Chapter 71: Nawaki’s Death
Ten days later, a Vortex female ninja rushed into this remote rainforest, running and crying all the way: “Yuka! Yuka! Something terrible has happened!”
Yuka jumped down from the tree house.
The other Vortex female ninjas heard the shrill cry and also rushed over.
After a few words, the women of the Vortex Clan slumped down one by one in the rain.
Only Vortex Yuka stood there with difficulty, face tilted to the sky, letting tears flow continuously, mixing with the rainwater and falling into the mud at her feet.
The Young Clan Head of the Senju Clan, Senju Nawaki, was dead!
Fox was the Senju Clan’s spy in Anbu, had clearly uncovered the intelligence, and had clearly warned the Young Clan Head in advance.
Yet, the Young Clan Head still died.
It was said that Hidden Stone Village announced responsibility for the matter, and proudly declared that they had killed the Young Clan Head of the Senju Clan, the most brilliant genius in Konoha in the past ten years, as equivalent retaliation for the Ushi-ga Mountain trap.
How could Nawaki Young Clan Head, protected by an experienced jonin like Orochimaru, possibly be killed by a Stone Ninja assassination squad?
Only then did Yuka deeply realize why Fox had emphasized not to tell the Senju Clan the truth for the time being.
After Lord Tobirama’s sacrifice, Konoha Village had become unfamiliar and cold-blooded; everything was different.
The Vortex Clan wanted to make Kushina Princess the Three-Tails Jinchuriki, angering Konoha Village, and Hidden Whirlpool Village was ruthlessly abandoned by Konoha High Command.
The Senju Clan was the same; they had conflicts with Konoha Village over the second Nine-Tails Jinchuriki matter and now encountered misfortune.
Konoha High Command could not tolerate any opposing forces; the village had to be their one-man rule.
Even if the Senju Clan challenged the authority of the high-ranking officials, they would face merciless strikes.
Konoha Village was now Sarutobi Hiruzen’s and Danzo Shimura’s Konoha Village, no longer the previous Konoha Village.
—
After leaving Vortex Yuka, Yoru first found his squad in the Land of Rain.
Purple Cat hurriedly stepped forward to inquire: “Captain, are you okay?”
Seeing Fox Captain being grabbed away by Yatagarasu, Purple Cat had been worried sick. She circled around Yoru, checking his condition.
“I’m fine. I was grabbed by the Uzumaki Remnants’ summoning beast, but I also obtained intelligence from the Uzumaki Remnants,” Yoru said.
“Let’s go. We’ll return to the Land of Grass camp and report the intelligence we obtained.”
Halfway there, a piece of important intelligence spread throughout the Land of Rain.
Even ordinary people knew that a major event had occurred among the ninjas: Konoha Village’s genius, the Young Clan Head of the Senju Clan, was dead.
Stone Ninjas were proclaiming everywhere that they had killed the Young Clan Head of the Senju Clan.
Yoru immediately understood that Oonoki was claiming credit for himself.
Of course Oonoki wanted to kill Senju Nawaki; he wanted to kill all of Konoha’s genius young boys.
But even if he wanted to kill Senju Nawaki, the troops he sent were too few to succeed, as Senju Nawaki had Orochimaru personally protecting him.
If he sent too many troops, it would certainly attract the attention of the Konoha Front Line Camp, evolving into a major battle with even greater losses.
Yoru roughly guessed the truth.
After learning the emergency intelligence that frontline Senju Clan ninjas had contacted Uzumaki Remnants, Kiiroinu Captain flew into a rage, returned, disguised himself as a Stone Ninja, and personally set the trap.
Frontline Commander-in-Chief Mito Mon’en had customized a mission for Nawaki’s squad, and Kiiroinu Captain knew all the details of the customized mission.
Kiiroinu Captain set the trap along the road and blew Senju Nawaki to death.
The person who designed the trap had strength not much inferior to Orochimaru’s now.
