After glancing around at the samurai who were basically all injured, Mifune did not chat much more with them and signaled that it was enough for now.
The samurai did not refuse either. Although Furina and Uchiha Hikari had held back to some extent, since they were able to knock them unconscious, the damage they caused was of course real.
There might not be any major issues in the short term, but if they kept dragging it out without treatment, something serious could actually happen. None of them wanted to experience that feeling of nearly seeing their grandmother again.
...
The next day, a piece of news that shocked the ninja world spread from the Land of Iron: the daimyo of the Land of Iron had been attacked by an unknown organization and died on the spot.
After confirming the news was true, the entire ninja world reacted strongly, with the daimyo of the five great nations reacting the most intensely.
That very day, they quickly strengthened the guard forces around themselves and demanded that their respective ninja villages also dispatch ninja to protect their safety.
Their strong reaction was not strange. Assassinations resulting in the death of a daimyo had happened in the ninja world before, but they had basically only occurred in small countries, such as the Land of Birds that Scorpion had taken down single-handedly earlier.
In both cases, a daimyo died, but that previous incident had not caused much reaction. The main reason was that the Land of Birds was just a small country. In the eyes of the daimyo of the five great nations, the daimyo there was not much stronger than an ordinary person.
Aside from sharing the title of daimyo, everything else was worlds apart.
But the Land of Iron was different. As a famous samurai nation and also a major supplier of ninja tools to the great nations, its strength basically ranked first tier outside the five great nations.
Things like maintaining neutrality year after year and not participating in the conflicts between the major ninja villages were impossible without real power.
Therefore, in the eyes of the daimyo of the five great nations, the daimyo of the Land of Iron was qualified to sit at the table. At most, he was just a bit inferior to them.
And now, such a person qualified to sit at the table had been openly assassinated by a mysterious organization in a direct attack. Was this a joke?
If even the daimyo of the Land of Iron could be assassinated, did that not mean they themselves were also within the range of being assassinate-able? How could daimyo, who were accustomed to being high above others, possibly accept such a thing?
Soon after, once the bounty for the two masked figures wearing black cloaks with red clouds who had attacked the daimyo of the Land of Iron appeared at the bounty exchange, with the full support of the daimyo of various countries, the reward pool kept increasing. The bounty amount rose steadily.
Regarding this, there is a mechanism at the bounty exchange worth mentioning: if one person's bounty appears at the exchange and another person is dissatisfied, feeling the bounty is too low, they can add to it out of their own pocket.
This attracts stronger bounty hunters to complete the task. In other words, if someone truly wants a person dead, they just need to raise the bounty to a level that everyone would salivate over.
And the daimyo of various countries naturally all wanted these two masked people who disregarded hierarchy to die. Therefore, each of the two received an ultra-high bounty of 300 million, enough for one person to match ten Kakuzu-level bounties. (Kakuzu would be ecstatic.)
And this was not the end. Because the two's attire was too eye-catching, people soon guessed that they belonged to the same organization and that there might be other members who could also pose a threat to daimyo.
The Akatsuki organization members who frequently roamed the ninja world were thus caught in the crossfire. Their clothes were exactly the same as what Furina had worn at the time. Although a mask was added, when mud falls into your pants, it is what it is.
Who knows what the other Akatsuki members would think upon discovering their skyrocketing bounties. Anyway, the main culprit felt nothing about it.
After all, Akatsuki members were already missing-nin. Having bounties that somewhat matched their strength was perfectly reasonable, was it not?
Moreover, even if their bounties rose higher, given their two-person team setup, there were not many people in the entire ninja world who could actually threaten them.
With powerful individual strength plus the high mobility that came from being few in number, they could just wander freely across the vast ninja world. She really could not think of anyone who could collect their bounties.
Of course, excluding the possibility of someone attacking their own teammates.
...
"Sharingan. It should be them. This time, they really caused a huge mess for Akatsuki."
In a certain cave, White Zetsu—who had been following Furina and the other from afar—also brought Obito the full cause and effect of the Land of Iron incident.
After listening to White Zetsu's report, Obito roughly guessed the identities of Furina and Uchiha Hikari. The main reason was that there were simply too few Sharingan in the ninja world.
There were only so many pairs, one carrot per hole. Aside from Uchiha Itachi and his younger brother, the only other one Obito could think of was the Uchiha girl he had seen that night.
Moreover, she was traveling with another very strong person. This further confirmed Obito's guess. Aside from Furina and Uchiha Hikari, there was no one else.
These two really did a number. By making such a big scene this time, they had directly dragged Akatsuki into the open. The previous strategy of lurking and steadily accumulating strength would probably have to come to an end.
"Obito, you seem quite troubled. I have an idea. Why do not we go expose the identities of Furina and the others? That way, Akatsuki would be cleared,
and Furina, as the Hokage's disciple, assassinating a daimyo would definitely get exposed and plunge her into huge trouble. It would kill two birds with one stone. How about it?"
Looking at White Zetsu who had come right up to him with an expectant face, Obito thought it over but ultimately gave up on this seemingly good plan.
Indeed, it would kill two birds with one stone. If successful, Furina would definitely not have an easy time. But how to prove it?
As the Hokage's disciple, without solid evidence and only rumors, it would be hard to cause her too much real damage. Instead, it might even thoroughly offend her and push her completely to the opposite side from him.
This was also something Obito did not want to see. Furina and that Uchiha both had strength that could not be underestimated. If they were determined to oppose him, it would make things very difficult for him.
Even setting aside the previous friction, Obito had another thought that existed only in his heart: whether there was a chance to pull Furina into the fold as well.
To work together toward the Eye of the Moon Plan, to eliminate war from this world and bring about peace—this was not his fantasy. He believed it was possible.
From the fact that she had killed the daimyo, it could be seen that she was not someone who strictly followed rules.
And there was an even more important point: she yearned for a better world and did not care much about the means to achieve it. For example, to avenge someone, she would not hesitate to act even if the mastermind behind it was a daimyo.
Such a thing was completely unimaginable to the Obito of the past. Only now, with his heart fully set on the Eye of the Moon Plan, did he no longer feel any awe toward existences like daimyo.
If something blocked his path to bringing peace to this world, even a daimyo had to die.