Chapter 340: Caught in a Trap
Shikazumi Nara frowned. The person sitting with their back to his group gave him a very bad feeling. The aura emanating from them made him extremely uncomfortable. And that faint, intermittent killing intent made Shikazumi feel a strong sense of unease, immediately putting him on full alert.
Shikazumi signaled to a ninja in a hooded windbreaker beside him and a male ninja with blond hair.
The two nodded slightly, and then, unnoticed by the others, a few parasitic destruction insects flew out. At the same time, the blond-haired ninja extended his hand towards a small bird outside the window, and then he himself slumped onto the table as if in a faint.
Simultaneously, the small bird outside the window flew into the izakaya as if it had lost its way. Then, as if startled, the bird flew around randomly for two laps inside the inn, and finally, as if it had suddenly found the exit, it flew out through the main door in a flash.
And the parasitic insects took the opportunity of the bird's chaotic flight to approach the mysterious person.
After a while, the blond-haired ninja woke up and exchanged a few inaudible words with the Aburame clan ninja in the hooded windbreaker.
Then, the Aburame ninja controlled several hundred insects to form a few words in front of Shikazumi and the others: "The Takigakure rogue-nin, Kakuzu."
Shikazumi was shocked. He knew the intelligence on this Kakuzu. Not only had he assassinated the First Hokage, but he had also successfully assassinated a high-level advisor from Konoha during the Great Ninja War. The Nara clan had even specifically discussed this matter at the time. The clan head then was Shikaku's father, and he had analyzed that Danzō's shadow was also in this.
Kakuzu was now a rogue-nin with a large bounty on his head from Konoha. His strength was Kage-level, and he was skilled in multiple elements. As a member of the clan known for its intelligence in Konoha, Shikazumi was very clear about this information.
He was now thinking, "Does Iwagakure even know that a dangerous rogue-nin like Kakuzu has infiltrated their village?" Seeing the intermittent killing intent emanating from Kakuzu, it was very likely he was here for them. Was this Kakuzu's own idea, or was he instigated by Iwagakure from behind the scenes?
Shikazumi made another set of hand signs to Akira Sarutobi. Akira nodded, got up, and went back to his room.
After a while, Akira returned, and he had brought Kakashi with him.
Sensing that Kakashi had also entered, Kakuzu left directly.
Kakashi looked at Kakuzu's retreating back but did not give chase. Instead, he walked to the side of Shikazumi and the others.
Shikazumi signaled for Kakashi to eat something first. They would talk about Kakuzu after they returned.
Kakashi nodded, not refusing this time.
Just now, when Akira had returned to his room to contact the village, it had alerted Kakashi. Kakashi worked in the Anbu and also had some understanding of the intelligence on Kakuzu, knowing how troublesome this rogue-nin was. He understood that now was not the time to think about those vexing matters. So he came out with Akira after he had finished reporting.
This time, the reply from the village came much faster. Hiruzen said: it was best for Kakashi and the others not to leave the core area of Iwagakure, nor to investigate Kakuzu's intelligence. This was not something ninjas of their level could participate in.
That night, a squad of Iwa Anbu broke into the courtyard where the Konoha delegation was staying, on the grounds that a Konoha ninja was colluding with the bounty ninja Kakuzu, who was wanted throughout the ninja world.
Of course, in the end, the Iwa ninjas naturally found nothing. But the attitude they displayed made Shikazumi and the others very uneasy.
Considering the precedent of the Cloud delegation causing trouble in Konoha before, "could it be that Iwagakure thinks Konoha also plans to do the same?" "I remember the Cloud delegation was completely wiped out at that time," Shikazumi had a bit of a headache.
Early the next morning, Ishiro, the Tsuchikage, actually paid a personal visit to express his apologies to Kakashi, Shikazumi, and the others.
"You must be the famous Kakashi Hatake. A young genius indeed, much stronger than I was back then. I remember back in the day, your teacher Minato Namikaze and I once talked about bringing change to the ninja world."
"Your teacher left a deep impression on me. He was a very charismatic person. If he were still alive as the Fourth Hokage, I would be more inclined to believe that he was the true Child of Prophecy."
"It's a pity your teacher died! But he was a hero, a true hero. In that situation, I might not have been able to make such a decisive decision to sacrifice my life for the village. As a fellow Kage, he was stronger than me."
"Minato Namikaze was worthy of the title of Kage," Ishiro sighed with feigned emotion.
"Kakashi Hatake, if you don't mind, can you tell me your ideal? Do you have any thoughts of changing the current state of the ninja world like your teacher did?" Ishiro asked, looking at Kakashi.
Kakashi was silent. Let alone ideals, the only reason he was alive was because of his promise to live on for Obito. Otherwise, he would have committed suicide long ago like his father, Sakumo Hatake.
Seeing this, Ishiro sighed with feigned emotion, with an expression that said, "So this is all a disciple of Minato Namakoza amounts to."
Since Kakashi was unwilling to answer, or rather, had nothing to answer, Ishiro changed the subject, "Yesterday, our village was infiltrated by the S-rank rogue-nin from Takigakure, Kakuzu. Someone saw him eating with you, so the Anbu searched your residence at night."
"I'm very sorry. This was a dereliction of duty on our Iwagakure's part, and my subordinates were too rude. I apologize to you on their behalf."
"To show our sincerity, during your stay in Iwagakure, all your expenses in this izakaya will be free. This izakaya is funded by the village, so please rest assured."
