Development of the Situation

"Damn it—!!"

A furious roar shattered the silence of the Raikage's office. A, the Fourth Raikage—the burly giant clad in a white outer robe and wearing a conical hat—suddenly slammed down his fist.

Boom!!

The heavy solid-wood desk instantly shattered under his terrifying Monster Strength. Wood chips flew everywhere, and documents scattered across the floor like snowflakes. Lightning Release Chakra still coiled around his fist, crackling as arcs of electricity danced through the air, displaying the fury he could barely suppress.

They were all wiped out... Even an elite Jonin like Zuri...

A's chest heaved violently, veins bulging at his temples. But soon, he drew a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

This was not the time to vent. As the Raikage, he had to handle the aftermath first.

He slowly withdrew his fist. "Have the families of the fallen all been accounted for?"

Mabui, his secretary, had long grown accustomed to the Raikage's temper. Calmly opening the file in her hands, she said, "Everything has been accounted for. Aside from the expendable operatives, compensation for the twenty-seven Hidden Cloud shinobi who died in the delegation has also been calculated and can be distributed at any time."

A nodded, his gaze dark as he looked out the window.

Twenty-seven elites... This debt will be repaid.

He suddenly recalled something and turned to ask, "How is Rachi?"

The only Hidden Cloud shinobi who had returned alive, he was also the sole witness to the entire incident. Mabui's expression shifted slightly, her eyes complicated.

"Chunin Rachi has already gone to the Shinobi Archives to request that his shinobi registration number be canceled."

"According to the Medical Team's psychological evaluation report... the overwhelming strength displayed by the 'Masked Man' mentioned in the intelligence appears to have inflicted severe psychological trauma on him. I'm afraid... he can no longer continue carrying out shinobi missions."

"Also, the messenger bird sent to notify Konoha has already departed. It is expected to reach the Land of Fire's border within two days."

Mabui's finger lightly traced the schedule on the document. "Lord Killer B and Lady Yugito have already received the news. During Lord Raikage's trip to the Land of Fire, should the village come under attack, the two Tailed Beast Jinchuriki will defend it together."

"The specific arrangement is this: Lady Yugito will command the Hidden Cloud shinobi, while Lord Killer B will remain stationed at Cloud-Thunder Gorge, ready at any time to use a Tailed Beast Ball against powerful enemies."

Lightning Release Chakra ran uncontrollably across A's body, producing faint crackling sounds.

"Mm, good!"

"Since that masked bastard who hides his face dared to provoke Hidden Cloud, and even specifically told me to find him—"

"Then I'll personally go to the Land of Fire and drag that bastard out of his rat hole!!"

Before his words had even faded, A turned sharply and swept out a hand. "We leave now! Move out! Shii! Darui!"

Inside the office, the two elite shinobi who had long been standing by immediately responded. Shii, the sensory shinobi, stood straight and answered respectfully and crisply.

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, Darui, the Storm Release shinobi, scratched his messy white hair and lazily dragged out his reply.

"Okaaay~"

"Keep up!"

A did not wait for either of them to react. He took a single stride toward the window—Bang!!

The glass instantly shattered beneath the Raikage's brute-force impact. Countless glittering shards flashed beneath the sunlight as A's figure had already turned into a streak of lightning, leaping down from the Raikage Building.

Shii followed without hesitation, vanishing through the shattered window in a flash.

Darui slowly walked to the window, looked at the dust rising below, and sighed. "Ah... another long run. What a pain... Forget it, I'll take the front door."

Inside the office, Mabui looked at the mess covering the floor and helplessly rubbed her forehead with a sigh. "Sigh... Here we go again."

She skillfully opened her notebook and added a new entry under "Raikage Office Damage Record": Damage today: solid-wood desk, reinforced blastproof window. Clearly, she had long become accustomed to such sudden incidents.

Land of Fire, Konoha Village.

After the Hidden Cloud delegation left, Konoha appeared to have returned to its usual calm.

Though the villagers were furious over Hidden Cloud's despicable actions, since the higher-ups had already compromised, ordinary people could only swallow their dissatisfaction and continue living their everyday lives of food, clothing, and household matters. After all, complaining would not change anything.

The only obvious change was the atmosphere within the Hyuga Clan.

Within the Main Family, Clan Head Hiashi Hyuga's already stern face was darker than usual. Meanwhile, in the Branch Family compound, four-year-old Neji Hyuga had cried until he was soaked in tears.

"Father... Where is Father...?"

Little Neji's swollen red eyes were filled with confusion and fear. No one told him the truth, but a child's intuition made him vaguely realize—the figure who had been by his side since his earliest memories would never return.

No one had expected that two days later, a boulder would once again smash the calm news into pieces.

"Did you hear?! Hidden Cloud's convoy was attacked!"

"That Hyuga shinobi was taken away!"

The news spread like wildfire, instantly igniting all of Konoha.

It was said that the Hidden Cloud delegation had been attacked by a mysterious shinobi while returning to the Land of Lightning.

A black-robed figure wearing a Fox Mask. He had wiped out Hidden Cloud's elites all by himself. He had taken away the Hyuga clansman who had "killed the envoy" right on the spot.

Even more shocking was the killer's public declaration before leaving.

"I'll be taking the power of the Byakugan."

"If you want it back, have the Raikage come find me in the Land of Fire."

At first, when most Konoha shinobi heard the news, they could not help but applaud in delight. Their long-suppressed anger had finally found an outlet.

However, this brief satisfaction was quickly extinguished by new information.

Hidden Cloud Village publicly questioned whether the Masked Man was a Konoha shinobi. Konoha had pretended to compromise while secretly taking the captive away, intending to shield the killer.

If Konoha did not hand over both the killer and the Masked Man, Hidden Cloud would start a war.

The Konoha shinobi instantly erupted.

"What kind of joke is this?! They were the ones who kidnapped a member of the Hyuga Clan first!"

"Now they're turning around and accusing us? Does Hidden Cloud have no shame?!"

Waves of fury swept through the entire village, but beneath the uproar, a deeper unease began to spread. It was fear of war.