Chapter 454: Burst In, Assassinate the Daimyo
The air inside the Allied Shinobi Forces' command tent hung heavy, thick with suffocating tension.
Crash!
The Fourth Raikage, Ay, brought his massive fist down onto the newly replaced tactical desk. The solid oak groaned in violent protest before violently splintering into jagged shards. Veins bulged like thick cords along Ay's heavily muscled arms, and volatile arcs of blue Lightning Release chakra crackled uncontrollably across his dark skin, scorching the rugs beneath his boots.
"Three brats and a hundred trash fish humiliated us at our own front gate!" he roared, his voice shaking the canvas walls. "The Alliance's face is completely gone!"
Across the ruined tent, Ōnoki hovered a few inches off the ground, his weathered face as dark as forged iron. One gnarled hand pressed firmly against the small of his back, massaging a dull, throbbing ache that refused to fade. He had managed to block that monstrous Rasengan from the Uzumaki brat with his stone golem, but the sheer kinetic shockwave had rattled his ancient bones to the marrow.
"Shut up, Raikage," Ōnoki snapped, shooting Ay a freezing, sidelong glare. "If you hadn't charged out there like a rabid bull looking for a slaughter, would we be in this passive position?"
The Third Tsuchikage lowered himself slightly, his tone grim. "The Nine-Tails brat and the One-Tail Jinchūriki have grown far beyond our initial expectations. Without heavy fortifications to grind down their momentum, meeting those monsters in open combat will only cost us thousands of more lives."
Ay let out a furious, barking laugh. He thrust a thick finger directly toward Ōnoki's bulbous nose. "You're just old and scared! The great 'Ōnoki of Both Scales' is now nothing but a cowardly turtle hiding in its shell!"
Ōnoki's bristly mustache quivered with absolute rage. Chakra flared around the old man, the air growing heavy with Earth Release as he prepared to erupt.
"My lords." Mifune stepped smoothly between the two Kage, his voice a low, steadying anchor in the chaotic tent. "Quarreling amongst ourselves solves nothing."
The samurai general moved toward the surviving half of the tactical sand-table. With a gloved hand, he pushed a small wooden piece marked 'Wolf Pack' deep into the territorial borders of the Land of Fire.
"This stalemate at the front lines is exactly what we need. It buys precious time for the Wolf Pack." A cold, razor-sharp glint flashed in Mifune's disciplined eyes. "If my calculations are correct, the fastest infiltration unit should already be striking at the very heart of the Land of Fire."
Hundreds of miles away, within the capital of the Land of Fire.
The night sky was a canvas of spilled ink. Thick, suffocating clouds smothered the moon, while a thin, freezing rain veiled the sprawling, prosperous city in a misty shroud. Even in the throes of a brutal continental war, the nation's political center blazed with warm lantern light and echoed with the soft strumming of shamisen. The bloated nobles drowned themselves in wine and fleeting pleasures, blissfully unaware that the Shinigami already stood at their gates.
Deep within the shadows of the towering outer wall, eight figures crept upward. They clung to the slick stone like geckos, their movements entirely silent and terrifyingly swift.
They reached the parapet.
Dropped.
The leading Kumogakure shinobi raised a hand, flashing a series of rapid tactical signals. This was Raigamaru, Captain of the 'Raiga' assassination squad. An Elite Jōnin of the Hidden Cloud and a lethal master of Lightning Release assassination, he was a ghost who had once beheaded an enemy theater commander in a crowded camp and vanished into the night.
"Target: The Daimyo's Residence," Raigamaru hissed, his eyes gleaming with a bloodthirsty light from behind his dark porcelain mask. "Keep it fast and clean. Once the primary target is dead, we split up. Burn the compound, slaughter the retainers, and spread absolute chaos."
Seven subordinates voiced their quiet, deadly assent.
In the next breath, eight black blurs flashed across the rain-slicked rooftops, leaving only the faint scent of ozone in their wake.
The Daimyo's Residence sat at the very center of the capital, heavily fortified and patrolled by elite samurai. But to high-ranking shinobi, this defensive screen was as fragile as wet paper.
A patrolling samurai suddenly felt a freezing chill bite into his throat. Before he could even draw breath to shout, his vision spun wildly. He blinked in confusion as the ground rushed up to meet him, his final sight being his own headless body crumpling onto the wet cobblestones.
Raigamaru casually flicked the crimson trail from his kunai and stepped over the corpse, entering the inner courtyard without a second glance.
"Who goes there?!" a guard finally cried out from the eastern corridor, spotting the intruders. "Enemies inside the—!"
The desperate warning was instantly swallowed by the deafening roar of thunder.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
A jagged spear of blinding blue electricity erupted from Raigamaru's mouth. Thud! Thud! Thud! The violent discharge pierced straight through three armored samurai in a single, devastating line. Their chests were instantly charred black, their hearts stopped before the screams could even leave their throats.
