Chapter 351: Outbreak

Chapter 351: Chapter 351: Outbreak

Whoosh...

Whoosh...

Whoosh...

Accompanied by a succession of sharp sounds cutting through the air, more than a dozen black figures streaked through the forest, moving so quickly that they seemed like ghosts.

Only after the figures had disappeared into the distance did another figure leap down from the dense canopy above, landing silently on the ground.

The figure wore an ornate black cloak trimmed with golden patterns, while a mask bearing a flame motif concealed his face.

It was Itachi, who had rushed over after receiving the message delivered by Shisui’s ninja crow.

Watching the direction in which the dozen or so figures had disappeared, Itachi frowned beneath his mask, puzzled.

Those figures had all been dressed as Konoha ANBU.

And that was precisely what confused him.

Although Itachi had yet to join the ANBU himself, Shisui had already explained most of their rules and operating procedures to him.

Under normal circumstances, ANBU carried out missions in four-man squads. When manpower was stretched thin, those four-man squads would even split into two pairs, with each two-man team carrying out its own assignment.

Therefore, seeing more than a dozen ANBU gathered together for a single mission was extremely unusual.

Especially after suffering several attacks from the Akatsuki, Konoha’s ANBU had sustained heavy losses and was severely short on manpower.

That made the sight of more than a dozen ANBU leaving the village together on a single mission all the more unusual.

"Could it be a mission related to the Akatsuki?"

His expression turning solemn, Itachi pondered silently.

Hyuga Kagami and Shisui hadn’t revealed much to Itachi about the upcoming surprise attack on the Akatsuki. However, since Itachi himself had participated in the operation against Shinno, he had managed to piece together a few things.

While Itachi was still lost in thought, a figure suddenly descended from the sky and landed before him.

The newcomer was also dressed in a black cloak with golden patterns, but the mask covering his face bore the design of a raging gale.

Itachi froze for a moment before saying, "I’m Uchiha Itachi. May I ask how I should address you, Senpai?"

Itachi was actually somewhat surprised.

He had assumed that the person meeting up with him here would be the familiar Uchiha En. Instead, the one who had arrived was a Kamigami member he had never seen before.

The Third Kazekage Human Puppet replied coldly, "You may call me ’Kaze.’"

Itachi nodded, then asked, "Kaze-senpai, are the two of us the only ones assembling here?"

Without the slightest fluctuation of emotion, the Third Kazekage Human Puppet replied, "Yes. Let’s go."

With that, the Third Kazekage Human Puppet unfurled a pair of wings formed from Iron Sand and carried Itachi into the sky.

...

At the same time.

In the southern region of the Land of Fire, a group of four dressed as Kirigakure shinobi was speeding toward Amegakure.

Leading the group was a large, heavyset Kiri shinobi carrying the ninja sword Samehada on his back.

He was none other than Fuguki Suikazan, the current leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

The three following behind him were Kisame Hoshigaki, known as the "Tailless Tailed Beast"; Zabuza Momochi, known as the "Demon"; and Utakata, Kirigakure’s Six-Tails jinchūriki.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

After the group swiftly crossed a mountain ravine, Kisame casually asked, "Why would the Mizukage suddenly issue an order like this? It doesn’t make any sense."

Utakata, the Six-Tails jinchūriki bringing up the rear, voiced his own doubts at just the right moment. "Carrying out an order like this could start a war, couldn’t it? Given the village’s current condition, we don’t exactly have much chance of winning."

Zabuza’s eyes flickered thoughtfully. "The Mizukage has seemed a little strange lately."

The moment Zabuza finished speaking, Fuguki Suikazan, the squad captain, snorted coldly.

"All of you, shut up! Questioning the Mizukage’s orders is punishable by death!"

Under Fuguki’s rebuke, the squad fell silent once more.

Yet beneath that outward silence, each of them was harboring thoughts of his own.

