Chapter 1285: Aftermath (Part 4)

“Alright.”

Seeing the Fourth Raikage like this, Mafui could only sigh helplessly and continue, “It happened suddenly, and the village here wasn’t prepared accordingly. That is, the Hidden Hot Water Village was attacked by unknown individuals not long ago, and many buildings were damaged. Moreover, within the Land of Hot Water, many violent clashes have occurred.”

The Fourth Raikage’s gaze flickered with slight surprise, quickly calming down. He asked, “What’s happening? Explain in detail.”

“It’s about the Evil God Cult.”

“Evil God Cult? I see, is it an internal conflict in the Hidden Hot Water Village?”

The Fourth Raikage realized.

The Evil God Cult had brainwashed a lot of ninjas from the Hidden Hot Water Village, causing a division of power, which Hidden Cloud had long detected.

However, Hidden Cloud didn’t intervene.

Instead, they considered it a good thing.

The Hidden Hot Water Village contending with the Evil God Cult would weaken significantly, meaning the border security of the Land of Lightning wouldn’t be a concern.

If possible, Hidden Cloud wouldn’t mind fanning the flames from behind, letting these two forces end in mutual destruction. Thus, the national power of the Land of Hot Water would decline once again.

“Yes, although the Hidden Hot Water Village was attacked by unknown individuals, according to the investigation, most of the deceased were followers of the Evil God Cult. Not only that, but many branches of the Evil God Cult in the Land of Hot Water have been destroyed.”

“Who are those unknown people?”

“They seem to be from the underground black market.”

Mafui said.

“Hmph, relying on a bunch of mercenaries to solve problems, just like that old man Onoki.”

The Fourth Raikage grumbled unhappily.

“There’s no need to make a fuss over things like this, Hidden Cloud has no need to step in.”

After this encounter, it’s impossible for the Hidden Hot Water Village to recover its strength within several years.

Besides, it’s just a small nation’s ninja village; Hidden Cloud’s focus should be on the Land of Fire, not the Land of Hot Water.

“If it were just like this, I wouldn’t speak so seriously about it, but some very strange traces were found on some battlefields.”

“Strange traces?”

The Fourth Raikage tilted his head, looking at Mafui.

Darui then walked over, holding a cup of water: “Boss, the water is here.”

“Thank you.”

The Fourth Raikage took the cup, drank it in one go, then continued to look at Mafui, asking, “Mafui, what do you mean by strange traces?”

Mafui didn’t answer, instead walked to the side, taking out a transparent plastic bag, inside was a strange red viscous substance, like something resembling blood.

“This is… a bit familiar? Seems like I’ve seen it in Hidden Cloud’s archives before…”

The Fourth Raikage stared at the red viscous substance in the transparent bag, deep in thought.

“According to instrument detection, this is a residue caused by the Ninja Techniques of the Chinoike Clan.”

Mafui sighed.

“!?”

The Fourth Raikage’s eyes widened, showing extreme shock.

“The Chinoike Clan? Impossible, wasn’t that clan wiped out long ago? How is this possible!?”

The Chinoike Clan, long reduced to history, even though they had a very glorious history in the past, eventually had a day of decline.

Just like the Uchiha in Konoha today.

Became relics of history.

However, unlike the Uchiha Clan, the Chinoike Clan wasn’t as lucky. The Uchiha in Konoha faded from history, yet rose again in the Land of Demons, their brilliance undiminished.

“The Chinoike Clan?”

Darui looked puzzled; what clan is this?

The other person, C, also seemed confused, not understanding why their Raikage would be so shocked when mentioning this so-called Chinoike Clan.

The Fourth Raikage’s face was uncertain, not answering, as Mafui spoke: “The Chinoike Clan has deep connections with our Land of Lightning.”

“Hmm?”

This made Darui and C even more puzzled.

If so, why didn’t they know about these things as Jonin of the Hidden Cloud Village?

“Before ninja villages were established, the daughter of the Chinoike Clan’s leader married the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning as a concubine. The Chinoike Clan in the Land of Lightning, thus rose in status. Unfortunately, because the daughter of the Chinoike Clan’s leader had a gentle temperament and beautiful appearance, she quickly became the target of jealousy by the Daimyo’s main wife at that time. Shortly after marrying her, the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning passed away, and the main wife accused the daughter as a bad omen, condemning her, and subsequently, the Chinoike Clan was exiled by the Land of Lightning.”

