Chapter 259 — Hōzuki Castle
It should have taken only one day, yet it ended up taking Fugaku two full days to pinpoint the Hidden Sand Village.
From high above, it was unmistakable: round, cylindrical buildings made of yellow clay—Sunagakure's signature architecture.
Fugaku observed quietly, then guided his Susanoo down through the billowing sands.
A violent sandstorm raged around the village perimeter, the air thick with churning grains. Visibility was nearly zero.
Perfect cover.
The Complete Body Susanoo landed silently outside the village.
Keeping his distance, Fugaku shrank the colossal warrior to a compact ten-meter form—still large, but stable enough to withstand the storm without being thrown around.
Only after walking it clear of the sandstorm's range did he fully dispel it.
Fugaku was already wearing the sand-proof cloak and the helmet he prepared beforehand, the visor resembling an astronaut's suit. With this gear, the storm barely touched him.
He smirked slightly as he walked toward the village.
If I didn't come prepared, this would be miserable.
Sunagakure wasn't closed to the outside world; like most villages, it simply required an entry fee.
Twenty silver taels for a temporary three-day pass.
Fugaku paid, received his temporary ID, and entered.
The guards stared curiously at his odd helmet but said nothing.
He wandered the village briefly, ate at a small restaurant, then began asking around for Chiyo.
After the Third Shinobi World War, both Chiyo and her younger brother Ebizō had retired from public affairs, living quietly in a remote compound.
Fugaku located a Sand shinobi familiar with their residence and had him lead the way.
Just as in the original timeline, Chiyo's secluded home was a large, elegant estate.
Inside, an elderly woman and an elderly man sat beside a pond, fishing peacefully.
So this is Chiyo…
As Fugaku approached, Chiyo and Ebizō immediately sensed the intruder.
"Who are you?" Chiyo asked, assuming it was just another villager coming to bother them.
Fugaku smiled faintly.
A pinwheel pattern spun in his eyes.
Both siblings froze—caught instantly in the Mangekyō Sharingan's genjutsu.
As expected, Fugaku extracted the details of the Reanimation Technique directly from Chiyo's mind.
After confirming the information, he killed the siblings swiftly and without hesitation.
He didn't bother searching for money—Sunagakure was poor to begin with, and he already had more than enough.
Leaving the village undetected, Fugaku found a hidden location, summoned the Complete Body Susanoo, and departed immediately.
With Reanimation secured, his next destination was the Hidden Grass Village. He needed to find Ryūzetsu, then he could finally go home.
He had been out for several days—long enough that he felt a faint tug of homesickness.
The return trip was much faster. In about one day, Fugaku crossed into the Land of Grass.
He chose a prominent house at random, questioned the resident about the location of Kusagakure, and two hours later, arrived outside the village.
After infiltrating normally, he captured a Grass shinobi and interrogated him about Ryūzetsu.
But the man didn't know her.
Fugaku paused, then remembered: if Ryūzetsu was roughly Naruto and Sasuke's age, she would be around seven years old right now—still an academy student.
It wasn't surprising that a random Grass jonin didn't know her.
He changed tactics.
Ryūzetsu had a close childhood friend—either Muku or Mui. He momentarily forgot which one was the parent and which one the child, only that one of them served as the warden of Hōzuki Castle.
Hōzuki Castle was a prison built by the Grass Village at the request of several nations—a facility meant to contain dangerous rogue shinobi.
It was both a fortress and a city.
Fugaku had assumed it was within Kusagakure itself.
But the Grass shinobi informed him otherwise:
Hōzuki Castle was located on an island in a large inland sea near the village.
The island was named after the "hōzuki," a lantern-like ground cherry that grew in abundance there.
All he needed was Ryūzetsu's friend. From there, finding her would be straightforward.
With the captured Grass jonin leading the way, Fugaku left the village and headed toward the so-called sea.
Despite its name, it was essentially a massive lake.
From above, he spotted the island—Hōzuki Castle—its fortress-like city rising from the center of the waters.
A place notorious for housing dangerous criminals.
Even Kakuzu had once been imprisoned there.
He had been taken back to the village for judgment shortly after arriving, and during that time, seized his chance to escape, steal the Grass Village's Forbidden Technique, and defect.
Fugaku didn't intend to cause trouble, so he didn't land his Susanoo directly beside the castle.
Instead, he returned to the ground and hired a boat.
The boatman was a dark-skinned, thin old man—surprisingly talkative. But when Fugaku gave no response, the man eventually fell silent, rowing steadily toward the island.
After they docked, Fugaku paid the fare and disembarked with the cloaked Grass jonin.
The boatman hadn't seen the man's forehead protector beneath the cloak—otherwise he likely wouldn't have spoken so freely.
Fugaku assumed bringing a Grass jonin would grant him easy entry.
But he was stopped immediately at the city gate.
"No entry without a writ from the castle lord or one of the Grass Village elders," the guards said firmly.
Even when the jonin declared his rank, the guards refused to budge.
Fugaku stared blankly for a moment.
You really treat this place as your personal fortress… even blocking one of your own village's jonin outside.
How troublesome.
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