Chapter 172
2-in-1-chapter
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In this era of the shinobi world, no matter the nation, the construction of basic infrastructure such as roads and bridges remained crude. Even though concrete buildings were already quite common and cement was no longer anything novel, the truth was that long before the development of cement for industrial use, shinobi had already adapted it into battle.
For example, Kurotsuchi, who possessed the Kekkei Genkai of Lava Release, had in her training a technique known as Lava Style: Quicklime Congealing Jutsu, which weaponized fast-acting cement as part of her combat arsenal.
Unfortunately, despite the shinobi world having developed mature methods for producing and using cement and concrete, it had done little to change the fact that the roads spanning the various countries were still mostly dirt and sand. Only in large towns and shinobi villages could one find paved roads of brick and stone.
Yet this was the nature of the shinobi world. Such crude infrastructure did not impede shinobi in the least. These towering human weapons, who moved across mountains and rivers as if on level ground, cared nothing for the quality of roads. Neither Yakushi Nonō, fleeing for her life, nor the Iwa-nin in pursuit spared it a thought.
"Haaah…"
Yakushi Nonō panted heavily.
As a skilled medical-nin, she knew perfectly well she should rest. Forcing herself to continue would only destroy her body. This was the most helpless reality of life as a spy: she had to maintain the guise of a frail young woman with a congenital illness, which meant she had been unable to sustain the level of training she once did. Compared to her peak, her body had declined greatly.
"Kabuto, Urushi… wait for me. I will come back."
She hid herself in a sheltered hollow in the mountains, resting for ten minutes. Carefully, she tucked away the photograph of the orphanage children, then swallowed one of her self-made restorative pills. Unlike soldier pills, which wrung the body dry to produce chakra, this unnamed medicine was gentler.
It was, in effect, a weakened version of the soldier pill. It did not flood the body with chakra in a short burst, but slowly replenished stamina over time. The side effects did not rebound as quickly either. By her calculations, it should allow her to reach the designated rendezvous before the backlash set in.
How to escape from the Land of Earth—this had been the problem on her mind even before she entered it. She had devised more than ten different plans. But in the end, all of them were discarded. The more complex the plan, the easier it was to fail, especially in such a situation where she was alone and outnumbered, with little room to maneuver.
She had once planned that after escaping Iwagakure she would not head south, nor east, but north, hoping to evade the search operations of the Iwa-nin and then, once things had calmed down, quietly slip out of the Land of Earth.
Yet in the end, thinking of the terrifying efficiency of sensor-nin, when Iwa vowed to dig three meters into the ground if needed to find her, pressing deeper into the Land of Earth's heartland would have been nothing but suicide.
So in the end, she chose to move directly south.
It was at noon yesterday that she slipped out of Iwagakure, leaving behind a shadow clone to deceive everyone and delay discovery. Her plan worked: the clone only vanished when it returned home after finishing the day's work, dispersing when its chakra was exhausted.
No one would break into her home at night to check if she was there, so barring any unexpected developments, she had secured for herself an entire afternoon and a night of flight. And indeed she had. If the Iwa-nin had not already been watching her, she might have bought even more time.
Before the action began, Yakushi Nonō sent another secret message through a covert channel. If the village dispatched reinforcements, they were to meet her at the location specified in the message. The Land of Earth's territory was vast, and even with sensory-nin, it was difficult to pinpoint her precise whereabouts.
If there were no reinforcements, then Yakushi Nonō could only pray that the Iwa pursuit squads would not catch up too quickly, and that she could cross the border before being found.
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"Kurotsuchi, how are you? Can you keep going?"
On the desolate ground of the Land of Earth, a squad of Iwa-nin pursued along the path Yakushi Nonō had taken. Leading the unit was Bun'ya, a middle-aged man who turned his head toward the girl running beside him, his expression showing a trace of helplessness.
He could not understand why the Tsuchikage had agreed to Kurotsuchi's absurd request.
No matter how much of a prodigy she might be, she was still a child whose body had not fully matured. To let her accompany them was to burden the squad with heavy baggage. In battle, she could not yet be relied upon, and even on the march, her stamina could never compare to an adult's.
"Huff… huff… I'm fine, I can keep going."
Her ragged breathing betrayed the lie of her bravado.
But—
"I'll protect Lady Kurotsuchi, Captain Bun'ya. You only need to focus on what you have to do."
The one at Kurotsuchi's side was a female ANBU named Rin'yō. Likely called away directly from the office, she had not taken her usual post in the shadows, but instead remained close, providing direct protection.
