After using the Flying Thunder God to send Tsunade back to the village, Yōkō immediately returned to the tree fissure where he was resting.
What a pity, only got to enjoy Tsunade's lips.
For Konoha's sake, he had sacrificed too much. Yōkō was moved to tears by his own dedication. He would just have to comfort Tsunade properly after returning to the village.
Yōkō emerged from the tree fissure, and White Ram and the others immediately gathered around.
Kika stepped forward and said, "Lord Fox, you look much better! To think that after a great battle with Uchiha Madara, you recovered so quickly!"
Yōkō was startled and hurriedly touched his mask.
He was wearing his mask! That scared him; he thought he'd forgotten to put it back on after kissing Tsunade.
Yōkō gave Kika a sidelong glance.
No wonder Kika could only be a squad leader; Yōkō had never considered promoting him to a sub-captain.
What kind of bootlicking was that? How could anyone tell he looked good while wearing a mask?
Kika hadn't noticed any problem at all and was feeling quite pleased with himself.
Yōkō said, "Let's go. Take Uchiha Madara's charred ashes and return to Konoha Village."
Just as they reached the border of the Land of Rain, a Ninja Hawk landed.
White Ram opened the small scroll on the hawk's leg and said in alarm, "Lord Fox! Root is suspected to be completely wiped out! Advisor Danzō is missing!"
"How is that possible? Advisor Danzō is missing?" Yōkō said:
"We agreed before the battle: our Anbu would deal with Uchiha Madara, while Advisor Danzō and Hanzo would join forces to deal with Uchiha Madara's subordinates.
Could it be that Hanzo double-crossed us and inspired with Uchiha Madara's subordinates to trap Advisor Danzō?"
White Ram couldn't answer.
Subsequently, nine more Ninja Hawks found Yōkō's group.
Judging by the number of hawks, the village was frantic, so frantic they weren't considering the consequences.
Using Ninja Hawks to search for the Anbu easily exposes the Anbu. Yōkō received a total of ten hawk-borne orders.
By the time the fourth messenger hawk landed, spies were already peeking around Yōkō's group.
If it were other Anbu, they would have been killed by other villages' spies by the time the fifth messenger hawk landed.
With Danzō missing, Sarutobi Hiruzen was in a panic.
The last hawk-borne letter was a handwritten note from the Third Hokage.
"Investigate the matter of Advisor Shimura Danzō's disappeared! You must find Advisor Danzō!"
Yōkō thought to himself, He knew Danzō's disappearance location perfectly well. He'd even left the pulp that was Uchiha Mizukiku right where it was.
"White Ram, you and the Leaf Monkey Squad take Uchiha Madara's charred ashes back to the village. Inform the Hokage that the rogue ninja Uchiha Madara is dead.
Kika, Antelope, Black Gorilla, your three squads will follow me to investigate Advisor Danzō's disappearance."
Kika was inwardly delighted. His bootlicking of Lord Fox was indeed correct. He didn't have to go back to the village with Captain White Ram and got another chance to show his worth.
Yōkō pretended not to know what had happened to Danzō and quickly headed for Amegakure.
On the opposite shore of the great lake outside Amegakure, Yōkō saw Hanzo standing ready for battle.
Behind Hanzo stood over three hundred Ame-nin.
Amegakure only had a little over two thousand shinobi total. Having over three hundred chūnin and above level shinobi here meant more than half the village's combat strength was present.
"Hanzo!" Yōkō demanded:
"Last time we met here, we agreed: I would hold off Uchiha Madara, and you and Advisor Danzō would deal with Uchiha Madara's subordinates.
Where is Advisor Danzō? Why hasn't Advisor Danzō contacted the village for so long!"
Hanzo had eight body bags brought forward and said:
"I did indeed make an agreement with Danzō to deal with Uchiha Madara's subordinates together.
We killed the leader of the Akatsuki organization, Yahiko.
However, eight of the Root shinobi Danzō brought with him sacrificed their lives.
As for Advisor Danzō himself, he went to pursue another of Uchiha Madara's subordinates, Tobi, and his whereabouts are unknown since.
