Petty Nobles

"Superior!"

Several Kunai were thrown out, most of them flying towards the direction where the nameless person was.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave"

Taking a deep breath, Kazashiro turned around and exhaled sharply. The sharp wind blades instantly cut the Kunai, and then flew unimpeded towards the direction from which the attack originated.

The sound of trees snapping, accompanied by screams of agony, echoed throughout the forest.

A sharp blade came from a blind spot, and before Wuming could react, Kazashiro reached out to protect it, and pulled out a Kunai with his other hand.

In the instant the blades clashed, Kazashiro also saw the attacker's face clearly.

A man wearing a Hannya mask.

"The Hannya Clan of the Land of Forests?"

As the Acting Hokage, Kazashiro immediately realized the other party's identity.

The other party is nominally allied with Konoha.

"Hmph, prepare to die, Hokage!"

With their Ninja Blade blocked, the Hannya Clan relaxed their grip, ducking to avoid the Kunai's slash as they retracted their blades.

As he crouched down, Hannya Clan thrust out his blade, seizing the opening revealed Kunai Kazashiro swung his kunai, preparing to deliver a fatal blow.

"Since you know I'm the Hokage, you don't think you can defeat me with just Taijutsu, do you?" Kazashiro threw the Kunai in his hand and instantly activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Tch, my target is her!"

Seeing Kazashiro disappear from his sight, Hannya Clan changed the direction of the blade he had thrust out, stabbing straight towards the direction where Wuming was.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave".

The wind blade grazed almost to the face of the Hannya Clan, and with a sharp pain in his arm, his entire arm, along with his Ninja Blade, crashed heavily to the ground.

"Ah!"

Clutching his arm, he quickly retreated, and four more Hannya Clan rushed out of the shadows.

One of them charged at Wuming, while the other three formed a triangle around Kazashiro.

"You said you'd protect me, but now you're too busy taking care of yourself?"

Wuming silently watched the Hannya Clan rushing towards him, sighed, and was about to make a move when he heard Kazashiro's mocking voice.

"How could that be? I told you, I would definitely protect you."

Kunai flew between Wuming and the Hannya Clan, Kazashiro's figure reappeared, kicking the Hannya Clan in front of him away and throwing out several Senbon needles that stuck into the opponent's pressure points.

"Damn it, Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

"Wind Release: Storm!"

"Earth Release - Earth Prison!"

Enraged that their encirclement was ineffective, the three Hannya Clan jointly unleashed Ninjutsu.

Earth Release blocked the retreat route, and the combination of Wind Release and Fire Style —if this combo were launched as a surprise attack, it could easily take down a Jonin.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

The Fire Style, spread by Wind Release, was extinguished by Water Release in just a moment.

Seeing the Water Release that was far larger than a regular Water Dragon Bullet, the group hurriedly scattered and fled, only to find that their feet were somehow covered by ice crystals, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't break free.

In the end, the three members of the Hannya Clan, along with the one who was injured earlier, were submerged by the Water Dragon Bullet, and then, under Kazashiro's control, were frozen in ice crystals.

The outcome seems to be decided.

However, three more figures emerged from the shadows.

"Fire Style: Combination Technique, Garuda!"

The three fire dragons roared and converged, eventually coalescing into one giant dragon.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet"

Instead of using Ice Release to defend, Kazashiro used Fire Style to fight head-on with his opponent.

With just himself, Kazashiro's Fire Style technique had a larger range than the combined Fire Style technique, and his Fire Style also emitted a dazzling white light due to the high temperature.

After the violent explosion, a heatwave engulfed the three who had attempted the sneak attack. Amidst cries of pain, a strange aroma of roasted meat wafted out as the Fire Style ended.

"Only one person remains."

Attaching Wind Release to his Kunai, Kazashiro slammed it into the ground beneath his feet.

As the Kunai was pulled out, a pool of blood flowed out from the puncture wound.

"Wasn't Konoha founded for peace? How come so many people are still eyeing you, the Hokage?"

Looking at the still-warm corpses at his feet, Wuming wondered what the Senju and Konoha had accomplished over the years.

"Isn't this still in the early stages of development?"

Kazashiro walked up to the Hannya Clan he had kicked away earlier and reached out to remove his mask.

An ordinary, unremarkable face.

"You know how to use Illusion Technique, right? I need to ask you for a favor."

Turning to look at the nameless person beside him, Kazashiro beckoned the other person to come closer.

"Didn't you say you were going to protect me and not let me fight?"

Despite his words, Wuming took a step forward.

"The battle is over, and I've fulfilled my promise. Now that you've stepped in, consider it a favor. Tonight, we'll have teppanyaki."

Upon hearing the term "teppanyaki," Wuming almost couldn't hold back his drool and quickly covered his mouth, signaling to Kazashiro to wake the unfortunate fellow.

After pulling the Senbon from the other man's body, the survivor, under the control of the Illusion Technique, quickly confessed clearly that he was employed by the nobleman.

"Nangong Zao? What a dishonest fellow."

After learning the details of what happened, Kazashiro sent the other party to meet the Sage of Six Paths with a Kunai, and in his mind, he had already added Nangong Zao's name to the list of the Internal Affairs Department.

"You're a rather unpopular Hokage."

Wuming looked at Kazashiro with a strange expression.

If what they say is true, Konoha should have been established with the permission of the Daimyo to serve the nobles of the Land of Fire. However, the reality is that the nobles are paying external forces to assassinate this so-called "Hokage."

"To correct you, I am only Acting Hokage."

Kazashiro corrected Wuming's grammatical error before explaining, "I just wanted them to pay a small price to make Konoha even greater. What did I do wrong? It's just that these nobles are too petty."

"Um, the price you mentioned is...?"

"Their lives."

The nameless one, having received the answer, understood.

This guy deserved to be assassinated.

"Oh dear!"

Wielding a Hidan, Hidan howled as he slashed at the Taki ninja who stood in his way.

Yao Mei stood aside, quietly watching the madman slaughter indiscriminately, without making any attempt to stop him.

Grabbing a heavily injured ninja lying on the ground, Yakumei cast Illusion Technique on him, attempting to find out the whereabouts of the Seven-Tails.

"Sandwich samovar, do you see this? This is my offering to you, hahahaha!"

Hidan used his scythe to lift up the last standing Taki ninja, and as he watched the blade pierce through the opponent's abdomen, Hidan, letting the blood drip onto his face.

In just a few minutes, the eight-man Takigakure squad was wiped out by Hidan and Yakumai.

"We found out; the Seven-Tails is currently in the sealed land."

Having obtained the information he wanted, Yakumei casually tossed the Takigakure ninja to Hidan's feet.

Through his observations over the past few days, he had figured out Hidan's temperament. Although Hidan seemed like a madman, he could communicate with him as long as he didn't criticize his strange beliefs.