Chapter 268: The Spirit of Sacrifice

Fujin was stunned by the smile on Toshio's face. Despite being the killer, he noticed no hatred in Toshio's eyes for him. There was just relief alongside some reluctance. Thoughts clashed at the speed of light in Fujin's brain trying to make sense of this bizarre scenario. He muttered to himself, 'What the hell?'

Kazuo and his subordinate noticed Fujin's momentary lapse of concentration. Both immediately jumped at Fujin to kill him. However, Fujin was well aware of his surroundings. He stepped to his left and got out of the Genin's range. He caught Kazuo's arm and kicked him in the abdomen and sent him flying into the wall. He crashed into the wall and fell on the ground and began vomiting blood.

The Genin landed and moved towards Fujin again. However, all he saw was a fist coming straight at him. Fujin's chakra-enhanced fist landed on his face and blew it off his head.

Kazuo gathered himself and was about to get up when a kick landed on his side and sent him rolling on the floor while vomiting more blood. Numerous ribs had cracked.

Fujin didn't attack anymore and asked in a plain voice, "Who was that man?"

Kazuo finally managed to get on his knees. He looked at Fujin hatefully and shouted angrily, "You killed the kind Noble Toshio! A demon like you will rot in hell!"

Fujin snorted, "Save your lies for yourself. I have killed way too many Nobles to not identify one. Who was he?"

Kazuo's eyes widened. However, he immediately put on an angry face and cursed, "First you kill our Noble and then talk bullshit? Just kill me and be done with it! I will wait for you in the deepest layers of hell!'

Fujin didn't attack him and said, "Good play. I feel stupid for not considering such a simple trick. You knew I was going to come here. So you hid the real Noble and used a body double. Cool trick."

Kazuo's eyes widened once again. Thoughts ran through his mind trying to find the optimal reply. He wanted to convince Fujin that he killed the real Noble. However, he realized that he wouldn't be able to do so. The more he lied, the more Fujin would be convinced.

A grin broke on Kazuo's face. He spoke loudly with pride, "That's right. How does it feel to be tricked by the oldest trick in the book? Hahahahaha."

Fujin didn't mind his taunt. He wasn't petty enough to not give credit where credit was due. It was a fact that he was fooled. If the body double hadn't smiled kindly and behaved like any normal human being, he would have been fooled successfully.

He replied plainly, "Unfortunately, your plan has failed."

Kazuo replied with that huge grin still plastered on his face, "It hasn't. Even if you realized the plan, there isn't anything you can do. You don't know where the Noble is hiding. No one other than me does. And I will never say it.

A wind blade sliced Kazuo's throat. However, his eyes were glued to Fujin. As his brain slowly stopped working, numerous questions arose in his mind, 'How did he know I would explode? Why does he keep speaking in such a plain monotonous tone? Why didn't he get angry no matter how much I taunted him? And why does his face show no emotions at all?'

Unfortunately, he wouldn't get any answers. He closed his eyes and died without knowing the name or the real face of his killer.

Fujin looked at him and sighed, 'A shame that his strength was so weak. Had he been stronger, his name might have been famous throughout the ninja world.'

Fujin concentrated on his chakra. 8 Shadow clones appeared. One shadow clone took the disguise of the Genin he killed while one dispelled itself. The two Shadow Clones Fujin had created earlier received the memories and dispelled themselves. Fujin and his clones received their memories. Four Shadow clones transformed into the four ninjas that the clones killed. While the last two clones dived into the ground and moved towards the basement. The last 2 Suna ninjas were hiding there to protect the fake family of the Noble.

Fujin looked at the person who was disguised as the Noble and wondered, 'Why did he smile in such a way? What sort of life would one have to experience to smile at his killer without any hate?'

Fujin analyzed for a bit but couldn't come up with a definite answer. After all, he had no idea who the man was and what his life story was.

Fujin extended his hand towards his head. Yin chakra poured out of his hand and entered the dead man's brain. The Yin chakra gently began following through his neurons. Fujin kept at it for 3 minutes before the dead man's brain started to break down.

Fujin frowned and muttered to himself, 'I thought that the desire to truly know the memories could be a factor in reading memories. I guess not.'

Fujin sighed and gave up. He was very interested in knowing his backstory but had no means to know it. He stored the dead body.

Two days ago :

The news of the destruction of one Provision Depot had spread throughout Shunkuto. The people were very worried. Meanwhile, Toshio was concerned for his life. He thought, 'If this is done by the same organization that killed Nobles and their families in Wind Capital, then I could be on their hit list. No, my family is in danger as well!'

He immediately began thinking of a plan to ensure his survival but couldn't come up with any plan.

Meanwhile, Kazuo received a message from Sunagakure. He read the scroll and sighed thinking, 'Rasa has lost a lot of influence due to these recent murders. Whoever is doing this must be crazy strong. He doesn't even care about our lives and just wants the Noble to stay safe.'

Kazuo's impression of Rasa degraded a lot. However, as a loyal ninja, he was willing to sacrifice his life for his country. He wondered, 'But how do I keep Toshio safe?'

He thought for a long time before coming up with a decent plan. He walked towards Tishio's office while sighing, 'With this method, this old fellow will live. But I will survive only if I am extremely lucky. This really sucks."