Chapter 99: An Unexpected Casualty
A familiar silhouette swam into his blurred vision. Sakumo Hatake fought to peel his eyelids open, but all he could make out was a haze of violet chakra.
Is Lord Hokage here?
He tried to speak, to form a word, but his throat was locked in silence.
The moment Danzo saw Stelle appear, it was as if a child had found their parent after being wronged; he scrambled toward her, his face a mask of indignation.
"Stelle, you're finally here!" he cried, his voice thick with complaint. "That bastard Shamon actually dared to use the One-Tails on me! He nearly killed me! And it wasn't just me—he got Sakumo, too. Look at him! Such a handsome young man, and now he's nearly disfigured, lying there unable to move. You must teach Shamon a harsh lesson and show him that Konoha's dignity is not to be trifled with!"
He punctuated his tirade with a cold snort. "I think it's high time the Land of Wind had a Third Kazekage."
Stelle almost lost the battle to keep her face straight. Not only had Danzo apparently adopted Kakuzu's avarice, but he'd also developed a severe case of delusion. How could he, a Hokage Advisor, stand before another nation's Kage and whine like a tattling child?
Shamon, who had just managed to recover his bearings after dodging Stelle's reflected Vacuum Sphere, was so incensed by Danzo's audacity that he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
You're a damn Konoha Hokage Advisor! A man of high station! Is that how a shinobi of your rank is supposed to speak? he raged internally. Your people show up in my village, and what else could you possibly be doing but spying? When we catch you, are we supposed to entertain you with fine food and drink, then carry you out in a grand sedan chair? The sheer nerve of this villain, suing first!
But beneath his fury, a cold dread was taking root. Shamon was nervous. Shamon was afraid.
Several years had passed since their last encounter, and Senju Stelle was undoubtedly even stronger now. If she trapped him in one of those violet barriers, it would be a death sentence.
He took two involuntary steps back, his heart hammering against his ribs. His fear of Senju Stelle was no less potent than his fear of Uchiha Madara. It wasn't that he was a coward; he had personally witnessed her trap the Kages of four great nations in her ultimate technique. When the barrier finally fell, all four of them were left sprawled on the ground, utterly defeated. Who could possibly remain calm in the face of such a monster?
A sharp whoosh tore through the air as Senju Stelle's figure blurred, launching into the sky. As she ascended, a massive sphere of chakra, wreathed in crackling purple flames, materialized in her hand. A terrifying pressure radiated from it, so immense it felt hard to breathe.
Then, she began her descent. The chakra sphere swelled abruptly, expanding to several times its original size in the blink of an eye. Trailing an aura of heart-stopping power, it smashed violently onto the massive, sand-wrought head of the One-Tails, Shukaku.
"BOOM!"
With a deafening roar, Shukaku's enormous body was sent flying. It crashed into the desert with miserable force, kicking up a colossal cloud of sand that billowed outward like the beginnings of a sandstorm.
When the dust finally began to settle, the sand armor encasing the Tailed Beast was mottled and broken. It was clear from the shift in its energy that Bunpuku's consciousness had been restored.
With a single, decisive blow, the rampaging beast that had left everyone at their wits' end had been pacified.
"Fourth Hokage," Shamon called out, his hands quietly forming seals behind his back as cold sweat soaked through his robes. "Our Hidden Sand Village has already signed a peace treaty with Konoha. Surely you wouldn't tear it up so lightly, would you?"
How can such a monstrous woman exist? he thought, his mind reeling. Her speed, her strength… both have grown. She makes me, the Second Kazekage, look utterly useless.
Stelle didn't even grant him a second glance. Her gaze fell upon the wounded shinobi on the ground. "One of our Konoha ninja was caught in your village's internal strife and was left in this state. How do you intend to explain this to me?"
Before Shamon could answer, another, more mature female voice cut through the tension. "How about I personally donate two hundred million ryō to Lord Hokage for the construction of a new residence? The Hidden Sand Village is so poor, it's not even as wealthy as I am."
That voice…
Shamon's expression changed drastically. He spun around. "You… How are you not dead?"
He saw Kazushi, who had been kneeling motionless on the sand just moments before, rising to her feet as if fully resurrected. Shamon could hardly believe his eyes. She looked completely unharmed, standing tall with a faint, knowing smile and an imposing aura. The deathly pallor had vanished from her face, the staggering weakness was gone; it was as if her earlier frailty had been nothing more than his own hallucination.
