Chapter 550: Magnet Release

Fujin and his clone created Shadow Clones and dispelled them to trade information. On understanding the location of his clone, Fujin quickly made his way across the Land of Rivers and located the two subordinates of Raiga whom he had left alive.

The two had set up a tent in a forest and were hiding there. What they had seen in the gold mine had horrified both of them and they had travelled several hundred kilometers away from the gold mine. They relaxed only after surviving for a couple of days as no one chased after them, or so they thought.

It hadn't been even a day since they had put their guard down slightly when suddenly a strong wind began blowing through the area. To their horror, the winds casually tore through their tent. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of small cuts appeared on their bodies! The wind was so potent that several nerves and tendons in their bodies were cut, forcing them to their knees. They were unable to move their limbs when Fujin's figure appeared in front of them.

The two looked at the Konoha headband he was wearing and immediately became worried as they remembered their past actions. As if reading their minds, Fujin asked, "You two used to work for Raiga, right?"

Both immediately shouted, "No. We never worked for Raiga."

Immediately, more cuts appeared on their bodies. The new cuts were much deeper than the previous cuts, causing them even more pain. Their screams scared away some wild animals around that area. Fujin said, "I can sense whether you are telling the truth or not. If you lie again, I will kill you. Now, tell me whether Raiga attacked two squads from Konoha."

One of the two instinctively answered, "We don't know. We never saw him attack any Konoha ninja."

The guy kneeling next to him watched with horror in his eyes as his friend was beheaded! Fujin turned his gaze towards him and asked, "Do you want to die as well?"

The guy immediately said everything that had happened between Raiga and Konoha ninjas. Fujin asked, "Do you remember where their bodies were buried?"

Not wanting to end up like his friend, he nodded and told Fujin the location. Fujin stored the dead body in a scroll before he grabbed the alive guy's neck from behind and dragged him for hundreds of kilometers across the Land of Rivers until he reached the spot the guy said. He dug out the dead bodies and stored them in a scroll.

The last Kurosuki family member asked, "I have led you to their bodies. Can you let me go now?"

"Sure," Fujin replied before letting him go from this world. He stored his dead body in a scroll as well while thinking, 'Hiruzen will definitely enquire how Raiga died. For him to die right after the mission was assigned to me is suspicious. Not to mention, considering that Raiga could control the Lightning, Hiruzen might suspect him to be behind the destruction of Root headquarters.

These two will form the perfect alibi for the details I plan on feeding to Hiruzen. He can read their memories and verify a part of my details. That will be enough to stop him from looking any further. That said, it might have been fun to see him trying to find who killed Raiga, hehe. Though going by what happened when I attacked Root, he might assign this mission to me as well.'

With the mission complete, Fujin began moving back to Konoha. Having eaten the soldier pill, Fujin didn't need to rest. He travelled non-stop and reached Konoha by the next evening.

Hiruzen was just about to wrap up his work when Fujin appeared in his office. He was slightly surprised to see Fujin arrive so soon. He thought, 'The ninjas I dispatched to the Land of Rivers didn't see any signs of him. Did he find out why those two squads went missing so quickly?'

Hiruzen didn't have much hope of finding those two squads. He had just given the mission to Fujin because Fujin wanted to spend some time away from the village.

He said with a smile, "Fujin, it's good to see you again so soon. How did the missions go? I received some interesting reports from the Land of Rivers."

Hiruzen still remembered that puppets had destroyed the Yamakawa town. He was curious to know how Fujin got his hands on so many puppets and how he became so masterful at controlling them.

Fujin chuckled and said, "The missions were indeed interesting. I came across a couple of ninjas that I didn't expect to find in the Land of Rivers. That said, the information might be sensitive."

Hiruzen got the clue and glanced at his Anbu Guards. Within seconds, they left the room and activated all the seals. Hiruzen asked, "So, who did you run into?"

Fujin didn't answer his question and instead placed a couple of storage scrolls on Hiruzen's desk and said in a serious tone, "This one has the dead bodies of the 8 Chunins who went missing."

Hiruzen sighed on hearing that. While he had expected them to be dead, getting the confirmation didn't make it pleasant. Losing 8 ninjas in peacetime wasn't something he wanted to see. He asked, "Who was it?"

Fujin answered, "A former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Raiga Kurosuki. He had established a stronghold in a village that had a gold mine and had more or less enslaved the villagers there.

I suspected that he was the one behind the missing Chunins when I heard that he was in the Land of Rivers. However, when I went to find him, I learnt that he had been defeated by someone and his subordinates were slaughtered three days before I reached the village."

Hiruzen was surprised. He muttered, "To be able to defeat one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and slaughter all his subordinates... Who was it?"

Fujin shrugged and said, "No idea. I placed a villager under Genjutsu and learnt that a huge fight took place in the graveyard where Raiga and his followers were burying a living man. Since the villagers were far away, they didn't see who it was. They only saw Lightning striking that area repeatedly.

Sometime after the fight stopped, Raiga's subordinates, who were overlooking the operations in the mine, were beheaded in a flash. Whoever that person was, we can say that he is incredibly fast at the very least.

The villagers recovered the dead bodies of all but two of Raiga's subordinates. Raiga's body was missing as well. So I am not sure whether he is dead or whether he escaped. Considering how little information we have, it could have been Raiga himself who went crazy and killed his subordinates. It's difficult to say for sure.

Anyway, I hunted down the two subordinates whose bodies weren't found and interrogated them. Raiga killed those two squads and buried them some distance away from the village. This scroll has the bodies of those two subordinates. Perhaps we can learn more by reading their memories."

Hiruzen thought for a bit before saying, "Did you get the dead bodies of his subordinates who were in the Graveyard? Perhaps we could know what happened from their memories."

Fujin shook his head and said, "That path is closed as well. It had already been 3 days since they were killed. Their memories would have started dissipating. Besides, from what I found out, they had a hole in their heads. So chances of being able to read their memories are more or less zero."

Hiruzen sighed and muttered, "They were very thorough. Nothing we can do, unfortunately. Anyway, what happened in Yamakawa town? When did you become a puppeteer?"

Fujin raised his left eyebrow and asked, "When did I have time to become a puppeteer? I wasn't the one who attacked with puppets. The Yamakawa family was attacked by Sasori of the Red Sand when I was in the town. So even if we hadn't undertaken this mission, the Yamakawa family would have been history."

Hiruzen was surprised. He wondered, 'What was Sasori doing there?'

Fujin continued, "I am not sure why Sasori attacked them. My only guess is that someone gave that mission to Akatsuki. Most of the people in the mansion were killed by Sasori. I only killed their family head and the Suna ninjas hiding under his mansion."

Fujin placed some more scrolls on Hiruzen's desk while saying, "These scrolls have their dead bodies."

Hiruzen looked at his desk. Even though they were stored inside scrolls, there were as many as 33 dead bodies on his desk! While Hiruzen didn't find it odd, if a common person were to know of it, he would wonder if it was the Hokage's office or a morgue!

Hiruzen asked, "Did you fight Sasori?"

Fujin nodded and said, "Yeah. I wanted to test a new jutsu against a rank S opponent."

A frown appeared on his face as he said, "There is something strange about him. One of his puppets could control Iron!"

Hiruzen's eyes immediately widened!