Chương 135: Hire Trouble
Kirigakure had been considering whether, after what happened in Konoha, it could try some tricks to snatch resources from the Land of Fire. However, things seemed to take a turn for the worse, and they began to receive worrying information.
After the disappearance of the Fire Daimyo, all the others had fallen into persecutory paranoia, and each village had to divert some "elites" to protect them.
The Water Daimyo went even further and demanded that Kirigakure send several powerful kunoichis to be by his side and protect him 24/7. However, with their reputation, the Kirigakure council knew that there were second intentions.
The really annoying part was that over the last month, rumors and fake news of conspiracies within Kirigakure started spreading, sowing distrust among citizens and leaders.
The information exaggerated internal tensions in the village, portraying leaders as incompetent or corrupt, touching a sensitive nerve for many who feared the memory and return of the Bloody Mist.
Mei Terumi, as the new Mizukage, was so busy that the dark edges under her eyes were due to lack of sleep, not an attempt at a new makeup style. Even the members of the Kirigakure council looked apathetic due to all the extra work.
Gaara would feel so identified with her if he saw her!
Now, this was by no means the only problem that the Mizukage and her people had to solve.
Someone had been poisoning the scarce granaries, markets, and freshwater sources throughout the Land of Water. This caused a shortage of most essential foods and resources, generating discomfort and discontent among the population due to having to maintain an exclusively marine diet.
Most cereals, fruits, and vegetables were acquired for nobles or the village, preventing their forces from falling ill and being able to continue operating.
But when common people get sick or weakened, production and labor also decrease, and many projects suffered delays that affected Kirigakure's plans. This was especially true when their blacksmiths fell into bed.
The effect on the economy was painful since they were only above Sunagakure in that aspect, even more so with the sudden appearance of bandits and thieves, fostering insecurity in the streets and roads. The village should have been able to take care of them easily, but they seemed to disappear before their arrival.
The immediate question was whether these bandits were ninjas from some village, but after much investigation, they concluded that they could only be rogue ninjas who, for some reason, had moved to their land.
Konoha was focused on recovering from the attack, while Sunagakure and Kumogakure seemed to have had some major conflict, and several clashes had erupted between them, leaving the rest of the ninja world bewildered but watching from the sidelines, enjoying the show.
They didn't even consider if it was Iwagakure; it was too far away, and there was no benefit in sending so few people to the other end of the world to turn them into bandits. Some rank C missions would be enough to surpass those gains.
Terumi was so fed up and about to go out herself to vent, but she encountered walls of administrative documents that prevented her from leaving the village.
How she wished she could dissolve those damn papers...
An additional month passed trying to solve everything, working overtime, and things seemed to improve...
Until it got even tenser when news was shouted from the rooftops about the death of the Water Daimyo at the hands of a kunoichi from Kirigakure!
One of the same kunoichis who were sent to "protect" the damn Daimyo!
Terumi felt a lightning bolt through her mind when she heard it, and immediately, a pursuit of the traitor took place, sending no less than three squads of Anbu hunters. Simultaneously, several people from the counterintelligence department worked to increase doubts about this news among the population, dismissing it as false and used to confuse people.
Even if it were true, make it a lie!
Kirigakure's credibility in that regard cannot be tarnished.
A week later, the traitor kunoichi was captured just before she could leave the Land of Water and was taken to the torture department to extract information.
When the Mizukage and the Kirigakure Council heard the reason the Daimyo was murdered, they were left speechless.
The elite kunoichi fell under the genjutsu of a third party, and by the time she regained consciousness, she already had the kunai stuck in the Daimyo's neck and was covered in warm blood!
Knowing that no one would believe her and that she would have to bear the blame and pay with her life even if she were innocent, she decisively left the castle and tried to escape to save her life.
This was especially true since Terumi knew that this particular kunoichi possessed a minor Kekkei Genkai that made her especially resistant to illusions.
Who was so skilled with illusions that could make her fall under their control?
Itachi, counting the money from the last Akatsuki mission, sneezed at that moment.
Furthermore, a certain Kakuzu had been hunting all Kirigakure ninjas he encountered throughout the Land of Water for the past two days, sparing not even the genin, cheerfully murmuring prices and something about free hearts every time he got a new head.
It is possible or not that Enel had drafted a lucrative contract for the money lover in which, for a month, every Kirigakure ninja head he gets can be redeemed for a certain amount of money or gold based on their ninja rank.
No limit on the number of redemptions within that time!
He also assigned him some optional special tasks that would provide him with a high-quality heart for his body if completed.
After all, preparing some organs was simple for him, and he just needed to spend some time in the lab.
When Kakuzu witnessed firsthand the quality of the heart, he pounded his chest and assured that he would complete everything in less than a month. Moreover, he was willing to accept hearts of this quality instead of money in future missions.
He could get money his way, but he knew how rare and EXPENSIVE hearts of this level were. Even if he didn't use them for an extra life, he could sell them on the black market for an absurd amount of money.
And perhaps there was a little additional secret deal in which Kakuzu could get more hearts in exchange for certain actions that would benefit Seimeigakure...
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