Chapter 715: Fujin’s Profound Loss!

“Kazekiri, as in the Wind Cutter, huh? Sounds good.” Fujin said with a smile on his face. He thought, ‘Now I can’t wait to try this sword out. Orochimaru, I hope you make sufficient arrangements. It would suck if I can’t fight a rank S ninja.’

Furutani Fuji said, “I’m glad that you liked it. That said, I have a request. No, the swordsmiths in the Land of Iron have a request from you. I wonder if you’d oblige.”

Fujin took his eyes away from the sword and looked at Fuji. He asked curiously, “What request?”

Fuji said, “You said that you destroyed Orochimaru’s Sword of Kusanagi. Do you have the pieces of that sword? If you have them and are willing to give them to us, we’ll use them to make a new sword for you. And, we’ll also be bearing all the costs. Depending on their state, we might be able to make a sword better than Kazekiri.”

Fuji’s gaze was so passionate that everyone else in the room was weirded out. It was extremely clear that he desperately wanted to get his hands on the remains of the Sword of Kusanagi.

Unfortunately for him, Fujin shook his head and replied, “Unfortunately no. I don’t know what Orochimaru did with that sword, but it turned into a snake after I destroyed it. All its remains were burned down during our fight.”

Fujin would have liked to get his hands on the sword’s pieces had it been a normal sword. Unlike the Kubikiribocho, the Sword of Kusanagi was a very good fit with Fujin’s fighting style. However, he didn’t want to do anything with it knowing that it could turn into a snake. Despite his strength, he wouldn’t foolishly underestimate Orochimaru’s means. Hence, he didn’t bother avoiding the corpse of the snake when he blew up the entire place with his combination jutsu.

Fuji’s enthusiasm died down like someone had poured a bucket of cold water on him. He sighed ruefully and said, “That’s a shame. Still, converting a sword into a snake. It seems like Orochimaru’s understanding of swords might exceed ours.”

Fuji handed Fujin the sheath and the box while Hiruzen discussed some official matters with Fuji. After around half an hour, they left Momo’s house.

After ensuring that no one was around to eavesdrop, Hiruzen asked, “Are you prepared, Fujin? The finals will start in a few days. Even though your role might seem the easiest, it’ll be very complicated as you’ll have to change your plans depending upon the situation.”

Fujin nodded and said, “Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll be at my best.”

Hiruzen replied, “Good. I’m counting on you.”

Both disappeared. Hiruzen continued working while Fujin got back to his training.

In the Phantom Haven Base, Hayato entered Shigeki’s office with a worried look on his face. Shigeki immediately noticed it and asked, “Still no news on Masanori?”

Hayato answered, “No. The squad I sent to investigate returned. They didn’t find Masanori. The informant he was supposed to meet said that Masanori never met him. They even looked for any signs of battle on the route he was supposed to travel but didn’t find anything.”

Shigeki frowned and muttered, “That can only mean two things. Either he ran into such a strong opponent that he couldn’t even put up a resistance or he betrayed us.”

The room became silent for a minute. Hayato shook his head and said, “No, he wouldn’t betray us. His hatred towards our former village runs deep. He wouldn’t give up his chance of getting revenge on them. It should be the first case. However, even if he ran into someone so strong, why would they restrain him?”

Suddenly, Hayato’s eyes widened as he realized, “Unless…”

Shigeki completed his sentence, “Unless he saw something he shouldn’t have.”

Hayato wondered aloud, “What could he have seen for someone to eliminate him silently?”

The two of them began thinking. Shigeki suddenly asked, “Do you recall Lord Shiden’s words? He said that Konoha and Suna seemed to be headed towards a conflict. Do you think that this situation might have something to do with that?”

Hayato analyzed for some time before agreeing, “Yes, that is a big possibility. However, we can’t jump to conclusions.”

Shigeki nodded and said, “Of course. We still need to look for Masanori. If our speculation is incorrect, then we need to know what happened to him for sure. However, we will tone down our operations for the time being. If another person goes missing, I’ll burn the red seal and let Lord Shiden know about the serious situation.”

Hayato nodded and replied, “Yes, I have the same opinion.”

