Chapter 658 : A Shocking Scheme! (Patreon)

At midnight in Hiruzen's office, Shikaku stood in front of Hiruzen and said, "All the preparations are complete. We're ready to act."

A couple of dozen Anbu Captains stood behind Shikaku. Each of their squads was prepared to move out at a moment's notice. The table in front of Hiruzen had 15 scrolls on top of it. Each of the scrolls looked identical to the scrolls they had confiscated from the spies. The words inside them had the same handwriting as the spies who were captured earlier.

Hiruzen looked at everyone and said, “Good. Implement the third step, Shikaku.”

Shikaku nodded and immediately got into action. At his order, the Anbu ninjas attached each scroll to the appropriate messenger birds and set them free. The birds immediately began flying towards the respective villages.

Kumo, Iwa and the two factions in Kiri would soon receive the messages around the time the Sun rose. The only difference would be that instead of getting them from their spies, they would be receiving messages that Hiruzen wanted them to read!

As soon as the messenger birds departed, Shikaku dispatched all 24 Anbu squads. Each of the Anbu squads had their 4 usual members in addition to a specialist member temporarily added to their squads. They quickly left Konoha and rapidly moved towards their targets.

As the citizens of the Land of Fire slept peacefully, the Anbu dispatched by Shikaku captured or eliminated every single person in the Land of Fire who played a role in installing spies inside Konoha.

Some of those people were other spies from the same countries who had advised the spies before they entered Konoha. All such people were captured by the Anbu ninjas. Their memories were read on the spot by the Yamanaka clan ninja in their squads.

After noting down all the information, the specialist member, who was temporarily added to the team, would transform into them and impersonate them, living the spy's life as if nothing had happened. The remaining Anbu squad began moving back to the village while carrying their prisoner along with them.

Others targeted by the Anbu ninjas were local people who helped the enemies in return for certain favors. Every single one of them was eliminated without mercy.

By the time the Sun rose, nearly the entire spy network of Kumo and Iwa's inside the Land of Fire was being controlled by Konoha. Hiruzen and Shikaku would use the new memories obtained to take control of it entirely. Kiri's spy network was temporarily left as it was since they had only managed to capture 2 of their spies. So, Hiruzen and Shikaku decided to focus on Kumo and Iwa first.

However, these actions didn't attract any attention due to how stealthily the missions had been carried out. What attracted attention was that several people had gone ‘missing’ during the night, including some of the Fire Daimyo's family members! As a result, dozens of missions were issued to Konoha within hours!

The step 3 of Hiruzen's plan was a resounding success. Under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to have such a level of success in a spy clean-up exercise. However, due to the information Hiruzen spread about Fujin, Iwa and Kumo became desperate to confirm whether the information was accurate or not.

Knowing the severity of the situation, they decided to disregard the costs to get more intel about Fujin and Orochimaru's fight. As a result, they provided Hiruzen with an opening that was ruthlessly exploited by Hiruzen.


While Hiruzen was cleaning up his house, Ay, Onoki, Mei and Yagura received the messages sent by their ‘spies’. Except for Yagura, the remaining began reading it immediately with some of their close aides nearby.

In the Raikage's office, there were 8 scrolls on his desk. Ay quickly opened them one by one and went through each one of them. Standing next to him, Mabui looked at the scrolls as well. Since Hiruzen intended to use this opportunity to increase Fujin's reputation, he didn't change the information in the scrolls much. If anything, he exaggerated the amount of destruction that was caused in the battle.

As they completed reading the first scroll, Ay's expression became grim. He said, “It looks like Fujin and Orochimaru clashed for sure during the Chunin Exams. A lot of the information is still missing and things might not have happened like how the Hokage propagated it, but it is safe to say that Fujin at least held back Orochimaru until he received reinforcements.”

Mabui agreed and said, “Yes, his threat is far greater than what we originally envisioned.”

