Chapter 210: Unbridled Madness

Chapter 210: Chapter 210: Unbridled Madness

Flipping through the bounty notices in his hands one by one, Hyuga Kagami couldn’t help but laugh.

There were five bounty notices in total.

The first and second were old bounties that had previously been placed on Hyuga Kagami. The paper had already begun to yellow with age, while the bounty amounts remained the same as before, with no changes.

The remaining notices, however, were all new.

The third was a bounty on the leader of Kamigami, "Yama," with a reward as high as 35 million ryō.

The fourth and fifth were bounties on the Kamigami members "Kawa" and "Homura," each worth 30 million ryō.

Added together, the five bounties were worth nearly 150 million ryō.

Even Hyuga Kagami couldn’t help but wonder whether he should clone a few corpses of himself and turn them in for the bounty money.

After dismissing that absurd thought, Hyuga Kagami pondered inwardly, "Who could have issued these bounties?"

Konoha had indeed been using the black market to gather intelligence on Kamigami, but it had never posted any large bounties there.

That meant whoever had issued these bounties could only be one of three parties—the Uchiha Clan, Akatsuki, or Kumogakure.

Just then, a figure landed in front of Hyuga Kagami.

The newcomer was none other than Shisui.

Without wasting any words, Hyuga Kagami immediately asked, "How did it go?"

Shisui shook his head. "The Maximum Security Prison has been completely taken over by Root. The entire place is locked down tight. I couldn’t gather any information at all!"

Over the past few days, all the black-market members, bounty ninjas, and rogue ninjas captured by Konoha had been sent to the village’s Maximum Security Prison, where they were being guarded and interrogated by Root.

Hyuga Kagami was confident that he hadn’t exposed any flaws while disguising himself as "Yama" or "Kawa," but in the shinobi world, nothing was ever absolute.

There was always the possibility that among the black-market members or bounty ninjas sent to the Maximum Security Prison, one or two might possess some strange ability capable of detecting information about "Yama" or "Kawa."

That was why, just to be safe, he had sent Shisui to the prison to gather intelligence.

Unexpectedly, Danzo had been cautious enough to completely seal off the Maximum Security Prison.

That surprised Hyuga Kagami somewhat.

Temporarily setting the matter of the prison aside, Hyuga Kagami frowned and asked, "What’s going on with you Uchiha again? Why do I keep hearing lately that you’re running around killing innocent people and taking the law into your own hands?"

Shisui’s expression darkened. "There’s still been no news of Hideki, so... so Ryota has completely lost control. Recently, even the Clan Head hasn’t been able to rein him in!"

...

At a marketplace somewhere within the Land of Fire.

Uchiha Ryota grabbed a bounty ninja by the collar and snarled viciously, "Talk! Where is Kamigami’s hideout?"

The bounty ninja, whose face had been beaten black and blue, shook his head frantically.

"I... I don’t know..."

"You don’t know?"

Uchiha Ryota gave a vicious grin, pulled out a kunai, and brutally drove it through the back of the bounty ninja’s hand.

"Do you know now?"

The bounty ninja screamed in agony.

"I retired a long time ago! I’ve never even heard of this ’Kamigami’!"

"Still don’t know?"

Uchiha Ryota snorted. Then, he slammed fist after fist into the bounty ninja’s face, sending blood spraying everywhere!

At that moment, Hizashi, who had accompanied Uchiha Ryota, stepped forward to stop him. "Enough! If you keep hitting him like that, you’re going to beat him to death!"

With a murderous look on his face, Uchiha Ryota glared at Hizashi before kicking the barely conscious bounty ninja away.

Just as Hizashi thought Uchiha Ryota was finally going to stop, Ryota suddenly formed a series of hand seals and shouted at the bounty ninja lying nearby,

"Fire Style: Fireball Technique!"

In an instant, a massive fireball roared toward the bounty ninja sprawled on the ground and completely engulfed him.

Not only that, the flames rapidly spread in every direction.

Most of the buildings in the marketplace were wooden structures and cloth tents. With the wind feeding the flames, it took only moments for the fire to spread across an entire street.

Hizashi flew into a rage at the sight.

"Have you lost your mind?!"

Watching the marketplace residents struggle amid the sea of flames, listening to the screams and cries ringing in his ears, Uchiha Ryota laughed wildly without the slightest restraint.

"If these pieces of trash don’t know anything, then what’s the point of keeping them alive?!"

Hizashi’s expression darkened. "Uchiha Ryota, you’ve gone too far! After what you’ve done here, how is Lord Hokage supposed to explain this to the Daimyo?"

Uchiha Ryota cast Hizashi a mocking glance. His gaze settled on the Konoha forehead protector covering Hizashi’s forehead, and he sneered disdainfully.

"Hmph. A lapdog of the Hyuga Clan like you has no right to tell the Uchiha Clan what to do!"

The Caged Bird was a wound in Hizashi’s heart that no one was allowed to touch.

Hearing Uchiha Ryota use it to mock him, Hizashi’s anger immediately surged.

"What? You want to fight me?"

Uchiha Ryota sneered.

"Do you even have the guts?"

Uchiha Ryota immediately activated his crimson Sharingan, the three tomoe slowly revolving within his eyes. On his cold face appeared a strange hint of excitement—and bloodthirsty madness.

Hizashi suppressed his anger and said, "I’ll report everything you’ve done here to the village exactly as it happened."

Before he had even finished speaking, Uchiha Ryota’s figure blurred as he suddenly lunged at Hizashi.

"You...?!"

Hizashi was caught completely off guard.

He had never imagined that Uchiha Ryota would brazenly attack a fellow shinobi from the same village.

Bang!

With a dull impact, the unprepared Hizashi was sent flying by Uchiha Ryota’s kick, crashing heavily into a low wall nearby...

...

In the forest outside the marketplace.

Suddenly, a distorted vortex appeared out of nowhere atop the branch of a large tree.

Immediately afterward, a figure stepped out from within the swirling distortion.

Naturally, this figure was Obito, who had come to the Land of Fire to investigate Kamigami.

He sat cross-legged on the branch, propped his chin up with one hand, and leisurely watched the battle taking place in the distant marketplace.

Uchiha Ryota and Hyuga Hizashi were both among the finest elite jōnin in their respective clans, second only to their clan heads. In truth, there wasn’t much difference between their overall strength.

However, Uchiha Ryota had not only launched a sneak attack first, but was also fighting without the slightest restraint, bloodthirsty and utterly mad.

As a result, after only a brief exchange, he had completely suppressed Hyuga Hizashi.

At that moment, half of Zetsu’s body emerged from the trunk of the tree as he asked curiously, "Huh? Why did they suddenly start fighting each other?"

Obito turned his head and asked, "Did you figure it out? Why are the Uchiha working together with the village to hunt down Kamigami this time?"

Zetsu nodded. "I eavesdropped on some Konoha shinobi. Apparently, Kamigami has set its sights on the Uchiha’s Sharingan. They abducted an Uchiha clansman from inside the village, which is why Konoha and the Uchiha joined forces and launched an all-out campaign against Kamigami!"

"They’re after the Sharingan?!"

Obito frowned slightly and murmured,

"What do they want the Sharingan for?"