She leaned down and whispered a few words into Kurotsuchi's ear. The girl nodded.
Then Rin'yō lifted Kurotsuchi onto her back and continued forward. Their pace no longer slowed the team. Seeing this, Bun'ya could only sigh inwardly and held his tongue. As long as Rin'yō and Kurotsuchi could keep up, he would not interfere.
In any case, he had never counted them as part of his fighting strength.
Lying against Rin'yō's back, Kurotsuchi felt her heart still pounding violently in her chest. Her eyes gazed into the distance, and in her mind surfaced the gentle and kind smile of Doctor Shiso. But the emotion that rose in her chest was not a longing to save her.
It was searing killing intent.
Doctor Shiso had deceived her.
She had stolen who knew how much classified intelligence from her, and though Kurotsuchi knew she was not the only one fooled—her father Kitsuchi had almost certainly been tricked as well, leaking information from the village—that knowledge did nothing to ease her fury.
On the contrary, whenever she remembered how she had confided in Doctor Shiso secrets she had never shared with even her father or her grandfather, the killing intent surged uncontrollably. Shiso had betrayed her trust. Even if she could not personally strike her down, she had to see her die with her own eyes.
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While in the north of the Land of Earth a desperate chase was unfolding, Konohagakure was alive with noise and excitement. The streets were packed with bustling crowds, cheers rose into the sky, and everywhere colorful flags and banners flew like it was a festival.
But it was no holiday.
The reason for the celebration was that today the Fifth Hokage formally took office.
Akimichi Torifu stood on the rooftop terrace of the Hokage's building, wearing the Hokage's hat and robes, delivering his inaugural speech. He swore that he would swiftly defeat the Cloud-nin to the north and restore the village to its former peace and prosperity.
The villagers below roared in thunderous cheers. Adults and children alike raised their arms, shouting in unison, "Konoha will prevail!" Even the most disciplined shinobi could hardly manage such perfect uniformity without long drills. The sight of the people's cries resounding as one was proof of the Hidden Leaf's well-trained spirit.
"Hmph. To think Konoha would stoop to this sort of cheap trick."
Momochi Zabuza leaned against the terrace railing, his gaze on the bustling crowds, and let out a disdainful sneer. With his sharp eyes, he could see that most of those 'villagers' were in fact shinobi, not ordinary folk untouched by chakra.
"But it is lively, isn't it?"
Hōzuki Mangetsu looked down over the streets. "It doesn't matter whether the method is lofty or base, as long as it achieves the desired result. What Konoha needs now is to stabilize hearts. Holding an inauguration so grand it makes people feel the village's strength and prosperity certainly serves that purpose. For Konoha, that alone is enough."
"…Mangetsu, you've changed."
"Have I?"
"The old you would never have said something like that… something with depth. Back then, every word out of your mouth just made people want to punch you."
Zabuza spoke bluntly.
In his memory, the Mangetsu of the past had been an arrogant bastard whose every word reeked of conceit, so much so that one could barely resist cracking him across the jaw.
"Hahaha. Maybe because back then my vision was too narrow. I only looked at the village, never at the vastness of the world outside." Mangetsu raised his head, gazing at the crimson Hokage's building that looked ugly no matter how long one stared at it, and sighed.
"Zabuza, we… are weak."
Compared with Uchiha Rēn and Uchiha Shisui, they were pitifully fragile.
Before such overwhelming power, there was no possibility of resistance. Confronted with might that transcended common sense, he finally understood the saying that beyond every person there is someone greater, beyond every sky another sky. His own abilities were far from enough to walk the shinobi world as he pleased.
Hearing Mangetsu's sigh, Zabuza's bandaged lips twitched. From the tightening of his facial muscles, it was clear he was gritting his teeth, yet he did not deny the words "we are weak." He too felt that truth, even more keenly.
He was famed alongside Terumī Mei and Hōzuki Mangetsu as a prodigy.
The title of "Demon" was renowned.
Yet he knew better than anyone how he was falling behind Mangetsu, Mei, and Ringo Ameyuri. In his teenage years, all of them had risen together in the golden period of growth, standing at roughly the same height. But now, even after perfecting the Silent Killing Technique to its utmost, he felt the ceiling pressing down on him.
Mangetsu, Mei, Ameyuri, and even Hoshigaki Kisame were still growing stronger, while he had reached a bottleneck.
"When we return to the village, I want to see if I can master the Long Blade, the Blunt Blade, or the Explosive Blade."
After a long silence, listening to the tumult around them, Zabuza suddenly spoke.
"What?"