While the undercurrents surrounding Yakushi Kabuto and the White Snake Princess remained hidden, Iwagakure was currently launching a large-scale operation against the Hidden Rain Village.
"Onoki, why are you marching in such a hurry?"
Roshi had always been on bad terms with Onoki. Although he had returned to Iwagakure now, his words toward Onoki were still filled with sarcasm, and he did not hesitate to mock him.
As for Han, he quietly accompanied the two elderly men. He was also a Jinchuriki, but the aura radiating from his body far surpassed that of Onoki and Roshi.
Currently, Han was likely the strongest combat presence within Iwagakure.
"Heh. That Uchiha Kaede of the Hidden Rain Village is no simple character. He single-handedly caused the Third Hokage's death in Konoha and inflicted the heaviest casualties that Konoha Village has suffered in many years. Is such a ferocious person that easy to deal with?"
Onoki was a cautious ninja. Although he had taken action against the Rain, this squad currently looked more like it was on a secret mission to destroy most of the Rain's strategic supplies.
These strategic supplies had not been stored inside the Hidden Rain Village in the past, but rather across several external secret bases. Among them was another batch of Paper Bombs stockpiled by Konan.
During the great battle of the Hidden Rain Village, Konan had brought out 600 billion Paper Bombs to deal with Shiraishi. According to Onoki's investigation, that was only a portion of Konan's family assets.
Such an astronomical number of Paper Bombs naturally aroused Onoki's greed. The previous series of pressures was designed to force the Hidden Rain Village to contract its forces, preventing them from defending these supply bases against Onoki's raid.
As the Tsuchikage, his target was solely these supplies. As for directly gnawing on the hard bone of the Hidden Rain Village, Onoki was not that foolish.
Hearing the number of Paper Bombs revealed by Onoki, Roshi clicked his tongue in wonder: "So many Paper Bombs. Akatsuki truly is wealthy."
Mentioning this matter, Han, the leader of Iwagakure's Anbu, pondered for a moment before speaking: "It is said to be related to that rogue ninja's ninjutsu, which can accelerate the printing of Paper Bombs."
Onoki had maintained close relations with Akatsuki over these past few years, so he knew a thing or two about Akatsuki's secrets. The number of Paper Bombs created by Konan far exceeded the data from the previous battle.
Beginning a few years ago, Sunagakure had completely banned the arms trade of Paper Bombs, causing military supplies across various villages to suddenly become tight. Therefore, Onoki urgently needed more materials to prepare for the war.
From the very beginning, Onoki had no intention of taking action against the Hidden Rain Village's leader, Uchiha Kaede. Instead, his objective was locked onto the considerable amount of strategic supplies currently remaining across the Hidden Rain Village.
Onoki's calculation was clear; the previous series of oppressions was merely a bluff. His attitude toward the Hidden Rain Village was basically to leave it to its own devices, but these strategic supplies absolutely could not be wasted.
Therefore, Onoki decided to strike first by launching a surprise attack on the northern base of the Hidden Rain Village. This location was the furthest from Sunagakure's position, so it should not have been raided during Sunagakure's previous invasion.
A large number of Rock ninjas appeared at the Rain's northern base. After the Rain ninjas guarding the perimeter were rapidly dealt with, and Onoki quickly led everyone inside the base.
Many pieces of equipment inside this base of the Hidden Rain Village were exceptionally outdated, and various water pipes had been decaying for years without maintenance.
Entering the base, a foul stench rushed at them, causing the Rock ninjas' expressions to turn sour. However, they all endured the pungent odor and continuously moved forward.
"In such a damp environment, will the Paper Bombs even still be useful?"
In this kind of environment, the elderly Onoki felt extreme discomfort in his lower back. However, his pride as the Tsuchikage forced him to walk with his back straight, causing Roshi to burst into laughter.
Roshi's mockery caused Onoki's mood to turn very terrible.
Walking to the very end of the base, Onoki and the two Jinchuriki saw nothing but Paper Bombs before their eyes...
However, these Paper Bombs were currently in an ignited state!
Oh no!
The Paper Bombs stored here looked exceptionally terrifying in quantity. Soon, with a roaring explosion, the entire northern base of the Hidden Rain Village was directly blown to pieces.
Aside from the northern base, the six peripheral bases of the Hidden Rain Village simultaneously triggered violent explosions. The Paper Bombs left behind by Konan seemed to be ignited and detonated all at once.
For a time, many invading Rock ninjas were caught in the blast, and many were directly blown to death.
"Damn it!"
Han released terrifyingly high-temperature steam from his entire body. After the generated explosive airflow blocked the shockwave of the blast, he retreated and rushed out of the northern base with Onoki and the others, but a large number of Rock ninjas were still dragged into it.
The light generated by the explosion illuminated the ruins of this base. Onoki stared at everything before him: "These aren't Paper Bombs!"
The previous Paper Bombs were merely an illusion. The substance that truly detonated was a special type of clay.
"Deidara, you bastard, you are still alive!"
Onoki's angry roar caused the atmosphere at the scene to become exceptionally tense.
Deidara?
Wasn't he rumored to have died in action during the battle of the Hidden Rain Village? Why was the Lord Tsuchikage so certain it was Deidara?
"The substance that truly exploded just now was a type of clay, which was the method most commonly used by him back when he belonged to Iwagakure's Explosion Corps."
But Onoki had clearly misjudged. Those clay bombs were actually arranged by Shiraishi, who had absorbed all of Deidara's memories. After all, the news of Konan possessing a massive amount of Paper Bombs was also false intelligence transmitted by Shiraishi.
As the shadow of a village himself, it was actually very easy for Shiraishi to deduce Onoki's true purpose and calculations.
Just as Onoki and the others were perplexed, a person forcefully walked out from the dark ruins of the explosion.
A strange bone blade, a specialized animal-style mask, and a sharp, murderous aura radiating from his body left Onoki and the others filled with alarm.
There were no words spoken; he was even more silent than the Deidara Onoki was familiar with in the past. Bearing the mask, aside from that uniquely styled bone blade, he also gripped a special dark mirror shield.
Fukurim and the mirror shield simultaneously generated shocking vibrations. In an instant, the animal mask shattered, revealing an extraordinarily cold and proud face that had never been seen before.
Onoki retreated several steps. As his body slowly floated into the air, he stared dead at the strange opponent before him: "You are not Deidara. Who on earth are you?"
The features were beautiful to the absolute extreme, making it entirely impossible to distinguish the true gender—resembling both a male and a female, making it deeply elusive.
"You lot are not worthy of asking my name!"
The voice of the person before them was a type of specialized demonic sound, giving off a sensation that made one's spine turn cold.
Fukurim instantly transformed into a pair of dark wings, wrapping around the back of the masked killer. Subsequently, a silver moonlight refracted from within the dark mirror shield, illuminating this area and transforming into a specialized mirror lock.
The dark wings slowly expanded. The terrifying weapon of slaughter created by Shiraishi had appeared on the shinobi continent. With the support of two special weapons—the dark mirror shield working in tandem with Fukurim—how much strength would this mysterious killer unleash?
The light of the moon suddenly transformed into the light of slaughter, spraying out from within the mirror shield!
The strange dark bone blade pierced into Roshi's body at some unknown moment, refracting the opening movement of a deadly slaughterous composition!
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed. Claim early access on Patreon: Patreon.com/kazama677
🔓 You hold the keys to bonus chapters:💬 10 reviews ignite 1 bonus chapter🔷 100 Power Stones summon another
🔥 Your power determines how fast the tale unfolds.