In the end, Kakuzu still left carrying a large chest of money.
Hanzō stared daggers into his retreating back.
That bastard had just walked off with two hundred million ryō of his money.
But strictly speaking, Hanzō was still profiting. Assassinating a Kage wasn't easy—far from it. Gathering intel, learning their travel patterns, predicting their routes, selecting an ambush point… all of that took time.
And even if all those conditions were met, taking down a Tsuchikage was no trivial matter. If Roshi—the Fourth Tsuchikage—released his tailed beast, one mistake meant certain death. Not to mention the Shadow Guard he always carried with him—elite jōnin far more dangerous than palace samurai.
Most importantly… Hanzō himself was the worst candidate to carry out this assassination.
A dying horse was still bigger than a live dog. Even if Iwagakure lost its leader, they still had over twenty thousand troops to wield.
He had already killed the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki. If he then killed the Fourth Tsuchikage, Roshi, the hatred Iwagakure would bear toward Amegakure would be immeasurable.
Hanzō feared no one.
But the Land of Rain couldn't withstand the wrath of an enraged great nation.
This job was best left to a bounty hunter like Kakuzu.
"By now Iwagakure should have heard the news," Hanzō muttered. "Your daimyo and his entire lineage are dead. What will you do now? How strong are your remaining strategic reserves?"
As he pondered, a small salamander crawled up behind him, a message scroll tied neatly to its back.
"Hattori Murakami's report? Did something go wrong?"
One look at the scroll made Hanzō's head ache. The intelligence inside was… half good news, half bad.
"The good news: Hattori's assassination squad succeeded. The financial clans of the Land of Earth have been wiped out. Every treasurer and accountant assassinated. The economic link between Iwagakure and their daimyo's court—completely severed."
He tapped the scroll again.
"The bad news: Konoha retreated. A five-tailed monster unleashed a massive blast that crushed Konoha's army. That must be the Five-Tails… Iwagakure actually used a tailed beast."
It figured—Sunagakure must have been pressing them hard for Iwa to resort to that.
The risk of releasing a tailed beast was enormous. If the beast rampaged, the first casualties wouldn't be the enemy—but your own troops.
This era had no perfect jinchūriki.
"From what's written here… Iwagakure managed to re-seal the Five-Tails afterward."
Hanzō frowned.
"That ruins the plan. I'll have to start over."
In his strategy, Iwagakure was supposed to face simultaneous pressure from Sunagakure and Konoha, with Kumogakure harassing them continuously. Only then could Amegakure strike freely.
But he had forgotten—Konoha was also under extreme pressure. Though they had ended their war with Sunagakure, now they were fighting both Kumogakure and Kirigakure at full force.
And the Land of Rain front had been wiped out—only a few hundred of nearly six thousand survived. They had no manpower to reinforce other theaters.
Konoha had only one advantage: the Tsuchikage was dead, and Iwagakure was unlikely to invade the Land of Fire after suffering such losses. They had already used a tailed beast—large-scale war was no longer profitable. Naturally, Konoha shifted troops to other fronts.
"So Konoha withdrew… and Kumogakure never intended to intervene in Land of Earth. Which means only Sunagakure remains fighting Iwagakure."
His expression hardened.
"That's bad. Iwagakure has the largest army. Without Konoha holding them down, they'll crush Amegakure quickly."
Right now his forces were divided into fast-moving squads—effective, but fragile. Against Iwa's raw numbers, they would be surrounded and erased.
He thought for a long time.
"Only one option left—gather the army and force a large-scale battle with Iwa. Then I'll flood the battlefield with Water Style and explosive tags…"
He paused.
"No. They have a tailed beast. One Tailed Beast Bomb and the entire army is gone."
"And there's the supply issue. All our logistics come from raiding. If we consolidate troops, feeding them becomes impossible."
He sighed.
"The Land of Rain's foundation is still too thin."
This was their first independent war—not a defensive struggle. The cracks were showing.
