had not died unjustly.
Konoha's camp stationed in the Land of Rain.
Minato Namikaze brought back the bodies of Shido Akimichi and Kaede Yamanaka.
The examination results held no surprises.
The culprit was the same person responsible for the previous incidents.
"Lord Orochimaru, our previous assumptions were very likely wrong. The culprit may truly not be Hanzo and his men."
Inside the command tent,
Minato Namikaze, Shimura Danzō, and the other higher-ups had gathered together.
Two corpses lay on the table.
Hanzo was known as the Demigod. He was an exceptionally proud man.
There was no need for him to lie.
And all the evidence pointed toward another armed organization in the Land of Rain... Akatsuki.
Every member of the Akatsuki Organization was shrewd, elusive, and exceptionally skilled at guerrilla warfare.
Their swift, seamless style of fighting and retreating did indeed seem quite similar.
Amegakure had spent years locked in conflict with Iwagakure, Konoha, and Sunagakure.
Hanzo had no energy to spare for the Akatsuki Organization.
That gave Akatsuki the opportunity to grow and the chance to act.
And no country would permit two violent regimes to exist on its soil.
Furthermore, Akatsuki mostly recruited young people from the Land of Rain, which would shake Amegakure's rule at its foundation.
Hanzo had to be deeply anxious about that.
"Win one side over, eliminate the other."
Danzo immediately came up with a plan.
"Find a way to win over the Demigod. Offer an alliance and help them wipe out Akatsuki."
Compared to the upstart Akatsuki Organization, the established powerhouse known as the Demigod and the legitimate Amegakure were clearly more worth winning over.
With the tone for their next actions decided,
Danzo sent his subordinates carrying letters to Amegakure.
As long as negotiations went smoothly and they formed an alliance with Amegakure,
the dawn of the end of the Ninja World War would arrive.
Konoha would also become the victor of the Third Shinobi World War.
"Minato, investigate Akatsuki's movements next. We need to know their location and intelligence!"
As the commander responsible for the Land of Rain front, Danzo also ordered Minato Namikaze to gather and confirm information regarding Akatsuki's movements.
Then, they could contact Hanzo and wipe them all out in one stroke.
Minato Namikaze nodded and left immediately after receiving the order.
Inside the command tent,
Danzo looked at the others. "Inform everyone that the culprit most likely possesses a Kekkei Genkai. Be extra careful when operating outside."
After saying that, he looked at the bodies of Shido Akimichi and Kaede Yamanaka.
Being able to kill both of them barehanded through Taijutsu
was enough to prove that the opponent's physical constitution was astonishing.
Then there were the many corpses left behind in the Underground Exchange.
The culprit's brutality spoke for itself.
But Kakashi was the most frustrated of all.
He stood outside the tent, looking despondent.
Time and again, he had let the opponent escape, yet he had not even managed to see what the person looked like.
The unceasing rainwater in the Land of Rain had also rendered Ninja Dog tracking useless.
It could be said that he was like a headless fly, running into walls everywhere.
That feeling of having strength but nowhere to use it, constantly trying to outwit thin air... it truly felt awful.
Shido Akimichi and Kaede Yamanaka's bodies had been recovered, but [Gekko] Hayate's father... Gekko Clan, as well as Hokuto Hyuga's bodies, were still nowhere to be found. Most likely... they were still in the culprit's hands.
"Maybe it's because the opponent possesses a powerful Kekkei Genkai." Ninja Dog Pakkun crouched beneath the eaves and offered quiet consolation.
"A Kekkei Genkai... what kind of bloodline could it be?"
Kakashi raised his head toward the gloomy sky, hoping to find an answer.
"Hehehe... perhaps it is a bloodline that combines the advantages of Steel Release, Swift Release, and other bloodlines."
At that moment, a hoarse voice came from behind the tent flap as someone stepped out.
"Lord Orochimaru."
Kakashi turned and looked at the pale-faced ninja known as one of the Sannin.
Orochimaru, with his long black hair, wore a blue undershirt beneath a green vest.
During this period of negotiations between Konoha and Amegakure, pressure on the front lines had sharply decreased.
And with the Ninja World War already nearing its end, no large-scale battles were likely to occur.
So Orochimaru had become rather free.
"Kakashi, how well are you making use of your eye?" Orochimaru looked at Kakashi's left eye, concealed beneath his forehead protector.
"Same as always. Once I fight at full strength, I tend to overdraw my body. Then I have to stay in bed for a whole week..."
Kakashi scratched his head, assuming that Orochimaru, as an elder, was simply concerned for him as a junior.
After all, Orochimaru and his teacher Jiraiya had been companions since childhood.
He was also a disciple of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi.
By all reason and sentiment, he would not harm him.
"Hehehe... is that so."
After saying that, Orochimaru walked away.
He left Kakashi with only his back, deeply interested in the culprit behind these battles.
Especially... the various abilities the culprit had displayed.
Perhaps he might make a suitable reincarnation vessel for Orochimaru's still-incomplete S-rank Forbidden Jutsu, Living Corpse Reincarnation.
Orochimaru slowly left the camp, his figure eventually vanishing into the curtain of rain...
Sunagakure's Strong, Long-Legged Beauty Pakura
Pitch-black night.
The sky over the Land of Rain remained shrouded in dark clouds.
A fine drizzle fell upon the earth, without even a trace of moonlight to be found.
Yet the town before them was still illuminated by the gaudy glow of neon lights.
It seemed to suggest that even while the Ninja World War raged on, it could continue existing on its own.
And tonight,
this town was destined not to remain peaceful.
Since leaving the Underground Exchange, Mingren's slaughter had not stopped.
Over the past five years, he had crossed the mountains and lands of the Land of Rain countless times.
He had become extremely familiar with every part of the country.
The things he had once overlooked, ignored, or kept buried in his heart all erupted at once.
Mingren now possessed sufficient standing to raise his fist against those evils.
Thieves, bandits, criminal syndicates... one after another, they were uprooted and slaughtered.
Tonight, Mingren's target shifted to this town.
And as Mingren began his series of killings,
someone had already noticed the disturbance.
A corner of the town.
An inn.
A beautiful, fair-skinned female ninja with long, slender legs stood by the window, watching the scene outside.
The forehead protector on her brow clearly displayed her affiliation—Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Inside the room, several subordinates wore solemn expressions as they stared unblinkingly at their superior.
During the day, they had gone to the Underground Exchange.
Not only had they found the bodies of ninjas from their own village there,
but even the high-ranking officials and nobles they had been assigned to protect had been killed as well.
They had thought that, with the Ninja World War nearing its end,
the level of danger would decrease significantly.
Yet they had never expected someone to dare lay hands on high-ranking officials and nobles...
Such a thing had never happened before.
Pakura turned around, one hand on her hip, a trace of solemnity flashing across her face.
It was precisely because her companions and the employer for their mission had disappeared
that she had been sent to search for their whereabouts.
Until she discovered everyone's bodies.
The corpses scattered across the Underground Exchange made Pakura's heart skip a beat.
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