Chapter 192: Dawn

The capital of the Land of Craftsmen.

A middle-aged man with a black eye patch over his right eye frowned as he listened to his subordinate's report: "Lord Qing, the squad dispatched for the interception mission has been wiped out."

"I understand," said the middle-aged man named 'Qing,' his expression grave and voice steady. "Make sure the client doesn't leave his residence during this period."

"Yes."

Watching his ninja subordinate vanish in a body flicker, Qing lifted his hand and gently touched the black eye patch over his right eye.

"Akatsuki."

"You cannot escape this eye."

As an elder-level Jonin of Kirigakure, the middle-aged man had naturally heard of the Akatsuki organization, especially since it included renegades from his own village.

But so what? Qing was confident he could protect this major client from the Akatsuki—after all, with his 【Byakugan】, his perception far surpassed that of ordinary ninjas.

That was precisely why Lady Choumei had sent him to carry out this mission.

"The village has been sealed off too long; as the beginning of our transformation, this mission must not fail."

Recalling the isolationist policy of the Fourth Mizukage, Qing's expression darkened.

If he hadn't broken the genjutsu placed upon the Fourth, the village would still be enforcing the so-called "Blood Mist Village" policy.

That policy had claimed the lives of countless precious kekkei genkai users in the village.

Yet even now, Kirigakure still did not know who had struck down the Fourth Mizukage.

After the Fourth Mizukage's death, the village fell under the control of the Elder Council, and the Lady Choumi he now served was a strong contender for the next Mizukage.

And her stance was…

Actively engage with the outside world—restore Kirigakure's greatness!

As a veteran of the Akatsuki, Sasori, though usually holed up in his base like a shut-in, showed no lack of expertise when handling contracts.

Soon, he used a forged identity to check Li Ang into a lodging near the mission site.

Since they didn't know how many Kirigakure ninjas were hidden in the city, the two refrained from acting rashly.

Although in Li Ang's view, either he or Sasori could forcibly eliminate the target.

After all, among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Kirigakure was surely the weakest—its ranks filled with the old, weak, sick, and injured; the only one even remotely formidable was Lady Lei Ting.

Only because of its peculiar geography had Kumogakure not yet come knocking to extort them militarily.

In the cramped lodging room, Sasori rasped: "I've gathered all the intel. The Kirigakure team leader is a Jonin named Qing."

As he spoke, he glanced at the ring on Li Ang's hand.

The puppet master hadn't expected such a coincidence.

And when Li Ang first heard the name 'Qing,' he'd felt the same way—his own Akatsuki codename was also 'Qing.'

But soon he found the name strangely familiar.

After deep thought, Li Ang suddenly realized—wasn't this the Kirigakure ninja with the 【Byakugan】?!

He'd only been thinking about it before; he never imagined the man would come to him himself.

As Li Ang pondered this, Sasori continued: "He possesses a 【Byakugan】 stolen from Konoha."

"So we just storm in and kill them all?"

Li Ang spoke as he made a slashing motion with his hand.

Originally, his plan had been to simply plant a marker on the target and kill him with Gungnir in one shot.

But now that the item he needed had appeared, he couldn't proceed that way anymore.

'But does the eye need to be removed while the host is still alive?'

After brief consideration, Li Ang deduced that under normal circumstances, yes—otherwise, Sharingan and Byakugan would be everywhere in the Ninja World.

The abnormal case would be someone like Qing or Danzo, who aren't the original owners of the eyes.

They can't actively shut them off; otherwise, they wouldn't need to seal them away daily.

Seizing their eyes likely doesn't require them to be alive.

Realizing this, Li Ang began to form a plan.

Upon hearing Li Ang's words, Sasori fell silent for a moment, then spoke: "Their garrison strength can't stop us. Summon your puppet. Strike swiftly."

He disliked wasting time.

Now that they'd clearly assessed the Kirigakure ninjas' defensive strength, there was no need to remain hidden.

A single 【Byakugan】? Those Kirigakure ninjas don't seriously believe it'll make any difference, do they?

After all, the 【Byakugan】's famed ability is useless against puppet masters like us.

With the plan settled, Li Ang and Sasori waited quietly inside the room.

It was still some time until nightfall; they planned to act only after complete darkness fell.