"Withdraw? We've already gained more than enough. Or… request another alliance with Sunagakure? That's also possible."
Before he could settle on a decision, a lizard skittered toward him—causing his hand to tighten on his weapon. But the rain insignia on the message tube soothed him.
"Is this… Yakushi Nonō's intelligence network?"
He unrolled the scroll.
"This… is god's blessing."
It was intelligence on the Five-Tails jinchūriki.
"I didn't expect this—the Five-Tails' jinchūriki is dead. The beast is sealed inside a vessel."
"And the sealing team… hasn't returned to Iwagakure yet. Their location is marked."
No wonder Iwagakure deployed the Five-Tails—they had already been driven back to their borders by Konoha.
"As expected of them. This level of power is still yet for Amegakure to reach."
But intelligence was power—and Nonō's network extended deep into both Sunagakure and Iwagakure.
Hanzō crushed the scroll lightly in his hand, excitement flickering in his eyes.
"Keeping her alive… might be the smartest decision I ever made."
A plan capable of dragging three great nations into chaos unfolded instantly in his mind.
He took out paper and ink, writing orders to every Ame squad. Summoning dozens of salamanders, he sent the messages out:
"Go into hiding. Avoid detection. Cancel all previous actions. Await further commands."
"At this point, they must have gathered plenty of loot. They can survive a week or two even if idle."
He reread the operative's intel.
"So… the sealing team isn't moving. Is it because the seal is unstable?"
Iwagakure lacked anyone capable of restraining a tailed beast. They didn't even have a chosen jinchūriki yet. If the seal ruptured within their village, the Five-Tails could devastate Iwagakure itself.
This was unlike Konoha, which had powerful sealing arts.
"Meaning—right now the Five-Tails' seal might be extremely fragile."
"Perfect. I'm no sealing expert… so I don't even have to worry about releasing it accidentally."
The sealing team's location was close to Iwagakure, but with Hanzō's speed… barely a day's travel.
Then, carrying the vessel to the Land of Lightning… about three days.
He paused.
"No—no need to go into Land of Lightning. I only need to reach the Kumo front in the Land of Hot Water. There are more than enough Cloud shinobi there."
"Yugakure and Konoha are fighting in Hot Water right now. If I push, I can reach them in two days."
"Good. Timing works. The plan is viable."
Hanzō burst forward toward Iwagakure's direction, his figure blurring across the rain-soaked terrain.
His plan:
Create a shadow clone
Transform the clone into a Kumo shinobi
Ambush Iwagakure's sealing team and steal the Five-Tails' vessel,
Then transform into Iwa shinobi and rush to Kumogakure's camp,
Release the Five-Tails—let a Tailed Beast Bomb cause chaos,
He didn't need massive casualties.
Just chaos.
Then, mid-rampage, he would bargain with the Five-Tails:
"Kokuō, you don't want to be trapped inside a jinchūriki forever, right?"
Surely the beast wouldn't refuse.
And with Kumo shinobi's pride—already furious at losing Land of Earth's territory for the sake of their "strongest village" reputation—being blasted by "Iwa" would ignite them instantly.
"Konoha withdrew from the Land of Earth… fine. Then I'll drag Kumogakure into the war."
"If Kumo attacks Land of Earth, Konoha's Hot Water forces will breathe easier—and might redeploy troops back toward Earth."
"Then Iwagakure's reinforcements for the Ame front will get tangled with Kumo. And Amegakure's window of opportunity opens again."
And after Kakuzu assassinated the Fourth Tsuchikage Roshi, everything would be blamed on Kumo or Iwa—no trace leading back to Amegakure.
Hanzō accelerated, chakra surging under his feet.
"Time is short. I hope Iwagakure's sealing team moves nice and slowly."
----------------------------///
Advance Chapters on Patreon!
p(a)treon(.)com/HudaLin
-Remove the parenthesis to access patreon normally
Thanks for the Support!