They dispatched 3 squads to look for Masanori and find out what happened to him. Since it was the first time that something went wrong in the Phantom Haven Society, the adults in the organization were all tense. However, they continued managing the organization without needing to ask for Shiden’s help.

Fujin, who was anticipating them to burn one of the communication tags and ask for his assistance, was quite surprised that it didn’t happen. He thought, ‘Not bad, it looks like they’re trying to get to the root of the matter themselves. It looks like I don’t have any reason to be worried about them for now. I can fully focus on the upcoming war.’

Fujin continued practicing with Kazekiri. Since the sword was considerably lighter than his previous swords, he had to practice a bit to be completely comfortable with it. Considering the variables in the upcoming war, Fujin had to ensure that he was at his best.

The unstoppable marching of time continued as everyone prepared themselves. Jiraiya continued training Naruto while Kakashi trained Sasuke. Most of the other Genins trained for the finals as well, though one of them was already dead.

Meanwhile, Shikaku and Hiruzen ensured that the clan ninjas and Anbu were prepared for a war. Due to Orochimaru’s pressure, even Hiruzen endured a couple of training sessions to warm himself up.

Just like Konoha, the elites in Sunagakure and Otogakure were preparing themselves as well. Just like in the original story, Sunagakure was completely unaware of the fact that their Kage was dead. Unlike the original story, Orochimaru asked them to send all the elites, who were training, to attack Konoha.

Even though the council members didn’t like it, they had no choice but to obey the orders of their ‘Kazekage’. As such, the number of ninjas that left Sunagakure under the cover of the night was three times higher as compared to their original plan!

In Kumogakure, over a thousand ninjas had been dispatched to find the missing ninjas. While they didn’t find any missing ninjas, they found something that induced horror and rage in every ninja who laid eyes upon it.

After three unsuccessful attempts, the Grandmaster and SealMasters of Kumogakure finally managed to get rid of all the explosive seals in the fourth base. While they didn’t find any missing ninjas, they discovered that the soil a few dozen meters underneath the base was soaked in blood.

They quickly checked the bases that had blown up and discovered the same in those bases. In an instant, everyone reached the same conclusion. Within days, everyone in Kumogakure learnt about it and another shocking news spread throughout the ninja world. Hundreds of missing Kumogakure ninjas were now presumed dead! The backlash of this news forced Ay to be entirely busy with the internal matters of his village.

Under such circumstances, the day of the finals of the Chunin Exam finally arrived. However, one person was more busy and concerned than the Genins who were about to participate. That person was none other than Shikaku, who, for once, didn’t complain about waking up early.

Even before the first rays of the Sunlight reached Konoha, Shikaku stealthily dispatched nearly half of the clan ninjas to the walls under the cover of the night. A few hundred clan ninjas were supposed to act as the audience in the stadium during the final round.

Considering that the Kazekage and Hiruzen would be present there, the majority of Konoha’s top powerhouses were stationed there as well. That included Fujin, Kakashi, Guy, Hiashi, Renjiro, Asuma and a few more Elite Jounins.

Shikaku couldn’t predict where Orochimaru would attack from and what he would target. If he teamed up with Rasa and attacked Hiruzen, Fujin’s role would change and he would assist Hiruzen while Jiraiya would act depending on the situation. However, Shikaku didn’t think that Orochimaru would do this as there was no way Rasa and Orochimaru could completely trust each other.

For that reason, Jiraiya would stay back in the Hokage’s building along with the majority of the Anbu ninjas. Shikaku would be there as well to manage all the forces. Once Orochimaru made his move, Jiraiya would go to confront him.

The remaining clan ninjas continued to stay in their respective clan compounds so that Shikaku could use them to reinforce others as per the situation.

While Shikaku was ensuring that everything was under control, Fujin reached the stadium. He stood in the position assigned to him while observing the stadium. Not many people had arrived yet as there were still several hours before the matches began. Fujin didn’t pay any attention to any of them as his mind was in a different place.

Fujin recalled the events that happened in the Chunin exams in the original story. Even though it had been over a decade since he last saw it, he still remembered it vividly. He let out a sigh as he realized, ‘From this moment onwards, my memories will no longer be reliable.’

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