This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 102 Taking Direct Action (Seeking First Subscription)

"No entry. This is the Round Table meeting room. Only Round Table members or those summoned by Parliament are qualified to enter."

"This is……"

Ryuji raised his hand to stop Yecang, who wanted to explain his identity, and stared intently at Shouwei with a deep gaze.

The two guards were not intimidated at all and stared straight into his eyes.

Seeing this, Long Er frowned slightly.

Although he did not recognize the two guards, as guards of the Round Table Conference Room, they could not possibly not recognize him as a member of the Round Table Conference Room.

But these two people stopped him, as if they didn't know him... There are only two possibilities.

First, these two are not the guards of the round table meeting.

Second, these two were the guardians of the Round Table, but they betrayed it.

Given the current situation in Sunagakure, either of these scenarios is possible.

Ryuji waved his hand, signaling to Hong, who had foreseen the problem and hinted at whether to kill, not to rush, and then asked, "Is the roundtable meeting currently underway?"

"Mind your place," the guard standing to the right of the gate shouted. "The round table meeting is the village's top secret. Anyone who inquires without authorization will be expelled..."

boom!

A beautiful figure flashed in front of him, grabbed his neck, and slammed him against the wall, lifting him high up.

"Hehe..."

The middle-aged guard tried to struggle, but the jade-like hand gripping his neck, which could easily break his neck with just a little more force, made him unable to move, and his face turned red from holding his breath.

"Answer whatever your master asks you."

Red stared coldly at the guard, her hair moving without wind, the murderous intent in her eyes sending a chill down his spine, as if he had fallen into an ice cave. This gentle and virtuous woman had transformed into a cold and ruthless killer at this moment.

"What...what are you doing?"

Red was moving so fast that the other guard was only just reacting.

He trembled as he pulled out his kunai, but before he could even point the sharp end at Hong, Yecang kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing through the door of the round table conference room and flying inside.

"Ignore the pieces, go find the right person."

Ryuji waved to Hong, then stepped over the broken door and walked straight inside.

In the conference room, a group of familiar faces sat around a round table.

Former councilors who were dismissed by the Third Kazekage and two newly appointed young councilors.

Upon seeing these people, Long Er more or less guessed the current situation, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"It seems things are more complicated than we imagined!" Looking at the astonished crowd, he casually straightened his collar and continued, "Of course, they're also much simpler than we thought."

Hearing the noise, everyone in the conference room snapped out of their daze. One of them, a middle-aged man in his forties, slammed his fist on the table and stood up, shouting angrily, "Long Er, what are you doing?!"

"Huh?" Ryuji looked at him suspiciously, and after a while it dawned on him. "Oh, it's you. I was wondering why you looked so familiar."

"Hmph, you know who I am and you still behave so rudely?"

"No rules or regulations?"

Long Er tilted his head, looking puzzled.

"You just got back and were unaware of the situation, so we can let you off the hook, but..."

He was interrupted halfway through his sentence by a senbon needle.

With the speed of a falling meteor, it flashed by in an instant, piercing his mouth and flying out through the Tianzhu acupoint at the back of his neck.

The middle-aged man, whom Long Er seemed to know well, widened his eyes, opened his mouth, made a few "hehe" sounds, and then collapsed unwillingly.

This startled everyone. They jumped up from their seats like frightened birds and assumed fighting stances towards Ryuji and the others.

They are especially wary when facing a red opponent who has just made a move.

Those who could sit at the round table were at least Jonin. But when Kurenai made her move, none of them reacted in time.

Although they did not expect the Red Cross to take action, this is enough to show that as long as the other side launches a surprise attack, it can definitely kill them instantly.

Everyone in the conference room knew Hong, after all, she had been guarding the family's secrets as Long Er's maid since birth.

She goes to the market every day to buy groceries or daily necessities, and has striking long, flowing burgundy hair. Coupled with her delicate skin, gentle smile, and approachable older sister demeanor, it's hard not to notice her.

In Sunagakure, almost everyone who isn't too withdrawn knows who Kurenai is.

But no one knew that Hong was such a powerful expert.

No.

These former high-ranking officials might know a little bit.

Over the years, Ryuji has demonstrated many extraordinary skills, and he has generously shared many of them without holding back.

However, due to the limitations of the era, no one could understand it.

Some people with dark intentions felt that Ryuji was pretending to disclose his technology but actually hiding the key parts, so they secretly sent people to infiltrate Ryuji's house to investigate.

And all of these people died.

Whether Ryuji is home or not, the result is the same.

Over time, they also began to suspect Hong, believing that she was not as soft and weak as she appeared.

But they knew that Hong was not as weak and powerless as she looked, and they never expected her to be so powerful.

The attack was so unexpected that none of the many Jonin present could react in time.

"Ryuji, what exactly are you trying to do!?"

Another person spoke up to question, but compared to the one who had died before, this one had a more aggressive tone than a genuine one.

This is not what they imagined.

In their plan, Ryuji would return to the village, but due to the village's overall situation and the completion of the power transition, he would have no choice but to submit and then become a member of their circle under their combination of threats and incentives.

But the opponent didn't play by the rules at all and attacked directly.

Isn't he afraid of becoming the enemy of the village and being attacked by the villagers?

