Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 0
Chapter Title: Raikage Building
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Raikage Building.
Fourth Raikage A, clad in a white robe with the Raikage hat on his head, held a dumbbell in his right hand. He stretched his muscles while listening to the report from his subordinate.
"According to the latest info from the Bounty Exchange, the mysterious ninja who killed Kainu has already turned in his body for the reward." Mabui held a file, her tone calm.
Bang!
No sooner had Mabui finished speaking than Fourth Raikage A slammed his palm down, splitting the desk—crafted from solid ironwood—in two!
"Unforgivable! That damned bastard!" Fourth Raikage's eyes bulged wide in rage, though he somehow kept his cool.
The Raikage growled, "How likely is it that the Hidden Leaf Village did this themselves?"
He had dispatched a special jonin expert in stealth as an envoy—supposedly for peace talks, but really to infiltrate the Hyuga clan grounds, kidnap the Hyuga princess, and secure the Byakugan kekkei genkai for the Hidden Cloud Village.
If the Hyuga clan caught on—ideally the main house—the envoy would turn into a suicide soldier, charge right in and die on the spot. That would give the Hidden Cloud the perfect excuse to force Konoha to hand over the killer.
It was meant to be a no-lose gambit.
But then some masked mystery ninja popped up out of nowhere, took out the Cloud envoy, dumped the body in Hyuga territory, and framed the clan.
What Cloud had done? As Raikage, A knew it better than anyone.
He didn't buy Konoha's story for a second. They were just covering for the Hyuga clan, plain and simple.
"It's possible. After all, a ninja pulling this off inside Konoha's tight defenses wouldn't be some nobody." Mabui furrowed her brow slightly.
As the Raikage's secretary, Mabui was sharp as a tack—adept at analysis and judgment, with access to troves of Hidden Cloud intel.
So she figured it was unlikely such a person even existed.
"But..." Mabui set the file aside, a sharp glint flashing in her pale blue eyes as she continued, "Konoha's dead set on blaming a mystery ninja. They're clearly shielding the Hyuga clan. If we keep pushing, they won't hand over a Hyuga killer."
"Hmph! Then we keep fighting! Until Konoha begs for mercy!" Fourth Raikage's face twisted in fury, his left fist clenched so tight it cracked.
He itched to lead his ninja forces straight to Konoha's gates right then.
"Lord Raikage, the Hidden Cloud Village can't fight anymore." Mabui sighed, laying out the current state of the village and the Land of Lightning for her hot-tempered boss.
Forget storming Konoha—they hadn't even breached the Land of Fire. Their ninja armies had been locked in stalemate for months along the borders of the Land of Hot Water and Land of the Moon, both sides utterly spent.
This war needed to end.
"And this is the third desk you've smashed this month!" Mabui eyed the debris on the floor. Premium ironwood, no less.
She said helplessly, "Repair bill comes out of your stipend."
"Do what you want!" Fourth Raikage A shrugged it off.
Dumbbell still in his right hand, he gazed out the window at a thick bank of dark clouds drifting in. For some reason, it gave him a bad feeling.
What the hell is Bee up to now? Fourth Raikage A's first thought went to his sworn brother—the rapping-obsessed Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B, whom he'd banned from leaving the village years ago.
Boom—!
Suddenly, a deafening explosion rocked the base of the Raikage Building!
The whole structure shuddered violently, the room creaking like it might collapse any second.
"Who goes there!" Fourth Raikage A bellowed. He hurled the dumbbell aside, shattered the office window with it, and leaped out.
"Lord Raikage!" Mabui hurried after him.
They dropped from the Raikage Building onto the platform below and saw nearly half the lower levels of the building blown to hell!
If it weren't perched on the mountaintop, braced to neighboring peaks, the whole tower might've come down.
Raikage A scanned everywhere for the enemy.
Step—
Footsteps echoed from the smoke.
"Who are you! Daring to run wild in the Hidden Cloud Village!" Fourth Raikage A was beyond furious. In all the decades since the village's founding, no one had ever breached it like this.