Ever since returning from the previous Five Kage Summit, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura—who had originally devoted himself to reforming Kirigakure—had become increasingly reclusive, rarely appearing in public.

And that wasn’t all.

The Fourth Mizukage had also grown completely indifferent toward the progress of the village’s various reforms. Instead, he had begun imposing increasingly severe punishments upon Kirigakure’s shinobi.

In the span of just a few months, several Kirigakure jōnin who had questioned his orders had been executed one after another.

Everyone in Kirigakure had noticed the Fourth Mizukage’s transformation.

But beneath his iron-fisted suppression, no one dared to step forward and openly question him. As time passed, Kirigakure once again became weighed down by a lifeless, oppressive atmosphere.

And beneath that oppressive stillness, hidden currents were quietly beginning to surge!

...

Within the Land of Fire, at the location of the Three Kage Summit.

As more and more elite shinobi gathered, the area outside the cavern where the Three Kage Summit was being held had become packed with people. Altogether, their numbers had already surpassed a hundred.

Inside the cavern, the Raikage urged, "We can’t wait any longer!"

Although he knew that many more reinforcements were still on their way, the Two-Tails jinchūriki, Yugito Nii, had been lost inside Amegakure, and whether she was alive or dead remained unknown.

In order to rescue Yugito as quickly as possible, the Raikage could no longer afford to worry about anything else.

Considering that the reconnaissance mission had failed and the Akatsuki had already learned of the three great ninja villages’ surprise attack, the Third Hokage also understood that the longer they delayed, the more disadvantageous the situation would become.

"All right. We move out now!"

The Kazekage nodded expressionlessly.

The Akatsuki’s strength had far exceeded his expectations, and coupled with the failure of the reconnaissance mission, he wasn’t optimistic about this surprise attack.

But now that things had reached this point, there was no choice but to press forward.

Once the three Kage reached a consensus, they left several people behind to receive the reinforcements still on their way. Everyone else formed a massive assault force and rushed toward Amegakure.

ANBU Team 11, which Hyuga Kagami belonged to, was naturally included in the assault force.

Moreover, because Kagami possessed the Byakugan, Team 11 was positioned at the very front of the entire formation, responsible for scouting the way ahead.

The Land of Fire and the Land of Rain shared a border to begin with, and the location of the Three Kage Summit wasn’t far from that border. As a result, it wasn’t long before the assault force crossed into the Land of Rain.

Pitter-patter...

The moment they entered the Land of Rain, the sky grew overcast.

Sparse raindrops began falling from above, landing on the faces and bodies of everyone in the assault force.

Yet not a single person stopped to put on a raincoat.

Every one of them stared coldly toward Amegakure in the distance.

Because they all understood—

the battle that was about to erupt would be a terrifying war no less fierce than the Third Shinobi World War.

After advancing all the way to the outskirts of Amegakure without encountering any resistance, the Third Hokage said to the Raikage and Kazekage beside him, "Everyone, proceed according to the plan!"

The Raikage and Kazekage nodded simultaneously, then led their respective forces away from the main assault force, racing off in opposite directions.

Shinobi were different from samurai.

Gathering large numbers of them together did not effectively increase their combat strength. On the contrary, with large-scale ninjutsu being thrown around, it could easily result in unnecessary friendly casualties.

Furthermore, the objective of this surprise attack was to completely eradicate the Akatsuki. By spreading out to encircle Amegakure and launching simultaneous attacks from three directions, they could ensure that no one slipped through the net.

Hyuga Kagami had raised objections to this deployment, but the Three Kage had rejected them.

Clearly, even the Third Hokage—the most experienced and conservative of the Three Kage—had significantly misjudged Pain’s strength.

After all, in the decades since the era of the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara, the shinobi world had not seen another superpowered shinobi like Pain, someone whose strength genuinely stood above the Kage level.

After the assault force split into three groups, the Konoha contingent temporarily halted its advance to give the forces from Kumogakure and Sunagakure time to reach their designated positions.