Kakashi did not reply; Ishiro had stirred up some unpleasant memories for him. Shikazumi spoke for him, "Lord Tsuchikage is too kind. Our people did not cooperate with the investigation at the beginning; we also bear some responsibility."
"What is Senior Nara saying? Please rest assured, I guarantee that Kakuzu will no longer appear near you Konoha ninjas."
Shikazumi always felt that something was not quite right. Since Iwagakure hadn't found Kakuzu's tracks, how could Ishiro guarantee their safety?
After Ishiro excused himself, Shikazumi immediately communicated with the village again. This time it was more direct. The two sides went back and forth for a long time but still couldn't figure out the purpose of Iwagakure's series of actions.
And next, Shikazumi encountered one troublesome matter after another.
Either the Taki ninjas would suddenly come to find them to cause trouble, saying Konoha was occupying their Tailed Beast and not returning it.
Or the Kusa ninjas would quietly come to their door, saying they heard Iwagakure was going to target them, and they had come to seek help from Konoha.
Or they would suddenly run into the Sand ninjas being intimate with the Iwa ninjas again, as if they had reached some agreement.
Or suddenly, some Genin from some village would come to challenge the Konoha Genin to a match.
Or suddenly, a large number of Iwagakure civilians would appear, saying they wanted to see what the son of the legendary White Fang, the disciple of Minato Namikaze, looked like, and wanted to ask him why he hadn't defected from Konoha.
Or suddenly, some Iwa ninjas would come to check the identity of the Konoha Genin, saying that a ninja from another country had reported that someone among the Konoha Genin was a Chunin in disguise.
Or Kitsuchi would bring Neji Hyuga over to ask the Konoha ninjas how his few peers in the Hyuga clan were doing.
Or suddenly, an intelligence ninja hidden in Iwagakure would send a message, saying they saw a Sharingan-wielding Uchiha appear in the village.
Or Ishiro, the Tsuchikage, would personally come over again, saying things that would make one's imagination run wild.
...
In short, Shikazumi felt as if he had experienced all the bizarre things in his life in these dozen or so days. He couldn't solve any of these sudden incidents and had to repeatedly contact the village to ask for a solution.
All this chaos continued until two days before the first round of the joint Chunin Exams began. Just as Shikazumi and the others thought Iwagakure was trying to stop them from participating in the exams, all the troublemakers disappeared.
It was as if Iwagakure had no such people anymore. They were no longer treated specially, and no one deliberately caused trouble when they went out. This made Shikazumi, who was used to dealing with all kinds of abnormal things, unable to react for a moment.
This was originally a good thing, but his intuition told him that there was a problem here, and a big one at that. He guessed that Iwagakure might have already achieved their ulterior motive and no longer needed them, which was why they had stopped sending people to disturb them.
"But, what on earth could it be?"
After being idle for a whole day, Shikazumi lay in bed at night, constantly thinking about this problem. The more he thought, the more he felt something was wrong. Early the next morning, Shikazumi, with two dark circles under his eyes, found Akira Sarutobi again and said, "Contact the village again. I'm still worried something will go wrong."
Hearing this, Akira shivered. His already pale face turned even paler.
Shikazumi gave a bitter smile. For the past dozen days, Akira had been overdrawing his chakra to cast the summoning jutsu, eating soldier pills like candy.
He had finally rested for a day and a night, and hadn't recovered from the previous overuse yet, and now Shikazumi was at it again?
Shikazumi stepped forward and patted his shoulder, "Thank you for your hard work. No one expected there would be so many things that required contacting the village. You just..."
Halfway through, Shikazumi seemed to realize something.
Previously, he had been looking for a common feature in the events of the past dozen days, hoping to find a breakthrough, but he had never found a clue. Each of these things was abnormal, but there was no relationship between them.
Every time a new trouble appeared, he would contact the village, communicate with them, and see if the village side could find the problem.
But now, he seemed to have found this common point.
"It's the summoning jutsu! It's the Sarutobi clan's summoning jutsu! The common point is that every time, it required summoning the monkey clan! Iwagakure might be trying to find the location of the monkey clan! Quick, quick, notify the village! The monkey clan is in danger!" At this point, even Shikazumi's voice had changed.
Hearing this, Akira also broke out in a cold sweat. No longer caring about the consumption of chakra, he quickly bit his finger and cast the summoning jutsu. But...
"It... it failed," he said, stammering.
"It failed?" Shikazumi said as if delirious. "That's right... a whole day and a night has passed."
What it meant for the summoning jutsu to fail, both Shikazumi and Akira naturally knew. Both felt a sense of dizziness.
Shikazumi was even worse off than the chakra-depleted Akira. He directly plopped down on the ground. His entire vitality was sucked away in an instant, as if he had aged several decades.
Shikazumi had always been proud of his high IQ. He hadn't expected that this time, his cleverness had backfired. Thinking too much had actually harmed the monkey clan.
Beside him, Kakashi and the other Konoha ninjas looked at each other, as if they also realized something.
...
At this time, in a dense jungle in the southernmost part of the Land of Fire, the gathering place of the Sarutobi monkey clan, there were already corpses everywhere.
Bang! Monkey King Enma, Hiruzen's summon, smashed his fist heavily on the ground, letting out an extremely mournful roar.
Since the middle of last night, their monkey clan had suffered a catastrophic disaster.
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