Past midnight...
"Ca-."
Danzo tried to shout the word "cat," but as the sound left his throat, the creature's tail suddenly grew enormous. It swept horizontally, slamming into his chin from below.
*Crack...*
With a sharp snap, his jawbone completely shattered, leaving him unable to speak.
'Hanzo's here,' Takeshi thought.
Under Sage Mode, Takeshi's senses were sharp. The moment Hanzo turned his head, he felt it instantly. Once he was close enough, Takeshi didn't hesitate. He leaped, driving an ice blade straight into Danzo's heart.
Then, he sprang back violently.
Enhanced by Senjutsu Chakra, his Ice Release was vastly stronger. The ice blade on his paw was now harder and sharper than many ninja swords. With another swift movement, Danzo's head was severed.
It wasn't cruelty. Decapitation was a common ANBU method to prevent enemies from retrieving information from a corpse.
In the next second, Takeshi shifted back to human form, canceled the Flying Thunder God mark on the body, scattered a pile of explosive tags, and vanished from the scene with swift speed.
A moment after he left...
*Boom!* An earth-shattering explosion consumed Danzo's body and head.
Takeshi's feet just happened to have fresh bloodstains, leaving a clear trail of footprints. Hanzo arrived just as the explosion erupted, seeing only a lone figure escaping the blast.
'Danzo is dead? So quickly!?' Hanzo was stunned. Even he couldn't have finished Danzo that quickly. Who was this attacker, possessing such incredible strength?
But there was no time for shock. The enemy had clearly just finished with Danzo. Given Danzo's abilities, he must have wounded them, maybe even severely. Perhaps Hanzo could chase them down, capture them, and provide an explanation to Konohagakure.
The old Hanzo would never have entertained such thoughts. What did Konoha matter? Amegakure could stand alone.
Yet, at this moment, he had forgotten his original purpose and beliefs. His mind held only thoughts like 'preserve Amegakure,' 'preserve strength and power.'
Chasing at full speed, Hanzo quickly spotted the trail of bloodstains and footprints. It rained year-round in the Land of Rain, he had to catch the enemy quickly before the rain washed the blood away and tracking became impossible.
But after chasing for a while, the bloodstains grew fainter. Finally, they disappeared altogether, even the footprints vanishing.
There was a river ahead, and the trail stopped abruptly at the bank.
'...Damn,' Hanzo thought, taking a deep breath. He couldn't catch the enemy.
Returning to the blast site, a few Root ninja had already arrived. Nothing remained. The explosive tags had gouged a large crater, and the rain was already washing away any trace of ashes.
"I saw someone escape, but the trail ended by the river," Hanzo said, his voice low. Just looking at their blank faces, he knew they hadn't found a single clue.
"Hanzo-sama, we will take our leave," the Root members stated, their tone cold and flat.
Danzo's death was a massive blow to Konoha and Root. What baffled them most was how Danzo-sama could be killed so quickly, leaving absolutely no remains. Most Root agents had already pulled out of the Land of Rain, only a handful remained.
In the current situation, only one person here was capable of such a feat.
The Demigod of the Shinobi World, Hanzo the Salamander.
Hanzo drew another deep breath, his heart heavy as a mountain, it didn't take him long to figure out what happened. This was a trap. Use Yahiko and his group as bait to lure him away, then assassinated Danzo and frame him. Whoever did this must be working with Yahiko's group.
He didn't bother explaining. In this situation, any words would be weak and meaningless. Besides, anyone with a shred of sense would realize he had no reason to kill Danzo.
The only way out of this now was to capture Yahiko and his group. The Akatsuki members alone wouldn't be enough, the attacker wouldn't have shared the full plan with subordinates.
Hanzo immediately set off after Akatsuki.
But Yahiko's group had planned their escape meticulously from the start. The moment Takeshi made his move, they withdrew quickly, heading north. If Hanzo hadn't chased Takeshi, he might have caught them. As it was, after chasing all the way, he only saw a few small dots in the distance, ships sailing away on the sea off the coast of the Land of Waterfall.
