Naruto: I, the villain template, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 182 Onoki: They're all dead?!

"These are truly turbulent times."

After listening to the intelligence report from Huang Tu, Onoki lay on the hospital bed, frowned, and whispered, "Hanzo and the Third Kazekage seem to be no easy opponents."

Hanzo led the Land of Rain in a public declaration of war against the Land of Wind and the Sand Village, and in this short period of time he had already made a name for himself.

No one could have imagined that a small country located between three major powers, constantly suppressed by them and a victim of war, would actually produce a "highly poisonous weapon".

Although Onoki believed that Hanzo was far from reaching the level of the so-called "demigod" of Amegakure, he was indeed one of the top tiers below the Five Kage.

With the addition of the giant summon beast, the Salamander Ibuki, their destructive power on the battlefield could even surpass that of the Five Kage.

It's truly remarkable that the Sand Village forces, commanded by the Third Kazekage, were able to hold their own against Konoha and Amegakure under these circumstances.

"Oh, right." Onoki seemed to remember something, narrowing his eyes, "And that brat who appeared out of nowhere..."

Most people only see Hanzo, who stands in the light and shines brightly, but they overlook the figure standing in the shadows, the one who also played an important and indispensable role in this incident.

It should be called Tsukimi-ri Kumokawa, right?

I never imagined that the son of a nobleman, whose entire family was slaughtered and who was the only one left, could struggle to crawl out of the depths of hell and then hide in the shadows for so long.

What was even more unexpected was that he actually found an opportunity and bit his "enemy" hard on the neck.

Not only did he kill Musashi, who had cooperated with the great powers to purge the pro-war faction in the Land of Rain, but he also clearly distinguished between gratitude and resentment and cooperated with Hanzo to jointly defeat the Sunagakure forces.

Without that brat's help, Hanzo would never have won that battle against the Sand Village ninja so decisively.

It can be said that it was the decisiveness and magnanimity of these two that reversed the decline of the Land of Rain, disintegrated the Sand Village's forces head-on, and brought a glimmer of hope to the Land of Rain.

Let those great powers that previously looked down on them understand that they also possess sharp teeth capable of taking a bite out of great powers.

Although Hanzo never admitted this, the fact that the two of them now rule the river separately speaks volumes.

As long as that brat isn't interested in the position of leader of Amegakure, and as long as that brat doesn't extend his reach to the more prosperous and important south, Hanzo will ignore his expansion of power in the northern part of the Land of Rain.

As long as the threat from major powers remains, their cooperation will be unbreakable.

"However, this means we won't be able to participate in the battlefield in the Land of Rain."

Huang Tu also looked worried, but his tone remained calm: "I'm worried that Sunagakure will be unable to withstand the attacks of both Konoha and Hanzo at the same time."

Iwagakure and Sunagakure had already secretly formed an alliance, agreeing that as long as Sunagakure could successfully break through Konoha's defenses, Iwagakure would immediately send troops to assist without hesitation.

In short, they had a very clear plan: to kick a man when he's down and not to risk getting involved in the battle when the situation was uncertain.

They had already mobilized their troops, but the situation, which was initially turning unfavorable, suddenly changed. Two unexpected guys jumped out and slapped Sunagakure twice.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Onoki shook his head and said calmly. "Don't forget, those guys from Kumogakure haven't made a move yet."

If they were to send troops to support the Sunagakure forces now, they could indeed create a pincer movement against the Land of Rain, but Onoki would never give such an order.

Because the Hidden Cloud Village is still eyeing the northern sea of ​​the Land of Earth, if they want to send troops, they have to divide the main force of the village in two, and leave a part at home to guard against a possible backstab from the Hidden Cloud Village.

Even he, the Tsuchikage, had to stay in the village to oversee things; otherwise, not only would he be unable to achieve his strategic goals of defeating the Land of Rain and invading the Land of Fire, but his own territory might also be trampled and ravaged by the Hidden Cloud Village.

Even if we win, so what?

When they return victorious from their battle, they'll find that even their backyard has been robbed.

"What on earth is Chiyo of Sunagakure up to? Didn't she say everything was arranged?"

Huang Tu clenched his fist and frowned, saying, "At this crucial moment, she actually committed such a foolish act of slaughtering civilians, crossing the line and pushing Yu Yin to the brink, forcing them to get involved. What was she thinking?"

