The nature of their mission determined Kei Yamanaka and Minato Namikaze's approach.
They couldn't afford to reveal their identities.
At the very least, they couldn't allow Sunagakure or Kirigakure's leadership to discover that Konoha had gotten involved in their conflict.
Otherwise, Konoha—who already drew attention like a walking ["Taunt" skill]—would once again become everyone's main target, as it had during the previous Great Ninja World Wars.
And both of them would definitely face questioning from Konoha's leadership.
Additionally, with Samehada missing, Fuguki Suikazan was clearly teetering on the edge of losing control.
This kind of reckless behavior—fighting freely within civilian villages—would not only intensify the conflict between Suna and Kiri, dramatically accelerating the war's progression, but also expose Kei Yamanaka and Minato Namikaze once Samehada's final location came under scrutiny.
Under these circumstances,
Unless they could somehow return Samehada to Fuguki Suikazan unnoticed and under a suitable pretext,
Their only other option was to silence him permanently—
Framing Suna completely for the disappearance of Samehada.
"We can talk. Just return Samehada to me, and this has nothing to do with Konoha…"
Fuguki Suikazan's thoughts raced.
As one of Kiri's Anbu leaders, he knew quite a bit of intelligence.
His understanding of the [Heart-Disrupting Technique] surpassed even that of most ninja.
Despite being an S-rank secret technique due to its extreme difficulty to learn,
Its real danger was that once it landed successfully, the target would be completely helpless to resist!
Like fish on the chopping block—helpless, with nowhere to run.
To survive, he was willing to compromise—even if that meant giving up Samehada... or betraying his own village!
"Have we said it enough times? Die like a man! Show a little backbone, will you?"
Kei Yamanaka gave Fuguki Suikazan a contemptuous side-eye.
Then, with a single mental command,
The ninja under the influence of the [Heart-Disrupting Technique] simultaneously pulled out the kunai at their waists, aiming them directly at Fuguki Suikazan.
"Wait! Take Samehada! I won't tell anyone about you! Stop! Stop! I—I can give you information about Kirigakure! I know a lot! Top-secret stuff!"
"Stop! I... I can start a war between Kiri and Suna! I can be your spy!"
"Don't! I'm useful! I'm part of Kiri's leadership! I…"
Humanity's darkest sides were fully laid bare by Fuguki Suikazan in that moment.
But Kei Yamanaka had long since run out of patience for listening to this guy's nonsense.
Even the Mizukage of Kiri had been controlled by Madara Uchiha.
What real value could Fuguki offer as a double agent?
More than likely, Madara would see through him the moment they met.
That wouldn't solve their current problem—and worse, it could bring Madara's attention onto him, finally revealing someone who had stayed hidden until now.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
The sharp sound of kunai slicing through air rang out.
Fuguki Suikazan couldn't control his body at all, helplessly watching kunai pierce him one by one—throat, heart, spleen, liver, kidneys...
[Ding~ Eliminated a notable supporting character. Minor disruption to worldline progression detected. Reward: x1 Keyword Draw Opportunity, x1 Keyword Gift Opportunity.]
The familiar system notification chimed the moment Fuguki Suikazan died.
Kei Yamanaka slightly raised his eyebrows.
He quickly realized the system's criteria for class-specific quests and major events were far more flexible than he'd assumed.
Notable supporting character?
Was Fuguki really considered notable?
In the original story, this guy appeared only a handful of times.
His greatest contribution was probably heavily influencing Kisame Hoshigaki—a significant supporting character—and indirectly advancing part of the main plot.
So...
Kei shifted his gaze toward Pakura standing nearby.
"Hmm… The most beautiful back in the ninja world, betrayed by her own village leadership and turned into a pincushion by kunai…"
He flipped through Pakura's information in his Memory Palace.
Kei looked at Pakura with pity, who was pretending to be helpless while secretly gathering strength.
This girl was hands-down the ultimate tragic fool!
Earlier, Kei had been wondering whether killing Pakura might earn him some rewards.
But after reading about her story…
Killing her probably wouldn't yield anything useful?
A Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai user whose fame in the ninja world overshadowed even Fuguki Suikazan's.
According to the normal storyline, she had virtually no impact on the main plot!
While alive, she loyally served the village and was honored as its hero, yet the village leadership sold her out just to negotiate peace with Mist.
Later, during her Impure World Reincarnation, she was forced to face her idiotically moral student spouting illogical, disgustingly self-righteous nonsense before finally dying once more in frustration and returning to the Pure Land.
And the movie version was even worse—she appeared solely as a corpse, her Kekkei Genkai immediately stolen by Shimon Hiruko's Chimera Jutsu.
"Seriously… She's the unluckiest soul in the entire ninja world…"
For once, Kei was genuinely at a loss for words.
He struggled to find words to express just how much worse off she was compared to Sakumo Hatake—Legend of the White Fang.
At least Sakumo had a son who eventually understood him.
Pakura…
Emmm…
Kei could confidently say there'd be absolutely no reward for killing her off now.
But what if he flipped the script?
The system clearly based its rewards on the degree of influence an action had on the main storyline.
If Pakura's fate were significantly altered, given her status in Sunagakure and her strength far surpassing ordinary Jonin, she could easily have a considerable effect on the main plot!
Pakura, receiving a whirlwind of expressions from Kei—from pity to sudden excitement—was momentarily bewildered.
Once she snapped back to reality, she immediately categorized him as a pervert!
First, he wore that harmless smile, cheerfully manipulating everyone to turn Suikazan into a hedgehog with kunai.
Then he kept changing expressions, staring at her like that.
Was he choosing which expression to wear when he killed her?
Tch! Pervert!
What a twisted psyche.
Konoha really has its share of weirdos!
"Kei, stop messing around. If ordinary people see this, it'll cause us some trouble."
Minato Namikaze sighed in exasperation when he noticed Kei Yamanaka hadn't moved for a while.
"Fine."
Kei responded briefly.
Still holding the one-handed seal, he suddenly increased his chakra output.
Pakura, who had been secretly gathering strength, tensed up.
The chakra she had been slowly collecting inside her body—meant to break free from Kei's control at the final moment—disappeared from her senses in an instant.
Her hands uncontrollably formed the hand seals for [Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder].
A deeply ingrained instinct took over, guiding chakra along pathways it had traveled countless times before.
The fireball from [Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder] erupted from her palms, hurtling toward the Mist shinobi!
Several Mist shinobi, terror-stricken yet powerless, wore expressions of despair on their faces.
Controlled by Kei, they lunged forward, slamming into the fireball, while their hands continued forming seals rapidly.
[Water Release: Water Bullet], [Water Release: Water Fang Bullet], [Water Release: Water Shark Breakthrough]...
One after another, the water techniques arced around the fireball, racing toward the stunned Sunagakure ninja, still frozen in place.
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