--**--**
Takeshi used Flying Thunder God to return to the Ninja Cat Fortress and immediately devoured three bags of special cat food. That brief burst of activity hadn't drained much chakra, but his physical stamina had plummeted. If he'd kept it up, his combat power would have dropped significantly.
'As expected, I'm still pretty weak,' he thought.
"Takeshi-sama..."
"Meow~ Where's that lazy pig? Tell him he doesn't need to come out," Takeshi meowed.
"Uh, okay," Kanna replied. She decided not to mention that 'lazy pig' Nekomata hadn't woken up yet, suspecting his fate would be rather unfortunate if Takeshi found out.
Takeshi rested for a long time and even took a bath.
By afternoon, he used Flying Thunder God again, returning to Kakashi and the others. The jump from the Fortress to the Land of Snow had cost a huge amount of chakra. Even Takeshi was down to barely ten percent. He quickly stuffed another bag of cat food into himself.
"You..." Kakashi blinked, then reached out to stroke the black cat. He was surprisingly warm.
"Meow! I've been fighting hard in the Land of Snow this whole time. You guys done yet?" Takeshi meowed.
'So warm and fluffy, fighting hard my foot,' Kakashi thought. 'He probably just hid in someone's house and slept all day.'
Kakashi was speechless for a moment, then whispered, "Is the mission complete?"
The black cat gave a small nod. Takeshi looked around. This seemed to be on a train in the Land of Snow...
Speaking of which, the Land of Snow was kind of weird. 'Why is their technology so far ahead?' Takeshi wondered. He didn't really get it.
Nearby, Guy looked distinctly uneasy. Genma and Ebisu, however, seemed perfectly relaxed, enjoying the scenery. No worry about ambushes on the way back, after all.
Takeshi glanced around, then whispered to Kakashi, "Those guys are rogue ninja, meow. Completely useless!"
"Rogue ninja?" Kakashi mused, nodding thoughtfully. He didn't press for details. Takeshi telling him even this much was, in a sense, already revealing a secret. Asking more or talking about it would be inconsiderate.
Soon, the train arrived at the station. Their ships were docked at the port. They disembarked and quickly headed back to the ship. At this point, Guy's face turned completely green. He promptly collapsed onto a bench, feigning death.
His attitude was a total turnaround from how he'd been on the coast.
"Guy, is it really that bad?" Kakashi asked.
"I... I'm... still okay..." Guy stammered, sitting up stubbornly to save face.
Takeshi just watched him, saying nothing, simply squatting beside Guy and waiting for the ship to depart. He saw Guy's hand trembling.
Once the ship set sail, Guy immediately reverted to his pathetic state from the trip out, lying on the bench like a corpse.
"Meow~ Didn't you say you were fine?" Takeshi poked his face with a paw.
Guy just made muffled sounds, completely unresponsive.
'No consciousness, no points either,' Takeshi thought. Still, he wasn't worried. He was sure he'd earned a huge haul of points from killing Danzo. Guy's points were peanuts by comparison.
Takeshi opened his system panel to check.
More than 27,000.
Over 12,000 points gained just like that, and they were still slowly climbing...
'Good!' he thought. He killed Danzo and even got paid for it. Sure, he used explosive tags, but those belonged to Akatsuki. Takeshi hadn't paid for them himself.
The ship sailed for half a day. Takeshi suddenly sensed a spatial coordinate flicker in the distance. He looked up, eyes scanning the horizon, and faintly saw a few small dots far out on the sea.
He casually tapped a small piece of broken wood on the deck with his paw and used Flying Thunder God to send it over.
On another ship, Konan was consumed by anxiety.
"Konan, he'll be fine," Nagato whispered. Takeshi's strength was something even Nagato, with his Rinnegan, couldn't fully grasp. How could such a person be killed by someone like Danzo? The only real worry was exposure.
That was precisely why Konan was so worried. They couldn't talk about it too much, Takeshi's actions were always highly secretive, and he clearly didn't want his involvement known. They couldn't be the ones to give him away.
But just then, a piece of wood appeared on Konan's shoulder. Her eyes lit up, and she nodded, a wave of relief washing over her.
===============
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