High-Sounding Reasons

The dark space was silent. Stalactites overhead, present for who knows how many years, had also collapsed during the battle, and the suffocating sound of dripping water vanished.

Not long after Tsunade took Sora Uchiha away, four figures arrived. They were the ones sent by Takigakure to investigate.

A ball of Chakra dispelled the deep darkness, revealing the mess within the cave. The ground was gouged with deep furrows, and the entire space was filled with dust and a strong, lingering smell of burning...

"Wh-what happened here?!" a Takigakure ninja exclaimed, his face turning slightly pale.

Fūen's expression changed slightly. Holding the ball of Chakra, he crouched down and picked up some powder. He smelled it, then touched the charred walls. The answer formed in his mind.

Multiple Chakra natures intertwined. It had to be Kakuzu. Then, who was fighting Kakuzu? Konoha Reinforcements?

He fell silent, expanding the ball of Chakra in his hand to take in the surroundings.

There was blood, but no bodies. He knew a little about Kakuzu's personality; he liked to rip out hearts, but he always left the bodies of his victims behind. Since there were no other bodies at the scene, it was highly likely no one had died.

It was precisely because of this that Fūen felt uneasy. He knew Kakuzu's strength; it could be said that no one in Takigakure could match him.

If the person who fought him was indeed Konoha Reinforcements, then it would be terrible.

"Captain, there's blood here!"

Suddenly, a Chunin called out. Fūen hurried over and indeed saw a trail of blood on the ground, stretching into the darkness.

He reached out, took a bit, and brought it to his nose to smell. "Very fresh." He looked at the line of blood on the ground. "We should be able to follow the blood trail."

"Then, should we pursue?"

Fūen fell into thought. After a while, he looked at the ninja. "You go back and call a few more people, stronger ones." He then looked at the other two. "You two, come with me."

"Yes."

Currently, Fūen wasn't sure if the blood belonged to Kakuzu or someone else. But he knew that person was definitely severely injured. Whether it was Kakuzu or Konoha Reinforcements, it was the same. They could be killed.

"Let's go..."

After Fūen and the others left, a short while later, another figure appeared. This person wore a Tiger mask and was a member of the Anbu codenamed Tiger.

He glanced at the bloodstains on the ground, didn't overthink it, and followed the blood trail deeper in.

As for the Takigakure ninja who had reported the situation, he assassinated him as soon as he was out of Fūen's sight. This meant that for a short period, only the Jonin Fūen and the two Chunin with him were in the cave, and no one else would approach this area anytime soon.

Inside the cave

"So many caves in this back mountain, dark and cold." A Chunin from Takigakure complained.

"These were specially dug by predecessors to avoid being implicated in war, and many talismans were used to stabilize the mountain body," Fūen said calmly. This was also why the battle between Sora Uchiha and Kakuzu did not cause the mountain to collapse.

The Chunin gave a sound of understanding, looked up at Fūen, and seemed to want to say something but stopped.

Fūen glanced at him, "If you have something to say, say it."

"Yes!" The Chunin shivered and said weakly, "Captain, are we really going to be enemies with Konoha by openly hunting Konoha Ninja like this?"

Fūen looked at him calmly, his deep gaze making the Chunin shiver. He involuntarily lowered his head, not daring to meet Fūen's eyes. At this moment, he heard his captain's explanation.

"Recently, ninja from Konohagakure and Iwagakure have frequently clashed within the borders of the Land of Whirlpools, and the friction is growing. Both Iwagakure's and Konoha's movements, and all signs indicate that a major war will break out soon. We, the Land of Whirlpools, are just a small country and cannot withstand the turmoil of these two major powers."

"Then, why are we showing goodwill to Iwagakure and not Konohagakure?" the Chunin asked, confused.

Fūen sneered, "Because the Land of Fire is vast and rich, with abundant resources of all kinds. Every village has its eye on this big cake and wants a bite. We... are the same."

The Chunin seemed to understand a little and fell silent, no longer asking questions.

Fūen and the others continued forward.

Suddenly, Fūen heard a sharp whistling sound.

"Enemy attack!" he shouted, and quickly fled!

A figure rushed out of the darkness, directly creating a deep pit on the ground, sending gravel flying.

Although Fūen had warned the others at the critical moment, one person still didn't react in time and was smashed to death on the spot.

Fūen didn't have the leisure to check on the unlucky fellow. He quickly threw out several shuriken, shooting them at the figure!

The latter slammed another punch into the ground, directly creating an earth wall in front of him, blocking all the shuriken.

The next moment, the earth wall was blasted open, and the person charged towards Fūen!

Fūen's pupils contracted, and he quickly formed hand seals.

"Water Style: Water Shuriken!"

In an instant, dozens of water shuriken formed by Water Style densely attacked the silhouette. The latter let out a cold snort, and a punch that shattered the air, creating a blast wave that swallowed all the water shuriken.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Fūen created distance and stared warily at this person from ten meters away.

Tsunade shook her hands, tilted her neck, and made a cracking sound of bones, saying unhappily:

"Almost there."

Fūen picked up a kunai, stared at the woman in front of him, his gaze falling on the hideous wound on Tsunade's abdomen. He paused slightly, then smiled and said:

"As expected of one of the legendary Konoha Sannin. Even with a severely injured body, you can unleash such terrifying power. It's just... I wonder how long Tsunade-jōnin can hold on? One minute? Or perhaps two?"

Tsunade's face sank. Just as Fūen said, her severely injured body wasn't even half healed. After that combo, the wounds that had stopped bleeding began to ooze again. She had intended that last attack to be a killing blow, but she hadn't expected the jōnin from Takigakure to be this formidable.

"I'll say it again, I didn't take that damn Hero Water."

Fūen smiled faintly. "No, you did. The Hero Water is gone, right? And in that time, only you came here."

Tsunade's expression turned grim. The next moment, she rushed in front of Fūen and threw a punch.

Fūen was prepared. Fighting a taijutsu ninja like Tsunade up close was the most foolish decision. So, when Tsunade's punch landed, it only hit a water clone.

He reappeared more than ten meters away from Tsunade.

"If I were at my peak, I naturally wouldn't be your match. But now, I only need to stall until your injuries relapse. That's enough."

Tsunade fell silent. After a long pause, she said, "How dare you? How dare you all?"

"Why wouldn't we dare? You stole the Hero Water. That reason is enough," Fūen said calmly.

"Heh, you need a reason to act. How high-minded," Tsunade sneered. "You could have just pursued me directly, yet you still slapped me with a fabricated title."