Framing the Evidence

The Uchiha clan massacre should have eliminated a major internal threat to the higher-ups, but it unexpectedly triggered extremely severe consequences—severe enough to make the leadership bleed inside and even faintly feel regret, though they dared not regret it.

Once they regretted it, that would prove their decision was wrong, so they could only walk down that single path to the dark end.

Kumogakure frequently harassed the borders of the Land of Fire; Iwagakure hid in the shadows and eyed them covetously; Kirigakure had fallen into internal strife and had no time to spare for anything else; Konoha ceded a tiny bit of territory and benefits to win over Sunagakure so as not to be caught in a pincer attack.

Of course, Sunagakure and Konoha were only allies in name; if Konoha continued to sink into decline, Sunagakure would not mind taking a bite out of them.

The higher-ups possessed formidable public opinion control, and the ordinary people in the village still lived in peace and prosperity, though occasionally one could see some gloomy, hurried people whose friends and family members had gone missing, neither seen alive nor dead as corpses, yet the village consistently failed to provide an explanation.

At times like this, discussions inevitably arose—discussions concerning the Konoha Police Force. Although the Uchiha were detested, they were also very dedicated and responsible; now that this department had been disbanded, who would be responsible for maintaining daily public order?

The higher-ups are overwhelmed and have no time to deal with trivial matters; this period is most suitable for stirring up trouble, said the black shadow.

Sasuke was somewhat doubtful: Are missing persons considered trivial matters? Besides, the missing people even include a Chunin.

Before the black shadow could speak, Sasuke seemed to figure it out on his own: Such a big Uchiha clan was cast aside just like that, so what is a Chunin? Orochimaru and Danzo have both conducted human experiments; occasionally losing a few ninjas should have zero impact!

The black shadow said nothing. In truth, Konoha would not be so irresponsible, but there were simply too many affairs lately. Other chess pieces selected by the Demon body were muddying the waters in the Shinobi World, causing the shinobi villages to consume one another and attracting all eyes so that temporarily no one would notice the anomaly in the ocean.

The waters of the Shinobi World ran deep. It was hard to say how much strength the Sage of Six Paths still retained, to what extent the Kara organization had developed in secret, and what kind of god the inexplicable Jashin actually was.

What the Demon feared most was the Otsutsuki ability to manipulate time, which was why he insisted on making the ocean his breakthrough point. He wanted to find the treasure tool that could travel through time and space, the Karasuki.

Different experiences forged different personalities. Some entities that were strong from birth liked to use overt strategies because they possessed sufficient strength and resources to back them up; but like the Demon, who had crawled up from the abyss at the very bottom, he had long since grown accustomed to consorting with conspiracies.

In truth, whether it was the glorious righteous path or the dark, treacherous evil path, as long as it could succeed, the Demon did not mind hiding in a gutter like a rat. Being too high-profile made one very prone to bad luck.

He still remembered back then, when the Demon was a newbie rookie who accidentally stumbled into a seemingly ordinary plane. He had expected to slaughter everything in his path, only to be knocked unconscious by a robotic cat named Doraemon, who made him go listen to Gian's concert instead of him. Afterward, the Demon was repeatedly knocked unconscious by Nobita, Suneo, and Shizuka, sent to listen to Gian's concert in their place.

It seemed that any random passerby could instantly kill the Demon. That unfathomable power left a deep impression on the Demon, engraving "caution" deep into his bones. Now, he only wanted to play a crushing game, overwhelming opponents through sheer absolute advantage. If he could ambush them, he would never face them frontally, let alone engage in any fifty-fifty or life-or-death cross-tier battles.

When encountering enemies that could not be crushed, he would run the moment he had to. Boring topics like dignity were completely unnecessary to consider; as long as he stayed alive, worst case he could always return to exact revenge another day.

Yet the chess piece chosen by the Demon was exceptionally high-profile. At this moment, on the border of the Land of Lightning, a man wearing a black trench coat and a bizarre mask stood brazenly inside a Kumogakure border defense camp. If Danzo were present, he would undoubtedly recognize him at a glance as Torune Aburame.

Kumogakure immediately spotted him and surrounded him. "Who are you, and why are you appearing here!"

Amidst the verbal exchange, Kumogakure intended to make a move to arrest and interrogate Torune Aburame. The nonsense just now was simply a certain rule of the Shinobi World; before taking action, one had to blabber a few sentences of justification or ideals.

Yet Torune Aburame's eyes brimmed with sorrow as he gazed at them coldly, resembling a resentful woman abandoned by a scumbag. "This place is my hometown, and the Fourth Raikage is my closest blood relative. Why can't I come here? Could it be that he doesn't intend to acknowledge me? Or are you afraid I'll speak the truth and make Kumogakure lose face?"

His voice was so loud that every Kumogakure ninja present heard it. They could not help but freeze for a moment. "The truth? What truth?"

Torune Aburame suddenly turned bashful. "Actually, my relationship with the Fourth Raikage is extremely intimate..."

The gathered Kumogakures were greatly startled, then experienced a sudden flash of insight. Could it be... could it be that this delicate young man in front of them was Lord Raikage's... that person?

Come to think of it, the Fourth Raikage still didn't seem to have a wife to this day. The person closest to him was Killer B, and their relationship...

Hiss—the more one thought about it, the more terrifying it became!

Quite a few people quietly wiped away sweat, filled with profound regret. They should have seized the man without a moment's hesitation just now and forced him to shut his mouth. Now that everyone had heard such a "scandal," this trouble was going to be massive.

"You're Lord Raikage's relative, right?" A certain Kumogakure frantically signaled Torune Aburame with his eyes, the implication within being self-evident.

Yet Torune Aburame directly ignored Kumogakure's hint and said through gritted teeth, "Actually, I am the Fourth Raikage's birth mother!"

The entire scene fell dead silent. The Kumogakures, who had prepared themselves to receive a heaven-shaking secret, instantly widened their eyes. "Shameless, utterly shameless! You're clearly a man, plus the Fourth Raikage's mother has detailed records!"

"How dare you assume my gender?!" Torune Aburame roared furiously. "Kumogakure is truly devoid of freedom!"

"Back then, the Third Raikage's wife was unable to bear children, so she found me to be a surrogate. It was agreed beforehand that she would give me generous compensation afterward, but who could have expected that bitch would actually try to keep the child while getting rid of the mother! Fortunately, I kept my guard up and faked my death to escape," Torune Aburame wept bitterly.

A large crowd of people stared at him fixedly. How could such a brazen and shameless person exist in this world! Conversing with a person like this simply lowered one's standards!

Kumogakure had long wanted to strike directly and interrupt Torune Aburame's nonsense, but unfortunately they couldn't hit him.

After Torune Aburame expounded a set of heaven-defying and vulgar remarks, he unleashed the Poison Dust Technique. The purple clouds formed by the nano venomous insects instantly slaughtered the majority of the Kumogakure ninjas, while intentionally leaving behind a few living witnesses.

Following that, Torune Aburame headed toward the next Kumogakure border stronghold, accidentally got himself captured alive by a slip of the hand, exposed his Aburame clan identity by another careless mistake, and then spilled that he belonged to the Konoha Root by yet another careless mistake.

This was a crude, heavy-handed, and loophole-ridden frame-up. Kumogakure could detect that Torune Aburame was being manipulated and deliberately picking a fight, but that was not important; what mattered was that Kumogakure could seize this opportunity to launch an offensive against Konoha.