The nature of Kei and Minato's mission had already been determined.
Neither of them could reveal their identities—at least not to the higher-ups of Kiri and Suna. If those villages discovered that Konoha was involved in their conflict, it would only draw more attention. Konoha, already the prime target in every past Great Ninja War, would once again become the center of hostilities.
If that happened, they would inevitably face questioning from Konoha's leadership.
Meanwhile, with the disappearance of Samehada, Fuguki was already showing signs of losing control. His reckless and indiscriminate combat within the town not only intensified the tension between Suna and Kiri but also accelerated the progression of the war. Moreover, if Samehada's whereabouts were revealed, it would expose Kei and Minato.
At this point, unless they could covertly return Samehada to Fuguki under a plausible excuse, there was only one other option—eliminate him.
They had to ensure that the blame for Samehada's disappearance was placed squarely on Suna.
"We can talk. As long as you return Samehada, this incident will have nothing to do with Konoha..."
Fuguki's mind raced. As one of Kiri's ANBU leaders, he possessed a wealth of intelligence and knew far more than the average ninja.
The Mind Disturbance Dance Performance Technique required the target to remain completely still to activate, and a single mistake would leave the user vulnerable. Its difficulty in learning was extreme, and once successfully cast, the victim had almost no chance of resisting.
He was at their mercy now.
To survive, he was willing to compromise. It didn't matter if it was about Samehada or even... the interests of his village.
"You were supposed to die with some dignity. Couldn't you at least show a little backbone?"
Kei shot Fuguki a sidelong glance, clearly unimpressed.
With a mere thought, the ninjas under the influence of his technique drew their kunai and pointed them at Fuguki.
"Wait! Take Samehada! I won't tell anyone about you! Stop! Stop! I—I can give you all the intelligence on Kiri! I know a lot! Even classified secrets!"
"Stop! I—I can provoke a war between Kiri and Suna! I can be your spy!"
"No! I'm valuable! I'm a high-ranking officer in Kiri, I—"
At that moment, the most despicable side of human nature was on full display. Fuguki groveled without hesitation, willing to betray anything to survive.
But Kei had long since lost patience with him.
The Mizukage was already under Madara's control. Even if Fuguki returned as an informant, how much use could he actually be?
More likely than not, he'd be discovered and eliminated by Madara in an instant.
If that happened, not only would this problem remain unresolved, but he would be exposed to Madara's attention far earlier than planned.
The sharp whistle of kunai slicing through the air rang out.
Powerless to resist, Fuguki could only watch as the kunai pierced his throat, heart, spleen, liver, and kidneys one by one...
[Notable side character killed.]
[Slight interference with the timeline detected.]
- 1 gifting opportunity]
The familiar system prompt chimed just as Fuguki drew his last breath.
Kei raised an eyebrow, instantly realizing something—his system's criteria for recognizing mission objectives and major events were far more flexible than he had assumed.
A "notable side character," huh? Was Fuguki really that significant?
In the original timeline, he only had a handful of appearances. His greatest role was indirectly influencing a more important character, Kisame Hoshigaki, which in turn pushed forward certain key events in the story.
His gaze shifted to the kunoichi standing to the side, Pakura.
The most beautiful back in the ninja world... betrayed by her own village and turned into a human pincushion...
Flipping through his memory palace, he reviewed what he knew about Pakura.
He cast a look of pity at her as she pretended to be powerless while secretly gathering her strength.
She was, without a doubt, the biggest scapegoat in the entire shinobi world.
For a moment, he considered whether taking her out would earn him some kind of reward, but after recalling her tragic history, it didn't seem worth it.
In the shinobi world, she was far more well-known than Fuguki. Yet, according to the original timeline, her impact on the main story was practically nonexistent.
She had been loyal to her village, hailed as a hero, only to be betrayed by Suna's leadership and handed over to Kiri in exchange for peace. Later, she was reanimated through Edo Tensei, only to face her naive and overly righteous former student, who bombarded her with hypocritical, saintly nonsense until she was forced back into the afterlife in utter frustration.
Her fate was even worse in the movie adaptation—she didn't even get a proper scene, appearing only as a lifeless corpse with her bloodline stolen by Hiruko's Chimera Technique.
What a tragedy... the most tragic of all tragic figures.
For once, Kei was at a loss for words, unsure how to describe someone who had an even more miserable ending than Sakumo.
At least Sakumo had a son who eventually understood him.
Pakura... Emmm... If he just eliminated her here, there was no way he'd get any reward.
Wouldn't it be better to change things up?
The system's reward mechanism clearly correlated with how much he altered the main storyline. If Pakura's fate was drastically changed, given her status in Suna and her strength far surpassing that of an ordinary jonin, she could easily have a noticeable impact on the overall narrative.
She caught the way Kei's expression flickered between pity and excitement, and for a moment, she was utterly confused.
Realization dawned, and she immediately classified him as a complete lunatic.
He had just maintained a friendly, harmless smile while controlling a group of ninjas to turn Fuguki into a pincushion. Now, he was cycling through different expressions while looking at her.
Was he deciding what kind of face to wear while killing her?
This level of psychological distortion... Konoha really did produce some terrifying freaks.
"Stop messing around, Kei. If too many civilians see this, it'll be troublesome," Minato sighed and finally spoke up after watching him remain motionless for a while.
Kei responded, still keeping one hand in a seal, then suddenly intensified his chakra output.
Pakura, who had been quietly gathering energy in preparation for a last-minute counterattack, froze.
The chakra she had been carefully collecting within her body vanished from her perception in an instant.
Her hands moved involuntarily, forming seals.
The muscle memory ingrained into her very bones guided her chakra along the pathways she had practiced countless times before.
In a flash, searing fireballs erupted from her palms, hurtling straight toward the nearby Kiri ninjas.
Their terrified faces twisted in despair as they found themselves unable to move.
Under Kei's control, they instinctively threw themselves toward the incoming fireballs while simultaneously forming their own hand seals.
A series of water jutsu bypassed the scorching fireballs, streaking toward the stunned Suna ninjas standing on the other side.
The next moment, both sides were engulfed by each other's devastating attacks.