Chapter 177 - – 174 A Mysterious Silhouette In The Cold Moonlight
In the Shinobi World, countless individuals have achieved little power and jumped out impatiently believing that they are the epitome of everything and will be the ones to unify the Shinobi World.
There is no shortage of examples like Seimei: the founder of the Village of Artisans, Hiruko: the creator of Chimera Technique, Shinno: the creator of Reibi, Yomi & Moryo the demon, the four council members of the Hozuki Castle of Kusagakure who believed in the Box of Ultimate Bliss, Mukade, who tried to steal the Ryuumyaku, Haido, who tried to take control of the Stone of Gelel, and so on.
But what was the result in the end?
All these people without exception became clown figures and died!
The Shinobi World has never been as simple as it may seem on the surface!
After the death of Senju Hashirama, Uchiha Madara who rewrote the fate of his death using Izanagi was almost invincible in the Shinobi World, but the proud and arrogant Madara stayed dormant in a gloomy cave for decades to come, and even until his death, he did not show his face to the Shinobi World, just silently controlling things from the dark, and when he finally had both the chess pieces as he intended, in the form of Obito and Nagato, he died with the plan of being revived in the Shinobi World in his prime form.
Uchiha Obito awakened the Kamui, a technique that made him undefeatable in the Shinobi World, and yet he stayed hidden and controlled the things from the shadows, it wasn't until almost the entire Akatsuki was defeated that he chose to reveal himself to the Shinobi World.
Another example is Nagato who has awakened and got used to the transplanted Rinnegan, with the formation of the Six Paths of Pain, Nagato is almost invincible, but he still stays silent in Amegakure and silently controlling things. Even in the original story, it was only after most of the Akatsuki members were dead that he attacked Konoha to capture the Kyuubi.
Then there are the Otsutsuki descendants on the moon, even when they have the giant Tenseigan that is comparable to the ultimate tressure of the Shinobi World, and have the power to easily destroy the Shinobi World if they so much as desire, and yet they lay dormant on the moon, silently spying on the events of the Shinobi World, seeking the perfect opportunity.
Each of the big three unexplored Sage regions, the legendary places that house the Senjutsu knowledge of over a millennium has the strength no less than any great shinobi village, but they are shrouded with mystery, forbidden to be stepped in, and don't easily interfere in the matters of the Shinobi World.
The evil God Jashin, who bestowed the immortal body to Hidan, giving Hidan the ability and strength to fight against combat powers to the level of Sarutobi Asuma and Yugito Nii, the strength of the so-called evil god is also nothing to scoff at and yet there was close to nothing Konoha found about Jashinism even after several investigations because the teachings of Jashin were so secretly followed and spread that no signs were left, leaving Konoha to initially believe that Jashinism was created by Hidan.
Why do such strong people stay dormant and silently control things, waiting for the perfect opportunity?
It's because they understand that their own strength is not yet enough to sweep everything in one wave. They will only choose to take action when they know that now they can accomplish what they desire, otherwise, once they make a move with an uncertainty of the chances of success, the result would be unpredictable, so staying dormant is the safest choice until they are all absolutely sure!
The same is true for Hyuga Kuroto, even if he doesn't take the Sage of Six Path who observes the events of the Shinobi World in the soul form into account, Kuroto is neither confident enough to deal with the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon, nor is he confident enough to kill the current Nagato.
It must be known that when Jiraiya summoned the Two Great Sage Toads and entered into the Senjutsu mode, he has already surpassed the level of a high tier Kage class powerhouses, and yet he was easily killed by the Six Paths of Pain!
There could be people saying that Jiraiya was unaware of the abilities of the Six Paths of Pain, but that's also the case with Nagato, who didn't know about Jiraiya's Senjutsu, therefore, in terms of intelligence, neither party had an advantage over the other, and yet the result was clear.
Jiraiya died in the battle and Nagato only suffered a small loss that could be recovered.
Moreover, Nagato didn't go all out from the start, didn't use techniques likes Chibaku Tensei or summoned the Gedo Statue, if Nagato used either of these, then Jiraiya would have died even before the fight began!
Sometimes, even Kuroto questions himself if he has the confidence to break away from the Chibaku Tensei if Nagato cast it with all his strength.
After all, in the Pain's Assault arc, Uzumaki Naruto only managed to break free of the Chibaku Tensei seal, because of Kyuubi's unparalleled Chakra and also because Nagato had consumed too much chakra.
And even if Kuroto could break free of the Chibaku Tensei Seal and defeated Nagato, he would have consumed a great deal of Chakra and will be vulnerable to Obito who could make a surprise attack any time leading to Kuroto's defeat.
