Mid-Journey Assassination (Part 2)

"Kazekage Rin, Mizukage Karatachi Yagura, what do you mean by this!" Ōnoki's face was ashen as he stared at the two men, then scanned his surroundings and found that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist of the Mist, Sasori of the Red Sands, and the rest of the Kirigakure and Sunagakure Anbu Ninja had surrounded them! He was in a very bad mood. To become a Kage, each of them was extraordinary and had their own trump cards.

Even if he could hold back Karatachi Yagura and Rin, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and Sasori of the Red Sands numbered eight, while his side only had Kitsuchi and Deidara. The number of Anbu Ninja was also outnumbered. Under these circumstances, even if he could escape unscathed, most of the people he brought with him would not be able to leave! This made Ōnoki feel somewhat heavy-hearted.

"What do you mean? Heh, have you forgotten all the things you've done?" Karatachi Yagura swung his iron rod, pointing it at Ōnoki's head, and said in a nonchalant tone. He was extremely arrogant and disdainful of everyone. Actually, it's not Karatachi Yagura's fault. At this moment, everything was on their side, Karatachi Yagura really couldn't think of how he could lose.

Lin shook his head. "It seems that Lord Tsuchikage is truly forgetful. Before the succession ceremony, you sent people to attack our troops. After the plot was exposed, you took away the ninja corpses, leaving us with no way to investigate. What a clumsy tactic."

Ōnoki was stunned. When did he send people to attack the two Kage's tribes? How come he didn't know? And looking at Lin He and Yagura's expressions, he knew that this was true, but he hadn't done it. He was completely confused. What was going on?!

He looked at Kitsuchi, Kitsuchi looked completely innocent. "I don't know either," Ōnoki said. Onoki suddenly realized that they had been framed! But the dead ninja had already been taken away, and there was no way to find out anything. No matter how he explained, the Mizukage and Kazekage probably wouldn't believe him.

Even if they believed it, they wouldn't miss this opportunity to eliminate the most cunning Tsuchikage of Iwagakure! The time had come, and today was Ōnoki's death day! Ōnoki understood what the two meant at this moment. He originally wanted to explain, but seeing the mocking look in Kazekage Rin's eyes and the killing intent in Mizukage Karatachi Yagura, he swallowed his words.

Kazekage Rin witnessed this scene and sneered, "Does the Lord Tsuchikage not want to explain anymore? Is he planning to accept all of this?" He understood the feelings and emotions of the Tsuchikage Ōnoki at this moment. Ōnoki wouldn't be so stupid as to make a move during the Raikage succession ceremony, but so what? He just wanted to go with the flow and weaken the strength of Iwagakure.

In this way, the strength of Sunagakure could rise to a higher level. Similarly, the Mizukage and Tachibana Yagura of Kirigakure thought the same thing. The reason why they looked so murderous in front of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist was simply to win people's hearts and incidentally enhance the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist's determination to seek revenge.

His goal is the same as Lin's: to eliminate the vital forces of Iwagakure. When Iwagakure is depleted of its talent pool, leaving only Ōnoki, how long can he live? Ten years, twenty years? Without a suitable successor, Iwagakure can only decline.

To put it bluntly, the three shadows present were fully aware of the current situation. Whether they said it or not was useless; in the end, they would have to prove themselves through their actions!

"Hmph! Enough talk, let's get started!" After assessing the situation, Ōnoki decided not to waste any more words and only wanted to deal with these two Kage as soon as possible so that he could free up his hands to save Kitsuchi and Deidara. They were the future of the village, the future of Iwagakure, and they absolutely could not be harmed.

Lin and Karatachi Yagura exchanged a glance, their lips curving upwards. Lin threw out a puppet that looked nine-tenths like himself with his right hand, shooting out Chakra Threads from his five fingers and connecting them to his own puppet. Lin's puppet immediately straightened its back, its eyes lighting up, as if it had come to him.

Lin stretched his puppet, then looked at Ōnoki with a smile and a slight bow—polite, but not overly so. Ōnoki, looking at Lin's puppet, was startled; he sensed a deadly threat emanating from it.

Ōnoki spoke slowly, tentatively asking, "Human Puppet?"

"Not bad!" Lin's lips curled up. The method of making this Human Puppet was particularly cruel. It required feeding the living person with special medicinal herbs for seven consecutive days, then pouring mercury into the living person's body, and then putting it into a furnace for smelting. During this process, Mizukage had to be poured in continuously to ensure that the shape remained unchanged.

After mastering the technique, a human skin is laid on top, and the hair is sewn on, completing the process. Its strength far surpasses that of ordinary puppets by ten or even a hundred times! Its agility is no different from that of a normal person. Later, because this method was too cruel, it was abolished by the Second Kazekage and listed as a forbidden technique. It has not appeared in the Ninja World for nearly thirty years. I never expected that Lin would actually bring this out today.

Karatachi Yagura, standing to the Jonin, was also stunned. He gasped. Even a Jonin would immediately gain Kage Level strength by controlling a Human Puppet, let alone Lin, a Kage Level veteran puppeteer. This was like adding wings to a tiger!

Lin turned to look at Karatachi Yagura, "Mizukage- sama, don't just stand there, make your move!" He glanced at the Mizukage, his eyes unfathomable, as if he were thinking something.