Even if Yoru had warned in advance, Senju Nawaki still died.
Yoru himself had designed the Long Spear Egret tracking mission for him, allowing him to avoid being bait for the trap—being bait meant certain death.
After returning to the Front Line Camp, Yoru saw Orochimaru and Jiraiya from afar, one on each side, guarding outside the Corpse Tent.
Inside the tent was Tsunade kneeling on the ground crying.
Nawaki had been dead for several days, yet Tsunade still kept watch by the corpse.
Outside the tent, Orochimaru leaned stiffly against the wooden pillar of the tent, his eyelids drooping low.
Jiraiya glared at Orochimaru indignantly, as if Orochimaru had just said something harsh to Tsunade.
Nawaki’s death had a great impact on Orochimaru; he was far from as indifferent as he appeared on the surface.
There were many corpses on the ground inside the tent; it was unknown how many frontline Senju ninjas had fallen victim.
After a slight inquiry, Yoru heard that Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo had both come to the front line.
In the frontline small jonin meeting, Tsunade angrily proposed adding one medical ninja to each squad.
If Nawaki’s squad had had one medical ninja from the Senju Clan, instead of one Sarutobi and one Shimura, perhaps Nawaki wouldn’t have died.
Those two, Sarutobi and Shimura, were complete wastes forcibly assigned to Nawaki by the high-ranking officials to build bonds.
It was said that the trap Nawaki encountered was a two-stage exploding tag jump.
One exploding tag exploded first, blasting a bundle of exploding tags up to waist height, and then the large bundle exploded at waist level, blowing away all of Senju Nawaki’s internal organs.
Kiiroinu Captain’s trap was indeed ingenious.
Among so many jonin, only Kato Dan supported Tsunade; their emotions grew even closer, and after Nawaki’s death, Kato Dan became one of Tsunade’s mental supports.
In the midst of the chaos, Yoru found the Anbu tent.
Entering the tent, Yoru saw Danzo and Kiiroinu Captain both there. He stepped forward to report:
“Lord Danzo, Captain, I scouted intelligence: the Uzumaki Remnants are hopping between the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass, their whereabouts hard to pin down.”
After speaking, Yoru lowered his head and waited.
Kiiroinu Captain waved his hand, signaling Yoru to leave first.
Yoru exited the tent.
The Anbu around the tent were unusually solemn one by one, feeling as if Danzo had just unleashed a furious tirade.
Anbu killing Nawaki was also a last resort.
Kiiroinu Captain had made a huge mistake by allowing Uzumaki Remnants to contact the Senju Young Clan Head, forcing them to swiftly eliminate the mess and execute the Senju Young Clan Head before the Nine-Tails transfer seal.
For Anbu, such behavior came at a great cost.
If Orochimaru or Tsunade discovered anything, the consequences would be extremely dire.
Moreover, behind Nawaki stood the massive Senju Clan.
Late at night, Fox Squad was on duty, guarding outside Danzo’s tent.
Yoru saw Orochimaru approach and enter the tent.
Yoru perked up his ears, listening to the sounds inside the tent.
After listening for over ten minutes, he heard nothing. A barrier must have been set up to prevent sounds from leaking out.
Inside the tent, Orochimaru stared at Danzo with vertical pupils.
Danzo’s face was expressionless, showing no sign that he had once ordered the killing of Senju Nawaki.
Orochimaru was silent for several seconds, then said:
“Human life is so fragile, Lord Danzo.
I had immense expectations for my disciple Nawaki, but unexpectedly, a few exploding tags blew him to death.
Those traps were too ingenious, so ingenious that even I might have died—unbelievable.
When did Hidden Stone Village have such a strong trap ninja with such masterful control over exploding tags.
Nawaki’s potential ceiling was certainly higher than mine; what a pity, he died just like that.
Lord Danzo, I agree to the suggestion you once discussed with me: to open research on transplant, reinforcement, modification, and other aspects of physique for Konoha Village.”