At that moment, the Third Hokage summoned the four members of Team 11 to his side and instructed them, "Before we launch the full-scale assault, use this opportunity to infiltrate Amegakure ahead of us and rendezvous with Jiraiya!"

The Third Hokage knew perfectly well why Jiraiya had chosen to remain behind in Amegakure alone.

Jiraiya had privately told him about how he had once taken Nagato in and trained him in Amegakure, and had also expressed his determination to persuade Nagato to turn back from his current path.

Therefore, the Third Hokage suspected that Jiraiya had remained in Amegakure precisely because he wanted to find an opportunity to reason with Nagato.

As for Jiraiya’s decision, the Third Hokage neither approved nor opposed it.

He didn’t approve because he was worried about Jiraiya’s safety. If the leader of the Akatsuki truly cared about Jiraiya as his Sensei, then he shouldn’t have repeatedly launched attacks against Konoha in the first place.

But he didn’t oppose it either, because he also hoped that Jiraiya might actually succeed in persuading Nagato, allowing them to bring down the Akatsuki without shedding a single drop of blood.

And if Konoha could bring Nagato—the wielder of the Rinnegan—over to their side, then none of the other great ninja villages would ever dare provoke Konoha again.

"Yes!"

Kakashi had no idea about the conflict going on in the Third Hokage’s mind. He acknowledged the order, then immediately led Team 11 out.

Since Yugito had fallen into enemy hands inside Amegakure, she was certain to be interrogated by the Human Path Pain.

And because the Human Path could directly extract a target’s soul to obtain information, no matter how resolute or unyielding Yugito was, it would be nearly impossible for her to keep their secrets.

Therefore, Kagami didn’t use the same waterway they had taken during their previous infiltration. Instead, he chose a different route.

Fortunately, the network of waterways beneath Amegakure was incredibly dense, resembling a vast maze. With Hyuga Kagami and his Byakugan leading the way, Team 11 managed to infiltrate Amegakure without any major incidents.

After reaching the sewers, Kagami warned his companions, "Don’t let the rain touch you. The rain falling over this village is actually a sensory ninjutsu. Besides that, there should be other sensory methods throughout the village as well. We still haven’t figured out exactly how Yugito was discovered last time, so everyone needs to be extremely careful. If we’re exposed in a place like this, we could very easily lose our lives."

"Mm!"

Kakashi and the others nodded.

Kagami then took out the map of Amegakure he had drawn during their previous infiltration, along with the exact location of the tower where Pain resided.

Pointing toward the tower on the map, he said, "I suspect the leader of the Akatsuki is hiding inside this tower. If that’s the case, Lord Jiraiya is probably hiding somewhere near it as well."

Guy glanced at the map Kagami had drawn and frowned. "It’s nothing but tall buildings, and the search area is huge. How are just the few of us supposed to find him?"

After pondering for a moment, Kakashi replied, "We’ll have to split up. We need to find Lord Jiraiya before the surprise attack officially begins."

Shisui took out a timer and glanced at it.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the assault will begin simultaneously from all three directions in fifteen minutes. With so little time, it’ll be extremely difficult for us to find Lord Jiraiya."

Kakashi said, "Time is running out. All we can do is try our best!"

Finding Jiraiya was a direct order from the Third Hokage, and Team 11 had no choice but to carry it out. Thus, Kakashi and Guy soon left the sewers one after another.

Shisui then turned to Hyuga Kagami and asked, "Senpai, what should we do?"

"Wait."

Only a single word left Kagami’s mouth.

Kagami wasn’t merely waiting for the surprise attack to officially begin.

He was also waiting for a message from Shinichi.

According to what they had agreed upon beforehand, Shinichi should have already sent the Akatsuki’s countermeasures and deployment to Kagami through Shozaimaru.

Yet Kagami had waited until now, and still no message from Shinichi had arrived.

