Chapter 398: Mist Squad

Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Mist Squad

Outside Peacehaven City.

Renge sat atop a large boulder with a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, grumbling unhappily, "What the hell is Kisame doing? He’s actually making me wait this long!"

Standing nearby, Ryū was surveying the surroundings with his Red Eye, completely ignoring Renge’s complaints.

Since they were both shinobi from the same village, Ryū was well aware of the temperament of the Kaguya Clan, who possessed the Shikotsumyaku.

Among the Kaguya, the deeper one developed the power of their bloodline, the more violent and irritable their personality tended to become. Those who could continue developing their Shikotsumyaku while still maintaining their sanity could be counted on one hand.

And Renge was clearly not one of them.

Clang...

Clang...

Clang...

Suddenly, a rapid series of alarm bells rang out from nearby Peacehaven City.

Such alarm bells were normally only sounded when a town came under attack by a large group of bandits, or when an important figure within the city was attacked. They would never be used lightly for ordinary disturbances.

Ryū’s brows tightened as he immediately turned toward the city, the Red Eye in his sockets flickering with an eerie glow.

Renge spat out the blade of grass and stood up, muttering, "Damn it. That bastard Kisame didn’t go and kill the city lord, did he? This is the Land of Fire. If Konoha catches wind of us, we’re going to have a hell of a lot of trouble on our hands!"

A moment later, a figure came speeding toward them and landed directly in front of the two.

It was none other than Kisame Hoshigaki, who had just infiltrated Peacehaven City and seized Hiramekarei from the bald merchant’s estate.

"Hiramekarei!?"

Seeing the twin-bladed sword resting on Kisame’s shoulder, both Ryū and Renge were somewhat surprised. As elite jōnin of Kirigakure, they naturally recognized Hiramekarei, one of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist.

Kisame split his shark-like mouth into a grin. "Who would’ve thought that Hiramekarei, one of the Seven Ninja Swords, would end up in the collection of some merchant in the Land of Fire!"

Renge curled his lip. "Hmph. It’s just some lousy ninja sword."

The Kaguya Clan, who possessed the Shikotsumyaku, had no need for weapons. Their own bones were already the finest and sharpest weapons they could ask for, so Renge had little interest in Hiramekarei.

Ryū quickly withdrew his gaze as well. As a dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai shinobi who relied more heavily on technique, he wasn’t accustomed to using a large twin-bladed weapon like Hiramekarei. Among the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist, he much preferred the slender and piercing Nuibari.

However, during the Third Shinobi World War, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had been defeated by Might Duy. Of the seven, only Fuguki Suikazan, Jūzō Biwa, and Raiga Kurosuki had managed to escape. The other four were all killed by Might Duy.

Might Duy himself had also died from exhaustion after using the forbidden Eight Gates technique and opening the final Gate of Death.

As a result, four of the Seven Ninja Swords—Hiramekarei, Shibuki, Nuibari, and Kabutowari—were lost on the battlefield.

Because Kirigakure subsequently descended into turmoil, the village only managed to recover Hiramekarei. As for the other three swords, their whereabouts remained unknown.

The alarm bells and shouting coming from the distant Peacehaven City were growing louder and louder.

Ryū immediately said, "Let’s go. We still have a mission to complete. It’d be best not to stir up any more trouble here."

"Mm."

Kisame nodded. Having reclaimed one of Kirigakure’s ninja swords, he was in quite a good mood.

And so, the three continued speeding northward. Before long, they crossed the Land of Fire’s border and entered the Land of Rice Fields, where their intelligence indicated Orochimaru had previously been sighted.

After arriving in the Land of Rice Fields, the three made their way into a secluded forest.

According to Akatsuki’s arrangements, an official member of the organization would rendezvous with the three of them in this small forest. Together, the four would form a standard four-man squad tasked with hunting down Orochimaru, who was now considered a traitor to Akatsuki.

After waiting for quite some time without seeing anyone, the hot-tempered Renge began complaining again.

"Damn Akatsuki! They’re treating us like fucking dogs!"

While familiarizing himself with the Hiramekarei he had just seized, Kisame mocked, "What did you think the life of a missing-nin would be like? Since you chose to betray the village, you should’ve been prepared for this."

A twisted, vicious grin spread across Renge’s face.

"Looks like you’re really tired of living!"

Kisame stared calmly at Renge, who was practically radiating killing intent, and said flatly, "You can’t kill me. Instead of wasting your strength, you might as well get some rest. Don’t forget, our target this time is Orochimaru, one of the Three Legendary Sannin. For all we know, every one of us could die here."

Ryū, who was responsible for reconnaissance, suddenly said, "Enough arguing. Someone’s coming!"

Whoosh...

Before long, accompanied by a shrill sound of air being torn apart, a figure abruptly landed in front of the three.

The newcomer wore Akatsuki’s black cloak patterned with red clouds. Resting across his shoulder was the Kubikiribōchō.

He was none other than Jūzō Biwa, a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Renge chuckled. "Heh. I was wondering who they’d send. Never thought it’d be you."

Kisame grinned. "What, is Akatsuki trying to organize a Kirigakure reunion?"

"By order of the Leader, the four of us will form a temporary four-man squad. I’ll serve as the squad captain for the time being. Our squad’s codename is ’Mist.’"

Jūzō Biwa looked over the three of them as he announced Akatsuki’s decision, a somewhat helpless expression on his face.

"Our mission is to hunt down and kill Orochimaru!"

Because the Village of the Bloody Mist followed the principle that strength reigned supreme, the hierarchy between superiors and subordinates among Kirigakure shinobi was nowhere near as rigid as it was in the other ninja villages.

Things like assassinations, betrayals, and coups—acts considered taboo in other villages—were practically commonplace among Kirigakure shinobi.

Because of that, Jūzō Biwa wasn’t particularly fond of dealing with the three Kirigakure missing-nin standing before him.

In fact, there was another reason Akatsuki had sent Jūzō Biwa.

During the previous battle, when the three Great Ninja Villages had jointly launched a surprise attack on Amegakure, nearly every member of Akatsuki had suffered injuries.

Kakuzu, who had lost four hearts during that battle, needed to replenish them. He therefore teamed up with Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails Jinchūriki who was under Obito’s genjutsu, and left Akatsuki’s secret base to begin hunting for new hearts.

Although Kakuzu had only one heart remaining and his combat strength had fallen drastically, Yugito’s strength as the Two-Tails Jinchūriki was beyond question. Even hunting jōnin posed little difficulty for her.

As a result, their hunt went extremely smoothly.

Without having to exert much effort at all, Kakuzu soon gathered five hearts once again.

However, just as Kakuzu and Yugito were about to return to Akatsuki’s secret base, the genjutsu Obito had placed on Yugito suddenly vanished.

Without the slightest warning, Yugito broke free from the genjutsu.

Completely unprepared, Kakuzu naturally suffered one hell of a disaster!

How could the proud Yugito possibly endure the humiliation of having been controlled by genjutsu?

Instead of fleeing, she vented every last bit of her pent-up rage directly onto Kakuzu.

Kakuzu was completely dumbfounded.

The hearts he had only just gotten his hands on—not even having had time to properly enjoy having them—were wiped out all over again!

By the time Shinichi and Konan received the news, rushed over, and joined forces to subdue Yugito once more, Kakuzu had already been shattered into pieces all over the ground.

The scene was utterly miserable.

Fortunately for him, Kakuzu had managed to send his Earth-nature heart underground ahead of time.

That alone allowed him to narrowly escape death.

Afterward, it took him an entire night just to stitch his body back together...