Uzumaki Nagato's strength is extreme. I did not linger at the scene, so I don't know what happened afterwards.
If Advisor Danzō has vanished... he may have fallen victim to Uchiha Madara's subordinates.
Doesn't Konoha want to completely eradicate Uchiha Madara's rogue ninja organization?
The number of Konoha shinobi Advisor Danzō brought was too few. I can make a promise: I will allow Konoha to send a large force of shinobi into the Land of Rain to deal with Uchiha Madara and his subordinates!"
Hanzo was backed against a cliff's edge.
Every hidden village in the shinobi world knew Uchiha Madara was in Amegakure, yet Hanzo could do nothing about him.
Uchiha Madara's existence not only slapped Konoha in the face but also slapped Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure, in the face.
Therefore, Hanzo was willing to give up sovereignty, allowing Konoha to send thousands of shinobi to kill Uchiha Madara.
Yōkō said, "My Konoha, of course, will not send thousands of shinobi to deal with Uchiha Madara."
"Why not!" Hanzo's tone darkened. "Your Konoha unleashed a rogue ninja like Uchiha Madara. Don't you have any responsibility? Don't you need to reflect?"
"Don't be impatient, Hanzo. You've been the leader of Amegakure for many years. Why are you so anxious now?" Yōkō said:
"The reason Konoha won't send an army of thousands of shinobi is because it's unnecessary.
I have already killed Uchiha Madara. You can no longer complain that Konoha produced a rogue ninja of Uchiha Madara's caliber."
Hanzo was taken aback.
The Ame-nin behind him swayed left and right, whispering among themselves.
Losing face, Hanzo said, "Uchiha Madara must be in his seventies or eighties this year. I never thought you'd be so lucky, to run into him at a moment of aging weakness."
Yōkō didn't expose Hanzo's bluster and said:
"Let's get back to the main issue, Hanzo. Where did our Lord Danzō go? Where was he last seen?"
Hanzo threw over a scroll. Opening it revealed a map.
The map marked the location of Hanzo's battle with Uzumaki Nagato.
"Go search this area. Hopefully, the heavy rain hasn't washed away all clues."
Watching Fox and the other Konoha Anbu vanish using Body Flicker, Hanzo breathed a sigh of relief.
After hearing that Fox had killed Uchiha Madara, Hanzo felt a bit afraid that Fox might suddenly turn violent and attack him.
He knew Danzō well, but he didn't know Fox.
Since developing the Water Body Flicker, Hanzo felt like a god in the heavy rains of the Land of Rain, or at least an invincible demigod.
However, encountering Uzumaki Nagato and then Fox made Hanzo feel like he was back in his genin days, living in constant fear of death.
Was he really getting old, really getting weaker, really going to be killed by others?
—
In the southeast of the Land of Rain, Yōkō led the Anbu to the area with several step-like cliff faces.
Searching one cliff after another, Yōkō first saw the large pit left by the summoning of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was related to the God Tree, so when summoned, it would burst from the ground like Wood Release.
Uzumaki Nagato and the others had long since vanished.
After searching a few cliffs, Black Gorilla suddenly shouted, "Sir! Found something!"
Yōkō pretended to be surprised and went to the base of a cliff.
Black Gorilla said, "Sir! This is someone who was collapsed by a Mangekyō dōjutsu... Judging by the clothing color, it's Root, though we don't know which Root member."
Yōkō said, "Take this pulp back to the village. Have the Intelligence Division analyze this person's identity."
Kika then said, "Sir! Over there! There's a very round lake, very, very round. It definitely didn't form naturally."
After a few days, the circular pit left by Danzō's Inner Four Symbols Seal had filled with rainwater.
After draining the water, everyone saw a pit with incredibly smooth inner walls.
Yōkō said, "Write down the information about this circular pit in a scroll. I think the Hokage will know what happened to Lord Danzō."
***
Dive deeper into the story with 50+ advance chapters, available now on Patreon!patreon.com/CNBLUE
If you're enjoying the novel, please consider leaving a review. Your support is crucial and helps the story grow immensely. Thank you!
(End of Chapter)