Ay nodded and went through the next scrolls. The information in the first 5 scrolls was quite similar with minimal differences among them in order to not raise any suspicions. It mentioned the state of the battlefield, some of the rumors spreading around and some details of Fujin's second clash against Orochimaru with minor variations.

Ay opened the sixth scroll and began reading. Immediately, Ay and Mabui's eyes widened in shock. Just like the previous 5 scrolls, it also held information about the battlefield and the second clash. However, it had additional information. A piece of information that shocked both Ay and Mabui!

The scroll said that the ‘spy’ heard more details from his ‘Hyuga friend’ who was near the location of the fight and confirmed that Fujin had indeed fought against Orochimaru by himself and inflicted terrifying injuries upon him!

Mabui muttered in shock, "Nearly half of Orochimaru's body was destroyed when he escaped? And Fujin also destroyed his prized Sword of Kusanagi?"

Just like the Raikage's office, the Tsuchikage's office was stunned as well. Among the 5 scrolls they received, 1 had the same shocking information. Kitsuchi muttered in disbelief, “He has grown to this extent?”

Onoki frowned and said, “It is too late. We can no longer kill him with any of those strategies. Pull back our ninjas. Label him as Flee on Sight! Unless I, Roshi or you are present, Iwa ninjas shouldn't engage in combat against him. Unless you have a lot of backup, you shouldn't fight him either, Kitsuchi.”

Kitsuchi nodded. He had no complaints. He just regretted the fact that he couldn't kill Fujin back when he had nearly managed to trap Fujin. However, there was nothing he could do now. If he tried to trap Fujin the same way once again, he would be lucky to get out unscathed.

In the Mizukage camp, Yagura didn't pay any attention to the news. However, his subordinates paid very close attention to it. To say they were shocked was an understatement. At the same time, all of them were angry at the fact that the one who killed so many of their comrades had reached this stage! Just like Onoki, they had created several plans to deal with the Spectral Swordsman after they quashed the rebellion. However, now they were relieved that Fujin was no longer active around the Land of Water.

In the rebel camp, Ao said, “I didn't think that boy would become someone so strong in a few years.”
Mei seductively smiled and muttered, “Yeah, he has become quite the man.”
Ao nodded and added, “It was a good thing we didn't battle then. Our entire campaign might have derailed if someone like him chased after us.”
Mei agreed and said, "More importantly, we've already established a good relationship with him. Once the Civil War is over, we should improve our relations with Konoha. That will deter Kumogakure from making any sudden moves when we are weak."


In Hiruzen's office, Shikaku said, “They must have received the scrolls by now. And we've begun the process of eliminating and taking over the remaining spy network of Kumogakure and Iwagakure.”
Hiruzen nodded and said, “Yes. It's time to start preparing for the next move.”
Shikaku sighed tiredly and asked, “Yes. Should I prepare plans to eliminate the entire spy network of Iwa and Kumo?”

A mysterious smile appeared on Hiruzen's face as he said, “Not quite.”
Both Shikaku and Eagle, the only two people in the room other than Hiruzen and his guards, were surprised. Shikaku asked, “What do you mean?”

Hiruzen said, “A week later, we'll send a couple of scrolls to Kumogakure once again. They will say that Fujin has left Konoha and is moving towards the Land of Hot Water.”

Shikaku and Eagle's eyes widened in shock. Shikaku immediately muttered, “To send such a message to them… Knowing the Raikage, he would want to eliminate Fujin and might send Darui along with several Elite Jounins and Jounins to kill Fujin. Do you want to kill Daru… NO!”

Shikaku's eyes widened as he suddenly realised something. He said, “No, Fujin is too strong for Darui and others to guarantee his death. If the Raikage was to know that Fujin was in the Land of Hot Water, he would make a move himself! Are you planning to kill the Fourth Raikage?”

Shikaku was shocked by what he realized. He looked at Hiruzen in disbelief and thought, ‘Kill the Raikage? Difficult… Extremely Difficult… He is undoubtedly the fastest ninja alive and his defense is too good. However, if there is one ninja that could kill him, it would be…’