Mafui revealed this past.

Even within Hidden Cloud Village, few people know.

But as the Raikage’s secretary, she naturally has the qualification to understand these past events.

Mafui continued to narrate: “The exiled Chinoike Clan wasn’t willing to accept defeat, attempting to resist. However, employed by the Daimyo’s main wife were the famous Uchiha Clan of the Ninja Realm at that time. Although the Chinoike Clan also possessed excellent pupil technique Kekkeigenkai, Ketsuryugan, they still weren’t a match for the Uchiha Clan, and their resistance was swiftly suppressed. The main wife paid a generous commission, leading the Uchiha Clan to monitor the Chinoike Clan year-round. Later, as the era of Country-Village came, the Uchiha Clan collaborated with the Senju Clan to establish Konoha, simultaneously withdrawing their surveillance of the Chinoike Clan, no longer being employed by the Land of Lightning.”

“Then what about the annihilation of the clan?”

Darui asked.

Mafui shook her head: “We don’t know either. The exiled Chinoike Clan lived in the barren land of the Land of Lightning, and after the Hidden Cloud Village was established, the Land of Lightning became indifferent to them. Later, they heard the news of the Chinoike Clan’s extermination, and the Ketsuryugan of the Chinoike Clan disappeared from the Ninja Realm.”

But unexpectedly, the Ketsuryugan seems not to be extinct, and the descendants of this clan are still active in the Ninja Realm.

“Raikage-sama, what should we do? Should we investigate further?”

Mafui inquired.

“The Ketsuryugan’s capabilities are quite special; the Chinoike Clan member that appeared in the Land of Hot Water clearly is a mercenary from the underground black market. But the personnel of the underground black market are very complicated, even Hidden Cloud would struggle greatly to investigate. Moreover, after that past incident, this clan is naturally hostile towards the Land of Lightning. If Hidden Cloud Village searched extensively, it would alert the enemy, potentially drawing retaliation.”

As for sending small teams to secretly investigate… the Fourth Raikage wasn’t optimistic.

The Ketsuryugan, like the Sharingan, possesses very strong Illusion Technique abilities and is extremely adept at positional warfare.

By creating wounds on enemies, they can create human bombs, a more bizarre ability than the Sharingan.

If one recklessly entered their traps, even with Jonin leading, the prospects would be grim.

Mafui nodded, adhering to the Raikage’s decision.

“However, if there’s any activity from them in the future, let’s just monitor slightly. The current Ninja Realm isn’t about Ninja Clans fighting among themselves, but rather village versus village.”

Therefore, for the Chinoike Clan descendants hidden in the dark, the Fourth Raikage wasn’t too concerned.

The era when Ninja Clans dominated the Ninja Realm is already history.

Just a clan’s remnant wouldn’t dare to avenge against the Land of Lightning.

Over the years, with no signs of activity from the Chinoike Clan’s members, it proved that this clan had already completely fallen, no longer the populous Kekkeigenkai clans of the past.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to rest now.”

The Fourth Raikage rubbed his slightly dizzy head, stood up, preparing to go home to rest.

“There’s one more thing related to you, Raikage-sama.”

Mafui stopped the Fourth Raikage, her expression somewhat subtle.

“Related to me?”

The Fourth Raikage was taken aback.

“Yes, this is a bill from the Land of Tea’s casino, needing you to personally sign for it.”

“Casino? What casino?”

The Fourth Raikage looked confused; he had no bad habits, didn’t even have time to train, how could he go gambling?

Suddenly, the Fourth Raikage’s heart sank, recalling something.

Tsunade!

He suddenly remembered that Tsunade had made him a formula to resolve the Nokizaru Group’s Bursting Insects, and he needed to pay off a gambling debt for Tsunade.

Mafui didn’t explain, subtly signaled Darui and C.

The two understood, quietly exiting the office with Mafui.

The Fourth Raikage didn’t pay attention, opened the bill, and the first thing he saw was a number ‘9’, followed by a row of zeros.

The Raikage began counting how many zeros there were, one, two, three… six… eight…

The calm expression on his face immediately broke, a certain string in his mind snapped, and an infinite lightning bolt surged through his body, his aura becoming as fierce as a beast.

“Damn old hag Tsunade! Go to hell!!!!”

The furious roar erupted from the Raikage’s office.

Boom!

The Raikage Office atop the mountain suddenly exploded without warning, lightning bolts shooting into the air, drawing the attention of villagers passing below.