Hearing Lord Fox ask whether the Daimyō had been assassinated by the Cloud ninja, Nara Kyoichi shook his head.
"I haven't found any direct evidence," he said. "What do we do, Lord Fox? I'm afraid the Daimyō isn't just missing… he may already be dead."
"What do we need evidence for in a situation like this?" Yako replied flatly. "Even if we did produce evidence, would the Cloud ninja admit it?"
Then he looked at Kyoichi and said, utterly serious:
"Kyoichi, be more flexible when handling matters. Make bold assumptions. Accuse without fear. That's always been the way we do things in ANBU.
We don't need proof. As long as the Cloud had a motive, then they're the ones who did it.
It had to be the Cloud ninja taking advantage of the chaos—
and murdering the Daimyō.
Kyoichi, return to the Capital first. Use that clever head of yours and pin this entire mess on the Cloud."
Nara Kyoichi felt miserable inside.
Sure, this could be arranged…
But whether anyone else would believe it was another matter entirely.
Yako continued:
"The focus of the narrative should be this: Konoha has the least reason to kill the Daimyō. The Cloud refused to accept defeat and tried to strike at us outside the battlefield through dirty methods."
Kyoichi slowly nodded.
From a logical standpoint, that argument really did hold up.
The Land of Hot Water had already returned to Konoha's control. Konoha truly had no reason to assassinate the Daimyō.
Then Kyoichi added:
"Lord Fox, I discovered that the Daimyō of the Land of Hot Water had secretly hired quite a few rogue ninja. He was apparently trying to establish a hidden village for the country.
After hearing the Daimyō had been killed, those rogue ninja fled the Capital in a panic."
That made Yako recall something.
In the original story, Hidan had worn a forehead protector.
He had been a missing-nin from Yugakure.
So this generation's Daimyō had been the one trying to build the village.
Yako said,
"Don't bother with those rogue ninja. They can't carry the blame for assassinating the Daimyō.
Keep the investigation focused on the Cloud. We need to find at least a few Cloud spies.
Also, have the royal branch nobles of the Land of Hot Water decide on the next Daimyō as soon as possible. The country can't be allowed to fall into chaos."
"Understood, Lord Fox."
Nara Kyoichi left in a heavy mood.
Konoha really was going through troubled times.
Sarutobi Shinnosuke had been killed. Lord Fox had avenged him, severely wounded the Cloud, and restored Konoha's pride.
And now the Daimyō had gone missing too.
Judging from Lord Fox's meaning…
There was no need to keep searching for the Daimyō anymore.
They should just move directly to selecting the next one.
***
A few days later, Yako's expression shifted slightly.
Someone was reciting the name of the Evil God.
…Hidan was this efficient?
He closed his eyes slightly and responded to Hidan's prayer.
In a certain town in the Land of Hot Water, Hidan was dressed in servant's clothing, his body covered in black-and-white curse markings.
A young nobleman lay sprawled out before him.
Disguising himself as a servant, Hidan had managed to obtain the noble's blood and, under the cover of night, complete a grand sacrificial ritual.
Then he drove a sharp spike straight into his own heart.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
His pain reached its absolute peak.
"All who commit evil… must repent…
Let pain cleanse their sins!
Let blood delight the gods!"
Yako's consciousness entered the Blood Arbiter Divine Realm.
Inside, there was now one more drop of blood.
The second drop—
after the Daimyō's.
Excellent.
That meant Yako's Immortal Body could now rapidly recover from an injury involving the loss of two drops of blood.
In practical terms, about the equivalent of being stabbed twice with a toothpick.
The progress was laughably slow.
But progress was still progress.
Unfortunately, after stabbing through his own heart, Hidan had fallen unconscious and only regained awareness several hours later.
There were too few blood drops in the pool.
Its regenerative power was still pathetic.
"Hidan. My believer. Continue offering up those who commit evil."
The moment Hidan heard that divine decree, he burst into tears on the ground in sheer emotion.
"Great Evil God… I am your loyal servant. I will continue searching for those who commit evil…"
Yako was extremely satisfied with Hidan's devotion.
Hidan was just too weak.
At present, he could only complete sacrifices through ambush and trickery.