Raigamaru didn't break stride. He led the charge deeper into the estate, his seven Kumogakure killers following closely behind like starved wolves unleashed upon a flock of helpless sheep. Cold steel flashed in the dim light; hot blood sprayed across the pristine shoji screens.
The Residence's vaunted defense collapsed in a matter of seconds.
Exactly five minutes later, Raigamaru viciously kicked open the heavy sliding doors to the master bedchamber.
A plump man draped in luxurious, sweat-soaked silk cowered pitifully at the foot of the lavish bed.
"D-don't kill me..." he whimpered, holding up trembling hands. "I'm the Daimyo... I have wealth! I can pay you! Just name your price!"
Raigamaru sneered beneath his mask, utterly disgusted by the pathetic wretch. "Save your negotiations for the afterlife."
Crackling lightning condensed around the edge of his short sword, forming a gleaming, high-frequency blade. He offered no further words.
A single, brutal sweep of his arm.
The Daimyo's head flew through the air, a fountain of crimson painting the beautiful golden folding screens behind the bed.
"Hmph. Mission complete," Raigamaru declared coldly, sheathing his weapon. "Pull out. Burn this entire place to the ground."
But just as the assassination squad turned to leave the blood-soaked chamber, a cold, drippingly arrogant voice rang out through the rain.
"Since you went through all the trouble of coming here... why don't you stay?"
Raigamaru's eyes widened. He burst through the shattered doors and out onto the veranda.
There, standing silently in the rain-swept courtyard, were a dozen figures. They wore deep-blue, high-collared shirts, the unmistakable red-and-white fan crest of the Uchiha clan flickering menacingly every time lightning flashed across the sky. In perfect unison, twelve pairs of glowing crimson eyes slowly turned to lock onto the Kumogakure assassins.
Standing at the forefront was a long-haired youth. His arms were casually folded across his chest, a mocking, razor-thin smile playing on his lips.
Uchiha Jūdai. An Elite Jōnin of the Uchiha Police Force, his eyes blazing with the fully matured Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Standing right beside him was a hulking, heavily muscled clansman who was idly wiping the rain from the flat of his longsword with a cloth.
Uchiha Takuya. Another Elite Jōnin, his own three tomoe spinning lazily in the dark.
'Uchiha...' Raigamaru's heart plummeted into his stomach.
Every shinobi on the continent knew exactly what those cursed red eyes meant. It was the most unreasonable, terrifying power in the entire Ninja World.
"Cloud rats," Uchiha Jūdai drawled, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. The three tomoe in his irises spun with a hypnotic, lethal grace. "Running wild in Uchiha territory. Tell me... who gave you the nerve?"
Shaking off the momentary dread, Raigamaru threw his head back and laughed—a harsh, half-mad sound that tore through the rain.
"You're too late, Uchiha pups! The job is already done!" He grinned fiercely beneath his mask, his voice dripping with venomous provocation. "That trash Daimyo's head is completely off his shoulders. Even if you manage to kill us here, the Land of Fire will tear itself apart in the ensuing power vacuum!"
The seven Kumogakure assassins behind him joined in the dark, low laughter, their frayed nerves snapping into a perverse, adrenaline-fueled release.
Facing their desperate taunts, Uchiha Jūdai's arrogant expression never wavered. He simply watched them, his crimson eyes utterly devoid of warmth.
"Are you done laughing?" Jūdai asked quietly.
The words were soft, barely carrying over the patter of the rain, yet they hit the assassins like a bucket of freezing ice water, instantly extinguishing their manic frenzy.
"What do you mean?" Raigamaru demanded, his brow knitting together as a cold, creeping unease crawled up his spine.
Jūdai took another unhurried step forward. "The man you just killed was nothing more than a body double." A look of mocking pity shimmered in the Uchiha's glowing eyes. "The real Daimyo was moved to a location of absolute safety by Hokage-sama three days ago. As for this place..."
Jūdai gestured lazily to the bloodstained courtyard. "...this is simply the grave Hokage-sama prepared for you."
"Impossible!" Raigamaru roared, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "That coward wet himself! Terror like that cannot be faked!"
"Genjutsu," Uchiha Takuya chuckled deeply. The hulking shinobi twirled his longsword in a glinting, deadly arc, the rain hissing against the steel. "With the Sharingan, bending a pathetic commoner's emotions to the point of absolute terror is child's play."
Takuya licked his dry lips, a suffocating wave of killing intent suddenly boiling off his massive frame and pressing down on the courtyard.
"Hokage-sama knew you Cloud gutter-rats would try something exactly like this. So, he had us wait here in the dark." The hulking Uchiha's head snapped up, the three tomoe in his eyes whirling wildly as he locked onto his prey. "Just to give you a..."
Takuya flashed a feral, bloodthirsty grin.
"...surprise."
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]