Chapter 30 (Patreon)

“The current head of the Aburame Clan, Shibi Aburame, was one of Minato’s former classmates. They even carried out missions together on several occasions.”

Although the Aburame Clan kept a low profile, no one could underestimate their strength.

Aside from the Kurama and Aburame Clans, Roy and Kushina also discussed several smaller shinobi clans, including the Gekkō Clan and the Kazamatsuri Clan.

These clans might not possess many powerful shinobi, but that also made them easier to win over. As long as Kushina offered them assistance tailored to their needs, gaining their support would not be difficult.

The following morning, before Nonō arrived, Kushina took Kaorui and carried the two children to the Inuzuka Clan compound.

They had not even entered through the gates when the constant barking of dogs echoed from within.

“Lady Kushina!”

The two Inuzuka shinobi standing guard immediately straightened when they saw her.

“I’m here to see Tsume Inuzuka. Please let her know.”

The two guards froze for a moment.

Even Roy was somewhat surprised by her words.

“Lady Kushina, please follow me.”

One of the guards escorted Kushina to a reception room before hurrying off to inform Tsume.

Roy took the opportunity to lean closer and whisper into Kushina’s ear.

“The classmate you mentioned was Tsume Inuzuka? She—”

Before he could finish, hearty laughter sounded from outside the room.

“Hahaha! Kushina! What brings you all the way here to see me?”

The woman’s cheerful voice arrived before she did.

Tsume Inuzuka entered the room with an open, energetic smile.

“I wanted to find playmates for the children,” Kushina replied. “After giving it some thought, I decided that the puppies raised by the Inuzuka Clan would be the most suitable.”

As a rule, the Inuzuka Clan never allowed its ninken to fall into the hands of outsiders. Because of that, Kushina merely said she wished to obtain a few puppies rather than directly asking for the offspring of their ninken.

However, with the widow of the Fourth Hokage personally visiting their compound, how could the Inuzuka Clan possibly dismiss her with ordinary dogs?

Offering a few ninken puppies would allow them to renew their relationship with an old classmate they had not seen in years. It could also bring considerable benefits to the Inuzuka Clan in the future.

After all, who would willingly pass up an opportunity to improve their clan’s standing?

Tsume barely hesitated before calling for several newly weaned ninken puppies to be brought over.

Meanwhile, at the Fire Daimyō’s residence, Danzō emerged from the daimyō’s courtyard with a satisfied expression.

The daimyō had already promised to provide Konoha’s military budget for the following year in full.

Despite successfully completing his diplomatic mission, however, Danzō did not lead his men directly back to the village.

He still owed Orochimaru two years’ worth of research funds.

If he returned now and relied solely on embezzling money from Konoha’s treasury, there was no telling how long it would take him to gather the full amount.

He needed another source of income.

Thus, Danzō led his Root shinobi to do what they did best—ambushing merchant caravans travelling along the major trade routes between countries.

To prevent their identities from being exposed, they slaughtered the surviving merchants after taking their valuables. The bodies were then burned to ashes, ensuring that anyone who came to investigate would find no usable evidence.

Danzō knew perfectly well that most international caravans were backed by nobles from different countries.

That was why he deliberately allowed a handful of people to escape each attack.

Of course, the survivors never saw Konoha shinobi.

Sometimes, the attackers appeared to be bands of wanted missing-nin. At other times, they wore the appearances and uniforms of shinobi from other villages.

Using the Transformation Jutsu to deceive ordinary merchants was far too easy.

Unfortunately, no matter how careful someone was, repeatedly taking the same risk would eventually attract suspicion.

There was nothing inherently wrong with Danzō’s methods.

The problem was that the nobles were not fools.

A sudden wave of highway robberies had broken out within a short period. Every attack had supposedly been committed by bandits or missing-nin from various villages, yet not a single Konoha missing-nin had been involved.

How could that possibly make sense?

As one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konoha had produced no fewer missing-nin than any of its rivals.

More importantly, Konoha and Kumogakure were currently locked in a fierce war. The village needed an enormous amount of money to purchase weapons, medicine, food, and other military supplies.

