Chapter 697 : Sacrifice! (Patreon)

[A/N: I kept writing until I was done, only to realize that I had written a double chapter, lol. Split it into two, the next chapter will be up in 30-45 minutes.]

Inazuma's voice quivered as he questioned Ay. Others in the room could feel the pain he was feeling due to the losses Kumogakure had just suffered. Everyone else was feeling the same. As the leaders of Kumogakure, most were well-connected and had someone close to them in the camps. Even if they didn't, the loss was just too painful for Kumogakure.

Ay didn't reply and just stayed quiet. The opportunity had come suddenly when he least expected it. He didn't have the time to consult others as any opposition would have resulted in the opportunity slipping away. In addition, the manner in which the military camps were cleared by Fujin meant that even if he had involved others, it wouldn't have made much of a difference.

In fact, had Shikaku and Hiruzen known about Fujin's Fuin Battlefield, they would have changed their plans drastically. There was no need to lure Ay and Bee out. Fujin could have silently eliminated all 10 bases over a couple of days before Kumogakure realized what was happening because they wouldn't have been nearly as alert as they were. Their losses would have been even higher in that case.

Of course, no one knew how the camps were eliminated. Even if they did, it didn't take the blame away from Ay. After all, he was the leader of Kumogakure. He was the one responsible for the village's protection. And, he had failed miserably at his job.

One of the council members muttered, “This will cause a great upheaval in the village. The family members of the dead will grieve. The family members of the missing ninjas will be troubled until we can find them. And…”

She paused for a moment before continuing grimly, “And, if we can't find them, then this would be one of the greatest tragedies that the village has suffered since the foundation! The longer we go without finding them, the more unstable the village will become.”

Everyone stared at Ay as the council member shared her thoughts. Even though she painted a solemn picture, there was another hidden message in her words which was caught by everyone. Bee's expression became serious and Mabui barely managed to restrain herself. She asked as calmly as she could, “What are you implying?”

An underlying threat could be perceived from her words. It made the council members nervous, but all of them stood their ground. Suddenly, Ay said, “Mabui, calm down. As the Raikage, I have to accept responsibility for this matter.”

The loss of close to a thousand elite ninjas was something that threatened Ay's seat! The fact that he carelessly left to hunt Fujin without consulting anyone made it even worse. Needless to say, this was one of Shikaku's goals as well.

While he didn't believe Ay would lose his seat, any instability in Kumogakure was good news for Konoha. The more Ay would be caught up in internal politics, the less energy he would have to create trouble for Konoha. What Shikaku didn't anticipate was how thorough Fujin would be and that he would amplify the matter several times with Akuro's identity.

Despite being as strong as he was, Ay was feeling the heat at that instant. Both he and Bee were out of the village when they needed them the most. Even Darui and Yugito suffered a defeat at the hands of Akuro while Mabui sent several Anbu squads to their deaths. As such, all the top leaders in his faction had messed up. Political instability inside Kumogakure was inevitable.

Luckily, the few rank S ninjas in Kumogakure were all loyal to him and all shared the blame to a certain degree. So, there wasn't anyone to replace him. Everyone in the council understood that and hence no one openly dared to tell him to resign.

To everyone's surprise, Inazuma suddenly asked, “Accept responsibility? What are you going to do? Retire?”

Ay frowned. Inazuma's words had a mocking undertone. Mabui couldn't endure that and lashed out, “Elde…”

However, Inazuma raised a palm to stop her. He continued speaking, “Ay, you're underestimating the gravity of this situation. If we find the missing ninjas, then you can use it to rally the people in the village and recover our morale. However, if you don't, you won't be able to handle the consequences. Even if you hide the details of the situation and feign ignorance about the reason why so many ninjas went missing, you'll be questioned because the camps were your idea.

The people of the village will vilify you for mishandling this situation. You'll be hated and many will stop trusting you. Parents might stop sending their children to the academy and the current ninjas will be very wary of any such initiatives in the future. Even if you keep your seat, the village will be extremely unstable and recovering from this loss will take far longer.

If we had a rank S ninja who wasn't involved in this matter, we could have changed leadership and restored people's faith in the leadership. Unfortunately, we don't have any such candidate…”

He paused to take a deep breath as everyone wondered where he was heading. Nanako thought, ‘He is behaving strangely today. He openly mentioned that Raikage-sama should resign and called him by his name for the second time…’

Inazuma took a few seconds to compose himself. His expression became serious once again as he continued, “I messed up as well by ordering 16 Jounins to run to their deaths. I was planning to retire by accepting the blame. However, I didn't know about the events in the camps.

The only way to control the upcoming instability and ensure that Kumogakure moves forward as we always did, is to direct their hatred to a person other than you. I'll take the blame for this entire incident.

I'll hand in my resignation from the council and admit that it was my plan to send you on a secret mission, which reduced our defenses and resulted in this tragedy.”

The eyes of every person in the room widened. No one expected Inazuma to make such a sacrifice! As someone who advised the Third Raikage and contributed immensely for decades, Inazuma was highly respected by everyone in Kumogakure. The influence he held in Kumogakure was immense and second to only Ay.

However, if he did what he said, all his former achievements would be forgotten. He'd only be remembered for this failure. Instead of being respected, he'd go down as one of the most hated and incompetent ninjas in Kumogakure's history.

For a while, no one in the room could say a single word. Finally, Ay sighed and muttered, “Old man… Thank you.”

Inazuma smiled and replied, “It's fine. This is what your father would've expected me to do. Just continue making Kumogakure stronger and ensure you don't fall prey to such schemes from Konoha again.”

Ay could only nod as Inazuma turned around and left the office. A sigh escaped his mouth as he thought, ‘To think that he would make such a sacrifice... Now that I think about it, even though everyone looked at him to stop my plans, he never went overboard and kept the council together. I wonder if my father put him up to this task before passing away or whether he did it with his own will. Regardless, I won't have him to guard against the schemes of others in the council any more.

Still, to think that Konoha would make such a deadly scheme. To cause us such heavy losses and even threaten my chair. And, Darui just happens to run into someone as strong as Akuro at the same time, who, for some reason, goes all out to humiliate us. Was all this just a coincidence, or is Konoha behind everything? In any case, I now understand why Father was so wary of Konoha. From the start to the end, I had no control of the situation!’

Ay felt a great hatred towards Konoha. However, he knew that his options against Konoha were very limited. More importantly, he'd have to devote all his energy to stabilizing Kumogakure. If he made another reckless move and Kumogakure suffered once again, the opportunity he got due to Inazuma's sacrifice would be wasted and he wouldn't be able to control the internal situation.

Ay, the council members and some senior ninjas discussed how they should deal with the situation throughout the night. Darui and his army returned to the village during this time. He quickly met up with Ay and the rest and informed them about his experiences.

Of course, the spies also took advantage of the darkness. With the barrier no longer covering the village, they sent messenger birds to their respective villages. As luck would have it, a couple of ninjas from Darui's army were spies as well, one from Konoha and one from Iwa. As soon as they got an opportunity, they did the same. Even though Kumogakure was alert, they couldn't track this as they mixed among the messenger birds continuously sent from the Raikage's office.

As the first rays of the Sun fell on Konoha, Fujin returned to Hiruzen's office. Hiruzen and Shikaku were already waiting for him and cleared the room immediately. Both had smiles on their faces. Hiruzen asked, “How many did you get?”