Hidden Stone Village, inside the Tsuchikage Building.
The atmosphere was unusually tense and oppressive.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Ōnoki was standing in front of his massive desk, pounding on it with uncontrollable rage, each strike producing a dull, heavy thud.
With each slam, the documents and items on the desk jumped, as if sensing the surging fury in Ōnoki's heart. His already wrinkled face was now twisted and contorted due to extreme anger, his eyes wide with rage.
"Find him! All of you, find him for me!"
"He's just a child, where could he have run off to?"
"Even if you have to turn the entire Hidden Stone Village upside down, bring Deidara back to me!"
Ōnoki's furious roar echoed through the empty room, filled with endless anger and authority.
But these words brought a sigh of relief to the many Iwa Ninja present, who had been holding their breath in fear. After responding, they fled the Tsuchikage Building as if escaping a disaster.
Even wandering around aimlessly was better than facing their enraged superior.
In the end, only Ōnoki, still panting heavily, and his son and bodyguard, Kitsuchi, remained in the Tsuchikage Building.
Kitsuchi didn't dare to breathe loudly, nor did he dare to complain, fearing he would provoke his father, who was in a fit of rage.
Just two days ago, he had been talking about making Deidara the future Tsuchikage, but today, when he went to deliver food, he discovered that the other party was just a Clay Clone.
After a long while, Ōnoki's anger slowly subsided. He released his clenched left hand, revealing a ball of paper he had crumpled.
He slowly unfolded the paper ball and read its contents again.
"Goodbye, old man. Anyway, you don't appreciate my art, so I'm going to a place where I can realize my art."
"What a damn brat!"
Seeing such content again, the hot-tempered Ōnoki couldn't help but curse again. However, this time, he did notice some clues in the content.
"Has Deidara been in contact with anyone recently? Or has he shown any unusual behavior?"
Kitsuchi thought for a moment and immediately replied, "Recently, Deidara has been alone. Apart from the personnel responsible for delivering food, he hasn't been in contact with anyone else. As for unusual behavior... I don't know if this counts."
"Speak!" Ōnoki glared fiercely at Kitsuchi, who dared to keep him in suspense at a time like this.
Kitsuchi shuddered in fright and quickly said, "Deidara has been talking to himself a lot lately, as if he's arguing with someone."
"However, the Ninja responsible for guarding him didn't notice anything strange, so they didn't take it seriously, assuming that Deidara was just lonely after being alone for too long..."
"Heh!" Ōnoki was almost amused by his words.
"That kid feels lonely? That brat won't have such thoughts with bombs around. Do you remember what happened the last time Kurotsuchi went to play with him?"
"Someone is secretly bewitching Deidara, and none of you noticed!"
Kitsuchi couldn't help but twitch his lips. He did think that Deidara was a bit outrageous.
Last time, Kurotsuchi was dissatisfied with Ōnoki's high regard for Deidara and had a fight with him. As a result, Deidara, unable to win the argument, simply set off a bomb. Kurotsuchi was no match for him and ran away with a face full of dirt, and is now working hard to get her revenge in the future.
"You brat, don't let me catch you, or I'll make sure you won't have a good time!"
Ōnoki could only say some harsh words, not holding much hope of finding Deidara.
He didn't know how long Deidara had been gone, and at this point, he was probably far away from the Hidden Stone Village.
Moreover, the person who was able to contact Deidara secretly must have had excellent hiding skills.
Really looking for him would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Kitsuchi could only complain about this in his heart.
He had advised Ōnoki long ago that Deidara was a rebellious child, and Ōnoki had been suppressing him, forcing him to bow his head, so this day was bound to come.
Kitsuchi didn't dare to respond, and Ōnoki didn't have the mood to continue dealing with the matters at hand, so he began to close his eyes and rest, slowly calming the anger in his heart.
The entire Tsuchikage Building fell into silence, so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping, with only faint breathing sounds lingering.
However.
Knock, knock, knock!
A short and hurried knock on the door broke the silence.
Ōnoki, who was still resting with his eyes closed, was suddenly awakened by the unusual knocking, and his eyelids twitched wildly.
Could something else have happened?
"Come in!"
He frowned, his tone of voice becoming a bit stern.
As soon as he finished speaking, an Anbu Ninja from the Hidden Stone Village pushed the door open without hesitation, knelt on one knee in front of Ōnoki, and lowered his head.
"Tsuchikage-sama, urgent report!"
Hearing the words "urgent report," Ōnoki's heart tightened even more, and his fists clenched even tighter.
"Speak!"
"The Ninja who accepted our bounty at the Underground Exchange have all died in the Hidden Rain Village, none survived."
"What?!"
The expression on Ōnoki's face became extremely astonished.
Most of the Bounty Hunter Ninja who dared to accept commissions at the Underground Exchange were quite strong.
Even the relatively weak Bounty Hunter Ninja were generally not simple and had a special skill.
He didn't expect that they would all be wiped out in just a few days.
However, Ōnoki was only a little surprised and not very angry, after all, it wasn't the people of his Hidden Stone Village who had died.
Moreover, this could be considered as helping them test the strength of the Land of Rain, and at the same time, it saved them a bounty, so he didn't feel too angry about it.
But he quickly thought of something else and asked in confusion, "Since they were all wiped out, how did you get the information?"
The Anbu Ninja's expression was grave, and his tone was unnatural as he spoke.
"Those Ninja who accepted the bounty, their corpses were all hung at the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Rain, everyone passing by saw it..."
Bang!
Another palm slammed heavily on the table.
Ōnoki's face was already livid, and he snorted coldly.
"Hmph! The Land of Rain is killing the chicken to scare the monkey!"
"Tsuchikage-sama, do we need to take action?"
Kitsuchi, standing to the side, also looked rather displeased. Such blatant provocation was something the Hidden Stone Village hadn't encountered in a long time.
"Take action? Take what action? We haven't suffered any losses."
"Moreover, the fact that they dare to provoke us like this means they must have some kind of backing, we must be wary."
Ōnoki's expression was somewhat gloomy. Although he spoke magnanimously, the feeling of being slapped in the face like this was still very uncomfortable.
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