"Secrets don't stay buried."
— Petyr Baelish, Game of Thrones
--
"Spread it," Ōnoki ordered.
All the shinobi froze.
One coughed.
One avoided eye contact.
One stared at the floor like it had suddenly become sacred ground.
The fourth, unfortunately, leaned forward.
A little too eagerly.
"…Tsuchikage-sama," he began, sounding almost… hopeful. "Spread what—"
But Ōnoki cut him off mid-sentence. He turned his head just enough for one eye to fix on the man.
Ōnoki's eye twitched.
"What do you think?" Ōnoki said flatly.
"The boy. The giants. You fucking dimwit."
Another pause.
"…Ah," the shinobi said weakly. "That."
Ōnoki's glare lingered as the shinobi's shoulders visibly shrank, suddenly dejected.
"Let it spread to every hidden village. Mercenaries. Missing-nin," Ōnoki said. "I want all of them to know about Otis. Let them hear about the history of the giants. Let them hear about Hikari, and about that bloodline continuing in the name of Otis."
One man finally spoke. He was older than the rest, his posture relaxed, , scars hidden beneath his robes. One of Ōnoki's long-trusted aides.
"But Tsuchikage-sama," he said, "if we make this public, don't we lose the chance to capture him for ourselves?"
Ōnoki snorted.
"That chance was gone the moment the report reached my desk," he said.
"Every Kage knows now. We won't reap the benefits."
He folded his arms.
"But we can hinder him," he added.
"…Or kill him, if we're lucky
A beat.
"…Even Akatsuki?" another shinobi asked cautiously.
Ōnoki's eyes gleamed.
"Especially them."
He gestured once.
"Also, issue a bounty. I want this done through back channels only," he said. "No village names. No flags. No trace."
Ōnoki continued, "Alive or dead. I do not care which."
The first shinobi swallowed. "…The amount?"
Ōnoki didn't hesitate.
"Ninety million ryō."
A sharp intake of breath rippled through the room.
"At that price," the aide said slowly, "every hunter, every rogue jōnin, every desperate S-rank criminal-"
"-will come sniffing," Ōnoki finished. "That is the point."
"I want Konoha distracted," he said.
"Watching their borders. Protecting their golden boy. Wondering who's hunting him and why."
His voice dropped.
"While we grow stronger."
Ōnoki floated back toward the window, staring out over the village he had bled for.
"Konoha has already created too many monsters that reshaped the world," Ōnoki said coldly.
"If they want to raise another powerhouse like Hikari…"
He did not look back.
"…I won't sit still and watch them do it."
The shinobi bowed.
""""Yes, Tsuchikage-sama!""""
They left quickly.
Alone again, Ōnoki exhaled and rubbed his temples.
"…I miss the days when prodigies just died in wars like normal people."
…
The story spread faster than fire.
By nightfall, taverns were already buzzing.
And by the next week, shinobi villages far from Iwagakure had the information laid out on their tables.
Mercenary groups updated their hunting lists. Hidden villages flagged the name for observation… or as a potential problem.
The Giants had never stayed hidden forever.
And now, it seemed a battle over the price had begun.
…
A merchant caravan halted at a checkpoint. Two shinobi checked papers while rain soaked into their cloaks.
"…You heard about the giant?" one muttered, bored.
The other snorted. "Yeah. Some new bloodline."
"Nah," the first whispered. "They're older. Even before the Senju."
The second scoffed. "Yeah? And I'm the Sage of Six Paths."
…
Land of Water~
"They're calling him a giant."
Across the table, another scoffed. "Every village has its monster stories."
"Konoha's just exaggerating this one," someone said. "So we stay in the shadows, afraid to provoke them."
A chair scraped back.
"Did you forget Hikari?" a voice snapped.
"How she butchered over a thousand of our shinobi in the Third War like it was a morning walk?"
Silence followed…
At the head of the table, Yagura listened quietly, eyes unreadable.
(Pic)
…
Land of Wind~
A shinobi sprinted into the hall and dropped a scroll into the guards' hands.
"…Send this to Kazekage-sama."
Later, within the council chamber, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa skimmed through the report. His interest sharpened only at one line.
Bounty: 90,000,000 ryō.
Chiyo frowned. "Hikari's son…"
Ebizo's jaw tightened. They both remembered the terror of that woman during the war.
"This is a bad idea," Ebizo said quietly.
But the Kazekage had already made up his mind.
(Pic)
Chiyo
Ebiso
Rasa
…
Land of Rain~
Rain poured relentlessly over Amegakure.
An Akatsuki scout knelt, rain dripping from his cloak, and presented a sealed scroll to a man adorned with earrings.
"Multiple villages," the scout reported. "Same story. Different mouths."
Pain glanced at the contents as if it barely mattered and passed the scroll to another figure.
The man in the spiral mask read it.
Then, without a word, he set it aflame.
The paper curled, blackened, and vanished.
(Pic)
Pain
Spiral mask
…
Land of Fire – Border Outpost~
A Konoha patrol captain frowned as a courier placed a sealed message in his hand.
He read it once.
Then again.
"…This is bullshit," he muttered.
But his grip tightened around the paper.
"Captain?" a chūnin asked.
"…Nothing," he replied, folding the message. "Just noise."
He released a small hawk into the air, the scroll secured to its leg.
It flew straight toward the Hokage Tower.
…
Land of Water~
Rain tapped against the tavern windows in an irritating, endless rhythm.
Inside, the air reeked of cheap alcohol, damp clothes, and old blood that never quite washed out of the wooden floorboards.
At a corner table, a man studied a bounty notice..
His fingers were rough and scarred, stitched together in places where no human body should have survived. His eyes were cold, calculating, fixed on the image pinned to the board.
[Bounty: 90,000,000 ryō
Target: Otis
Affiliation: Konohagakure
Status: Alive or Dead]
The man let out a low, amused hum.
His stitched face barely moved, but the corner of his mouth twitched as his eyes traced the grainy image.
"…Ninety million," he murmured. "…And he's big."
This man was none other than Kakuzu.
(Pic)
Behind him, slurping noisily, another man sat cross-legged on the bench, happily stuffing his mouth with skewered meat. Grease coated his fingers. He chewed with complete contentment, crumbs falling onto the table.
"Oi, Kakuzu," he said around a mouthful. "You gonna finish that?"
Kakuzu didn't look away from the notice. "Eat your food."
The man shrugged and kept eating.
This one was Hidan.
(Pic)
"Ninety million ryō," Kakuzu said, his voice almost fond. "...That's more than double what Asuma of the Hidden Leaf Village is worth."
--
Author's Note:
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