Chapter 304: Captain of the Police Force

Chapter 304: Chapter 304: Captain of the Police Force

"AAAAARGH...!"

Shinno’s enormous body rolled back and forth as he howled in agony.

With his current size, even an ordinary step was enough to make the earth tremble, let alone thrashing around on the ground like this. In only a matter of moments, several nearby blocks had been completely flattened. Not even broken walls remained—only heaps of rubble.

"It’s this effective?!"

Even Hyuga Kagami was somewhat surprised. Only now did he realize that he seemed to have underestimated the power of the golden flames covering his Susanoo.

Since they were working so well, Kagami naturally had no intention of stopping. He poured even more power into them, driving the golden flames at full force and turning Shinno’s enormous abdominal cavity into a sea of fire.

Before long, Shinno’s agonized screams gradually weakened, and his body slowly stopped thrashing.

Seeing that the time was right, Kagami immediately commanded his incomplete Susanoo to slash out with its sword, cleaving open one of the enormous dragon heads. At the same time, he dispelled his Susanoo and leapt out through the opening.

The moment Kagami emerged, the thunderous sound of the terracotta soldier puppets collapsing and shattering reached his ears.

At the same time, Shinno’s enormous body slowly began to shrink, gradually returning to its original form. However, he was now unconscious, and whether he was dead or alive was impossible to tell.

"Looks like I might’ve overdone it a little!"

Hyuga Kagami chuckled softly.

Just then, a crow landed on his shoulder and began cawing.

This ninja crow had specifically been assigned by Kagami to keep watch. The fact that it had descended from the sky meant that a large number of shinobi were heading this way.

Kagami glanced at Shinno lying on the ground and weighed his options for a moment. In the end, he decided against taking Shinno with him.

Although this was an opportunity to obtain the Chimera Technique, Kagami was certain that tonight’s incident couldn’t possibly have been orchestrated by Shinno alone. If his guess was correct, Shinno’s partner, Hiruko, should also be somewhere within the village.

Even Obito might be lurking somewhere nearby, watching everything unfold. If Kagami tried to take Shinno away now, he could easily run into unexpected trouble.

Kagami knew the limits of his own combat strength very well. On top of that, the village had already identified his golden Susanoo as one of the defining traits of Kamigami’s Homura. With his hands tied by the need to conceal his identity, there was absolutely no way he could take on Hiruko and Obito.

Having made his decision, Kagami sent the ninja crow perched on his shoulder back into the sky to continue monitoring the surroundings. Then, his figure blurred into an afterimage and vanished from the spot...

......

On the rooftop of a distant building.

Hiruko stood with his arms crossed, watching as Shinno’s fully transformed tailed-beast form gradually shrank before finally disappearing from sight.

He curled his lip in disdain.

"Hmph. What a useless piece of trash!"

Beside him, Zetsu covered his face with one hand and groaned helplessly.

"Our perfectly good plan was completely ruined by that idiot Shinno!"

The moment there were signs of a third party interfering, someone as experienced as the Third Hokage would immediately realize that everything that had happened tonight was nothing more than an elaborate setup.

It could be said that the moment Shinno went berserk, the village and the Uchiha—who had previously been on the verge of open conflict—immediately ceased hostilities.

Hiruko said, "Since the plan has already failed, I’ll go bring him back."

Zetsu gazed into the distance. The eye on his black half flickered for a moment before he smiled.

"I’ll leave it to you, then."

Although Shinno wasn’t particularly important within Akatsuki, he nevertheless knew far too much about the organization. If he fell into Konoha’s hands, a massive amount of Akatsuki intelligence would inevitably be leaked.

That was something neither Pain, the organization’s leader in the open, nor Obito, its leader from the shadows, could accept.

Hiruko’s figure suddenly flickered.

Like a gentle breeze, he silently vanished from the rooftop.

No sooner had Hiruko left than Obito stepped out from a twisting vortex.

His voice was solemn as he said, "His Swift Release is even faster than I anticipated."

Zetsu replied, "Yeah. His speed really is beyond expectations."

Obito pondered for a moment before saying, "That guy already considers himself one of Pain’s direct followers. We need to find some way to bring him over to our side."

In truth, the one who had convinced Pain to support Hiruko’s Kekkei Genkai fusion plan was actually Obito, who had been manipulating events from behind the scenes.

But Hiruko had no idea that Obito even existed.

From his perspective, Pain—the leader of the organization and wielder of the eyes known as the "Eyes of the Sage"—had personally recognized his worth and even mobilized the entire organization to support his plan.

And so, for Hiruko, who desperately craved the acknowledgment of others, it was only natural that he had long since come to regard himself as one of Pain’s most loyal supporters.

This was also why Hiruko had been able to suppress his desire for revenge against Konoha and instead disguise himself as Shisui to assassinate the Third Hokage—because Pain had ordered him to do so.

Otherwise, given Hiruko’s usual desire to stand in the spotlight, there was no way he would have willingly kept such a low profile and restrained himself after completing the Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual.

......

Not long afterward, a large force of shinobi led by the Third Hokage arrived at the scene.

Looking at the once bustling and prosperous district, now reduced to nothing but shattered stone and rubble, the Konoha shinobi were filled with fury.

At that moment, one of the ANBU discovered Shinno lying unconscious on the ground.

"Lord Hokage, this man appears to be a member of Akatsuki!"

Although the previous Five Kage Summit had failed to produce any substantive military cooperation, the Five Great Shinobi Villages had unanimously agreed to share intelligence regarding highly dangerous groups such as Kamigami and Akatsuki.

As a result, all five villages possessed information on some of Akatsuki’s more ordinary members.

After all, unlike Kamigami, Akatsuki didn’t wear masks!

The moment he heard that the man was an Akatsuki member, the Third Hokage’s expression grew even more solemn. He walked over to Shinno, examined him for a moment, and asked, "Isn’t he Shinno, the spy who was previously wanted by Kumogakure?"

"Yes. That’s him."

The ANBU immediately nodded.

The Third then turned his gaze toward the captain of the Sensor Division.

There was no need for the Third Hokage to urge him. The Sensor Division captain quickly walked over to Shinno, placed a finger against the center of his forehead, and concentrated for a moment.

Then, with a grave expression, he said, "He’s the monster from earlier!"

The Third’s already deeply furrowed brow tightened even further.

At that moment, his thoughts immediately turned to the daughter of the Priestess of the Land of Demons, who had arrived in the village several days earlier.

The Third had only learned about the attack on the Land of Demons after Shion arrived in Konoha.

Originally, he had planned to immediately dispatch an elite squad to investigate exactly what had happened in the Land of Demons. However, the two anonymous letters that arrived one after another completely disrupted his arrangements, causing the investigation into the Land of Demons to be delayed until now.

"Could that monster from earlier have been the demon that the Priestess sealed away several years ago?"

At this thought, the Third immediately realized that Shinno had most likely become the jinchūriki of that demon.

What puzzled him, however, was something else.

Who had managed to defeat Shinno so quickly after he had undergone a complete tailed-beast transformation?

With that thought in mind, the Third forced a smile onto his face and turned toward Fugaku.

"I’d like to meet that captain from the Police Force!"