Thinking that, the three tried to crawl away, but Shigeo's shadow clone seized them in one handful. "Chief, please come with me to Takigakure to settle the remaining payment. As for these three, I'm taking them to parade through the streets."
For this kind of thing, the bigger the spectacle, the better. Only then would the real Takigakure show itself.
"Good, good," the chief agreed. He also wanted to learn where Takigakure was. If trouble hit the village again, they could find them and commission help.
So the clone, disguised as a Takigakure shinobi, bound the three and dragged them along toward Takigakure.
The three brothers could make quite the ruckus. They howled and bawled, crying for father and mother, and actually drew a large crowd along the road. With the village chief and several village representatives following as well, the scene turned lively fast.
That was only one clone achieving this effect. Imagine what the other clones were doing.
Some helped catch thieves. Some helped reclaim fields. Others went all in, printing flyers and hyping Takigakure far and wide.
In no time, the "new" fake Takigakure Shigeo founded became the talk of the Land of Waterfalls. Many came by name to look…
Shigeo was pleased. Taking on Shibuki's appearance, he guided visitors through the village, took their commission fees, and even called on the lords and officials of nearby cities.
Even so, his Takigakure still failed to draw out any real Takigakure ANBU or shinobi.
What was going on? Did Shibuki really not care that someone was impersonating his village?
While Shigeo puzzled over it, a strange letter arrived from the lord of Mizushima City, inviting him to visit and tour Mizushima.
Shigeo had been in the Land of Waterfalls for ten days. During that time, he used a pocket-dimension transfer to return to Monin Village once, and he also received a message from Itachi: Akatsuki had not captured the Seven-Tails' jinchūriki. So for these ten days at least, the real Fū was safe.
How long that safety would last, no one knew.
Disguised as Shibuki, Shigeo went to Mizushima City, where the city lord, Baibei, received him personally and led him to the lord's manor.
The gates stood wide open. Inside, all was quiet. Baibei's face was tense; he forced a smile and gestured inward. "You have done many acts of righteousness for the country and the people, honored sir. As a humble city lord, I should have invited you long ago. Please, come in. Make yourself at home."
Shigeo opened Kagami Kanshi (Mirror Sense). At least ten shinobi were lying in ambush around them. They were finally making their move.
So it would be "seize the ringleader to capture the bandits." No wonder they hadn't acted before.
"Hahaha. Good, good. I've waited quite long for this day. Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Baibei. Truly, thank you." Smiling broadly, Shigeo strode inside, while Baibei remained by the gate, looking as if he might cry.
This was his house.
If not for a letter jointly written by the daimyō of the Land of Waterfalls and Takigakure's chief, Shibuki, he would never have bothered with this affair.
Now his residence would become a battlefield. Who knew how much damage he would suffer? Hopefully Takigakure could take down this fake Shibuki in one move, and Baibei could claim the merit and earn favors from the daimyō.
Shigeo strode into the courtyard. The air grew cool. Wind swept through, and a whistling draft swirled between the eaves.
At that moment, ten figures burst out from ten directions. They wore Takigakure forehead protectors. Each held a chain. They rushed Shigeo, shouting, "Audacious criminal! How dare you impersonate our Takigakure chief! Surrender at once!"
With a single shout, five fired their chains while the other five received and pulled, aiming to clamp Shigeo tight in the middle. But with a simple pivot, he slipped out between the links and alighted on a nearby rooftop, smiling. "Didn't expect it. After a decade, Takigakure's grown stronger."
Twelve years ago, when he was seven or eight, Takigakure barely had any jōnin worth showing. Now they'd even trained a chain formation.
The ten rushed again. Their chains clinked and rang, whipping up and down, snapping toward him.
Shigeo sprang and dipped, fingers twirling. In one motion he caught three chains. Then his body blurred like a phantom, moving at extreme speed—
From the rooftop one could only see a dark shadow flicker up and down, the real body lost from sight.
The ten Takigakure shinobi blanched. Someone shouted, "Let go of the chains—now!"
They released their grips—only to find the chains already cocooning them. Not only their wrists but even their bodies were bound tight, unable to move.
Of the ten, five were captured at once. The other five rushed to rescue them, but before they could even see the enemy's hands, they had already fallen into the chain formation.
In their eyes, chains filled the sky, clinking and ringing everywhere. They tried to flee, but were hemmed in on all sides.
They had fired only five chains. Yet because the opponent moved too fast, their eyes could no longer tell how many were real and how many were afterimages.
Clink—clink!
In less than twenty seconds, all ten were captured. The courtyard fell silent. Looking at the heap of bound shinobi, Shigeo asked, "Where's your base?"
They clenched their jaws. Not one spoke.
Just then, a chill swept in. Dense killing intent flooded the air, as if drowning the entire courtyard.
Shigeo frowned slightly and looked toward the rooftop where he had stood moments ago. Two figures had appeared there—both in black cloaks patterned with red clouds. One had gray hair slicked back, a reckless grin on his face, and a bloodstained triple scythe slung across his back.
The other had green eyes, his mouth and nose masked, his whole body exuding a cold, merciless aura.
The pair were the Akatsuki immortals: Hidan and Kakuzu.
Earlier, Shigeo had received word from the fake Fū that she had lured "guests" here. He hadn't expected them to arrive so fast.
Cold wind stirred. Fallen leaves skittered. The scene was so quiet it felt like a murder could happen at any moment.
The ten captured shinobi stared in shock at the two on the roof, while the newcomers' eyes fixed on Shigeo in his Shibuki guise.
They had planned to head straight for Takigakure. But on the way, they kept hearing rumors about Takigakure—and the location people mentioned was not the one Kakuzu knew as the original site.
Had Takigakure moved? Were they no longer cowering, hiding from the world?
(End of Chapter)
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