Rather than emptying its own treasury, what faster way was there to obtain funds than by robbing wealthy caravans?

Although no one possessed concrete evidence, every available clue suggested that Konoha shinobi were disguising themselves as bandits and shinobi from other villages.

Danzō earned a fortune from this cost-free business and began his return journey in high spirits.

He remained completely unaware that letters of condemnation from nobles across several countries had already been placed on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s desk.

When Hiruzen first read them, he was utterly bewildered.

Nearly every capable shinobi in Konoha was either guarding the village or fighting on the front lines.

Who would have the time to wander across the Land of Fire robbing merchants, much less attack so many caravans in such a short period?

Furthermore, none of the letters contained a single piece of decisive evidence.

At first glance, the accusations appeared to be nothing more than an attempt to slander Konoha.

Then Hiruzen remembered that Danzō had yet to return.

He had also taken a group of Root shinobi with him.

Danzō had sent word claiming that he was still negotiating with the Fire Daimyō over additional military funding and would therefore be delayed.

Unfortunately, this old companion of his had done similar things before.

Hiruzen suddenly found the accusations much more believable.

Believing them was one matter. Publicly admitting that Konoha shinobi had been robbing merchant caravans was another.

Although his dissatisfaction with Danzō deepened, Hiruzen could never acknowledge Konoha’s involvement.

His written response was firm.

He declared that the accusations were a malicious attempt to slander Konoha, stated that the village reserved the right to pursue those responsible, and promised that Konoha would conduct a thorough investigation to uncover the true culprits attempting to frame them.

The nobles who received his reply nearly spat blood in fury.

However, they truly had no evidence proving that Konoha shinobi were responsible.

Otherwise, rather than sending letters to the Hokage, they would have gone directly to the Fire Daimyō and demanded an explanation.

Since Konoha refused to admit responsibility, compensation was clearly out of the question.

Enraged, the nobles collectively placed additional bounties on several well-known Konoha shinobi through the underground black market.

Prominent shinobi from every village already had prices on their heads.

Under normal circumstances, however, the rewards were rarely worth the risks. Most bounty hunters were unwilling to provoke shinobi belonging to one of the Five Great Villages.

This time was different.

With nobles from multiple countries placing bounties on the same Konoha shinobi, the rewards for certain well-known targets multiplied several times over.

By killing a single person, a hunter could collect several separate payments.

What bounty hunter could resist such an opportunity?

Before long, large numbers of bounty hunters poured toward the battlefield between Konoha and Kumogakure and began hunting Konoha shinobi.

At first, even the Raikage was alarmed by the sudden appearance of so many armed outsiders.

However, Kumogakure soon received intelligence explaining that Konoha had provoked the anger of nobles across several countries. The newcomers were bounty hunters who had accepted contracts to target Konoha shinobi.

At Dodai’s suggestion, Kumogakure began secretly providing the hunters with intelligence regarding the locations of the shinobi named on the bounty lists.

The Konoha forces had sensory shinobi from the Hyūga, Aburame, and Inuzuka Clans. They also held the advantage in both numbers and overall combat strength.

Even so, the sudden attacks caught them completely off guard.

Bounty hunters had no interest in military formations, supply lines, or the overall state of the battlefield.

They simply appeared, attacked their targets, and immediately moved elsewhere.

Whenever Konoha dispatched shinobi to pursue them, the hunters fled without hesitation, sometimes crossing into another country entirely.

Meanwhile, Kumogakure watched from the sidelines, ready to devour any Konoha unit that ventured too far from the main defensive line.

Faced with attacks from both sides, Shikaku had no choice but to pull back and tighten Konoha’s formation. He did not dare order his forces to pursue the bounty hunters too deeply.

The fragile balance that had previously existed between Konoha and Kumogakure shattered almost overnight.

Had Uchiha Shisui not unleashed an unprecedented power at the critical moment and single-handedly held back both the Raikage and the Eight-Tails’ jinchūriki, Konoha’s defensive line might have collapsed beneath the combined onslaught of Kumogakure and the massive wave of bounty hunters.