"You weren't poisoned?" he breathed in disbelief.
Kazushi looked at him with an expression of pity. "I'm the one who provides the funding for the research institute. You didn't really think you could secretly develop a poison without someone telling me, did you?"
"You did it on purpose," Shamon whispered, a horrifying realization dawning on him. His face went pale. "Then, in the village…?"
"That's right," Kazushi confirmed, her voice cool and even. "Most of the families that supported you have already been dealt with. If I hadn't done this, how else could I have rooted them all out at once? If you hurry back now, you might just catch a final glimpse of them."
The words had barely left her lips before Shamon turned and sprinted desperately toward the Hidden Sand Village, a man running toward the ruins of his ambition.
Kazushi ignored his frantic retreat and turned to Stelle, her eyes glinting as if seeking praise. "Fourth Hokage, it is a pleasure to meet you for the first time."
Stelle gave a reserved nod, her tone calm. "A pleasure. When will the funds be delivered?"
"Within one week. Is the Fourth Hokage satisfied? As a gesture of friendship, I will also send a chest of jewels." Kazushi felt quite flush with cash lately; giving a little extra was no great matter. After all, they were all on the same side.
"It's a deal."
Just then, a voice drifted from the distant desert, growing louder with each passing second. It was Kakuzu, and he was shouting with frantic urgency as he ran. "Hey, Kazushi, are you okay?! I'm only one month away from my quarterly bonus! Don't you dare die! If you're going to die, wait until after I get paid!"
A wave of secondhand embarrassment washed over Kazushi, so potent it could have crossed national borders.
"Shut up!"
Kakuzu finally squeezed through a crowd of Sand ninja. Seeing that Kazushi was indeed fine, he let out a heavy sigh of relief. "It's good you're not dead. That's good. You know, I think I'll just skip this paid leave in the future. Just give me triple pay and count it as overtime. It's safer if I just keep an eye on you. What do you think?"
He even knows about triple pay for overtime.
Kazushi pressed her fingers to her forehead. "Fine, fine, fine. But I'm docking a hundred ryō from you today."
"Why?!" Kakuzu's eyes widened in protest.
"Because when you came running over just now, the first foot you stepped out with was your left—just like Shamon."
Kakuzu was left speechless.
With Shamon's loyalists already taken prisoner by Kazushi's forces and a friendly understanding reached with Konoha, the Sand's main army began to withdraw.
On Konoha's side, Hyuga Gen's injuries were not severe; he had already been roused by the medical-nin. But Sakumo Hatake was still locked in a coma, his complexion a ghastly, death-like gray.
Stelle walked over, her brow furrowed with concern, and addressed the medic. "How is he?"
The medical-nin's expression was grim. "Lord Hokage, Hatake-jōnin's injuries are too severe. I… I can't do anything."
Stelle stared at the unconscious Sakumo, dumbfounded. Her gaze flicked to the distant Kazushi, who nearly tripped over her own feet upon overhearing the medic's words. Stelle's own voice came out as a stammer.
"Wh-what did you say? Say that again?"
She was just a little late, and something this catastrophic had happened? Kakashi's father was just… gone? This had to be a joke.
The medical-nin, long numbed by the sight of death on the battlefield, calmly reported the situation. "Shattered sternum, severe damage to the internal organs, multiple ribs have pierced his heart, and his chakra is completely depleted. His life is hanging by a thread."
In short, the final summary was that he had one breath left, but he was incurable. Even returning to Konoha wouldn't help; he would stop breathing long before they made it back. As a professional chosen by the Hokage's Advisor for this mission, his assessment was clinical and absolute.
Stelle didn't care about protocol. She pushed the medic aside and knelt to perform her own diagnostic scan on Sakumo. When she finished, a cold stun settled over her.
It was exactly as the medical-nin had said. Sakumo Hatake had only a single, flickering breath left. He was about to be gone. Tobirama had been in this exact state back then; ordinary medical ninjutsu was useless against it.
"Hey, hey, Sakumo, pull yourself together," she urged, her voice tight with rising panic.
If you die, what am I going to do about Kakashi?!
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