There were only two possible explanations.

Either Shinichi’s cover had been blown, or other Akatsuki members had remained by his side the entire time, leaving him with no opportunity to send a message.

Shisui glanced at the timer again and asked, "Aren’t we going to look for Lord Jiraiya?"

"No need to rush."

After a brief pause, Kagami sat down directly on the ground and continued, "Among the Three Legendary Sannin, if it came down to a true fight to the death, Lord Jiraiya is actually stronger than the other two. So even if it’s the leader of the Akatsuki, killing Lord Jiraiya would still take some effort."

Seeing Kagami sit down as though he were waiting for something, Shisui tentatively asked, "Are you waiting for a message from Shinichi?"

After their previous operation against Shinno, Shisui still didn’t know that Shinichi was actually a spy Kagami had planted inside the Akatsuki.

However, he did know that Shinichi was in contact with Kagami.

So when he saw Kagami simply sitting there waiting, Shinichi immediately came to mind.

Kagami didn’t hide it from him.

"Mm."

Shisui looked somewhat worried. "Does Shinichi know about our operation this time? He’s currently a member of the Akatsuki. If he runs into the Kumogakure or Sunagakure forces, things could get troublesome."

Kagami didn’t elaborate on Shinichi. Instead, he calmly said, "No one is absolutely safe in this operation. Even I could die here, so prepare yourself mentally. Don’t take Kotoamatsukami with you to the grave."

Shisui sat down as well and replied solemnly, "I’ve already prepared myself for that possibility."

Kagami continued, "The Akatsuki member who attacked Naruto last time may very well be the culprit who ambushed the Fourth Hokage and single-handedly caused the Nine-Tails’ attack. There’s a good chance he also possesses the Mangekyō Sharingan, and his ocular power may even surpass yours. Your Kotoamatsukami might not be able to subdue him so easily. So even after using Kotoamatsukami, you must remain vigilant."

Shisui hurriedly asked, "You’re worried he might be immune to my Kotoamatsukami?"

"I’m worried he might be immune to your Kotoamatsukami—and deliberately pretend that you’ve successfully placed him under its control."

After a brief pause, Kagami smiled.

"After all, I might not be the best actor in the shinobi world."

Back then, Kagami himself had once pretended to be under a genjutsu, allowing him to easily catch Shinichi off guard and win their confrontation.

Shisui, on the other hand, was far too confident in his genjutsu. In the original timeline, that very confidence had allowed Danzo to ambush him and steal one of his Mangekyō Sharingan.

That was why Kagami was worried Shisui might stumble in exactly the same way.

And if Shisui made such a mistake this time, Kagami might not be able to rescue him in time.

If Shisui’s Mangekyō Sharingan—the eyes containing Kotoamatsukami—were to fall into the Akatsuki’s hands, then with Obito’s unique constitution enhanced by the First Hokage’s cells, he might even be capable of using Kotoamatsukami frequently.

If that happened, the entire order of the shinobi world could be thrown into complete chaos.

BOOM—!

Suddenly, a tremendous explosion echoed from the distance.

Even the sewers began to tremble.

Shisui immediately checked the timer and frowned in confusion.

"That’s not right. It isn’t time for the surprise attack yet!"

Kagami, however, remained perfectly calm.

"This is how it should be. Did you really think the Akatsuki would obediently sit around and wait for us to launch our surprise attack? The moment the reconnaissance mission failed, there was no such thing as a surprise attack anymore."

Shisui rose to his feet and asked, "Senpai, what should we do?"

Kagami remained seated where he was.

"Wait. We have only one target—the leader of the Akatsuki!"

Before long, explosions began erupting from every direction.

Shisui pressed two fingers against the ground and carefully sensed his surroundings for a moment before frowning.

"All the explosions seem to be coming from outside Amegakure. It looks like our forces were intercepted before they could even enter the village."

Kagami said calmly,

"The battle has begun."