Chapter 24: The Actor vs. Su Xiao
"The Fourth Ninja War... are you serious?"
The Tsuchikage had already sensed something was wrong. The enemy's earlier words might all have been smoke screens, and the final declaration of war was perhaps the key point.
"Then we'll meet on the battlefield next time."
Obito stood up, the tomoe in his right eye beginning to spin. Obito, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Amu gradually twisted in everyone's sight before finally disappearing.
The spatial vortex vanished, and the four Kage began discussing the matter of the Fourth Ninja War. Not long after, Kurotsuchi returned carrying Deidara on her shoulder.
"Deidara-nii, you should thank me. I helped you save face."
Kurotsuchi gave a somewhat playful smile.
"Ugh (Hmm)."
Deidara nodded. Being stuffed inside a cloth bag was indeed too humiliating. As an S-rank missing-nin, he could die, but he couldn't lose face in front of his fellow Akatsuki members, who were also criminals.
"Kurotsuchi, release the Stone Hardening Technique on his mouth."
The Tsuchikage intended to interrogate Deidara for information about the Akatsuki. With the other Kage present, this was a good opportunity. Even if Deidara was a rogue ninja from Iwagakure, he was still an Akatsuki member.
The cement around Deidara's mouth was removed.
"Old man, you're too despicable, using my weakness against Lightning Release to deal with me."
Deidara had been captured because the Tsuchikage and the others knew him too well. His Explosion Release was a branch of Earth Release, and Lightning Release countered Earth Release of the same level.
"It's because your skills are lacking."
The Tsuchikage stepped forward, looking at Deidara with a complex expression.
"You almost got away."
"What do you mean?"
Deidara was clearly confused.
"Akatsuki member Bai Ye should be your comrade, right?"
"Who is Bai Ye? I've never heard of that person."
Deidara's eyes were full of confusion. All Akatsuki members shared one trait: they were tough nuts to crack. Kakuzu was surrounded before his death, but he never revealed any Akatsuki intelligence. Before Hidan was buried alive, Shikamaru tried to get information from him, but only received curses and laughter.
Nagato, Itachi Uchiha, Kisame, Sasori—some were dead, some still alive, but without a doubt, they were all hard cases.
Now, Deidara would face the Tsuchikage's interrogation.
"Stop playing dumb. Let me tell you, just now, Bai Ye threatened us with some unknown ninjutsu. If you had been there, he might have threatened us to release you."
Hearing this, Deidara's mental state began to crumble.
"Unknown ninjutsu?"
"Yes, it should be some kind of extremely powerful explosive."
"Really? Let me see him. That guy actually developed an explosive that can threaten four Kage? That must be art! Hmm!"
"Oh? Just now you said you didn't know Bai Ye."
"Temporary amnesia. Hmm."
"..."
The Tsuchikage sighed inwardly. He actually wanted to protect Deidara. If Deidara revealed Akatsuki intelligence, the other villages couldn't take him from the Tsuchikage's hands. Although Deidara would spend the rest of his life in Iwagakure's prison, if major changes occurred in the ninja world, Deidara might not be without a chance to regain freedom.
No matter what evil Deidara had done, he was still the disciple of Ohnoki, his most intelligent disciple, the orphan of his subordinate.
If Deidara hadn't been so rebellious and disregarded others' lives in his pursuit of art, the candidate for Tsuchikage would never have been Kurotsuchi, but Deidara.
"Deidara, having a genjutsu ninja invade your brain isn't pleasant. Why be so stubborn?"
The Tsuchikage seemed to have aged even more. Although he was a ninja and the Tsuchikage, as he grew older, he often reminisced about the past. He frequently recalled that young ninja skilled in Earth Release who once stood before him and shouted: 'Tsuchikage-sama, go ahead. I'll hold off the Suna pursuers for you.'
"Oh? Planning to have them invade my brain? Old man, let them try. It'll just go... boom!"
Deidara wasn't afraid of death. He was now very curious about what kind of explosive Su Xiao had developed.
"Tsuchikage, why not hand this rogue ninja over to Konoha? I have ways to make him talk."
Elder Danzo spoke up, seeming quite interested in Deidara.
"Morino Ibiki..."
The Tsuchikage thought of a special jonin from Konoha, a ninja with a scarred face and gloomy expression. Morino Ibiki's combat ability wasn't particularly outstanding, but his interrogation skills were famous. No matter how tough the subject, once in his hands, they would spill everything and beg for a quick death.
Deidara's smile began to stiffen. He indeed wasn't afraid of death, but that didn't mean he wasn't afraid of torture. Although he could guarantee he wouldn't reveal any information, the process would be worse than death.
Cold sweat seeped from Deidara's temples.
"Thank you for the 'offer,' Acting Hokage. Deidara is proficient in Explosion Release. If he self-destructs, the power would be enough to level Konoha 'again.'"
The Tsuchikage emphasized the words 'Acting' and 'again,' the meaning clear: you're just an acting Hokage. If we give you face, you're the Hokage; if not, you're just a deputy who could be replaced at any time. Besides, Konoha was just leveled—shouldn't you be focusing on rebuilding instead of risking another destruction?
"Is that so?"
Elder Danzo, ever the old schemer, maintained his composure, showing no emotional reaction to the Tsuchikage's words.
Deidara lowered his head. He could see that Ohnoki was protecting him, protecting him as long as it didn't involve Iwagakure's interests. Ohnoki was the Tsuchikage; he wouldn't let personal emotions affect the village, which was quite different from the Raikage. This was perhaps why he could still serve as Tsuchikage at the age of 79.
