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

Chapter 204 She's Already Dead (Scroll to the end for a bonus chapter)

"..."

Inside the hall, there was a deathly silence and stillness.

As everyone watched Hanzo's magnanimous figure disappear from sight, they subconsciously turned to look at Isebi, who was sitting at the head of the table.

Bang! !

A sudden, piercing sound shattered the silence in the hall. Bowls and plates shattered into countless fragments, which splashed onto the maid beside him, eliciting screams.

"Outrageous! Utterly outrageous!"

Isis swept everything off the table and kicked the terrified maid beside her to the ground, his expression furious. "How dare a domesticated dog bark at its master? Does he intend to take my place?"

"Does he think I don't know he's been making excuses to avoid attacking that rebel in the north? Without my support and forgiveness, what right does someone who colludes with a traitor have to be the leader of Amegakure? Every time he causes trouble, I'm the one who has to clean up the mess!"

"I thought that bastard was a smart guy, but he's just a naive fool with childish ideas, not even as good as that old man Musashi! At least Musashi knows when to back down!"

To be honest, Isisi is starting to regret it.

His regret was not that he hadn't believed in Hanzo, but that he still had hope for Hanzo.

When he declared war, he actually tacitly approved of Hanzo's actions.

He was happy when he drove Sunagakure out, but once the situation reached a stalemate, he realized it was too late.

How can a small country possibly stand up to a large country?

The Daimyo of the Land of Fire had long ago expressed his clear annoyance and dissatisfaction with Hanzo's repeated attempts to extort supplies from the Land of Fire under the pretext of "aid."

Amegakure's actions seemed to be going smoothly and invincible, but this still could not change the fact that the Land of Rain was weak.

Just like Hashirama Senju and Konoha back then, people will only fear Hashirama Senju's power, but they will never fear Konoha after his death.

Hanzo is indeed strong, but only Hanzo is strong; he alone cannot change the status quo.

Once Hanzo falls, the Land of Rain will collapse without a fight, and they will all be purged by the great powers.

At that time, the last vestiges of dignity and value of this country will be stripped away and divided up by the combined forces of major powers, leaving not a trace!

This is the tragedy of a weak nation.

If it weren't for his constant kind words, showering him with favored concubines and treasures, Hanzo would have already been taught a lesson by Konoha!

But now, this bastard is actually lecturing him!

Thud! Thud!

Thinking of this, Isisi slammed her hand on the table with a dull thud, and the entire hall fell silent, with no one daring to utter a word. Even the frightened girls covered their mouths.

After a long while, having released some of her anger and resentment, Isisi gradually calmed down, panting heavily.

She glanced coldly at the silent crowd before her, then raised her hand to cover the lower half of her face with a folding fan and spoke in as calm a tone as possible: "Yuanqing."

"Ah? Ah! Your Highness."

Upon being suddenly called by his surname, a middle-aged man sitting in the second seat paused for a moment, then quickly replied, "Yes, I'm here, you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Isisi raised her hand to interrupt, "You were once a nobleman of the Land of Fire, so you must know that the Daimyo of the Land of Fire is still unmarried, right?"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man nodded subconsciously: "Yes, yes, after all..."

"In that case, there's only one way left," Isisi interrupted him again, her voice cold. "Marry my sister off to him."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man realized what was happening, and his eyes twitched involuntarily.

No, that prince is only a teenager, and your sister is not even ten years old yet. Isn't that a bit...

The middle-aged man sensed something was amiss, but could only politely suggest, "Your Highness, perhaps we should first ask Princess Miyako's opinion?"

"She's just an ignorant little girl, what's there to ask? No need to ask. As the eldest brother, I can make decisions for her."

Ishibi snapped his folding fan shut and said coldly, "We must let the Daimyo of the Land of Fire know that Hanzo's attitude does not represent mine. Even if Hanzo dies out there, no one will collect his body."

"The Land of Rain is eager for peace and has no intention of starting a conflict or going to war. I am willing to arrange a marriage to show my sincerity."

He made no attempt to conceal his stance, and everyone present naturally heard it, but there was no objection whatsoever, even some who had once been "pro-war."

Just as the retainer said to Hanzo.

If the flowers and plants die, just replace them with new ones.

Disobedient dogs should just be slaughtered.

Ninjas are merely "tools." Hanzo may be strong, but at most he is just a useful tool. What you hold in your hand is the tool; anything that might cut its master should be thrown away as trash.

