The Shinigami made an additional request: to perform a human sacrifice.
He needed eighty-one strong human sacrifices to build his "house," not children, but strong ones imbued with malice, hatred, and resentment.
The more negative emotions they carried, the better.
Ino smiled; the world she currently inhabited was a crazy one.
Good people might be hard to find, but bad people were everywhere, as many as she could possibly need.
This was a collection quest, and it seemed easy enough.
The Shinigami, despite the high latency, transmitted another message to her.
She slowly frowned, knowing that things wouldn't be that simple.
She'd find a few unfortunate souls to sacrifice and test it out later.
Instead of returning directly to the inn to rest, Ino found a place to summon her summoning beast, Kubisaki, and returned to her room to partially liquefy and clean off the bloodstains before heading back to the inn.
Hinata, being a Ninja, killing was an unavoidable part of her life, so Ino killing a few people and returning was not a big issue.
However, she had excused herself to go to the washroom this time.
A smell of blood would easily lead to unnecessary assumptions, which was not good at all!
Upon returning to the inn, Hinata had already finished washing and had prepared a basin full of hot water and towels for her.
Ino forced a smile, feeling a little down inside.
Hinata's expression was very strange.
"My pants are half off, and you tell me you're going to the washroom? And you're still saying there's nothing wrong? You must have kidney deficiency!
You still need to drink various kidney-tonifying porridges."
She had heard from Ari that Kakashi-sensei suffered severely from kidney deficiency.
Although Hinata didn't fully understand the meaning, according to many adults, she thought it meant Kakashi had pushed himself too hard when he was young and damaged his body.
Kakashi was a genius, and Ino was also a genius.
Kakashi was always lazy, and Ino was also lazy.
Kakashi had kidney deficiency, so Ino must also have kidney deficiency!
While someone was sound asleep, Hinata got up to wash Ino's clothes.
She smelled a faint scent of blood on the garments, shook her head, calculated the days, and sighed secretly.
It shouldn't be these past few days.
Look, it's too irregular, the problem is very serious!
Ino's battle with Kazuma ended quickly, but it still cast a large shadow over the capital's tranquility.
The Daimyo certainly had more subordinates than just Kazuma, but Ino's ruthlessness still intimidated the other mercenary Ninja.
"We're just here to make money; we don't want to fight to the death with Konoha Ninja."
Kazuma's skill was considered top-tier among this group, and now that he was decapitated, the hidden strength of Konoha seemed truly terrifying to the many Ninja hired by the Daimyo.
The Daimyo quickly found out about the Konoha Ninja who had recently appeared in the capital.
There was no need to hide their itinerary, and Ino had no intention of hiding it either.
The next day, the duo, who had been looking for the Daimyo's wife's cat, "accidentally" met the Daimyo.
Ino timely suggested that the Daimyo might be under the influence of a Genjutsu and offered to lift it for him.
Lifting Kotoamatsukami was not difficult.
Having absorbed so much Dojutsu Power from Shisui, it could be said that no one in this world understood Kotoamatsukami better than her!
The two sides did not make physical contact.
In front of everyone, Ino drew a guiding sealing array on the ground.
The Daimyo placed his hand on it, and the Kotoamatsukami Dojutsu Power within him was smoothly drawn out and then crushed by the array.
Kotoamatsukami was dispelled.
The Daimyo was deep in thought and said nothing about Danzo controlling him.
Killing Danzo now would bring him no benefit; keeping Danzo might allow him to deliver a harsh blow to Konoha sometime in the future.
He didn't say anything, and Ino also pretended not to know, as she also wanted to keep Danzo to take the blame for a couple more things.
After the Genjutsu was lifted, the Daimyo put on a look of sudden realization, immediately attributing all his actions during that period to the Genjutsu.
He stated that these were not his true intentions and hoped Konoha would thoroughly investigate the despicable Ninja who used Genjutsu to control him, so as not to damage the friendly and harmonious relationship between the Land of Fire and Konoha Village.
As a Jonin, Ino could represent Konoha Village to a limited extent at this time.
After a few tentative exchanges, both sides pinned the blame on Kazuma, claiming that he was the one who used Genjutsu to control the Daimyo!
He was truly wicked, and the Konoha Ninja did well to kill him!
Both parties were delighted, and the matter was thus smoothly resolved.
Ino returned to the village with dozens of carts of supplies.
The abundant supplies brought new vitality to Konoha Village, which had been somewhat tense.
Before, they had been scraping by, but now things were good!
"Um, um, after reporting the mission to Hokage-sama later, come to my house, I'll treat you to peaches," Hinata whispered to Ino as they parted ways at the village entrance, then blushed and quickly ran off.
Peaches?
Ino scratched her head.
Was it what she thought it was?
She hadn't realized that classmate Hinata's style was so bold!
But then again, in this world, many people married at fourteen or fifteen.
Compared to them, she was still too conservative, her mind not liberated enough!
Despite her fondness for peaches, she still had to prioritize public duty over personal matters; as a Jonin, she needed to report the mission process.
An hour later, Jiraiya, Utatane Koharu, Homura Mitokado, Danzo Shimura, and Shikaku all came to hear Ino's mission report.
This was an S-rank mission, and Kakashi, as the Jonin squad leader, was recording nearby.
Ino blamed everything on Kazuma's group, and the Daimyo's side also supported this story: Kazuma had used Genjutsu to control the Daimyo and then harbored hostility towards Konoha Village.
Now that the Daimyo had regained his senses, they were still good friends.
Danzo secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
His control over the Daimyo had not been exposed.
Ino's investigation results were a pleasant surprise for him.
After years of taking the blame, someone was finally taking it for him, and the old man was momentarily unaccustomed to it.
Jiraiya also knew about Kazuma.
He was a staunch anti-Hokage individual, hostile to whoever became Hokage.
A complete class enemy, so Ino killing him was perfectly fine.
Ino was very familiar with the Hyuga Clan and used the side entrance instead of the main gate.
She sneaked into Hinata's room like a thief.
Before pushing the door open, she controlled her expression.
Smiling? Not appropriate.
Frowning? Also seemed inappropriate.
Pretending nothing happened? That would be too hurtful, wouldn't it?
Finally, with three parts anticipation, three parts hesitation, three parts surprise, and ninety-one parts exhilaration, she pushed the door open with light steps and walked in.
Hinata wasn't in the room but in the kitchen.
Hearing a sound in the room, she quickly observed with her Byakugan.
Seeing Ino's Chakra, she said, "You're here.
I'll be ready soon; just wash up, and we can eat."
Ino sat up straight, her palms sweating.
This was too fast; she wasn't ready yet!
Would she need to ask Orochimaru for some child-rearing techniques in the future?
If she had a child later, what would be a good name?
Yamanaka Himawari?
Heaven and earth, she had no intention of cuckolding the Seventh Hokage.
How had things turned out this way?
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