Ch448. Arrival at Iwa

Author's Note:

If someone is too impatient to wait for webnovel updates, the story is already finished and depending on the pa treon tier, will be fully accessible there by the 10th or the end of June.

https://www.pa treon.com/kasicair

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After they were done with Mika and Nagato, Rei decided to go and check the progress of his plans while Konan dutifully followed.

They teleported close to the Iwagakure, the same place where they hid before wreaking havoc in the village all these years ago. Rei turned toward Konan with an inquisitive look, "How is the situation?"

Every unit of Sunagakure ninjas was given a slice of paper connected to Konan so at all times, she had quite a good overview of what was going on. Nonchalantly managing such a massive influx of information while still acting as if nothing was happening made Rei a bit impressed but throughout the years, Konan became really good at that. With her spy network, she had to.

"The fighting is over. Suna lost two hundred and thirty-one ninjas while Iwa lost quadruple that before Suna took over the Kage Tower alongside defeating the enemy leader and Iwa forces mostly surrendered. Right now, the Suna troops are dealing with stragglers who barricaded themselves in a few buildings and refuse to give up before they are put down." Konan explained as they started to walk towards Iwagakure.

Since the battle was mostly over, there was no need to worry about being dragged into it. As easy as dealing with Iwa would have been for them, this was a training mission for Suna troops.

Yes, Rei and Konan were strong but they could not babysit people all the time. The entire reason why Rei aimed to unite the ninja villages was to put a stop to the foolish mentality where the villages tried to sabotage each other, going as far as starting wars just so their enemies do not have the opportunity to grow too strong.

Instead of trying to improve themselves, the villages put more effort into hindering each other before Rei's girls started to take control. It was pathetic.

So much talented young blood wasted... and for what? In the end, no matter what the decrepit old fools would like to believe, there was never a winner of ninja wars. Everyone lost. Some just lost a tad bit less than others.

"Mhm. Why not just blow them up alongside the buildings?" Rei casually shrugged, no longer caring. His patience for the villages grew thin and their attempt to join Orochimaru in order to invade Konoha was the last straw.

Rei might have been very calm about it but he certainly did not inwardly approve.

Of course, he would have invaded Iwa and Kumo anyway. That was just a question of time since he didn't really have anybody who could covertly take over the government and install themselves as Raikage or Tsuchikage.

But Rei's plans for the takeover were... mild. He certainly did not plan to kill over a thousand Iwa ninjas in the process as happened now.

The second these villages joined Orochimaru... all bets were off and Rei decided to fulfill Pakura's and Ringo's little wish of revenge.

During her younger age, Pakura fought in the Third Ninja War against Iwa. She was waddling through a river of blood belonging to her own comrades while trying to turn any Iwa-nin into ash. That kind of grudge doesn't disappear entirely.

The woman wanted to have this 'field exercise' against Iwa for quite a bit of time now but Rei always rejected the notion. That's mostly why Pakura was so forthcoming with Onoki right now and didn't instantly kill him. If Onoki's decision hadn't pissed off Rei, she wouldn't have been allowed to have her way with Iwa. She was grateful to the old midget.

As for Ringo... she had a grudge against A for messing up her face.

That was enough for her to sic her own village's best swordsmen against it, all the while making it a field test of her newly-made special swords.

What else to say? Kiri was full of nut-cases as always.

Not that Rei had any right to judge...

...

Rei and Konan arrived at the Iwagakure's Kage Tower, dropping their perception obscuring genjutsu and causing the two Suna jonins guarding the entrance to stiffen as their eyes went wide when two strangers suddenly appeared in front of them without their senses alerting them.

The perception obscuring genjutsu was quite an ingenious piece of ninjutsu made by Konan's apprentice, Izumi Uchiha. It didn't completely vanish a person, just redirected the attention of others to different things.

By all means, it should not have worked against trained ninjas who know well their life and death can depend on noticing a small detail. Yet, it seemed it was especially those ninjas who were the easiest to affect by this genjutsu. Izumi engineered the Jutsu to work better against people on guard.

For example, while Rei and Konan were walking throughout the village, the ninjas around them were far too busy and preoccupied with their own things. They had just survived a battle and were still in enemy territory so they were on alert but that was especially why their attention simply slid off the two harmless-looking passersby, no matter how bizarre it was to see a calmly strolling passersby in a war zone where martial law was established and civilians were told to stay in their homes.

Their minds simply subconsciously told them they had more important things to deal with.

To give them credit, the two guards almost instantly sprang into action, about to subdue Rei and Konan. It was rash and unprofessional to not even ask who they were but... well, ninjas were twitchy on what was de facto battlefield.

As the guards were about to reach them, both Rei and Konan simply released their killing intent, stopping them in their tracks and for a moment, rooting them in their places.

It didn't last, however. These two ninjas were Jonins so despite being bewildered due to the pressure of Rei's and Konan's intent, they quickly regathered their wits. And while they were leery of facing off against somebody who could produce such a strong killing intent, they also wouldn't be backing down.

But Rei and Konan released their intent for yet another purpose.

By the time the guards regained their wits, they were no longer the only ninjas facing Rei and Konan. Instead, the entire street was full of Suna ninjas, some standing on the ground, some on the rooftops, and some were crouching horizontally on the walls...

All of them were nervous but prepared to tackle Rei and Konan together, ready for a fight to break out at any time.

Only the words of their second in command stopped them from pouncing.

"You...?" Sasori spluttered as his eyes landed on Rei, the supposedly rich boy civilian he escorted from the Waterfall Village to Konoha... just remembering that nightmarish mission that tested his nerves to their limit made Sasori shudder.

The redhead puppeteer subconsciously looked around, looking if the blonde menace was also present but to his infinite relief, he didn't see Nadetsu Juusen anywhere.

That was the only reason why he, from sheer panic, didn't order an attack yet.

But Sasori was not the only high ranked ninja who came out. When Rika Shun spotted Rei, she pleasantly smiled, "Oh, Rei-sama. Nice to see you. I was expecting your arrival. Everything is prepared."

Sasori's head snapped to her, his lips frowning and his head having a hard time computing... 'What the hell!? The boy was not just Juusen's boytoy?'

Rika was his subordinate as far as the puppet corps jurisdiction went but outside of it, she outranked him as Pakura's right hand woman. That's why it was her who was given the command on this operation and Sasori didn't mind all that much.

"All of you, back to your jobs!" Rika barked an order at the bewildered Suna ninjas, causing them to scramble to obey, and before long the semi-half street was once again empty.

Sasori watched as Rika led Rei and Konan inside, barely capable of restraining himself from dropping his jaw to the ground, utterly confused by what just happened and why.

'I feel myself insufficiently informed and my common sense offended. Were two intruders just treated as if Lady Pakura herself descended on us?' He thought as he hurriedly followed, definitely intent on asking some pointed questions to Rika.

Poor Sasori... everybody forgot to inform him about vital stuff.