The middle-aged man's expression was somewhat strange. He quickly lowered his head and said respectfully, "Yes, I will write a letter immediately to convey your message to the daimyo of the Land of Fire."

"Um...right, there's one more thing."

Ishibi nodded, then, as if remembering something, suddenly narrowed his eyes and said, "Tell the Daimyo of the Land of Fire that if Konoha can help us eliminate the rebels in the north, the Land of Rain will reward him with a sum that will satisfy him."

He had long been unhappy with that remnant of the "Wushan" family.

Not only have they brazenly occupied the northern region of the Rain Kingdom, but it's even rumored that they already have independent armed forces and departments, and now all that's left is to directly split the Rain Kingdom and declare independence.

Previously, he had only ignored it because Hanzo was unwilling to take action. Now he could take this opportunity to deal with it all at once and remove this "thorn" that was stuck in his throat!

Meanwhile, outside Daming Prefecture.

A one-eyed rain ninja wearing an eyepatch paced back and forth, glancing up at the mansion gate from time to time, his eyes filled with worry mixed with hesitation and struggle.

Click! Click-click! Bang!

"Lord Hanzo!"

Seeing the figure emerge from the gates of the Daimyo's residence, the one-eyed Rain Ninja who had been waiting outside immediately stepped forward, his voice filled with hope, "Your Highness, how much supplies are you willing to provide us?"

"..."

Hanzo, who had been lost in thought, snapped out of it and looked at his trusted deputy, shaking his head expressionlessly.

One-Eyed Rain was stunned for a moment, then his face paled slightly: "How, how could this be? We haven't asked him for anything once before, and now that we're at this crucial moment, we should at least..."

He spoke haltingly, but seeing Hanzo standing silently before him, his voice gradually softened.

"In the end, it's because of my incompetence that Your Highness lost hope."

Whether he was trying to comfort his deputy or himself, Hanzo sighed and said, "The only way now is to buy grain from other countries. Coarse grains are fine too. We should buy anything edible with money."

He wasn't a fool, and he didn't want to keep extorting Konoha.

How could he not know that this was diminishing the already thin bond between the two sides? How could he not know that frequently demanding supplies from Konoha would inevitably draw criticism from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire?

A great power is still a great power, and deep down it looks down on small countries. It was precisely because it knew this that it did not hesitate to resist back then, wasn't it?

But there's nothing I can do!

He didn't want to rely on the Land of Fire, but even a skilled cook can't make a meal without rice.

The Land of Rain's economy is poor, and the common people don't have much food to eat. Moreover, ninjas eat much more than ordinary people, and their nutrition needs are much more refined.

Even if he were ruthless, the Sand Village forces kept avoiding battle, and the Wind Country's defenses remained unbroken. He couldn't even plunder the civilians of the Wind Country if he wanted to.

Given the current situation, if Konoha stops supplying them with resources, they can only hold out for a maximum of another month!

A month is too short a time; it's simply not enough.

At that point, we'll either have to reduce the number of ninjas, or wait for them to collapse on their own!

"Ugh."

Hanzo couldn't help but sigh inwardly, a sense of powerlessness welling up inside him, and he suddenly understood what Musashi had said earlier.

Now that he's come to this point, he understands how naive he was back then.

Save them? There's no way to save them.

Human strength has its limits; this is a dead end.

His life and power alone are not enough to change the status quo of the Rain Kingdom.

Perhaps he shouldn't have rushed to declare war on the major powers? Should he have yielded until he accumulated enough resources?

However, the tragedy of massacring civilians was already a foregone conclusion, and the deed was done.

Now even Hanzo has some doubts about whether the bloody massacre that occurred in the Land of Rain was actually carried out by Sunagakure.

Although all the evidence pointed to Sunagakure, Chiyo of Sunagakure was powerless to refute it. The people who massacred a large number of civilians in the Land of Rain were indeed Sunagakure ninjas, but he still felt something was amiss.

"Lord Hanzo!"

Just as Hanzo felt a pang of regret, a Rain Ninja approached with an old man.

Hanzo snapped out of his daze, composed himself, glanced calmly at the timid old man, and then looked at the Rain Ninja, asking, "What's going on?"

The Rain Ninja didn't mention the old man, but instead took out a scroll from his robes and handed it over, saying, "Lord Hanzo, this is a letter from Konoha."

Upon hearing the words "Konoha," Hanzo's eyes narrowed slightly, and he reached out to take the scroll and unrolled it.

At a glance, Hanzo's pupils contracted slightly, and he fell into a long silence.

