Chapter 115: The Siege at the Gates
The Sand ninja, Mafū, was one of Sunagakure's few remaining masters and the leader of this diplomatic mission to Konoha. They had no choice but to surrender after receiving the missive delivered by Hatake Sakumo. If the Blaze God decided to make the trip himself, Suna would be erased from the map.
"Farewell, Lord Nara," Mafū said with a stiff bow, his face a mask of resignation. He then turned and led his team out of Konoha's main gate.
They had a long journey back to the Land of Wind to deliver Konoha's terms to the Kazekage. However, they hadn't traveled far when Mafū's senses screamed in alarm. His expression turned grim as he spotted a lone figure blocking the path ahead. "Identify yourself!" he barked.
Kakuzu offered a grotesque grin. "A dead man has no need for names."
Before the words had fully left his mouth, a mask materialized behind him, spewing a torrent of fire that rapidly expanded into a blazing inferno, roaring toward the Sand ninja.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" one of the Suna shinobi yelled, slamming his palms on the ground. A thick earthen wall erupted, shielding the group from the onslaught of flames.
Kakuzu sneered. "You think Earth Release will save you? How amusing!"
His hands flew through seals before he pressed a palm to the ground. "Earth Release: Earth-Splitting Palm!" The very earth around them churned and buckled violently.
"Scatter!" Mafū shouted. The Sand ninja leaped for safety, landing in the high branches of nearby trees. Mafū himself took a deep breath, his chest swelling as he formed his own seals.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
This was his trump card. Against an unknown enemy of this caliber, holding back was a death sentence. Dozens of compressed, swirling blades of wind shot toward Kakuzu with a high-pitched shriek.
Kakuzu merely stomped his foot, and another earthen wall rose to intercept the deadly gusts.
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!" Kakuzu formed another seal. The ground trembled as a massive dragon of rock and soil erupted from the earth, its maw wide, roaring as it charged the tree where Mafū and his team had taken refuge. The force of its passage tore trees from their roots and shattered rock.
It was too fast. In the blink of an eye, it was upon them. Mafū's eyes widened in horror; there was no time to dodge. The dragon crashed into the tree, swallowing his five teammates in an explosion of splintered wood and dust.
When the debris settled, only Mafū remained, standing on a broken branch, covered in dirt and gasping for air. His team was buried beneath the rubble.
I have to get back to Konoha! he thought, knowing he was hopelessly outmatched. He turned to flee toward the village gates.
But Kakuzu was faster. His arm shot out, detached from his body and connected by a thick black thread, moving like a serpent. It closed the distance in an instant, striking Mafū squarely in the back.
Coughing up blood, Mafū stared in terror at Kakuzu, his mind reeling at the unnatural sight of a flying, disembodied limb. Then, consciousness fled as Kakuzu's grasping hand closed around his heart and wrenched it free, the black threads retracting to absorb the prize into his own body.
"Acceptable. At least it's a Wind Nature heart," Kakuzu muttered to himself before melting back into the forest.
Soon, a Konoha ANBU patrol arrived at the scene. After a swift survey, they found Mafū's lifeless, heartless body. They exchanged grim looks before retrieving the corpse and returning to the village.
"Lord Hokage!" Nara Shikaku reported urgently, bursting into the office. "The Sand delegation... they've all been killed just outside the village!"
Akatsurugi looked up from his desk, his brow furrowing. "All of them? By whom?"
Who would dare to court death so brazenly at Konoha's very doorstep?
"The details are unclear, but Mafū's heart was removed. I have a Yamanaka attempting a mind-read on the corpse now," Shikaku explained.
Akatsurugi nodded. A missing heart? That didn't sound like Kakuzu's usual modus operandi; the man was known for taking heads to collect bounties.
"Tell me, Shikaku, was there a bounty on this Mafū's head?" Akatsurugi asked suddenly.
Shikaku was taken aback. My Lord Hokage, the man is already dead in a gruesome way, and you're thinking about cashing in? That's... excessively pragmatic.
"Ahem, Lord Hokage, Konoha's finances are stable. It would look... unseemly if this got out," Shikaku murmured discreetly.
Annoyed, Akatsurugi waved a hand. "I'm not planning to collect it, you fool. I'm asking if one existed."
Shikaku hurried out to check the records and soon returned. "Ten million ryo, Lord Hokage."
Akatsurugi's frown deepened. Strange. If it was Kakuzu, why leave the head? "Perhaps it's another village trying to frame him, or stir up trouble..." he mused. With the Yamanaka's intelligence still pending, he could only wait.
But one thing was certain: whoever dared to strike at Konoha's guests so brazenly would pay with their life. Even if the mind-read failed, he could always resort to the Impure World Reincarnation to get his answers.
"Lord Hokage," an ANBU agent reported, kneeling before the desk. "Based on the residual images in the victim's mind, the perpetrator was definitely Kakuzu."
"Kakuzu!" Akatsurugi was genuinely surprised. It was him. But the money-obsessed rogue had changed his habits? He'd left the bounty behind.
Thinking of Hatake Sakumo's fruitless hunt, and now Kakuzu appearing right under their noses... "Contact Hatake Sakumo. Order him to return immediately. Tell him his quarry is here."
"Yes, sir!" The ANBU vanished to carry out the order.
A single Kakuzu wasn't worth the Hokage's personal attention. In Akatsurugi's view, the White Fang was more than enough to handle it.
"Also, Shikaku, send a message to Sunagakure. Inform them of what happened here." As for explanations... well, the fact that they were reporting it at all was the explanation.
"Understood." Shikaku bowed and left.
However, what Akatsurugi didn't yet know was that this was only the beginning. In the following days, several Konoha ninja were found mysteriously killed shortly after leaving the village on routine missions.
When this news finally reached his desk, Akatsurugi slammed his fist down. "Kakuzu! You have a death wish!"
"Lord Hokage!" a weary voice called out. Hatake Sakumo stood at the door, having rushed back the moment he received the summons. His search had yielded nothing, and he had returned, frustrated and empty-handed.
"You're back just in time," Akatsurugi said, his voice cold. "Take a squad with Hyūga and Inuzuka trackers. Find Kakuzu, and end him. Now."
The audacity of this rogue ninja, hunting at Konoha's very gates, would be met with swift and absolute retribution.