Chapter 40 – Konoha Gold (Part 7)
While Minamoto Ren's group hid deep inside the cave, a rift was quietly forming within the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
The issue was simple—should they keep searching… or leave?
Hōzuki Mangetsu insisted on a full-scale sweep. Those kids couldn't have gone far, and with Hyūga Ganghachirō dead, their fighting power had taken a sharp hit.
But Fuguki argued for withdrawal. He knew Danzō far too well.
The "Shadow Hokage" might turn a blind eye to them killing Konoha's young geniuses, but he would never allow them to take the Gold of Konoha away.
Their deal with Danzō had only a twenty-four-hour window. By now, Danzō was surely rallying troops—ready to let the mantis stalk the cicada… and then let the oriole strike.
Indeed, Fuguki's instincts about his old "business partner" were spot-on.
Danzō had already calculated the timing, and under the pretense of "acting as the Hokage's aide," had ordered White Fang to pull part of his forces back from the Land of Rivers into the Land of Fire, to sweep the corridor between the daimyo's city and Konoha.
Yes—Danzō wanted everything.
One hand reaching to kill Minamoto Ren and Namikaze Minato, the other to reclaim the Gold of Konoha, all while using White Fang's forces to wipe out the Seven Swordsmen.
And after that… White Fang himself would be the next target.
Sarutobi knew nothing of this. Not that he could be blamed—he would never have imagined that Danzō would conspire with Kirigakure, deliberately opening the borders to let the Seven Swordsmen in… just to edge closer to the Hokage's seat.
---
By dawn the next day, Ren shifted aside the rocks blocking the cave entrance just enough for Hyūga Haining to scout with his Byakugan.
Haining's vision wasn't as powerful as Ganghachirō's.
Ganghachirō could see up to five kilometers; Haining, being younger, was maxed out at three.
"No one within two kilometers. Three kilometers… can't see clearly. Let me rest my eyes before checking again," Haining reported, the veins around his Byakugan already bloodshot.
"We wait one more day. If Konoha doesn't move by then, we'll have to fend for ourselves," Ren decided, tossing the rock aside.
Minato agreed. Sitting here waiting for someone else to decide their fate wasn't an option. Better to seize even the smallest chance by their own hands.
---
Hours trickled by. By mid-afternoon, Haining had detected several "jōnin" repeatedly appearing just two kilometers away—blocking the road back to Konoha.
"They're still not giving up, huh." Ren nodded grimly.
The Seven Swordsmen were clearly holding position—partly to gather intel on Konoha's movements, partly to ambush him and Minato.
He was right. Hōzuki Mangetsu had used his authority as captain to force the Seven to stay, splitting them into a loose formation.
They had set up a line completely sealing off Ren's route home, while Fuguki had seeded the forest with his scouting pufferfish, waiting for them to leave their shelter.
---
As the sun dipped lower, Ren sat cleaning his sword, Jūan, with the worn cloth he always carried. He watched the last sliver of light vanish through the cracks in the cave wall.
Night had fallen.
Ren rose, sword in hand, and turned to Minato.
Both squads stood at the ready, tense, awaiting his orders.
"Sun," Ren called softly—Minato's ANBU codename.
"I'm here," Minato replied, already wearing the curling-rim sun mask.
"Still able to fight?" Ren asked.
"Yes."
"Still willing to fight?"
"Yes!" Minato's answer was firm, without hesitation.
Ren nodded in approval, then turned to the uneasy Nawaki, Inuzuka Gaku, and the others.
"In a moment, Sun and I will break out first. The instant you see firelight or hear an explosion in the forest, you take the scroll and run in the opposite direction—fast. Understood?"
Shimura Yū glanced at Ren's demon-faced mask, and couldn't help comparing him to Clan Leader Danzō.
The difference was night and day.
"Brothers, charge," "Brothers, follow me," and "I'll charge—you get clear"—each was a world apart in meaning.
Nawaki opened his mouth to speak, but Ren silenced him with a gesture, slipping out with Minato through a crack in the rocks.
---
Outside, they moved westward with care.
Ren's plan was simple: find one of the Seven who'd strayed from the others, kill them instantly if possible, then lead the rest on a chase through the forest.
Only he and Minato had the speed and chakra reserves to keep such a marathon going.
If the others tried to follow, they'd just become liabilities.
Under the heavy cloak of night, Ren unhesitatingly activated his single-tomoe Sharingan—night vision was critical for this kind of battle.
As for what Minato might think when he saw it…
Minamoto Ren could only remind himself—first, survive. Only then do you earn the right to talk about anything else.
Right now, existence was everything. Everything was for existence.
Along the way, his Sharingan caught sight of several pufferfish floating motionless near the surface of the river—each one radiating a faint "scent" of chakra.
The Sharingan truly was both powerful and versatile. No wonder the shinobi world had that saying: If you meet a Uchiha with awakened eyes—one on one—turn and run.
Ren reached out to stop Namikaze Minato, who was about to step onto the water, signaling him to take a detour instead.
Though puzzled, Minato complied without question.
Ren kept his gaze fixed on one particular "pufferfish," watching for its reaction.
The moment Minato leapt and landed on the far bank, Ren used the Body Flicker Technique to silently vault across the river from a treetop.
The pufferfish didn't explode into spray—they had successfully slipped past Hōzuki Fuguki's detection jutsu.
Fuguki's tracking method had a range of only fifty meters.
Any chakra fluctuation within that zone would cause a pufferfish to self-detonate, alerting him instantly to the intruder's location.
But that wasn't its most dangerous feature—its true strength lay in water-rich environments.
Stepping on water sent ripples of chakra through the surface, which the pufferfish could "record," providing a trail to track.
Earlier, Ren's group had been hunted so relentlessly because Ganghachirō's chakra signature had been logged in just that way.
For the next half hour, Ren led Minato on a winding route, circling past each pufferfish as they slowly worked their way toward Konoha.
And then—through the Sharingan—Ren spotted the first target of the night's hunt.
Fuguki Suikazan was idly scratching his back against a tree with Samehada, grumbling under his breath:
"You can't hold the itch for two more days? Fine, I'll let you gorge yourself soon enough!"
Samehada twitched in odd spasms—it was a living blade, able to devour chakra, capable of all kinds of tricks.
In the original tales, Kisame Hoshigaki had wielded it to devastating effect.
Right now, Fuguki's guard was at its lowest.
He simply couldn't imagine anyone slipping so precisely past his pufferfish minefield to reach him.
But that's how most powerful shinobi die—caught off guard in moments of arrogance.
Ignorance and naivety aren't what kill you.
Arrogance is.