—Konoha will be delivering the last batch of supplies tomorrow, and it will be the largest batch ever. It will be personally escorted by Tsunade. After that, the supply assistance to Amegakure will be discontinued.

At the end of the letter, they even included the location of the area where Sunagakure's supplies were stored.

The letter can be summarized in four words: "to the utmost in benevolence and righteousness."

Although Hanzo had anticipated this, he did not expect it to happen so quickly.

Indeed, they have made virtually no progress on the border of the Land of Wind, and the food they have consumed seems to have gone to waste. If this continues, Konoha will not be able to afford to delay any longer.

At this point, the best option is to stand aside and watch Amegakure and Sunagakure fight to the death, waiting to reap the benefits.

However, for Amegakure at this moment, it was the worst possible choice.

With this in mind, Hanzo, whose feelings were extremely complicated, had no intention of lingering and walked out.

"...Han, Lord Hanzo, please wait a moment."

However, he had only taken a few steps when the gaunt old man, gripping his cane, followed closely behind him, his emaciated body making one worry that he might suddenly fall.

Despite this, even from a distance of three or four meters, it was still clear that he was afraid of Hanzo.

This is normal. Everyone knows that Hanzo has a venom sac of a highly poisonous salamander transplanted into his body. Every time he breathes, people around him inhale the poisonous gas. Therefore, Hanzo has been feared by those around him since childhood.

In order not to affect others, Hanzo was forced to wear a mask and switch to breathing through his mouth. If the poison sac in his abdomen ruptures during the battle, even he would not be able to resist the poison of the salamander.

Therefore, the old man's courage to follow actually aroused Hanzo's curiosity.

"What do you want?" he asked calmly, without stopping.

"Lord Hanzo, do you remember? Three months ago, you saved my family of three from those beasts of Sunagakure." The old man said excitedly after receiving a response.

Upon hearing this, Hanzo glanced behind him, his eyes sweeping over the old man's face.

His face was full of deep wrinkles, his hands were covered with wrinkled skin, his skin was dark, his body was thin, his eyes were cloudy, his hair was sparse, and he looked frail and old—the image of an ordinary commoner from the Land of Rain.

Hanzo, of course, did not remember the old man. He was only killing enemies. Perhaps because of him, many people were saved, but his gaze never lingered on the survivors.

He chose to rebel and fight only out of a samurai's loyalty to his lord, resentment at the great power's wanton trampling of dignity, anger at Musashi's inaction, and pity for the weak.

This old man, and his family, may also be one of those who, in Hanzo's eyes, are just weaklings who need pity and protection; their identities are not important.

"What is it?" Hanzo's tone softened slightly. He didn't answer the old man but continued to ask.

"I heard that Lord Hanzo is helping us take revenge on those powerful ninjas. Although we are weak and useless, we also want to do something for Lord Hanzo."

As he spoke, the old man lifted the basket on his back to the front and smiled timidly, "This is the food we have left at home. It's not much, but it's all we can do. We hope you will accept it."

"..." Looking at the old man and the basket in his arms, Hanzo opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a moment. He continued walking in a daze.

"Lord Hanzo, please accept this!"

Thinking that Hanzo wouldn't care about such a small amount of food, the old man followed behind him earnestly and quickly explained, "My only daughter admires you greatly after you rescued her. When she heard that you needed help, she also joined Amegakure."

"Not long ago, my daughter wrote to us from the front lines, saying that she was doing very well and that thanks to your care, she had become a medical ninja. She also said that she wanted to dedicate everything to you."

"She also said she doesn't plan to get married and wants to follow you forever. Haha, that child is still young and always says silly things. When she goes home, she'll obviously meet many more people in the future..."

The old man spoke proudly, but Hanzo could hear nothing but the hollow sound of the wind that seemed to fill the entire world. The chill that felt like falling into an ice cave made him slow and heavy. His mouth felt as if it were sewn shut, and his tongue filled his mouth with a sticky, sluggish feeling.

The one-eyed rain ninja seemed to remember something and looked at Hanzo beside him, but that originally broad and upright body was now trembling slightly, as if a thousand pounds were pressing on his spine.

Hanzo, who had remained calm even when facing thousands of Sunagakure ninja, now had his back to the old man. His usually resolute face was now incredibly pale, filled only with fear and pain that had never been seen before.

Because they all remembered who the old man's daughter was.

She was a very lovely girl, but she can never go home again, and she can never reciprocate the old man's love.

Because she is already dead.

He died behind Hanzo, and at the hands of Sunagakure.

(End of this chapter)