Karatachi Yagura took a deep breath. He had originally intended to save this technique for Konoha and for Uchiha Kō, but now that Lin had used a forbidden method, if he remained indifferent and did nothing, even if he won the battle, wouldn't he be ridiculed as a lazy, opportunistic winner?

Karatachi Yagura held his staff in both hands and began to spin. Streams of water mirrors flew out and landed behind everyone. In the next moment, everyone present was copied by him, and the figures of everyone present, including Ōnoki, emerged from the water mirrors.

Only Karatachi Yagura and Rin's Mizukage clones were absent; this was intentional on Karatachi Yagura, a sign of respect for his partners in this operation.

Karatachi Yagura began to give the order, "Kill the people of Iwagakure!" The next moment, all the Mizukage clones moved, their eyes filled with killing intent as they attacked the people of Iwagakure. Seeing this, Lin's expression changed slightly. If he hadn't been teammates with Karatachi Yagura today, he probably would have been caught off guard by this move in the future.

"I never imagined the Yagura brothers had developed their Water Mirror Technique to such an extent! It's truly admirable!" Lin said sincerely.

Karatachi Yagura glanced at him and said, "You're still a notch below your Human Puppet!"

Over the past decade or so, these Kage Level powerhouses are not going to stand still. To stagnate means to fall behind, and to fall behind means to be beaten. They've been beaten for over a decade already; do they really want to keep being beaten?

The Iwagakure ninja panicked upon seeing a ninja who looked exactly like them and was of equal strength. They hastily prepared to fight, but were immediately repelled by Mizukage's clone, who calmly countered their attack.

It wasn't until later that they gradually improved and fought each other to a standstill. However, the clones of Mizukage weren't just from their Iwagakure!

Among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Ringo Ameyuri she wielded the Kiba in both hands. Seizing the opportune moment, she launched an Anbu Ninja! With her main body dead, her clone vanished.

The clone Ringo Ameyuri flicked her sword, a mocking glint in her eyes, and continued her actions.

Suikazan Fuguki's clone pulled out Samehada and stabbed at another Iwagakure Ninja who was fighting the clone. Instantly, a suction force came from Samehada, quickly draining the Iwagakure Ninja's Chakra. Unable to resist any longer, the Iwagakure Ninja's head was cut off by his clone. The clone dissipated, and another person died.

Suikazan Fuguki's clone carried Samehada with a helpless expression, Samehada made some excited chirping sounds.

Meanwhile, Karatachi Yagura felt a Chakra coming towards him! A smile crept onto his face. He hadn't expected that Suikazan Fuguki's clone could be used as a power bank! That's great. From now on, he'll definitely make a copy before every mission.

Ōnoki looked at the two Mizukage clones in front of him with disdain. One was his apprentice, and the other was his son. He had taught them both their techniques. Was Karatachi Yagura stupid to send these two to fight him?

However, Ōnoki forgot one thing: Deidara seemed to rarely use Earth Release; he mostly used his Explosion Release. The next moment, the Kitsuchi Clone used the Rock Fist combined with the Heavy Rock Technique from Light-Weight Rock Technique, and punched Ōnoki!

Ōnoki's lips curled up. "Good lad, let me test your strength!" Ōnoki usually didn't dare to use too much force when training his son, Kitsuchi, for fear of hurting him. His son was also afraid of using too much force and twisting his father's back. Today, facing the clone of Suikyo, Ōnoki could also understand his son's strength!

Ōnoki threw a punch, using only the Rock Fist Technique without adding Light-Weight Rock Technique. The two fists collided, and Ōnoki was unharmed, while the Kitsuchi Clone's fist had returned to its normal shape, though it was also unscathed.

This made Ōnoki's eyes light up. That punch was his full strength. Don't underestimate this little old man because of his small size; his strength is truly immense! The fact that his Kitsuchi clone could withstand that attack without injury already demonstrates that he possesses Kage Level strength.

Kitsuchi clone retreated, preparing to unleash the Earth Mountain Technique, but Ōnoki saw through his little scheme. "Well, if I really let you use the Earth Mountain Technique, it would be a bit troublesome. So goodbye, my clone son!" Ōnoki raised his right hand, pointing a single finger at Kitsuchi clone. The next moment, a white laser beam shot out, piercing the heart of the Water Mirror clone!

With a splash, the Kitsuchi clone instantly turned into a puddle of water and disappeared.

This caused Lin and Karatachi Yagura's expressions to change, and they instantly used Dust Release! Unexpectedly, Ōnoki had also achieved a further breakthrough in his strength, and this was an instant Dust Release! If the previous Dust Release was inferior to Wood Release because of its long charging time and small range, then...

Now, Ōnoki's Dust Release can be said to be comparable to Wood Release! It's instantaneous, penetrating, and unstoppable; even Hayashi and Karatachi Yagura are extremely wary of it.

Ōnoki smirked as he looked at Hayashi and Karatachi Yagura, shooting out two fingers. Hayashi and Karatachi Yagura immediately used their Body Flicker Technique, instantly unleashing two white laser beams that missed their target. "Tsk, I knew these two guys were cunning, but I didn't expect them to be so fast!"

The next moment, Deidara's clone threw out nearly a hundred spiders, which crawled towards Ōnoki from different angles. Ōnoki's face turned pale, and he immediately flew Art is an Explosion!