Without any Konoha shinobi noticing, a unit of Kirigakure death warriors appeared near Konoha.
There were thirty people in total, divided into ten small squads.
Each squad had three people.
Most were combinations of chūnin and genin.
There were only two jonin.
And even those were the kind forcibly promoted.
Yagura was still reluctant to use true elite shinobi.
Just like Sunagakure back then, Kirigakure now lacked talent.
After losing the Seven Ninja Swordsmen as an established unit, it was not easy for Kirigakure to cultivate elite shinobi.
"Sooner or later, I will take all seven ninja swords back."
"Those belong to Kirigakure. Sunagakure cannot occupy them forever."
"And Samehada. And the Explosive Blade…"
Yagura temporarily lacked the confidence to retrieve the ninja swords from Sunagakure.
But Fuguki Suikazan and Munashi Jinpachi were different.
They were only two missing-nin.
Even in Kirigakure's current poor state, it was not to the point where they could not handle two missing-nin.
"Pass down my order. Investigate the whereabouts of Fuguki Suikazan and Munashi Jinpachi. If they are found, there is no need to hold back. Kill them on the spot and bring back Samehada and the Explosive Blade."
A Konoha shinobi was carrying out his routine patrol.
Suddenly—
A figure emerged from a nearby puddle.
Before the Konoha shinobi could react—
Puchi!
A sharp blade had already pierced through his heart.
The Konoha shinobi's eyes widened as he turned back.
"Kirigakure shinobi?"
"Enemy atta—"
But before the Konoha shinobi could shout, another Kirigakure shinobi appeared.
A mass of water slapped against his face, squeezing toward his mouth, nose, and ears.
The Konoha shinobi did not make a single sound.
Similar scenes happened in multiple places.
Until—
"Enemy attack!"
A figure wearing a green bodysuit under a green ninja vest, with eyebrows as thick as if drawn on by charcoal and short, glossy black hair, looked full of energy and vitality.
A Konoha genin.
Three Kirigakure shinobi attacked at the same time.
One chūnin.
Two genin.
They had originally thought this would be effortless.
But they had not expected their first move to fail.
The other party's reaction exceeded their imagination.
"Who are you people? I'm a ninja of Konoha! This is Konoha!"
The three Kirigakure shinobi snorted coldly.
"Konoha shinobi are exactly who we're here to kill!"
The three surrounded him again.
This time, unlike the earlier ambush, all three attacked with full strength.
But in the next moment, the three of them saw a scene that filled them with despair for the rest of their lives.
They saw that green-clad genin shout once, then suddenly erupt.
Before the three could even understand what was happening, they were struck one after another.
One punch.
A second punch.
One kick.
Three Kirigakure shinobi—one chūnin and two genin—were directly knocked down by this Konoha genin.
And it had happened in an instant.
"How is this possible?"
"So fast!"
"Such strength!"
"Is this damn guy really still a genin?"
The three Kirigakure shinobi collapsed unwillingly.
"Konoha is shameless."
"A shinobi this strong disguising himself as a genin to trick people."
"As expected, this is Konoha's style."
"No wonder they could do something like controlling our Kirigakure shinobi to attack their own people."
"They have no bottom line at all."
Might Duy easily killed the three Kirigakure shinobi in a few punches and kicks.
Then he turned toward Konoha and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Enemy attack!"
"Kirigakure shinobi have invaded!"
"This is bad! Kirigakure shinobi have broken in!"
…
Hearing Might Duy's voice, a large number of Konoha shinobi rushed out at once.
Seeing this, the Kirigakure shinobi understood that killing more Konoha shinobi had already become impossible.
But they absolutely would not retreat.
They were death warriors.
They had come here to die from the very beginning.
They had never intended to return alive.
Since they had already been discovered, they no longer planned to hide. Instead, they appeared openly before the Konoha shinobi.
"Shameless Konoha! You betrayed your allies and broke faith!"
"You killed your own village's shinobi and framed Kirigakure!"
"Shameless to the extreme!"
"You must pay the price!"
One Kirigakure shinobi shouted and charged straight toward a squad of Konoha shinobi alone.
When the Konoha shinobi formed an encirclement—
Boom!
"Explosive tags, detonate!"
Along with a massive explosion—
The Kirigakure shinobi was blown to pieces, and the condition of the Konoha shinobi was not much better.
Two Konoha shinobi died on the spot.
The rest were heavily injured.
The nearby Konoha shinobi's pupils shrank.
"Self-destruction?"
"They hid explosive tags inside their bodies?"
"They turned themselves into human bombs?"
"Careful!"
Another Kirigakure shinobi charged forward, laughing ferociously, looking upon death as though returning home.
"Die, you Konoha dogs."
"You filthy scum who betrayed your allies!"
"Explosive tags, detonate!"
The Konoha shinobi revealed wary expressions.
These Kirigakure shinobi were too insane.
Judging by strength and numbers, the Kirigakure shinobi present were absolutely no match for the Konoha shinobi.
But precisely because the Konoha shinobi held such a large advantage, they were even less willing to pay a heavy price to take them down.
What the Konoha shinobi wanted was to wipe out the Kirigakure shinobi without suffering losses.
So faced with the Kirigakure shinobi's madness, the Konoha shinobi could not immediately think of a good solution.
"Damn it. Have these Kirigakure people gone insane?"
"They'd rather die than let us go uninjured."
"Do they hate us that much?"
One Konoha shinobi could not help growing suspicious.
"Could it be that back then, Konoha really did betray Kirigakure?"
"Was it really Danzo-sama who controlled Kirigakure ANBU shinobi and used them to attack a Konoha squad, all to create evidence that Kirigakure had betrayed Konoha first, so Konoha could withdraw from the alliance openly?"
"Otherwise, why would Kirigakure hate us this much?"
Only that could explain Kirigakure's madness.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Explosions rang out one after another.
Huge craters appeared across the ground.
Only the corpses of the three Kirigakure shinobi killed by Might Duy remained lying there.
They had died too suddenly, before they could detonate the explosive tags inside their bodies.
As for the others, not even bones remained.
Kirigakure's madness truly made Konoha pay a price.
Dozens of Konoha shinobi died.
Dozens more were injured.
The enormous commotion attracted the attention of many people.
Including some Konoha villagers.
And that caused the words the Kirigakure shinobi shouted before their deaths to spread widely.
"It's probably true."
"Otherwise, why would they hate Konoha to this extent?"
"They would rather die just to take revenge on Konoha."
"How could Danzo-sama do something like that?"
"Even if it was for the sake of freeing Konoha from the war, even if it was for Konoha's good, he still shouldn't have done that."
"And he even caused an innocent Konoha shinobi squad to die."
"Including Minato-sama's disciple."