"Naruto: Ice God"Chapter 161: Some Rejoice, Some Suffer
"That guy's gone?"
Peeking his small head out from beside the broken doorframe, Feng Bai looked around, not spotting the magistrate anywhere.
"That's right, he's gone."
Without acknowledging Feng Bai's curious gaze, Kakuzu strode briskly past him, snatched up the account ledger, and began admiring it with relish.
Pressing his nose close to the book and savoring the scent of ink, this was pure bliss for Kakuzu.
His boss had really found him an excellent job—years of risking his life hunting bounty targets couldn't match a single year's tax revenue from one noble family.
He should have made his move sooner.
Staring at the numbers with eyes glowing green, Kakuzu thought this way, though if he'd actually had to target nobles himself, he wouldn't have had the courage.
Though he'd once battled the legendary God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, for three hundred rounds, and single-handedly took revenge on the Takigakure leadership who had condemned him, actually opposing nobles still made Kakuzu nervous.
Hunting ninja, especially rogue ninja, generally didn't bring too much troublesome retaliation.
But if you killed nobles...
What came after you wouldn't be just a few ninja—it would be a whole carriage full of ninja!
The kind of carriage with ninja hanging from the roof, the bottom, and both sides!
Now it was perfect—if things went wrong, he could completely shift responsibility onto Danzo. This was the method personally described by Danzo's own son.
On the path of betraying his father, Feng Bai was going further and further.
"Tsk tsk tsk..."
Seeing Kakuzu completely absorbed in his own world, the idle Feng Bai chose to tease the child in the inner room.
"Come here, let big brother hold you. By the way, let me tell you—that big sister and that big guy are your father's killers. If you want revenge when you grow up, go find those two."
Watching the little baby crawling around on all fours, Feng Bai crouched nearby, pointing at Pakura and Kakuzu.
"You bastard!"
Pakura was so angered by Feng Bai's words that she practically activated her Byakugan on the spot.
"Please don't worry. To me and this child, you're like our savior."
A somewhat haggard-looking woman slowly emerged, scooping up the oblivious child in her arms.
This was the child's biological mother.
However, according to Fire Country records, she was officially deceased.
At only seventeen, she had been forcibly married to the sixty-something Fujiwara Kōya through certain underhanded means. With both her parents killed by the latter, she was genuinely delighted by Feng Bai and the others' arrival.
"Savior or not, it doesn't matter—we're just using each other." Feng Bai shrugged, unwilling to accept her gratitude. "If you want to thank someone, thank Lord Danzo Shimura of Konoha Village. This was all his idea."
Danzo: Lately my back feels increasingly heavy. Do any of you have a pig's head?
Feng Bai: Take a guess.
"Danzo Shimura..." Savoring the name in her mouth, the woman's face showed gratitude as she nodded to Feng Bai, then carried the child back inside.
Her current identity was that of a wet nurse hired by the Fujiwara family's head steward for the child, allowing her to openly stay with the baby.
Feng Bai only wanted a young, easily controlled puppet—he didn't want a Fujiwara matriarch interfering with his plans. But considering her tragic circumstances, he could only use this method to cut off her future possibility of reclaiming the Fujiwara family.
His old man Danzo had said: eliminate all dangers while they're still in the bud!
"She's also a pitiful woman." Drawing parallels between the woman's experiences and her own, Pakura's tone carried an unusual quality.
"This is the shinobi world—nothing can be done about it." Having witnessed even worse tragedies in the Land of Water and Land of Rain, Feng Bai wasn't particularly moved. At the moment, he was more concerned with when Kakuzu would get to work using the Fujiwara family's wealth to make money.
Some rejoice, some suffer.
While Feng Bai's side smoothly executed their plan, Jiraiya and his disciples in Amegakure found themselves locked in bitter combat.
Hanzō had gone completely mad, ignoring other separatist forces in the Land of Rain and deploying all his available strength, determined to annihilate the Akatsuki organization.
Jiraiya hadn't wanted Obito involved in this affair, but with Hanzō sealing all of the Land of Rain's borders, Obito inevitably joined the battle.
"Hanzō, you really are no longer human!"
Breathing heavily, looking at Hanzō whose arm he'd just broken in half, Jiraiya showed an expression of "just as I thought."
From their first encounter, he'd sensed something wrong with Hanzō.
His movements were too stiff, and his wounds were unnaturally pale.
Hanzō still remained silent, using his only remaining arm to lift his weapon.
Not far away, his greatest asset—the salamander—was pinned down by Gamaken's fork and couldn't move. His two right-hand men, Hattori and Kamida, were respectively engaged by Nagato and Konan.
Obito stayed close to protect the recently recovered but still severely injured Yahiko, preventing enemy surprise attacks.
In terms of high-level combat power, Jiraiya's side held the advantage.
But Hanzō simply had too many subordinates, and they no longer cared about their entangled comrades—they all began poison attacks.
"Everyone, gather around me!"
Seeing the poison mist approaching, Jiraiya urgently called all Akatsuki members to assemble around him.
"Toad Mouth Bind!"
Seeing everyone enter the jutsu's range, Jiraiya decisively activated his technique.
The surrounding scenery gradually changed as some Rain ninja along with Hanzō were pulled into the esophagus of Mount Myōboku's Iwasu Toad.
Iwasu Toad: I feel particularly choked today for some reason.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
Taking advantage of Hanzō's feet being bound by the mucous membrane, Jiraiya decisively launched a Great Flame Bullet at his face.
Hit squarely by this attack, Hanzō completely fell apart with an ominous sound—his upper and lower body going their separate ways.
The sharp chain scythe spun several times in mid-air before falling and embedding itself in the esophageal wall.
"Damn it."
Because Jiraiya and the others had suddenly vanished from the battlefield, Setsuna, who was searching for their whereabouts, abruptly stopped.
The seal on Hanzō had disappeared—he'd lost control over him.
"What's wrong?"
Noticing Setsuna's strange behavior, Black Zetsu curiously turned to inquire.
"Shut up, you damn thing!" Having lost a powerful puppet, Setsuna was in an extremely foul mood and snapped irritably at Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu: Damn, I'm used to it.
"I still underestimated that Jiraiya guy. Damn it, why—why hasn't Nagato fallen into darkness even now?"
Seeing his plan frustrated, Setsuna was in a terrible mood.
Why did things in Amegakure always go so badly?!
Without the Rinnegan, what could he use to control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and collect the Tailed Beasts?
Without the Rinnegan, how could Lord Madara be revived?!
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