Then Yako suddenly had an idea.
Hidan's greatest strength lay in his Immortal Body.
So why not build an entire enhancement plan around that immortality?
The first thing that came to Yako's mind was the Eight Gates.
As long as he couldn't die, then he could train like he was trying to.
The damage caused by the Eight Gates shouldn't be a problem for an Immortal Body…
…probably.
Hidan stabbed himself in the heart for fun already.
If opening the Eight Gates caused his heart to rupture, wouldn't that actually suit him perfectly?
Immortal Body.
Plus the Eight Gates.
That might actually be a match made in heaven.
No idea how effective it would be.
But he could always make Hidan test it first.
Hidan was, at the moment, Yako's most perfect little test subject.
If Hidan succeeded, then Yako himself could use that power set with confidence later.
The power of the Ōtsutsuki lineage was terrifying, yes—
but in the end, blunt physical force remained the most practical way of dealing with them.
No matter what world you were in…
Physical violence was always the greatest truth.
Yako thought to himself that once he returned to the village, he'd need to find a way to obtain the Eight Gates.
Or perhaps…
He should just start planning around the Scroll of Seals and acquire all the forbidden techniques at once.
He summoned Hippo over.
"Hippo, we can't drag this out any longer. It's just Totai. We've been chasing him for this long already—we need to kill him as soon as possible."
Hippo hurriedly replied,
"Lord Fox, four groups of Cloud ninja have already been wiped out. There's only one group left—the one that fled west, toward the Land of Iron!"
"Then let's go."
Yako rose to his feet.
"I'd like to see just how strong Totai's defense really is."
With his men in tow, Yako headed for the western border of the Land of Hot Water.
It didn't take long before Konoha's ninja located the Cloud's trail.
Jonin Kimekōtō gave a cautious warning.
"Lord Fox, the Cloud may have set traps."
"Traps?" Yako asked. "Such as?"
"Explosive tag traps. Wire traps. Ambush formations. Things like that."
Yako nodded.
He understood exactly what Kimekōtō was thinking.
The vast majority of ninja didn't possess unusual powers.
They fought steadily, cautiously, and by the book.
Yako formed hand seals—
and split off four Wood Clones.
Among all clone techniques, Wood Clone stood in a league of its own.
Far superior to Shadow Clone, because each clone carried the distinctive life force of Wood Release itself.
Whether in reaction speed or durability, they were vastly superior to ordinary shadow clones.
The moment Kimekōtō saw five identical Lord Foxes standing before him, his heart suddenly clenched.
As a ninja of the same generation as Jiraiya and the others, Kimekōtō had personally witnessed the imposing figure of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, at the end of the First Great Ninja War.
And after being tormented for two straight years by Sarutobi Kanosuke, the instant he saw five clones—
the first thing that flashed through his mind was naturally:
Five Elements Great Barrage.
He immediately shook his head.
No, impossible.
He was overthinking it.
What would Lord Fox possibly have to do with the Five Elements Great Barrage?
In his early years, Lord Fox had excelled in Earth Spear Technique and Water Severing Wave.
In his middle phase, he specialized in defensive secret techniques.
And now, he excelled in Wood Release.
Lord Fox's growth path was perfectly clear.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the complete five-nature mastery required for the Five Elements Great Barrage.
The four Wood Clones charged straight at the Cloud ninja.
As expected, they immediately triggered wire traps and explosive tag traps.
But unlike Shadow Clones, those traps failed to destroy the Wood Clones at all.
After the traps had been cleared out, Yako said calmly:
"Go on. I'll cover you."
Kimekōtō clicked his tongue in disbelief, then led more than fifty Konoha ninja in a full charge toward the Cloud.
He moved quickly—
and very quickly flushed out Totai.
Separated by a narrow river, Konoha and the Cloud faced each other in a tense standoff.
Totai and the other Cloud ninja looked as though they were facing death itself.
Every one of them wore the same expression:
Despair.
As if they might die in the very next second.
Which, to be fair—
they probably would.
And then, all of a sudden, Yako felt his throat itch.
Damn that cursed Uchiha bloodline.
He wanted to start talking trash again.
What the hell was he supposed to do about that?