Chapter 212: Who Exactly Is He?
A thick scent of blood hung heavy over the canyon.
Rain washed over the carnage below, where countless Rain shinobi lay scattered across the ground.
Yahiko knelt on one knee, gasping for air. Blood seeped from various wounds across his body. Beside him, Nagato supported Konan, helping her stay upright.
Pakura stood on the outermost edge of the group.
The battle had been more brutal than any of them had imagined. All four were wounded, though fortunately, none of their injuries were fatal. She looked up, her gaze sweeping the surroundings to ensure no hidden dangers remained.
Just as she was about to sheathe her weapon, she felt a gaze upon her.
Pakura snapped her head around.
Kitahara Kaede, masked and silent, had appeared on the edge of the cliff at some unknown moment. He was watching her from across the wasteland of bodies.
Pakura froze.
'Is he... checking to see if I'm safe?'
The thought flickered through her mind. She instinctively looked away, avoiding his gaze, but a strange warmth surged in her chest, seemingly dulling the pain of her injuries.
Yahiko also spotted the masked man on the cliff. Forcing himself to stand straight, he signaled for the others. Nagato and Konan exchanged a glance and, supporting one another, followed Yahiko forward.
They maintained a sense of absolute reverence toward this mysterious powerhouse. Hanzo was a man known as a demi-god, yet he had been dealt with in short order by this masked stranger.
Yahiko stopped a few paces away from Kitahara Kaede. He bowed his head slightly, his voice thick with gratitude.
"Are... are you alright?"
Kitahara Kaede didn't speak; he simply gave a slight shake of his head.
Yahiko suppressed his shock, intending to ask the man's identity and purpose, but the sound of hurried footsteps interrupted him.
The four of them instantly snapped into a defensive posture, weapons raised toward the source of the noise. In the dim light, they eventually recognized the leader as Kyusuke.
Kyusuke was covered in blood, his clothes torn to shreds. The Akatsuki members behind him were also wounded, but their eyes burned with a fanatical intensity.
Yahiko's expression shifted. He rushed forward and grabbed Kyusuke.
"Kyusuke! What happened to you all? I told you to come to the canyon for support—were you ambushed on the way?"
Kyusuke blinked, looking at Yahiko with utter confusion.
"Didn't you say in the letter that Hanzo's main force had left the village, and that we should go straight for his headquarters?"
Kyusuke grinned widely.
"We've already taken it!"
Yahiko's eyes widened, and he froze in place.
"I never gave that order! I told you to support us here in the canyon. Why on earth would I send you to attack Hanzo's headquarters?"
Kyusuke was equally stunned. He turned to look at his comrades, and the Akatsuki members looked at one another in confusion, their excitement quickly replaced by bewilderment.
Yahiko struggled to process the information. Hanzo's stronghold had been seized without his knowledge.
Who had done it?
He whipped his head around to look at the masked man on the cliff.
Pakura had already reached the conclusion. To save everyone in such a desperate situation and to calculate a plan so perfectly that Hanzo's base was gutted as a side effect... there was only one person it could be.
Pakura's eyes met the gaze behind the mask. Kitahara Kaede met her look, and though his mask hid his face, his eyes seemed to curve slightly as he gave a nearly imperceptible nod.
Pakura's breath hitched.
'It really was him.'
From the very beginning, he had calculated everything.
Kitahara Kaede didn't linger on Pakura. His gaze shifted past the group, scanning the Akatsuki members until it landed on a man wearing a mask.
"Fu."
The man stood quietly at the edge of the crowd, maintaining a subtle distance from the others. He was also stained with blood, clearly having participated in the assault on the headquarters.
Kitahara narrowed his eyes. In such a chaotic situation, this man hadn't tried to stir up trouble. Had he overthought it?
Still, his intuition told him something was off. Furthermore, there was a strange, inexplicable familiarity to the man's aura. Yet, Kitahara was certain he had never met him before.
He pushed the thought aside for now, deciding to have Pakura keep a close eye on this unpredictable variable. Now was not the time for such ruminations.
Hanzo was dead. The Hidden Rain Village was leaderless. This was the perfect moment for the Akatsuki to take over the Land of Rain and negotiate an alliance with Konoha.
However, he could not openly reveal his identity and intervene; otherwise, they would become overly reliant on him or grow suspicious. That would hinder his long-term plans.
Kitahara raised his hand, giving Pakura a secret hand signal known only to the two of them, indicating they should meet later.
Pakura blinked softly, signaling she understood.
Once confirmed, Kitahara Kaede vanished instantly using the Body Flicker Technique.
Yahiko turned around just as he had been about to offer a formal thank you, only to find the cliff empty.
"Eh? Where did he go?"
Yahiko stared at the vacant cliff. Konan stepped forward; she was the most composed of the group and knew this wasn't the time to go searching for a ghost.
"Yahiko... we need to figure out what to do next."
Yahiko fell silent. He looked at the carnage around them and his wounded comrades. Hanzo was dead, but the Land of Rain still existed, and there were many people counting on him.
This shattered village needed someone to clean up the mess.
Yahiko's expression became complex. He had always dreamed of taking over the Hidden Rain Village, hoping to achieve that goal peacefully through dialogue and understanding.
Now, his wish had been granted. The village had fallen into his hands, but it had happened through a bloodbath. This was not the way he had envisioned it.
The vast gap between his ideals and reality weighed heavily on him. But there was no turning back; he had to shoulder this responsibility.
"Hanzo is dead," Yahiko's voice carried through the rain. "We must take control of the Hidden Rain Village immediately."
He looked at the crowd. "We cannot give chaos an opening. We cannot let the Land of Rain fall into anarchy."
Konan's eyes stung. She knew better than anyone the bitterness in Yahiko's heart. He had finally achieved his dream, but he had been forced to accept it through such cruel means.
Pakura stood to the side, watching the wounded young people straighten their backs and stand tall once more. She then turned and glanced in the direction where Kitahara Kaede had vanished.