Soon, night blanketed the land, and the capital of the Land of Craftsmen grew quiet.

Two figures—one tall, one short—stood atop a building, gazing at the brightly lit mansion in the distance.

"I've confirmed the target's hiding location. I'll carry out the decapitation; you hold off the Kirigakure ninjas."

Originally, Sasori had planned to hold off the ninjas himself and let Li Ang perform the decapitation.

But since he'd gathered the intel and was more familiar with the terrain than his companion,

and given the destructive power displayed by Li Ang's unknown kekkei genkai, Sasori adjusted their roles.

Li Ang readily agreed to Sasori's arrangement—indeed, it suited him perfectly: "No problem."

"Don't slow me down."

After dropping those final words, Sasori manipulated his Hiryu Sō to vanish from the spot.

Li Ang stared at the distant mansion, swiftly forming five hand seals, then slammed his palm onto the ground.

Boom—

Accompanied by a puff of white smoke, Odin, who was in the Land of Rain, instantly appeared beside him.

'This summoning technique really is too convenient.'

Have to say, the Naruto world really does have a lot of good things.

There are many techniques that would be considered extremely advanced in other worlds, yet in this world they can be achieved simply with chakra.

Chakra, as the power that allowed the Ōtsutsuki clan to dominate the starry skies, truly has its unique merits.

'I really can't wait to change class.'

With that thought, Li Ang and Odin vanished in an instant.

Inside the mansion.

Ao was sitting cross-legged in a dark room, and at some unknown point the eyepatch over his right eye had been removed; terrifying blue veins pulsed faintly around the eye.

At this moment, the entire world in the eyes of this Kirigakure jōnin had turned into black and white.

'Judging from the time the ambush failed, the enemy should have entered the city several days ago.'

'They haven't made a move because they're gathering intelligence?'

In Ao's view, a shinobi was undoubtedly a profession that tested patience, and time happened to be on their side.

After all, they could wait indefinitely, but the enemy, as assassins, could not.

'The traps are all set. Now we just wait for them to walk right in.'

Through his Byakugan, Ao could see the Kirigakure shinobi hidden throughout the mansion, as well as the explosive tag traps they had laid in advance.

With such an all-encompassing net of a setup, he was confident that even if the ones carrying out the mission were Kage-level strongmen from the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they would absolutely suffer dearly for it.

Li Ang's assessment of this was that the man had never been hammered by Gao Da, which was why he harbored such unrealistic fantasies.

Setting aside Gao Da, among the current Kage of the remaining three Great Shinobi Villages besides Kirigakure and Sunagakure, which one couldn't speed-run this?

Just as Ao was using his Byakugan to observe the surroundings, a sense of threat from an unknown source suddenly swept through his entire body, making every hair on him stand on end.

'Enemy?! Where did they come from?!'

The moment this thought flashed through his mind, his Byakugan caught a figure descending from the sky through the roof.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ao immediately pulled the alarm beside him.

The next instant, the clear, crisp ring of the bronze bell instantly spread throughout the entire mansion.

Hearing the sound, the Kirigakure shinobi hidden in the shadows immediately stood ready for battle.

Boom—

Amid the dull, heavy crash, a tall figure wearing a black cloak with red clouds landed right in the center of the mansion; web-like, fine cracks spread outward from beneath his feet.

Seeing this, Ao in the dark room's expression darkened slightly: "Nintaijutsu? A Kumogakure rogue ninja?"

It wasn't strange for him to think this way, after all, among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, only Kumogakure produced shinobi with such exaggerated physical strength.

Calling them shinobi, they were more like warriors — practically the exact opposite of Kirigakure, which specialized in assassination arts.

However, Kumogakure wasn't entirely made up of this type either; there were also those skilled in assassination arts among them.

But Ao couldn't be bothered to think that much. He couldn't help but silently spit: "Creatures without the soul of a shinobi."

Just then, his Byakugan once again caught a figure, though this time the commotion wasn't nearly as great as before.

Watching the two people who had landed in the courtyard one after the other, Ao didn't hesitate for a moment and immediately detonated the explosive tag traps near them.

BOOM BOOM BOOM—!

Accompanied by violent explosions, raging tongues of fire instantly engulfed the two.

Seeing this, Ao couldn't help but curl his lip.

That's it?