Therefore, to rise in the Shinobi world, one has to tread cautiously, if anyone tries to be an early bird, he will be the first to be hunted as was the case with Hatake Sakumo and Namikaze Minato!
Withdrawing his thoughts, Eagle spoke to Cat, "Alright, we are already far enough, leave the rest to me."
Cat hurriedly said, "Eagle-San, I know that Kumogakure has the wrong intentions this time, so no matter what you do with Watanabe's corpse, I promise I will not give out the details!"
Helplessly shaking his head, Eagle explained, "It's not that I don't trust you, but you have to remember that we two are the ones who were responsible to keep a watch over the Kumo delegation, therefore, both of us can't disappear at the same time, that's why you must return back and provide a cover for my absence!"
When Cat heard this, he understood that it made sense, so he quickly used the Shadow Clone technique and used Genjutsu transformation to change the appearance of the Shadow Clone to that of Eagle!
Eagle patted Cat on the shoulder and said, "Go ahead, don't worry about me, later I'll let you in on all the details."
Cat nodded and said, "Be careful, Kuroto-San!"
With that said, Cat and the Shadow Clone Eagle disappeared towards the direction where the Kumo delegation was supposed to be staying.
With Cat gone, Eagle finally started the preparation he ought to do to resolve this matter as peacefully as possible!
…
Kumo Jonin was leading the other members of the peace delegation and Konoha Anbu members towards the edge of Konoha Village,
While running, the Anbu asked suspiciously, "Are you sure that the direction is not wrong?"
Kumo Jonin didn't say anything just nodded with a doubtful face.
The current situation has completely deviated from their predetermined plan, and he was caught off guard, but fortunately enough, Watanabe's body had several seals engraved so tracking his whereabouts wasn't difficult.
The Anbu squad leader frowned and after thinking a bit he said, "After passing through this area we will soon reach the outer wall, and if the direction we are moving is correct as you say, then the person who kidnapped Watanabe-san will probably be trying to escape out of the village."
Listening to the Anbu squad leader's words, the Kumo Jonin said coldly, "Huh, our captain was attacked in your Konoha Village, so Konoha's Hokage must take responsibility for his death!"
The Anbu squad leader didn't argue but motioned his subordinate to report the news to Hokage-Sama.
Judging from how the situation has developed, the Anbu squad leader can only conclude that Watanabe has indeed been attacked by someone, as for who the other party is and what purpose they have, he is not clear yet!
Under the command of the Squad captain, two Anbu members left the team and went towards the direction of the Hokage Office.
After that, the rest of the group continued chasing and finally arrived in a small forest territory on the edge of the village.
The forest was filled with dense vegetation and when they were passing through, they suddenly found the silhouette of a person quietly standing.
The person was wrapped in a midnight cloak with the symbol of Water Chakra around the chest part of the black cloak that had a complex sealing pattern sewn from the golden thread, at the back are the symbols of the five Chakra natures printed evenly around the Yin-Yang Gossip symbol.
And, a blue evil spirit mask was donned on the face with a blue jewel on the forehead.
In the silent night, the figure of the person was illuminated by the cold moonlight giving him a mysterious vibe.
To top it off, at the feet of the mysterious man lied the corpse of a person in black clothes.
The attention of the entire group was directed towards the mysterious person and they surrounded him from all sides, cutting off all of his escape routes.
Upon closer inspection, Kumo Jonin immediately recognized the identity of the corpse lying at the feet of the mysterious person, it was none other than the missing Watanabe, seeing this, his heart sank.
The Anbu squad leader cautiously looked at the mysterious person and silently gestured to his subordinates, deploying a siege formation.
Surrounded from all side, the mysterious person seemed unfazed and indifferently took out a storage scroll from the inner part of his cloak and muttered, "Heh, the guy had a bounty of 50 million Ryo on the Black market, I didn't expect his to be so pathetically weak, that the task turned out to be so boring!" His words clearly had contempt for Watanabe.
And exactly as he spoke, Watanabe did have a bounty of 50 million Ryo on his head in the Black-Market Circle, such a reward is actually quite high if anything!
And there was no need to guess on the identity of the party who placed such a high bounty on his head, it is none other than Iwagakure.
After all, Iwagakure, who has hatred towards both, Kumogakure and Konohagakure, is the most unwilling to let the two villages conclude a peace treaty, Iwa wants the war between them to continue so that Iwa-nin can use the best opportunity to deal heavy damage to both the Konoha and Kumo at the same time.
And if a mere 50 million Ryo can buy the head of the leader of the peace delegation and destroy the peace between Konoha and Kumo, then such an amount is actually a very good investment that would reap many profitable results for Iwagakure in the future…
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