After dealing with the Hyuga matter, Uchiha Touhuan also left the Hokage's office and went to the new prison by the Nakagawa River with his sword.
Kakashi returned here after rescuing Hyuga Hiashi from the clan and worked through the night to intensify the interrogation and trial of the remaining forces of Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.
Since Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura admitted to receiving funding from Iwagakure, Kakashi found the matter much easier to handle.
Kakashi made a special trip to the Yamanaka clan and transferred two former Jonin who had been forcibly retired. To show his sincerity, Yamanaka Inoichi even personally took them to the Nakagawa Grand Hotel.
The captured ninjas from the two clans were not even interrogated. After the Yamanaka clan forcibly obtained information using their secret techniques, they were rendered stupid and then executed on the spot.
For rogue ninjas, except for a few with special identities, this was the general procedure for most ninja villages.
Furthermore, throughout the entire process, Kakashi thoughtfully tied the current clan leaders of the two clans, now both one-armed, and the two advisors who had already been arrested to chairs, allowing them to witness the whole thing.
Watching their painstakingly developed clan ninjas being disposed of one by one, the two advisors were furious. If they hadn't been gagged beforehand, they probably would have already been cursing Kakashi and Uchiha Touhuan with the most vicious language.
Soon, Uchiha Touhuan arrived. Seeing him enter the interrogation room, Kakashi made room for him.
Uchiha Touhuan sat down, looking at the four people tied to the chairs with a half-smile.
Upon seeing Uchiha Touhuan, the two advisors struggled violently, shaking their heads incessantly.
"It seems the two former advisors have something to say?" Uchiha Touhuan winked at Kakashi, who waved away the others in the room before stepping forward alone and removing the rags stuffed into their mouths.
"Uchiha Touhuan! You'll die a horrible death!" Koharu Utatane, barely able to speak, immediately cursed at Uchiha Touhuan.
However, the next second, a baton landed on her mouth. Kakashi had probably wanted to do this for a while, and this time he really went all out. With one blow, Koharu Utatane's old teeth were knocked out, and her cursing stopped abruptly.
"Actually, I'm quite curious," Uchiha Touhuan said calmly, "I already spared your two clans out of respect for the Third Hokage. In any other village, your entire clan, as losers, would have been wiped out. Why did you have to court death?"
"Hmph, how dare you, an inherently evil Uchiha, become Hokage? When the Second Hokage suppressed the Uchiha Setsuna Rebellion, he should have wiped out your entire clan!" Mitokado Homura also cursed, but before he could finish speaking, he followed in the footsteps of Utatane Koharu.
"You dare mention the Second Hokage?" Uchiha Touhuan chuckled. "Did the Second Hokage teach you that colluding with other villages' forces is acceptable to achieve your goals?"
"Hmph, Uchiha Touhuan, you should be thinking about how to explain this to the Daimyo!" Utatane Koharu spat out blood, her words muffled by a lisp. "You've only just taken office as Hokage and such a huge incident has already occurred in the village! The Daimyo won't let you off the hook! Your good days are about to end!"
"Is that so?" Uchiha Touhuan smiled and pondered for a moment. "It seems that's really the case. How am I going to explain this to the Daimyo? It's a difficult situation."
"So, why not just replace the Daimyo?" Uchiha Touhuan chuckled.
Just then, a person rushed in from outside the interrogation room.
"Hokage-sama! Urgent report from the Fire Capital! Orochimaru led an assassination attempt on the Daimyo! His Highness the Crown Prince is dead, and the Daimyo is seriously injured! The Twelve Guardian Ninja are fighting desperately to hold them off! Please, Hokage-sama, proceed to the Fire Capital immediately to provide support!"
This urgent report echoed throughout the underground interrogation room. Uchiha Touhuan and Kakashi both looked at the four people in the interrogation room with ambiguous smiles.
"Uchiha Touhuan…you…you…" Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura looked at Uchiha Touhuan in horror. From their expressions, it was clear that Uchiha Touhuan was involved in this matter; his audacity was completely beyond their comprehension.
"Kakashi, send these two on their way. Then, gather the village's elite Jonin; we'll go to the Fire Capital to support the Daimyo."
The two advisors wanted to say something, but the next second, sharp kunai slit their throats. Their cries turned into weak, gasping sounds like broken bellows, and their life force quickly faded as they collapsed.
Uchiha Touhuan also swiftly finished off the remaining two, then walked out of the interrogation room with his sword, looking at the Daimyo's direct subordinate ninja who had come to deliver the intelligence.
