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After Midorima and Killer B returned to the Hidden Cloud Village, they delivered the grim news of the murdered Cloud shinobi directly to the Raikage. For a moment, the towering leader simply sat motionless, unable to process the blow.
But this was war.
No matter how bitterly he wanted to reject the reality, he would have to grow accustomed to this kind of loss.
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to recover the bodies," Midorima said.
The Raikage shook his head. "That's not on you. Your only job was to bring Killer B back safely. The fact that you even located our fallen comrades and brought word of what happened is already more help than we could have hoped for." He straightened his broad shoulders, forcing himself to regain composure with impressive speed.
The front lines were stretched thin. He had dispatched only a small number of shinobi to search for Killer B, so part of him had already prepared for the possibility that his brother might never be found. What he hadn't anticipated—at all—was that this outsider named Midorima would actually succeed where his own people had failed.
"Clay bombs…" The Raikage's deep voice rumbled. "Do either of you have any theories?"
"I questioned some Iwagakure shinobi nearby," Midorima replied. "According to them, clay bombs aren't something just anyone from their village can use. The technique belongs to a shinobi named Deidara. Apparently, he left Iwagakure some time ago."
"You're saying Deidara is the one who killed four of our people?" the Raikage asked, eyes narrowing.
"Not definitively. He's only a suspect at this point," Midorima clarified.
"Why would he do it?" the Raikage pressed.
Midorima gave a small, knowing smile. "Would you be willing to hear a conspiracy theory?"
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Right now the Hidden Cloud is locked in open conflict with the Land of Lightning's samurai forces. At the same time, the Leaf and Sand Villages are tearing each other apart in a full-scale war. The Mist Village has suffered the worst—half the entire village was reduced to rubble. All five great ninja villages are facing major crises simultaneously. Doesn't that strike you as suspiciously convenient? And on top of that, jinchūriki from each of those villages have been targeted or gone missing one after another. Too many coincidences piling up at once, don't you think? My theory is simple: none of this is random. Everything is connected. Someone is orchestrating it all."
"And who exactly would that be?" the Raikage asked. "This 'Akatsuki' you mentioned earlier?"
Midorima nodded.
"Uchiha Madara died at the Valley of the End," the Raikage continued. "So whoever is walking around claiming to be him is clearly an impostor. But if he's bold enough to use that name, it means he possesses Sharingan—and considerable strength to back it up. Still… what exactly is this Akatsuki? What are they after?"
"Before I left the village to search for Killer B," Midorima said, shifting the subject abruptly, "you must have already looked into my background, right?"
The Raikage gave an awkward chuckle but didn't bother denying it.
A powerful shinobi who appeared out of nowhere—even one carrying personal letters of recommendation from Tsunade and the acting Mizukage—was not someone the Raikage could afford to trust blindly.
"I read the file," the Raikage admitted. "It seems you were more or less forced out of the Mist Village because of your connection to Akatsuki. So it makes sense that you'd have a personal vendetta against them."
Midorima caught the subtext immediately. What the Raikage was really saying was this: Midorima's entire "conspiracy theory" was likely born from personal bitterness. Once he cleared his name and returned to the Mist, his first priority was revenge against Akatsuki. In order to rally support, he was inventing a grand plot that conveniently dragged the Cloud—and perhaps every other major village—into his private war. In reality, Akatsuki might only have ever been interested in the Mist Village.
This was exactly the scenario Midorima had feared all along.
He knew far more than he could safely reveal—Pain's true identity, Obito's endgame, the full scope of Akatsuki's plan—but what good did that knowledge do him? The more he tried to explain, the less credible he would appear. These leaders might not believe a word of it. Worse, they might see him as paranoid, manipulative, or even dangerous.
So instead of pressing the issue further, Midorima simply asked, "Does the offer you made earlier still stand?"
"You mean regarding Killer B?" The Raikage glanced at his visibly tense younger brother. "Yes. But while you're in the Cloud Village, you stay with him. You don't go anywhere else without his supervision."
The Raikage was a man of his word; he wouldn't go back on a promise.
"That works for me." Midorima shrugged and turned toward Killer B. "Shall we get going?"
Killer B had been squirming in the heavy atmosphere of the room for some time, desperate for an excuse to bolt. The moment Midorima gave him an opening, he seized it without hesitation and practically dragged his new companion out of the Raikage's office.
Once they were gone, the Raikage crossed one leg over the other and turned to the tall, statuesque kunoichi standing nearby.
"Samui, what's your read on him?"
"Strange," she answered simply.
"Elaborate."
"If his real goal was to redirect the anger of the five great villages toward Akatsuki, why stop trying to convince you? You clearly harbor doubts about him, but you never came right out and accused him. He could have kept pushing, kept building his case. Instead he dropped the subject completely."
The Raikage nodded slowly. That inconsistency had bothered him as well.
"So either his story is true, or it's false. If it's false, giving up so easily doesn't quite add up—he didn't even try to persuade you further. If it's true, though, there are two possibilities."
"Which are?"
"First, just as you don't fully trust him, he doesn't fully trust you. After being betrayed by the Mist Village, it's only natural he'd be wary of everyone—especially another great village like ours. The second possibility…" Samui trailed off.
"Why is the second one more disturbing?"
"Think about it. If everything he said is accurate, and he knows you're suspicious of him, yet he chooses not to elaborate or defend his theory any further… there's really only one logical explanation. This isn't just his fight. The people involved aren't limited to him alone. The entire incident could potentially drag all five great ninja villages into the same trap. If that's the case, there's no reason for him to risk being branded a liar or a schemer by laying out every detail of what he suspects. He's protecting something—or someone—bigger than himself."
The Raikage fell silent.
Behind him, on the desk, lay the slim intelligence dossier compiled on Asachi Midorima. Apart from his defection from the Mist and his recent return there, nearly everything in between could be summed up in two words: unknown / classified.
"He really is an interesting one," the Raikage muttered with a cold laugh.
"What do we do now?" Samui asked.
After a long pause, the Raikage lifted his head. "Tell Darui to relay orders to the front lines. All units are to pull back immediately. Even if we don't buy into his conspiracy theory, we can't afford to ignore the possibility."
Samui gave a crisp nod and left the office without another word.
Meanwhile, Killer B had led Midorima straight to his personal training ground—a secluded valley surrounded by steep mountains and fed by a clear, rushing stream. No other people were in sight, and the place was far enough from the main village—over ten miles from the nearest Mist border patrol route—that the only sounds were the wind through the trees and the steady murmur of flowing water.
"Not bad at all," Midorima remarked, genuinely impressed.
"This is my private practice spot," Killer B explained. "Don't sweat the restrictions. The Raikage's not trying to be a jerk."
"I get it. He's responsible for the entire village. He can't take chances. As for me… all I want is to establish real, effective communication with the Six-Tails. After that, I'll need it to lend me enough power to make a difference."
"Leave that part to me!" Killer B thumped his chest confidently. "Have you ever actually talked with a tailed beast before?"
"Talked?" Midorima blinked, thinking back. The only brief contact he could recall was during that short skirmish with the Iwagakure team. "No. Not really."
Killer B gave him a long, appraising look. "Then my man… you still got a long road ahead."