Chapter 27: The Dead Deserve Respect
“Don’t worry, Haku will not leak any secrets.”
Uehara Naraku waved his hand, glanced at Haku, who was trembling with fright, and chuckled at Zabuza again, “Zabuza, your observation skills are too poor! Haku might look cute, but he’s a boy!”
Zabuza glanced at the thin Haku and said solemnly, “Hmph, you can rest assured, this little fellow has an Ice-Style Kekkei Genkai, and he will definitely not be an ordinary person in the future. Sooner or later, he will become a ninja!”
“Do you know Haku?”
“Although the existence of Kekkei Genkai ninja cannot be tolerated under the Blood Mist Doctrine, to us ninjas, a Kekkei Genkai is an extremely precious tool. Even if this little demon only has Ice-Style Kekkei Genkai in his body, he is no exception.”
Zabuza cursed his own Mizukage in his heart and continued with a deep voice, “At the beginning, this Little demon’s Ice-Style broke out and killed many people. After being found out by his village, I was responsible for dealing with him. Naturally, I have all of his information…. Mizukage was still there and the Kirigakure was unable to shelter him. The upper-level ninjas within the village could only turn a blind eye to him and let him wander the Land of Water.”
“Hahaha …”
Uehara laughed a few times and looked at the handsome young man beside him and said, “Well, looks like I’m lucky.”
“Hmph, I hope your luck will continue.”
Zabuza turned around and was about to leave here, not knowing how he felt, and added, “I am here to remind you. Don’t underestimate the guy you are looking for… the previous wielder of the Samehada* was helpless before him.”
[*TL Note: Samehada (literally meaning: Shark Skin) is a sentient sword utilized by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and is regarded as the most terrifying out of all the Seven Swordsmen’s blades.]
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
Uehara gazed at Zabuza’s fading silhouette and shouted, “Hey, Zabuza. If you don’t succeed in what you want to do, you can come and find me in the future, at the very least I can save your life.”
“Hmph, idiot!”
Zabuza cursed Uehara in a low voice.𝒇𝘳ee𝚠𝘦𝚋n૦𝐯el coｍ
According to Zabuza’s understanding of Uehara Naraku, he believed that this youngster would be unable to win over Hoshigaki Kisame, in fact, Uehara might be killed.
At this moment, the mission led by Kisame was to capture the invading Konoha Ninja, Kakashi. —To ensure its success, Kisame took several strong Jonin with him.
That meant that the Kirigakure’s defending forces were unprecedentedly low. Zabuza only dared to implement his plan to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage after confirming that.
………
In the northern area of the Land of Water.
In order to find Obito, Kakashi came to the Land of Water alone. From his experience, Obito would be lurking in this isolated country, looking for revenge.
Unexpectedly, Kakashi had not found Obito. Instead, he was found by the Kirigakure’s ninjas in the Land of Water. —Faced with Kakashi, who had the nickname Copy Ninja, the Kirigakure’s ninjas could do nothing. They quickly asked for support from their superiors.
This was a disaster.
While Kakashi was still trying to figure out what he should do next, the mysterious masked man received news of Kakashi.
…….
The mysterious masked man wanted to target Uehara and used Kakashi as bait to lure out the spy, Yukimi, cultivated by the Land of Fire. Unexpectedly, his goal had not been achieved yet, yet the bait had jumped out by himself.
Fortunately, the mysterious masked man had imprisoned Yukimi. This female spy ninja still hadn’t heard any news of Kakashi. If it was done correctly, it shouldn’t be any trouble.
All of these external forces had managed to fall perfectly into a closed loop.
Uehara wanted to find Kisame and take him back to the Akatsuki. Kisame wanted to find Kakashi and bring him back to Kirigakure to extract information about Konoha. Kakashi wanted to find Obito and take him back to Konoha to uncover the truth. Obito wanted to find Uehara and plunge him into darkness.
Of these people, most of them were just chess pieces.
Obito believed that everyone else was a chess piece he manipulated, including Uehara. While Uehara also believed that everyone else was a chess piece that he guided, even Obito.
The fight between the two of them depended on who stood on the higher level.
……..
The 2nd day.
Uehara followed the route Kisame took and wanted to rush to the northern outpost of the Kirigakure in Land of Water to lie in ambush.
Uehara did not take Haku on his mission, instead, he let him stay in the Land of Water’s Daimyo’s Mansion. He planned to wait until Zabuza failed to assassinate the Mizukage and became a Missing-nin before taking Haku and Zabuza away together.
The northern outpost the Kirigakure setup was destined to become quite lively.
There were four ninja teams led by Jonin stationed in the output all year round, for a total of 16 people, according to the standard formation of 1 Jonin Captain + 3 Chunin and 1 Chunin Captain + 3 Genin.
If you wanted to catch Hatake Kakashi, just one Jonin, it wouldn’t be enough. The Kirigakure Jonin Captain had seen the strength of Hatake Kakashi before and would not take the initiative to attack.
However, if Kakashi were allowed to escape, it was not in line with a Kirigakure’s Ninja’s temperament. This Kirigakure Jonin took wartime strategy very seriously, leading his subordinates to entangle Kakashi and wait for reinforcement from the village.
Hatake Kakashi was one of Konoha’s most important ninja in recent years. If he were caught, he would be able to provide a huge amount of Konoha’s information, which would greatly help their dream of defeating Konoha.
“Team 13, take care of the left side!”
“Understood!”
“Team 15, take care of the right side!”
“Understood!”
“Team 20, you’re responsible for the rear and filling in any gaps!”
“Understood!”
“Team11, on me. Even if Kakashi is entangled by shurikens, remember, you must never look directly at his Sharingan!”
“Yes, Captain!”
Four teams from the Kirigakure were still entangling Kakashi in this area. —Their actions had delayed Kakashi’s plans to escape and forced Kakashi to stay. Kakashi had to find a way to fight back and deal with this group of Kirigakure Ninja.
…….
While Kakashi hid, Uehara had arrived in this area. He quickly found their traces using his Dancing Air Technique.
The young ninja landed in front of many Kirigakure Ninjas.
Drawing surprised and vigilant gazes from the many Kirigakure Ninjas. Uehara put on a pure smile and asked, “Is anyone interested in playing a game with me??”
“…”
The Kirigakure Jonin hesitated for a second, then he squeezed the ninja sword in his hand and shouted to his subordinates, “Act according to the original plan, don’t let this kid interfere with our affairs, kill him!”
Kirigakure Ninja’s true colour was revealed by their decisive killing intent!
Following the command of the Jonin Captain, the Kirigakure Ninjas did not hesitate. They threw more than a dozen shurikens at Uehara!
“WIND-RELEASE · BARRIER OF WIND!”
A wind wall blocked all the shuriken that flew towards him!
The smile on Uehara’s face did not falter. He slowly clasped his hands and continued in a low voice, “Although you were very mean to me, I still choose to forgive you… after the dead deserve respect!”