________ 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 Ōnoki 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 Chōmei, 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.

'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.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

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

Yusuzo reached the Tsuchikage's quarters right away, and just as he reached for the door, two masked figures appeared by his sides with Kunai already pointed towards his neck.

"... Lord Tsuchikage is currently tired, please refrain from interrupting him." They were Anbu tasked with protecting their Lord, dressed in the usual Anbu garb.

If Yusuzo was intimidated in any way by their Kunai, then it sure was impossible to tell. His cold eyes shined as his eyes wandered to the masks of the Anbu threatening him.

He seemed indifferent even, although his face was still hidden in the shadows, his cold eyes told the two Anbu everything they needed to hear...

It was as if they were looking at the eyes of a beast. Both of the Anbu seemed to tremble slightly underneath his gaze...

"I understand that you must do your job, and I admire your loyalty to Lord Tsuchikage..." Yusuzo's voice was just as calm and collected at his gaze.

"However, there are VERY pressing matters at hand. Matters that need Lord Tsuchikage's attention... I'd advise not getting in my way..."

It wasn't very often that Anbu felt threatened... They were usually devoid of fear, prepared to throw their life away at a moment's notice.

But something in Yusuzo's eyes, in his scent, awakened that base instinct in the Anbu. Something that they had thought they lost... Fear.

Fear was, after all, just self-preservation. But their instincts and their determination to follow orders still clashed.

Thankfully, before Yusuzo had to act on his threat, Ōnoki decided to finally intervene, saving the lives of his subordinates.

"Let him in, you two..." His voice broke the stalemate, and the Anbu immediately retracted their weapons and returned to their stations, protecting the entrance to the Tsuchikage's room from the shadows.

Yusuzo wasted no time entering the room and closing the door behind him with a thud.

"This better be important, I was serious about being tired..." Ōnoki said as he sat on one of the chairs inside the room.

His office was still styled for their meeting, no one had the time to clean up, so he was just sitting at the end of the table.

"Oh, don't worry. You won't be thinking about resting when you hear of this..." Yusuzo's cold gaze made the Tsuchokage raise an eyebrow.

Ōnoki then raised his hand, catching a scroll that Yusuzo had sent his way.

"What's th-" He spoke as he opened it up and tapped the seal on it...

He was interrupted by a puff of smoke, and a bloody arm appeared on his table.

Ōnoki's eyes immediately widened, and he prepared to swear at Yusuzo and call him a madman for bringing such a thing to him, but then he stopped in his tracks, as he recognized the arm...

'This... Isn't this the arm of that Cloud Brat, A? This wound...'

His eyes remained wide as he immediately came to the same realisation that Yusuzo had come to.

"SHIT!" The Tsuchikage exclaimed as he waved his hand a few times.

6 shadows seemed to rush out of the room, opening and closing the door behind them. They were Anbu protecting the Tsuchikage's quarters... Now sent away.

'Finally, some actual privacy...' Yusuzo sighed as he grabbed a chair near the Tsuchikage and sat down.

"... This is bad..." Ōnoki said as he brought his thumb near his mouth, slowly, he seemed to be biting into his nail, as his eyes narrowed down.

Yusuzo closed his eyes and waited for a bit, knowing that Ōnoki needed some time to assess the gravity of the situation and run through a few situations in his head.

After a few moments of silence, Yusuzo tapped the severed arm, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. It was better not to be spotted with it on the table as they spoke.

Ōnoki nodded when seeing that.

"... Does the Raikage know of this already?" His voice sounded thoughtful and careful.

'About the reaction I expected...' Yusuzo shook his head as he opened his mouth to confirm the situation further.

"No, if he did, we wouldn't be here talking... He was thrown into the way of your last attack, that's where I found the arm. I somewhat recognized it, so I hid it after inspecting it a bit..."

"... Shit... The Raikage is surely going to notice his son's absence though..."

"He already did... I hid this arm from him. It's safe to assume that the Raikage knows his son's fate, but it's better not to jump to conclusions for now."

Ōnoki 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..." Ōnoki 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...'