Kazuyama used Flying Thunder God to escape—meaning the looting operation by his clones was now complete.
At this point, Amegakure looked like it had been hit by a swarm of locusts. Complete devastation.
The castle of Hanzō of the Salamander, once a symbol of the Demi-God's might, was now barely recognizable. The area surrounding it was nothing but rubble and wreckage.
Hanzō's expression was so dark it looked like he could wring rainwater from it.
"Damn brat..."
"Konoha's Ghost. Very good... very good!"
He turned and walked toward the ruined remains of his castle. The target had already escaped—no point in wasting energy on anger.
Right now, stabilizing the village took priority. He had clearly heard the chaos earlier—many of the village's own shinobi had joined in the looting and were now trying to run off. That irony stung deeply.
But the moment Hanzō stepped into the ruins, he froze.
Explosive tags. Everywhere.
His instincts screamed a warning—but before he could move, several tags detonated at once.
Boom!
Thick smoke filled the air. When it cleared, Hanzō stood up, covered in dust, fury burning in his eyes.
"That little bastard! So cunning!"
"He actually planted all these tags—when the hell did he even have the time?"
Grinding his teeth, he created several water clones and started carefully removing the remaining tags.
Explosive tag arrays were his specialty. Handling these wasn't hard—but it took time.
And when he finally cleared them all and reached the bottom level of the castle...
He nearly coughed up blood on the spot.
"You brat! I won't rest until you're dead!"
"Arrgh!!"
Hanzō couldn't hold it in any longer. A furious roar exploded from his lungs.
In front of him was the treasure vault—completely empty.
Not a single ryo. Not a single scroll. So spotless, it looked like nothing had ever been stored there to begin with.
"Lord Hanzō, the village is in chaos."
"The shopkeepers who got robbed are heading this way."
"They're demanding an explanation. If they don't get one, they're threatening to file a joint complaint with the Daimyō."
That was the final straw. Hanzō snapped.
But instead of another outburst of rage—he just laughed.
"Good. Very good!"
Amegakure was in shambles, but people tended to forget—Hanzō was still the Demi-God of the ninja world. He still had plenty of cards to play.
...
Elsewhere, Kazuyama had already left Amegakure. He found a quiet forest and leaned against a tree to rest.
One by one, his clones returned, each carrying heavy bags stuffed with loot.
"Tsk tsk... Kazuyama, you're something else. Truly rotten."
"You stroll into Amegakure, kill and rob right out in the open, then frame their own people for it. I can just imagine the look on Hanzō's face—must've been priceless."
Tagitsuhime, Tagorihime, and Ichikishimahime had all returned to their human forms. Tagitsuhime was leaning against a tree, wearing a teasing grin.
"Messing with me? That's minor. Kumogakure got it way worse back in the day."
Her words triggered memories.
She nodded slowly. She'd been on the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water, after all. It was her Genjutsu that drove the Eight-Tails into a rampage.
Later, she'd heard Kazuyama was the one who tripped things up so badly that the Third Raikage ended up dying on the battlefield.
Kazuyama waited for an hour. After all, not all of his clones had escaped the village right away when he left.
But he didn't blame them. He'd kept Hanzō occupied for a long time. If they hadn't finished looting in that window, there really wouldn't have been anything more he could do.
In the end, out of over a hundred clones—ninety-nine made it back.
He gathered everything into one place, then began taking inventory with the three Snake Princesses.
It was a slow process, but Kazuyama wasn't in any rush. Amegakure was already in complete disarray, and Hanzō clearly had no time to pursue him. There was nothing to worry about.
Meanwhile, panic spread through Amegakure in the wake of the attack.
Many began to question Hanzō's ability to protect the village. Some even secretly discussed defecting to other great villages.
But Hanzō was still Hanzō. He rode Ibuse to the village center and unleashed a show of force to reassert control.
Right in front of the civilians, he publicly executed a dozen shinobi whom he held responsible for dereliction of duty. Only then did the villagers start to calm down—at least for the moment.
As the heads of the executed shinobi hit the ground, Kazuyama—still counting stacks of money—received an update.
[Ding! Detected that the host used clones to incite chaos in Amegakure and framed the village's own shinobi, provoking Hanzō of the Salamander into killing fifteen of his own men in a fit of rage. This act has further fueled Hanzō's descent into anger and revealed a sliver of cowardice within him.]
[Ding! Special reward: Rasengan Nature Transformation +20%. Once progress reaches 100%, Rasengan will be eligible for further advancement.]
Not a bad haul—but compared to the pile of treasure in front of him, Kazuyama couldn't help but scoff.
After sorting everything, the tally came out to 70 million ryo in cash, plus countless medicinal herbs and ninja tools.
There were also a surprising number of clothes. Kazuyama glanced at a certain piece of... questionable fabric sticking out of the pile and raised an eyebrow.
Had one of his clones gotten so carried away that they started looting this kind of stuff too?
No matter. He could just resell everything in another village. Money was money.
Without delay, Kazuyama pulled out a scroll and sealed up all the clothes and miscellaneous goods. After thinking it over, he set off toward the northeast.
...
By the next day, word of the chaos in Amegakure had already begun to spread.
Hanzō had tried his best to suppress the news—but the incident was simply too severe to keep under wraps.
Both Iwagakure and Konohagakure received the intel.
...
In the Tsuchikage's office at Iwagakure—
Ōnoki's face was as black as coal.
"That Hanzō... the older he gets, the more useless he becomes. Letting a brat turn him into a joke like this!"
"And he scammed all those supplies off me! I'm furious!"
A group of Iwagakure jōnin stood before him, tense and uneasy as their Tsuchikage raged.
"Shibito Azuma, depart immediately for the Daimyō's estate. Have him issue an official ceasefire announcement."
Ōnoki knew full well—this war was no longer worth continuing.
...
Back in Konohagakure, the Hokage's office was filled with laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
"That brat! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"
"He dared to pick a fight with Hanzō right in Amegakure, and then used clones to throw the whole village into chaos. What was going through his head?!"
"He didn't even harm a single civilian—but still managed to cripple Amegakure. Hahahaha!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi read through the intel with a wide grin, clearly delighted.
...
(100 Chapters Ahead)
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