Chapter 483: The Truth Is Revealed and Danzo Is Exposed?
Land of Rain, Amegakure.
Kitsuchi led several Iwa jonin into the Rain shinobi office building and strode straight toward the leader's office.
As he drew closer, he noticed Rain shinobi concealed in the shadows on all sides. The security was vastly tighter than the last time he had come.
Are they afraid Sōsuke will go for a decapitation strike? Kitsuchi thought, shaking his head inwardly. It seems that fight completely shattered Hanzo's pride as a Demigod.
Even inside his own village, he was this cautious. No wonder Hanzo had not stepped outside Amegakure since losing to Sōsuke.
"Only you, Lord Kitsuchi, may enter."
When Kitsuchi tried to bring his subordinates in with him, a masked Rain ANBU at the door spoke and stopped them.
Maghiru, Jonin Hikari, and the others behind Kitsuchi all frowned. A village that had been battered by a shinobi organization still had this kind of attitude.
"You all wait here." Kitsuchi waved his hand, ordering the Iwa shinobi to stay put, then entered alone.
Hanzo had no reason to attack him. And a frightened Hanzo would not dare.
Inside the office, Hanzo spoke bluntly the moment Kitsuchi stepped in.
"Kitsuchi, I regret the shinobi from your village who died at the hands of the Shinobi Sect. But the current state of the ninja world does not allow me to commit all of Amegakure's strength to fighting them to the end. Settle your revenge yourselves.
"If the Iwa forces reach the Land of Rain border, no Rain shinobi will stop you."
Hanzo assumed Iwagakure had come to press the issue again.
There was no chance he would oppose the Shinobi Sect or Sōsuke a second time. If Iwagakure wanted to go on their own, he would agree with both hands.
"Lord Hanzo, according to our investigation, this was actually a misunderstanding." Kitsuchi shook his head. "Our Iwa shinobi were not killed by the Shinobi Sect, but by Konoha shinobi."
Iwagakure had investigated, but they found nothing useful. Blaming Konoha was simply a way to stir hatred and give themselves an exit.
To Iwagakure, it no longer mattered who truly killed that squad in the Land of Rain. What mattered was how to make trouble for Konoha, the current powerhouse.
Their goal was to provoke conflict between the Shinobi Sect, and even Amegakure, and Konoha.
In fact, the current situation in the Land of Rain was not what Iwagakure wanted. Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect were restraining each other, and the entire country was drowning in internal strife.
Amegakure had numbers. The Shinobi Sect had elite strength, with monsters like Sōsuke, Kakuzu, and Nagato. Both sides were wary, and neither could fully cut loose.
Onoki's idea was simple. Make Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect stop biting each other, then push them together to deal with Konoha.
"Misunderstanding?" Hanzo's face darkened.
To deal with the Shinobi Sect, Amegakure had lost dozens of elite shinobi, and his reputation had taken a heavy hit. Now Iwagakure suddenly claimed it was all a misunderstanding. Hanzo's blood pressure spiked.
Even if Hanzo had multiple reasons for moving against the Shinobi Sect, Iwagakure definitely carried a share of that responsibility.
"To express our apology, Iwagakure is willing to compensate Amegakure for certain losses," Kitsuchi said calmly, his expression unchanged, "and help Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect repair their relationship."
As long as it created trouble for Konoha, Onoki did not mind doubling the money he had extorted from Rain last time. He could treat it as hiring mercenaries.
Hanzo looked thoughtful on the surface, but temptation rose instantly.
If the Iwa shinobi truly had not been killed by the Shinobi Sect, then perhaps a direct conflict between him and the Sect had never been inevitable.
He had acted against them because the Sect wanted to stir war and threatened his authority in the Land of Rain.
If it had truly been a misunderstanding, the first conflict would vanish immediately. And judging by the Sect's expressions during that meeting, the second might not even happen. They had seemed genuinely willing to cooperate.
But it is too late now, Hanzo sighed inwardly.
At this point, whether the Iwa shinobi were killed by the Sect or not no longer mattered. Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect already carried a more direct grudge.
Hatred born from an ambush would not dissolve just because someone called it a misunderstanding.
"What do you plan to do?" Hanzo asked, voice flat.
"I can prioritize the bigger picture and stop acting against the Shinobi Sect," Hanzo continued, tone still indifferent. "But the Shinobi Sect may not accept our goodwill."
"Of course we will be honest." Kitsuchi kept the same simple, sincere look. "I believe that when major interests are at stake, the Shinobi Sect will understand your difficulties, Lord Hanzo."
