Chapter 034 Game of winter and death (1)

Menma has failed to awaken the fourth hidden chakra point before the deathmatch. However, he has increased his chakra before his epic confrontation.

-Near Borders-

The borders between Fire and Wave countries are mostly isolated. Even Mist Village doesn't attack from there. It is because it is located between Fire Country and Water Country. There is a natural barrier of violent whirlpools. The Uzushiogakure Ruins are also nearby to Wave Country. No one wants to go to that place. So this border area is not suitable for Water Country to attack it from their side. And other great villages don't know about it. Konohagakure doesn't defend it either.

Menma had noted this particular area during his fights with mist ninjas in the Third Ninja War.

At this time, a group of people is coming across the border from the other side of the Fire Country. There are still two days left before the actual time set by Menma.

They saw several directional arrows marked on trees and landmarks which led to this place. The marker led to the exact last position on the border of Fire. It stopped before the sea area. It was just on the left side of the wave country's ship point, inside the Fire country.

One of them said, "It looks like this directional arrow points in this direction. It must have been made to guide us. We could earn a lot of money by telling our boss about its location. He'll be really happy to hear it." They were excited before they had even seen any proof of Menma.

Another one said, "But we haven't seen him yet. There's no need to be so happy. Those directional arrows might lead to a trap."

As soon as he said it, he felt a chill in his heart. He saw the location where the last landmark had ended.

He saw a mountain surrounded by many shrines, each one with iron pillars bearing inscriptions.

'Winter is coming.'

Winter brings cold and darkness. Death follows shortly afterward.

'I am Night, I am Vengeance, I am Satoshi Menma.'

The words even brought chills to those who had come in search of Menma.

One of them said, "Shall we go inside?"

Another one said, "No, we know he's been here. No need to risk too much. We will return and give the news to others and earn big money."

But suddenly, water niddle jutsu pierced them from a long distance. One by one, they fell down and died without knowing how it had happened. They didn't know that they were being monitored even before they got close to the mountain.

-Few minutes later-

Inside the mountain, the dead bodies of the spies are hung near the Shinto gates. After being stripped of their money and other valuables.

They are not alone, actually; many other dead bodies hang from rocks, trees, and even on gates. Many others have attempted the same thing as them over the past three days.

-The exact day of challenge-

Many people are moving in the direction indicated by the landmark. The directional arrows make it easy to navigate.

People ignored each other; bloodlust filled the air as everyone tried to reach their destination faster than the others.

But none of them attacked each other, knowing that it would only delay their progress.

Orochimaru and Sasori are moving closer to their goal; Kakuzu and Hidan have intercepted them before they reach the mountain.

They saw a large crowd had stopped before the Shinto gates.

Kakuzu said, "Little pest, get out of the way. No one can stop me from getting my 70 million ryo."

But soon he noticed that the crowd was unresponsive, as if they were under a Genjutsu.

They soon got the answer. As they saw some of them were afraid because they had seen a large number of dead bodies hanging from the gate. Inside didn't look any better either.

A figure appeared on the shinto gate. The young boy was only thirteen years old, but soon he would be crossing over into his fourteenth year this coming month. Despite his youthful appearance, he looked much older than his age.

Menma said to them, "Welcome. Winter, Night and Vengeance welcomes you, so does your Death. You arrived just in time. So let's begin. I am waiting for all of you above the mountain. But my bounty is not easy to claim as you people think. And 70 million is too low bounty for me. There are a lot of traps here. Step cautiously inside the mountain. Don't worry about who turned into corpses and hung as a trophy. They tried to outsmart me by coming early. I did not like it. You are just in time. The game of winter and death begins. May the best people survive. Hahahaa."

Menma turned into a cloud of smoke, and a small amount of fog covered the mountain.

Bounty hunters, ronin, rogue ninjas, and samurai alike, all of them suddenly sensed the atmosphere on the mountain change.

One of them said, "The barrier that was blocking us is now gone."

One by one, they entered the mountain. They had become bounty hunters because they didn't fear for their own lives.

Kakuzu saw that many people had joined them from behind. The Akatsuki decided to wait as they saw a huge crowd gathered around the mountain.

Sasori said, "Shall we wait for the others to eliminate all the traps?"

Orochimaru told him, "No need, we will proceed slowly. This fog appears natural and does not pose a threat like hidden mist obstructing our vision. But it is dangerous. I don't know its actual function."

Hidan said, "Let's go, you want money, but I want some sacrifices."

Kakuzu said, "We only need his head; it doesn't matter who kills him. We will be the ones who walk out of this mountain with his head."

The four Akatsuki members entered the foggy mountain through the Shinto gates. The gates are huge and surround the entire mountain.

-Meanwhile-

Those who entered first were the candidates for the bounty; they saw many Shinto-style gates, with the face of a demon carved into the top middle part of the gate.

They started to hear demonic laughter coming from every direction. It was a prank playing technique used by an Uzumaki child who had died young before Uzushiogakure got destroyed. Menma found it and upgraded it, combining it with sealing gates.

The atmosphere became terrible; the place began to get crowded.

The thugs are checking the mountains.

One of them said, "We should arrive at the top soon."

Others who came with him nodded their heads. But they soon saw Menma running towards them.

They pulled out their weapons, but the clone bomb exploded on its own. All of them died before they had a chance to react to it.

Another clone came and hung their corpses on the trees and other places after taking their valuables. And disappeared in the shadows.

On the other side, the bandits were met with hidden traps. Some were smashed by wooden logs. Shurikens launched from bushes.

Another clone came and repeated the process as the previous clone did.

One unlucky bounty hunter was crushed by a rolling mountain stone; his teammates all survived.

One of them said, "Damn, he was so unlucky. He dodged shurikens, kunai, but died under a rock."

He looked back and saw Menma standing above the corpses of his other team members. The last thing he saw was his head rolling away and his body without a head.

It only happened in the lower part of the mountain.

Many had reached halfway when suddenly one group triggered a smoke bomb trap.

One of them said, "Smoke bombs? Are you trying to scare me to death?"

His teammates laughed along with him. But soon they started to cough up blood.

Another one said, "There's poison in the smoke bomb."

A voice suddenly said, "It is Water Snake Poison. I hope you enjoyed my new experiment. Time to die by my hand and contribute to my count."

Before the poison could kill them, the clone ensured they died by his hands. Meanwhile, Menma saw the number on the Hydra sealing technique had reached the 350 mark. He smiled a little.

-On other side-

Orochimaru was poisoned by a kunai that barely grazed him.

Sasori noticed his partner suddenly becoming stiff for a moment.

Sasori asked, "What had happened?"

Hidan and Kakuzu also glanced at him.

Orochimaru said, "It's not a problem. But be careful, even the kunai and shuriken have deadly poison. Even if they touch your skin, you will feel the effects."

Hidan looked around and said, "Is it just me or have you noticed the number of corpses hanging from the trees has increased recently?"

Sasori said, "I can feel people dropping dead, left and right, in this place. Soon it will be one-third of the people who entered this place."

Soon, they saw a person running toward them.

That person looked distraught and exclaimed, "Help, help!"

A hand emerged from his chest. His beating heart was in the palm of this hand. The heart was crushed, and he died along with it. Menma appeared behind him and threw the body into a tree, as if it were a discarded object. The corpse became stuck on the branch, with a branch protruding from its chest.

The clone said to four Akatsuki members, "May the best people survive."

The clone disintegrated into smoke right before their eyes.

Sasori said, "I really want to make him into one of my puppets."

The game is still going strong, and the weaker players have been eliminated.