Chapter 67: Damages, Casualties and a Father's Instincts

Chapter 67: Damages, Casualties and a Father's Instincts

________ POV Narration ________

Yusuzo didn't have many options on what to do...

The evidence pointed to the fact that A was dragged or thrown into the Tsuchikage's attack, which was what killed him.

But the Raikage was not going to care about such details. As soon as he heard that noki was the one to kill his son, he was likely to start a war with the Rock Village, the fight would start right away..

'Our Alliance is already on the brink... It's hard to tell if we can even take on the Uzumaki Clan as we are... Adding this on top of that will completely ruin us before we even reach the shores of the Land of Whirlpools...'

The worst part?

Yusuzo firmly believed that all of that was the work of only one person.

Rather than belief, he was absolutely certain. Even the Tailed Beast within him was only able to detect one presence underwater during the chaos from earlier.

The man with a Grey Fox Mask... The one who had played them all... He had stayed hidden, ruined them slowly as they crossed the ocean on a boat.

The ocean was his territory by the look of things, he was both almost impossible to trace and just as impossible to fight...

If both the Raikage and his son were completely overwhelmed, then no one in the entire world was able to fight that masked man on the open seas.

Even now, Yusuzo had no way of telling if the one responsible was near them or not. Was he still trailing them? Waiting to strike again?

Maybe, but even his tailed beast couldn't keep track of him... At least not while the seal was still active.

He could release it, they were on friendly terms, but it could cause a great commotion. And the masked man was likely more than able to scurry away with how fast he was reported to be...

'... This is going a lot worse than even the worst situation that I could've imagined regarding this war...'

' WELL... THE WORLD IS NOT EXACTLY AS PREDICTABLE AS YOU CONNIVING SHINOBI LIKE TO THINK OF IT...'

A loud voice boomed throughout Yusuzo's mind he could only shake his head and sigh.

It was rare that Chmei, the 7-Tailed Beast, spoke to him.

Although they were on friendly terms, they were also similar in nature... And that meant that they were both mostly silent and observant.

'Indeed... Some things are simply not within our comprehension... Well, from here on out, it's safe to assume that attacks like before are going to be a lot more difficult...'

Everyone was now on high alert, and most of the fodder that could have been lost to whirlpools was already gone... This meant that the saboteur's main method of attack was mostly rendered ineffective.

But that was only because their numbers were severely reduced. It was likely that their numerical advantage against the Uzumaki was diminished greatly.Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.

'Counting the casualties isn't going to be fun... But I have an even less fun duty right now...'

Yusuzo, as the man to discover the remains of A, was now tasked with dealing with the situation.

He did have the option of ignoring it, but that wasn't exactly optimal either. He wouldn't get anything, and on the off-chance that A's death was discovered, he'd even be held in scrutiny.

Getting rid of the hand could also leave traces, which wasn't good...

Currently, Yusuzo reached the point where the best course of action was just going to the culprit directly...

'This should also help build relations between the Rock Village and my Waterfall Village... If everything goes well, we won't even have to antagonize the Cloud...'

The Tsuchikage had already returned to his quarters, while his elites were off assessing the damage done to their fleet.

Yusuzo also saw them in passing, and it wasn't looking nice, that was for sure.

They had started the journey with close to 100 ships of varying sizes, they had enough space for everyone... The first attacks took down around 10 ships, which placed many on rowboats, rowboats which didn't last very long either, mind you.

Now, Yusuzo had already counted around 40 destroyed ships from the explosions, debris and Whirlpools... Many were also damaged badly, sailing only on prayers and dreams.

Yusuzo still didn't have an estimate of how many had actually died, but they were already down to around 50 ships, give or take a few, so things were not looking great for them or their morale.

But morale was not even a concern at that point... They had already lost thousands by the look of things...

noki nodded as he looked at the scroll in front of him with furrowed eyebrows.

After a few seconds, he raised both arms and brought them together, making the hand sign for dust release.

Out of his palms came a cone of white light, which only enveloped the scroll and stopped before reaching the table. The scroll was disintegrated instantly.

"It's better to not leave any traces... Thank you for bringing this to me, you have done the Rock a great service today..." noki nodded towards Yusuzo.

The two of them continued talking after that, furthering their ties a bit more as they assessed the situation.

And while they were doing that, the Raikage was off on his own, his gaze still scouring the seas for any sign of his son.

A part of him knew... The bond between father and son was strong, and the two of them had truly been inseparable.

The Raikage had trained A to walk in his footsteps and become a proper pillar for the Cloud Village in the future.

Although A had a lot left to learn, and a lot of personality flaws to fix, the Raikage was still proud of him...

That pride, that affection that he had for his son was what held him back from accepting the reality that was staring him in the eye... His son was no more.

The Raikage had gotten a foreboding feeling the second that the clones of that masked monster started holding him back, delaying him...

And now his son was nowhere to be found.

But he did have one slither of hope left... One small ray of sunshine on the storm that raged above his head...

And that was the fact that A's body was nowhere to be seen.

It was a light devoid of warmth, as the Masked Monster could've just dragged the body to the bottom of the sea...

But wouldn't it have been a better move to let it float up and affect the morale of their troops?

Maybe Yusuzo was actually right. Maybe A was trying to track down the saboteur, keeping him at bay?

But that went against the A that the Raikage knew... Although impulsive, he respected orders to a T...

The Raikage knew that his son wouldn't abandon his duties to chase someone needlessly, especially when he had no genuine way of catching the masked man...

Regardless, the Raikage had no way of confirming anything...

So, as a father, he refused to believe that his son was dead.

'There's no way he's dead... No one can tell me otherwise... Unless I see his body, I won't accept that fact.'

And so, the Raikage took his thoughts away from the 'disappearance' of his son.

He still had a duty as the leader of the Cloud Village. He had plenty of things to worry about and work on.

He didn't have the luxury of focusing solely on his worries for his son's safety.

So, he got back to work, assuming the role of the steadfast pillar that his people needed.

And while all of that was happening, Yusuzo finally left the Tushikage's residence.

He cracked his neck as he then directed his cold gaze at a small seal on his palm.

'It's always better to have leverage...'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

The whole situation dealt a rather devastating blow to the Allied Shinobi forces. (Both physically and morally)

I hope ppl weren't expecting this arc to come and go too quickly :))

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 5 chapters in advance (or 2 depending on tier)