"Do not worry about that," Kitsuchi added. "As long as you follow Iwagakure's steps, the Land of Rain will welcome peace again."
"Come back and say that after you have met Sōsuke," Hanzo replied without giving a clear stance.
Kitsuchi did not take offense. He only smiled, confident. "We will bring back good news soon."
To raise the odds of Kitsuchi successfully persuading the Shinobi Sect, Hanzo proactively told him about Danzo's offer to cooperate in eliminating the Shinobi Sect, though Hanzo concealed some details.
Hanzo did not know whether Kitsuchi or Danzo was lying to him. He only wanted things to return to how they were before.
Hearing that Danzo, Konoha's second in command, was involved, Kitsuchi immediately felt their plan's success rate rise.
After that, Kitsuchi and the Iwa shinobi rushed without stopping to the Shinobi Sect stronghold.
Once matters in the Land of Rain were settled, he might also have to go to the Land of Grass. Iwagakure was operating on multiple fronts to make trouble for Konoha.
While Kitsuchi stirred chaos in the Land of Rain, Iwagakure was also in the Land of Grass, inciting the radical faction of Kusagakure to join the war and wipe out Konoha shinobi on that battlefield.
The Iwa group's sudden arrival put the Shinobi Sect on full alert. Sect shinobi surrounded Kitsuchi and his men in an instant.
"We are not your enemies." Kitsuchi raised his hands slightly to show he meant no harm. "I have an important matter to discuss with your leader, Sōsuke."
The Sect shinobi exchanged looks, clearly unconvinced. After Hanzo's fake cooperation incident, they were all on edge.
At that moment, Mugetsu's shadow clone, already notified, arrived with Nagato, Yahiko, and the others.
Although Mugetsu's main body was in Konoha, he consistently replenished the Yang Seal shadow clone, allowing it to last longer. It would not simply vanish after a short period, even after taking on disciple duties.
"Iwa shinobi," Yahiko said, unease creeping into his voice as he saw Kitsuchi's forehead protector. "Is this about that skirmish at the border?"
Because Danzo had erased the traces so cleanly, Yahiko still believed they had killed Iwa shinobi that day.
"Say what you came to say." Mugetsu's shadow clone spoke after a brief pause.
He did not know why Iwagakure had come, but he doubted it was anything good, even if it sounded polite on the surface.
Iwagakure had been a true troublemaker in the Third Great Ninja War. If they came knocking now, it would not be out of kindness.
Kitsuchi did not care about the setting. What he was about to say was not meant to be whispered anyway.
"I am here on behalf of Amegakure to clarify a misunderstanding with the Shinobi Sect. The Shinobi Sect and Amegakure should not be enemies."
Anger flared through the surrounding Sect shinobi. Several hands went to kunai pouches, ready to move the moment Kitsuchi showed the slightest ill intent.
Hanzo's fake cooperation incident had not caused actual losses only because Mugetsu's side had been strong enough to survive it.
If Mugetsu had not been overwhelming, the Shinobi Sect's respected founder would have died in that ambush, and other elites would never have escaped.
"Misunderstanding?" Yahiko's playful tone was gone, replaced by ice. "Hanzo's actions did not look like a misunderstanding at all."
The more Yahiko had once admired Hanzo, the deeper his distrust now ran.
He could never forget that day.
They had gone to Hanzo full of hope, believing they would be welcomed into a dream alliance, both sides working together to keep peace in the Land of Rain.
Instead, they had walked into traps and ambushes. Yahiko would never forget Hanzo's cold face as he threw kunai and told Mugetsu to kill himself.
"And only now, after all that, they say it was a misunderstanding?" Ikechou's eyes narrowed. "This smells like another scheme."
Although Amegakure was stronger in overall force, the Shinobi Sect had more top tier individuals. If they kept developing, the Sect would eventually overwhelm Amegakure.
The Sect shinobi's emotions surged, frustration and anger boiling over toward Amegakure.
Mugetsu pressed his palm down.
Silence fell immediately.
He looked at Kitsuchi and said evenly, "If you want to 'clarify' something, then first tell us where this misunderstanding supposedly lies."
Mugetsu needed to understand what Iwagakure was trying to do before he could decide how to respond.
Kitsuchi began reciting the lines Iwagakure had prepared.