When Hanzo declared war on the Land of Wind, he had already publicly revealed the "crimes" of Sunagakure.

More than thirty villages, nine towns, and one city all suffered varying degrees of damage, with over three thousand civilians slaughtered, in addition to the looted food resources...

The Land of Rain is a small country with a harsh environment, which relies on the development of heavy industry and fishing to survive. Its domestic economy has been not very prosperous since the last Shinobi World War.

With the ongoing Ninja World War, everyone was in danger, and the continuous banditry exacerbated the population loss.

This number represents a very heavy loss for the Land of Rain.

Let alone Hanzo and the ninjas of Amegakure, even the daimyo of the Land of Rain, who was as stupid as a pig, would be furious if he saw this number.

If Sunagakure hadn't been so brazenly massacring civilians, Amegakure would never have dared to openly break ties at this time, and the pro-war faction led by Hanzo wouldn't have found such a good opportunity.

The sudden intervention of Amegakure completely disrupted their joint plan with Iwagakure and Sunagakure, leading to the complete failure of their invasion of the Land of Fire. Huang Tu inevitably resented Sunagakure's foolish actions.

After all, this is a rare opportunity to see a fighter jet, and we just missed it!

"No, no, no, that old woman Chiyo isn't senile yet. At this critical moment when Konoha's defenses are about to collapse, it's unlikely she would do something so unwise."

Faced with his son's thoughts, Onoki shook his head, a cold smile appearing on his face: "If Konoha isn't behind this, you can cut off my head and hang it at the village entrance, I'm fine with it!"

"If I'm not mistaken, it was probably that Shimura Danzo who did this!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Tu was visibly taken aback for a moment, then looked at the intelligence report in his hand and blurted out, "Is it the 'Dark Ninja' that Kagerou Village and Takigakure Village mentioned?"

"...Kagerou Village and Takigakure Village call him 'The Darkness of the Ninja'?"

Seeing Huang Tu's expression, Onoki instantly understood and couldn't help but laugh, "Heh, there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names. You're just a rat in the gutter."

Orochimaru's defenses collapsed immediately, and Danzo arrived at the front with Konoha's Anbu. The next day, Sunagakure suddenly detonated a lightning bolt, and Amegakure was the site of a horrific massacre.

What a coincidence!

Although it's unclear what disguise method could have fooled Hanzo, it's obvious that he used framing and manipulating others to do his dirty work.

"I don't think so."

Huang Tu shook his head, his face slightly gloomy, and said, "If it were changed to 'troublemaker,' that title would be even more fitting."

"They sent people disguised as a Takigakure assassination squad to kill the family of the Kagero village leader, dismembered his wife and children, and scattered the bodies in his office, causing them to die of anger and inciting conflict between Takigakure and Kagero villages."

"Although they are both ninjas, that guy's actions are just too shameless, it's disgusting."

Upon hearing this, even the self-proclaimed Machiavellian Onoki was momentarily stunned, then couldn't help but laugh loudly and mockingly, "So that's how it is! I thought it was his first time doing something like this, but it turns out he's quite adept at it!"

"Tobirama Senju really trained a good disciple! If he knew how much his disciple 'sacrificed' for Konoha's victory, I wonder if he'd be so moved he'd kick open his coffin lid and jump out, hahaha!"

The thought of Konoha's reputation being ruined made Onoki want to burst out laughing.

However, remembering his fragile back, he suppressed his schadenfreude, coughed, looked at Huang Tu, and said, "Since things have come to this, we have no choice but to remain still..."

"However, although I cannot directly aid Sunagakure, I have still arranged a backup plan."

Huang Tu took a scroll from Onoki's hand, opened it, and looked at the name on the scroll with slight surprise.

"Kakuzu, the Kage, the Black Warriors, the monks, and all sorts of bounty hunters and teams—Father, you actually hired so many people to investigate the forces of Tsukimi-ri Kumokawa?"

Shadow has a great reputation in the black market. Even with a bounty of tens of millions of taels of silver from Konoha, they still couldn't catch him. Several hunting teams were sent out, but all returned empty-handed.

Kakuzu, who is known as the "Immortal," has a near 100% success rate in completing missions in the underground black market and has a record of killing A-rank rogue ninjas and elite Jonin on several occasions.

There are also the Black Warriors and the Monks; the leaders of both groups are formidable individuals.