Long Er turned his gaze to the speaker and found that it was another middle-aged man in his forties, who also looked familiar.

After thinking for a moment, I remembered who this person was.

"Isn't this the former head of the intelligence department?" Ryuji looked like he suddenly realized.

He had no interest in power and didn't care about high-ranking positions until he became a member of the Round Table. But the man's fawning attitude on the day of the purge, followed by his ruthless dismissal by the Third Kazekage, was so vivid that it left a deep impression on him.

"What former intelligence minister?" the middle-aged man said with dissatisfaction. "I am the current intelligence minister."

"The Third Kazekage's defeat in the war against Amegakure is enough to prove that he suffered severe brain damage after being assassinated by Sasori, and all his decisions were wrong. After discussion at the Round Table Conference, all the orders he issued after being rescued were deemed invalid."

"That's right, he's just out of his mind." Another old man stepped forward. "With the combined attack of Iwagakure, Kusagakure, and Kumogakure on Konoha, as long as we, Sunagakure, send troops, we can completely destroy Konoha, seize the rich and abundant land, and break the shackles of Sunagakure's population and environment in one fell swoop."

But he chose to solidify the alliance with Konoha at this time, and even wasted the other side's conditions for peace by sending elite puppeteers to Konoha to learn medical ninjutsu. Isn't this damaging the village's fighting strength?

These decisions don't sound like they're made by someone with a screw loose; they sound like they were made by spies sent by the enemy to destroy Sunagakure.

"It's a huge mistake to put young people with no experience in high positions all at once. There's never been such a situation in the entire ninja world."

"Ryuji, although you are very talented, you are still too young and lack the experience to serve as the leader of the puppet army and a member of the Round Table Council."

"These decisions were made after discussions among the villagers."

These former high-ranking officials of Sunagakure spoke one after another, recounting the evidence of the Third Kazekage's crimes and asserting their own sovereignty.

Long Er didn't stop them; he simply crossed his arms and listened with great interest.

Ye Cang frowned, wanting to make a move several times, but gave up each time because Ryuji showed no intention of doing so.

Hong, however, remained indifferent and observed from the sidelines.

Seeing that the three men showed no intention of stopping them, the group became even more enthusiastic.

Just as Yekura was getting impatient and was about to ask Ryuji what his plans were, the windows of the conference room burst open, and a large group of Sand Village ninja rushed in.

Meanwhile, a large number of ninjas also broke through the gate.

Together with the people in the conference room, they surrounded Long Er and his two companions from the front and back.

Long Er glanced around and found that there were more than 30 people inside the room, and there were probably many more in the corridor and outside the Fengying Building.

The former executives, who had been tense, became calm and composed.

The former head of intelligence even showed a relaxed expression.

He straightened his robe, which had become wrinkled from his earlier panic, before looking at Ryuji. "Youth is youth. Even if you're strong, it's useless. You couldn't even see through such a simple delaying tactic."

"Why all the nonsense?" an old man said unhappily. "Unauthorized entry into a roundtable meeting and the killing of a roundtable member is a capital offense."

"That's right," another old man chimed in. "No matter the reason, committing this crime means certain death."

Things went awry, and they weren't going to proceed as planned.

But the allure of rejuvenation and immortality is still irresistible.

As the leader of this group, Mitsui concluded by saying, "But if we can make enough contributions to the village, it's not impossible to avoid death, or even be reinstated and join the Round Table. For example, we could be given younger bodies. With younger bodies, our strength would return to its peak, and the village's overall strength would skyrocket. That would be a huge contribution to the entire village."

"laugh!"

Ryuji couldn't help but laugh.

He never imagined that the lie he told to expedite the process of the higher-ups shirking responsibility so that they could promptly recall the ninjas who had gone out to search for the Third Kazekage would become their ultimate goal.

These guys probably already knew that the mechanical bird had flown back, and deliberately came to hold a meeting early in the morning to set a trap for me!

They just didn't expect me to be so bold and decisive as to kill someone directly.

However, although it was a lie, their direction of action was not wrong; Ryuji did indeed have the ability to give them younger bodies.

However, Ryuji completely ignored what these people were saying.

He glanced around at everyone in the room again, stroked his chin, and pondered for a moment, "These people are probably all their confidants. If we kill them all, it should deter the others."

Long Er did not hide his intentions, so he did not deliberately lower his voice, and everyone in the room heard him.

One by one, their expressions changed drastically.

"you……"

The former intelligence chief seemed to have realized something, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

But as soon as he opened his mouth and uttered a single word, he went to meet the King of Hell.

The weapon was still a thousand sticks.

Like a falling meteor, it pierced through the eye and exited through the back of the head.

The former intelligence chief collapsed silently before he could even give his last words.

Everyone's eyes widened.

The old man who had previously scolded Long Er turned around blankly, staring at Hong in disbelief, and asked, "How could you...?"

Before he could utter the word "dare," he was once again pierced through a vital spot by a thousand needles and died.

The eyes of everyone in the room widened even more.

Even with countless eyes watching, they still couldn't see how she made her move.

The opponent is stronger than I imagined.

"Grab them!"

Mitsui gave the order and simultaneously retreated. He no longer hoped to win over Ryuji; the guy's way of thinking was completely different from theirs, and it was impossible to predict what he would do.

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(End of this chapter)