"Hanzo was originally willing to cooperate with the Shinobi Sect to build a peaceful Land of Rain." Kitsuchi's face stayed sincere. "However, a treacherous Konoha shinobi interfered, which led Hanzo to take the wrong actions against the Shinobi Sect."
Coming up with such a story himself would have been difficult. Memorizing it was not.
Kitsuchi then gave a brief account of Iwagakure's fabricated version of events.
Under Danzo's leadership, Konoha shinobi killed Iwa shinobi, then framed the Shinobi Sect, causing both Hanzo and Iwagakure to resent the Sect. That chain, Kitsuchi claimed, eventually led to the fake cooperation incident.
In Kitsuchi's narration, Amegakure was not the culprit but a victim deceived by Danzo. Iwagakure and the Shinobi Sect were both victims, harmed by Konoha.
In short, every evil deed belonged to Konoha.
"So that day, we did not kill Iwa shinobi…" Yahiko murmured.
He tried to piece together everything he had experienced through Kitsuchi's story, and for a moment, he found no obvious contradictions. It almost sounded like the truth.
Yahiko felt unsteady, unsure how to face Amegakure and Hanzo if that were real.
If it truly happened as Kitsuchi claimed, then Hanzo's actions back then did not seem as insane.
"Konoha…" Nagato's eyes shifted almost instinctively to Mugetsu.
He was the only one in the Shinobi Sect who knew Mugetsu's true identity.
No matter how unbelievable it sounded, the famed shinobi master Sōsuke and Konoha's well known powerhouse, Raging Sun Mugetsu, were the same person.
"What evidence do you have?" Nagato quickly turned his gaze back to Kitsuchi and asked, voice steady.
Even if Konoha was involved, Nagato did not believe it had anything to do with Mugetsu, especially when Mugetsu had fought desperately to protect them in that ambush.
"Of course we have evidence." Kitsuchi continued smoothly. "If you want it, we have plenty. Iwagakure will never allow anyone to use the deaths of our comrades to carry out a conspiracy."
Since they dared to act, they had prepared everything. The fuse of this matter had been the death of Iwa shinobi, and forging proof was not difficult.
Kitsuchi gestured, and one of his subordinates produced the prepared false evidence.
"The ninja world is in chaos," Kitsuchi pressed on, seizing momentum. "The Five Great Nations are attacking each other. In this turmoil, Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect, both shinobi of the Land of Rain, should cooperate against external threats."
Mugetsu already understood what Iwagakure was aiming for.
If he was not mistaken, Onoki wanted to turn the Land of Rain's internal conflict into an external conflict aimed at Konoha, forcing the Shinobi Sect and Amegakure to become a new blade pointed at the Leaf.
Mugetsu could only admit it.
Onoki's calculation was sharp.
If Onoki succeeded, Konoha would not be able to resolve the Land of Rain problem without mobilizing a force a thousand strong.
After all, an alliance between the Shinobi Sect and Amegakure would mean a shinobi master and a Demigod standing together. In top tier combat power, that was indeed terrifying.
But no matter how cunning Onoki was, he could never imagine one thing.
The leader of the Shinobi Sect was a Konoha shinobi.
"I need to discuss this with my comrades before I can give you an answer," Mugetsu said, neither agreeing nor refusing.
Kitsuchi was not in a hurry. He settled nearby and waited.
Mugetsu then called a meeting of the Shinobi Sect.
More than a hundred Sect shinobi spoke, one after another, debating whether they should set aside hatred with Amegakure and cooperate.
"Hanzo is despicable, but what the Iwa shinobi said makes sense. If we keep fighting Rain shinobi, the Land of Rain will be the one that bleeds out."
"The real culprit is Konoha. The current split in the Land of Rain might be exactly what Konoha wants to see."
Kitsuchi's words did not erase the Sect's resentment and hatred toward Hanzo, but they did successfully kindle hostility toward Konoha.
"Everyone, do not assume everything the Iwa shinobi said is true." Ikechou remained skeptical. "Even with evidence, it may not be the full truth."
"Nobody acts without motive." Kakuzu crossed his arms, voice cold. "Iwagakure is not here because they care about peace in the Land of Rain. Think carefully about what they gain from this."
As an old monster who had lived through too much, Kakuzu understood the nature of village politics better than anyone.
As for the line about never allowing comrades' deaths to be used in conspiracies, Kakuzu almost wanted to laugh.
If the profit was big enough, they would sacrifice their own shinobi without blinking, then call it strategy.
In the end, everyone's eyes turned to Mugetsu, who had remained silent throughout.
.....
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