"What? They dared to assassinate the Daimyo! Kakashi! Gather all the elite Jonin still in the village. I'm going to support the Daimyo first; you all follow as quickly as possible!" "
Understood!" Kakashi nodded in acceptance and then rushed towards the guard post at top speed.
Uchiha Touhuan then turned to the ninja who had brought the news: "You come with me and give me all the detailed information along the way!"
"Y-yes," the ninja nodded, panting heavily.
The next second, after the two left the guard post, Uchiha Touhuan lifted the man up, then stepped on lightning, transforming into a streak of lightning and rushing towards the City of Fire.
Meanwhile, Kakashi quickly gathered the village's elite Jonin, and they set off that very night to provide support towards the City of Fire.
At this very moment, within the capital of the Land of Fire, Orochimaru, controlling Manda, was wreaking havoc within the Daimyo's palace. The once magnificent palace was now a vast expanse of ruins. Only in front of a small palace, a few ninjas were desperately using various ninjutsu and a golden Thousand-Armed Kannon barrier formed by chakra to resist the onslaught of the man and the snake. Meanwhile, Orochimaru's army of wandering ninjas was mercilessly slaughtering the samurai guarding the Daimyo's palace.
"Asuma! When will the Hokage's reinforcements arrive!" In front of the only relatively intact palace, a large monk dressed in monastic robes stood with his hands clasped together, desperately maintaining the Thousand-Armed Kannon barrier surrounding the palace. However, he was also covered in sweat, clearly at his limit.
"I don't know either! My old man is no longer the Hokage!" Sarutobi Asuma said, using a series of fire-style ninjutsu to repel Manda's attacks on the barrier.
"Damn it! Wasn't this guy your father, the Third Hokage's, disciple? Why is he suddenly trying to assassinate the Daimyo!" A man wearing a blank headband yelled at Asuma, "I always said the nation's ninjas should be completely subservient to the Daimyo, and the Hokage position shouldn't exist!"
"What are you talking about now!" Asuma shouted back, "Besides, this guy became a rogue ninja years ago, and the village has never stopped hunting him down!"
"Stop arguing! I can't hold on much longer!" The large monk between the two gritted his teeth and said.
"Chiriku! You remove the barrier first, go back and refine your chakra, everyone else come with me to hold them off! We absolutely cannot let him hurt the Daimyo and the young prince again!" Asuma roared upon seeing this.
The next second, the golden barrier shattered with a loud bang, and Chiriku groaned as he collapsed to the ground, while the others guarding the palace rushed forward fearlessly.
Four ninjas, their bodies crackling with lightning, swiftly rushed to Orochimaru and Manda's side, forming hand seals.
Four streams of lightning-attribute chakra converged in the air, forming a lightning cage that enveloped Orochimaru and Manda.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Dream Lightning Man!" the four shouted simultaneously, increasing their chakra output.
"A combination ninjutsu?" Orochimaru, facing the lightning cage above his head, slowly looked up and examined it before suddenly fixing his gaze on the nearest caster. "Looks quite powerful. I can't let you complete this smoothly."
The next instant, a giant snake burst from the ground beneath the southeastern caster's feet, opening its scarlet maw to swallow him whole. With one caster gone, the lightning cage enveloping Orochimaru and Manda instantly dissipated.
"Stardust!" Asuma shouted, trying to rush forward to help, but a terrifying mud dragon rose from the ground, continuously spewing earth-attribute chakra projectiles at him.
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Giant Ball!"
Facing the encirclement, Orochimaru calmly and methodically unleashed a series of ninjutsu, forming hand seals one after another. Although these twelve guardian ninjas directly under the Daimyo were all top-tier Jonin, Orochimaru seemed to be strolling leisurely among them.
With the combined efforts of Orochimaru and Manda, these twelve ninjas perished one after another under the ninjutsu and the snake's maw. Soon, only Asuma and Kazuma, the two strongest among the twelve guardian ninjas, remained. However, their stamina and chakra had been exhausted in resisting Orochimaru's storm of ninjutsu.
"It's time to end this." Orochimaru said, forming hand seals, "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
At this moment, the earth's veins surged wildly, and a gigantic mud dragon, comparable in size to Manda beneath Orochimaru's feet, rose from the ground. Chakra gathered in the mud dragon's mouth, and a terrifying earth-style chakra energy ball slowly materialized.
After a muffled roar from the mud dragon, the earth-attribute chakra projectile hurtled towards the only remaining building in the entire palace, much to the despair of Asuma and Kazuma.
However, the next second, a thunderclap echoed from the sky, and a streak of azure lightning flashed, shattering the earth dragon projectile.
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