Chapter 487: 487.I Thought the Uchiha Were the Crazy One?

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If you’re going to sink, then sink all the way to the bottom!

At least get through the immediate crisis first.

As for everything else, Ōnoki could no longer afford to care.

He didn’t believe that the web of interests tied to the bounty stations could bring significant trouble to Iwagakure.

Iwagakure’s troubles were already immense. A little more wouldn’t hurt.

It was a classic case of "lice don’t itch when you have many, and debts don’t worry you when you’re already in debt."

Since he’d decided to do it, he’d do it thoroughly.

No one would have expected Ōnoki to use this opportunity to directly strike at the bounty stations.

Amidst the external accusations and condemnations, Iwagakure remained silent, offering no response.

Just as everyone thought Iwagakure was feeling guilty, a group of unexpected visitors targeted the bounty stations within the Land of Earth and its surrounding areas.

To completely drain these bounty stations, Ōnoki quietly left the border camp and returned to Iwagakure.

He mobilized a group of ninja to handle this personally.

One by one, teams of ninja left Iwagakure, heading for their respective targets.

Overnight, all the bounty stations within the Land of Earth and its surrounding areas were visited. The attackers struck under cover of night.

Not only were the bounty stations leveled, but all their money was also looted.

The incident happened so suddenly that news only broke several days later.

It was only when bounty stations elsewhere, having received no word, sent people to investigate that they discovered all the bounty stations in the Land of Earth region were gone.

BANG!!!

The Daimyō forcefully pushed the door open, slamming the scroll heavily onto the desk. In a state of rage, his finger pointed at Ōnoki, trembling.

"Did you do this?"

"Yes."

Ōnoki admitted it candidly, then brought out his pre-prepared excuse.

"Since these bounty stations feared Konoha’s threats and helped spread news damaging to our village, this old man will not sit idly by."

"They fear Konoha, but do they not fear my Iwagakure?"

The logic was sound, but the problem was, were you, Ōnoki, truly just venting your anger?

You were clearly trying to steal money!!!

The Daimyō was so angry he couldn’t speak. He hadn’t expected Ōnoki to be this audacious.

Standing in front of the desk, he took deep breaths repeatedly. After a long while, he finally calmed down enough to question him.

"Tsuchikage, do you know how many people have interests tied up in those bounty stations? Don’t treat everyone like fools. All fingers are now pointing at us! Whether we admit it or not, others will only focus on us. What use is a batch of stolen money? Where will you buy the supplies the village needs?"

Ōnoki was ruthless and thorough, brutally leveling the nearby bounty stations and conveniently taking their money.

But the problem was, the bounty stations had ties to various Daimyōs’ capitals. Others had interests involved.

If you wanted to vent, you could kill people, you could level the bounty stations—but you couldn’t steal the money.

That was taking money from their pockets.

Then they would all unite against you. What use would money be then?

Where would you buy things?

You might have money, but others had to be willing to sell to you.

After these incidents, the Daimyōs had already united to oppose us. Without their approval, who would sell you anything?

What, would Iwagakure send a ninja army to personally buy supplies?

"I hope your excuse will shut everyone up. Let me tell you, the Daimyōs have already united and are targeting us. Not only you and the village, but I haven’t escaped either."

"I think you understand the gravity of the situation."

By now, nothing could be changed. The deed was done. Complaints and accusations were useless.

The only thing to do was find a way to salvage the situation, to cool things down as much as possible.

Otherwise, Iwagakure’s days would be very difficult for some time.

"If this old man hadn’t acted, would they not still be targeting us? Don’t forget, you wanted to start a war with Takigakure."

We’re all grasshoppers tied to the same rope. Now that there’s a problem, none of us can escape.

"If the Daimyō has nothing else, please return and rest. This old man has many matters to attend to."

Ōnoki hadn’t yet figured out how to break the deadlock.

But he believed that if Iwagakure offered enough benefit, someone would be willing to deal with them.

It was just that the current situation was quite severe.

First they plundered the Land of Waterfalls, then the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain. Now even the bounty stations in and around the Land of Earth had suffered.

A strong backlash was to be expected.

Ōnoki had never imagined there would be no reaction after such ruthless actions.

By now, Konoha and Kumogakure must be laughing themselves silly, right?

Compared to the difficult days ahead, Ōnoki was more focused on the present.

What he couldn’t accept most was the village losing the war.

As for future development being difficult?

So what?

At worst, he would step down and let them elect a new Tsuchikage.

Once the new Tsuchikage took office, with sufficient sincerity, surely not everyone would refuse to deal with Iwagakure.

The only trouble was, the village had no suitable successor.

There were people who could handle things independently, but they were all in an awkward, middle-of-the-road position.

Not particularly good, not particularly bad—quite mediocre. That was why Ōnoki couldn’t let go.

If Iwagakure had a few people capable of standing on their own, not demanding too much—just reaching the Jōnin level—he, Ōnoki, would step down immediately.

But there were none.

Ōnoki couldn’t retire yet. He still had to wait, to let the potential successors grow.

The outside world was abuzz with discussion. In Konoha, intelligence had long been gathered and sent to Kazuki.

"Ōnoki has gone mad..."

Looking at the intelligence gathered by the Anbu, Kazuki couldn’t help but click his tongue.

He had dared to threaten the bounty stations because he was truly willing to act.

But there was a prerequisite: act by all means, kill by all means—all to increase deterrence—but not touch the bounty stations’ interests.

The people behind those interests could simply send some personnel to reopen the bounty stations.

The impact would be minimal.

Just a bunch of unlucky dead.

But Ōnoki had to go and point his blade at the bounty stations, launching a brutal looting spree, cleaning out the bounty stations in the Land of Earth and its surroundings.

Now Iwagakure had become the brightest tree in the forest, catching all the wind.

"I thought I was crazy enough. People like to call the Uchiha mad. But now it seems Ōnoki is the craziest—going after the bounty stations. If it were just blowing off steam, fine, but he was clearly after robbery."

"....."

Kazuki’s self-evaluation made Orochimaru laugh. Hiashi’s mouth twitched slightly.