Deidara understood one thing: the Akatsuki would come to rescue him. Not only did the Akatsuki urgently need combat power now, but his teammate was still alive.
As the four Kage discussed Deidara's fate, Deidara spoke up.
"Hey, have you considered this scenario? If I'm captured, Akatsuki intelligence might leak. If any village takes me away, guess what the other Akatsuki members will do? Attacking villages is just routine for us. Which side is ready to imprison me? Even if you don't keep me inside the village, they'll keep a close watch on your village."
"A group of rogue ninja. They betrayed their villages once, and they'll betray you too. You're just blindly loyal."
Elder Danzo looked up at Deidara.
"Feel free to try."
Deidara fell silent. The Kage were skeptical about whether the Akatsuki would actually rescue Deidara, but they didn't know that Deidara was definitely a hot potato—no, an explosive potato.
...
On the snowy plains outside the Wind and Snow Mountain, a spatial vortex swirled, and Su Xiao, Obito, Bubu Wang, and Amu appeared out of thin air.
"This plan was very successful. Good work."
Obito nodded to Su Xiao.
"Not handing the Raikage's head to Danzo?"
Su Xiao didn't believe Obito had forgotten such a crucial matter.
"Doing that wouldn't achieve much. Sasuke's Sharingan can use Susanoo, so he has high cultivation value. I plan to have him fight Danzo in actual combat. As for the Raikage's head, let it return to its rightful owner."
Obito took out the Raikage's head from his Kamui space. He had previously considered giving it to Danzo, which would have been a good plan, but he changed his mind at the last moment.
As for why Su Xiao didn't hand over the Raikage's head to Danzo himself, the reason was simple: he had attacked Konoha. No matter how much Danzo wanted that head, if it came from Su Xiao, Danzo would definitely refuse to accept it, as it would damage his reputation in Konoha.
"It's yours."
Su Xiao didn't take the Raikage's head. This thing was useless to him; he couldn't extract any information from the Raikage's memories through it.
"My target is Danzo."
"Terumi Mei."
"We'll meet at the base camp in the Land of Fire after it's done."
Su Xiao and Obito split up, their targets different.
Not long after parting with Obito, Su Xiao suddenly heard cries for help.
"Help..."
"Help... me..."
Bubu Wang perked up his ears and looked at Su Xiao.
"It's just the wind. Ignore it."
Su Xiao took out an alchemical crow, planning to use it to track Terumi Mei and strike after she left the vicinity of the Wind and Snow Mountain.
"Help!"
This time the shout was closer. A woman in a cream-colored cotton cloak and hood came running. The woman was wrapped entirely in the cotton cloak, seemingly not very physically fit, unable to withstand the cold of the snowfield.
A contractor wouldn't be this weak, and this woman wasn't a civilian from the Naruto world. There was only one possibility: she was a very unlucky worker who had entered an open-type world.
There were 157 contractors entering the Naruto world this time, not including Su Xiao and that outsider. Besides these 157 contractors, there would also be many workers.
Su Xiao often encountered workers in derivative worlds, though he rarely interacted with them.
The woman in the cotton cloak ran quickly, with several samurai from the Land of Iron chasing behind her. Spotting Su Xiao while running, she immediately cast a pleading look his way.
Su Xiao noticed the woman's eyes—they were bright black, like two black gems.
"Big shot, save me."
The woman shouted, but she didn't immediately run toward Su Xiao, seeming somewhat afraid of him. This was normal. Workers encountering contractors in derivative worlds might be extorted. As for things like robbery for sex, that was rare. Even if workers were weak, they could use items. If pushed too far, workers would fight back desperately.
For example, Xia had used almost all her assets to obtain a light gold-quality item, which was enough to instantly kill a contractor of the same level.
Su Xiao ignored the female worker. He neither intended to save her nor to extort her. As the saying goes, if people don't provoke me, I won't provoke them.
The samurai also saw Su Xiao and slowed their pace, indicating they recognized him. But they only paused briefly before quickly resuming their chase of the female worker.
Seeing this, Su Xiao narrowed his eyes. These samurai recognized who he was, yet they still chose to pursue the female worker. There were several possibilities: the female worker had done something that caused heavy losses to the Land of Iron, or she had stolen something extremely important from them—so important that the samurai had no time to bother with Su Xiao.
The female worker soon ran far away. There was some helplessness in her eyes. After running for a full half hour, sure she was far from Su Xiao, she suddenly stopped.
"This method seems a bit stupid. Sure enough, I'm not good at scheming."
The 'female worker' took off her hood. Those black gem-like eyes looked at the pursuing samurai. A short-handled war scythe appeared in her hand. The scythe was about 50 centimeters long, its blade gleaming with a dark cyan light. Five gems were embedded in the handle, all of them gold quality.
"Blood: Blossom."
Swish~
The 'female worker' vanished from her spot, snow flying. Almost instantly, the several samurai froze in place.
Plop, plop...
Pieces of flesh fell to the ground. With a single strike, all six samurai were chopped into minced meat. Even more bizarrely, the blood of these samurai floated in midair.
The blood surged toward the short-handled war scythe in the 'female worker's' hand, quickly absorbed by the weapon.
"Greedy thing. I can barely afford to feed you."
The 'female worker' put away the scythe, pursed her red lips, seemingly pondering some strategy. Soon, she looked at the several samurai swords lying on the snow.