Although the era of samurai and monks has long passed, Huangtu will not underestimate these two groups.

Since they were able to thrive before the era of one country, one village and still make a name for themselves after the era of one country, one village arrived, it shows that they all have their own abilities.

The black market is a mixed bag, with all sorts of people, but no good people. Those who can survive on this platform and make a name for themselves are inevitably people whose hands are stained with countless lives.

but……

"Isn't it a waste of their talents to send them along to gather intelligence?" Huang Tu asked tentatively.

"It was just a test to begin with. When they come back, we'll see who brought the most intelligence. We can strengthen our ties, train them, and give them some dirty work to handle."

Onoki stated frankly, "These bounty hunters and their teams are quite valuable. They are all highly experienced fighters. As long as the money is right, they will flock to even missions with a slim chance of survival. If used well, they can bring us considerable profits."

Even the honest and simple-minded Huang Tu did not express any objection to his father's words; he simply nodded and acquiesced to Onoki's actions.

Where there is light, there must be shadow.

Although their Hidden Stone Village now has tens of thousands of ninjas, it was all earned by tightening their belts little by little.

Given the current situation in the ninja world, there is a very high probability that they will suffer casualties if they are sent on missions.

It would be better to entrust these dangerous missions to bounty hunters who are willing to risk their lives for money. For them, the only loss would be some money.

The resources required to train an excellent Jonin are far more expensive than hiring a Jonin-level rogue ninja.

They didn't care about the character and methods of those bounty hunter ninjas; they just wanted to utilize the power of the underground black market.

"Judging by the time, they should be sending back intelligence soon."

Onoki looked up and instructed, "While our reserves are still plentiful, you'll need to contact some more bounty hunter ninjas later to serve as cannon fodder. That will also save some money..."

Bang bang!

Before Onoki could finish speaking, a knock suddenly sounded on the door.

Onoki was taken aback, frowned in displeasure, and said in a deep voice, "Come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, an ANBU ninja from Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village) pushed open the door without hesitation, knelt on one knee before Onoki's sickbed, and bowed his head, saying, "Lord Tsuchikage, there is an urgent report!"

Upon hearing the words "urgent report," Onoki's heart skipped a beat. He swallowed his words of reproach and said coldly, "Speak!"

"The Shadow, the Black Warriors, the Monks, and more than a dozen other bounty hunter ninjas and teams were wiped out, with no one surviving."

"...What did you say?"

Onoki's expression gradually changed as he stared in astonishment at the ANBU ninja: "They're all dead? How is that possible?"

In his view, the strongest and most famous bounty hunter ninjas and teams were already quite formidable; their strength was comparable to that of the elite Jonin from the five great ninja villages.

Unless they encountered the armies of the five great powers, how could they all have been wiped out?

Even for the five great nations, to completely annihilate them without leaving a single one alive would require the five Kage to personally intervene or send out a small force.

"Could it be that they encountered forces from the other four great ninja villages?" Onoki felt that this was the only possibility.

But the ANBU ninja shook his head and said dryly, "No, according to intelligence, after our thorough confirmation, it was not done by other ninja villages. They died in... that Dawn Castle."

"And also, those bounty ninjas and teams who had already accepted the missions also returned their deposits. They even sent back a photo and said, said..."

"What did you say?" Onoki's expression was stiff, his tone chilling. "Say it!"

"They said they had done everything they could and that they couldn't bear the burden; they asked you to find someone more capable!"

The ANBU ninja trembled slightly, then presented the photos to Onoki with both hands, bowing his head shakily, unable to look directly at them: "This, this is the photo they sent back."

Onoki snatched the photo before Huang Tu could. The moment he saw it, he felt a rush of blood to his head, instantly turning his old face a liverish color.

Those were dozens of heads hanging outside the city gate, seemingly swaying in the wind, like a row of teru teru bozu (Japanese teru bozu dolls) or a row of dried bacon, looking incredibly eerie and terrifying.

In just one glance, Onoki saw several familiar faces.

"That damned brat! Kill him, fine, but who are we supposed to see his head hanging out there?" Onoki's face was ashen. He slammed his fist on the pillow and roared, "Hang his head as a warning?! Or is this some kind of show of force?! I'll just..."

Click!

With a sharp crack from the excessive force, Onoki's face turned pale instantly.

"Ah!! My back!"

(End of this chapter)