One Piece: I am Imu
Chapter 343: The Storm After the Sand

Chapter 343 - 343: The Storm After the Sand

A dim stone chamber, lit only by a single incandescent bulb casting a yellowish glow.

It seemed to be a room dedicated to interrogation—scattered everywhere were a variety of torture tools, and dried, dark bloodstains marked the floor.

At that moment—

Three Kumogakure shinobi were tied to a filthy wooden rack. Their heads hung limply, as if they had lost consciousness.

The surviving Kumogakure ninjas from the Land of Wind hadn't yet made it back to the Land of Lightning—the journey was long, after all.

But for a group of panic-stricken, injured Kumogakure shinobi to pass through without the Third Raikage among them—how could the intelligence divisions of other shinobi villages not take advantage of that?

So it was inevitable that a few Kumogakure shinobi would mysteriously go missing along the way.

"Sir, we've compiled all the information from their memories."

A male shinobi with light brown hair handed a notebook filled with dense writing to the figure who had been waiting behind him—Danzō.

"Hm."

Danzō accepted the notebook. The shinobi from the Yamanaka clan possessed a mind-reading technique so advanced that even if the target was dead, as long as the brain retained any activity, they could still retrieve memories.

However, this particular man seemed a bit too... earnest—he had even written down everything the Third Raikage said.

Including the line:

"A bunch of filthy rats from the gutter dare demand respect from me? Even if Danzō were here in person, he'd have to kneel just to earn the right to speak to me!"

Every word had been meticulously recorded.

Danzō's eyes darkened with rage upon reading it.

And yet the Yamanaka stood expressionless before him, leaving Danzō no choice but to silently suppress his fury.

But then—

What came next made Danzō's face twist in barely contained anger. His grip on the notebook tightened so hard it let out a chilling creak.

"A damned rat dares impersonate Konoha shinobi—my Root operatives?!"

It had always been his Root who disguised themselves as foreign shinobi to stir up trouble. Now someone had flipped the script and used the same trick against them?

The audacity. The utter shamelessness!

This scapegoat had truly dropped out of the sky.

It wouldn't be long before rumors spread throughout the shinobi world—stories that Konoha's Root not only controlled Rōran in the Land of Wind, but that an unknown powerhouse under their command had defeated the Kumogakure forces... and even captured the Third Raikage alive.

Kumogakure would surely retaliate against Konoha. Other great nations would dispatch even more spies to investigate.

The problem was—they hadn't done any of it!

Of course—

Deep down, Danzō wished the one who captured the Third Raikage was from Root. Ideally, someone entirely under his control.

"Lightning Release chakra had no effect on his sand control?"

Danzō narrowed his eyes in suspicion. That detail struck him as particularly critical—it violated the basic elemental principles of chakra.

So, if Lightning Release was ineffective—how could they counter that overly tall, unidentified powerhouse?

Danzō instinctively began to ponder the problem.

Because he was convinced this man would eventually pose a threat to Konohagakure. And if he turned out to be a powerful shinobi from Sunagakure, the threat would be even greater.

"Is Sunagakure on the rise?"

Danzō's mood grew heavy. He thought he should inform that old monkey Sarutobi about this as soon as possible. As a high-ranking official of Konoha, he understood all too well the impact such prodigies could have.

After all, Konoha had produced the most geniuses—but perhaps because of that, they had also grown careless with them.

"It would be best to find a way to eliminate him early."

With that thought, a cold killing intent slowly wrapped around Danzō. He turned and left the dim prison cell.

As for those three Kumogakure shinobi—they wouldn't be killed just yet. Orochimaru had recently needed a large number of experimental subjects, and who knew when he might finally produce results?

The cells of the First Hokage... every time he thought of them, anticipation stirred in his heart.

"Let's hope I get to witness the power of Wood Release soon."

Danzō's muttered words echoed faintly through the empty underground base before vanishing into the darkness.

Meanwhile—

Just as Danzō had predicted, with the growing number of fleeing Kumogakure shinobi appearing across the Land of Wind, the events there gradually became known throughout the major nations.

...

"Except for the archery, the rest... honestly, it all aligns quite well with Konoha's current characteristics."

Inside the Tsuchikage's office in Iwagakure—

Ōnoki was reading the interrogation report sent by his son. Stroking his chin, he spoke with a thoughtful tone.

Taijutsu, genjutsu, swordsmanship, crow beasts, and advanced weapon tech...

"But what's with this Sound Release and sand manipulation? And here—it says the enemy shinobi had no detectable chakra signatures, and never used any conventional ninjutsu?"

Kitsuchi shook his head and replied, "It is weird. But I'm really curious about the part where it says the guy was three meters tall. That's insanely tall! I'd love to see him with my own eyes."

Standing at 2.17 meters himself, he had always considered himself tall by shinobi standards.

But when Ōnoki heard that, he grew irritated.

"Hmph, what's the point of being tall? It just makes you an easier target!"

...

About a week later—

Dodai finally led nearly a thousand exhausted shinobi back to Kumogakure.

Only the heavens knew how difficult this sea journey had been, having to circle around most of the ninja world's coastline.

The lack of food and water was barely manageable thanks to the 'enthusiastic aid' from the Land of Tea along the way, but once night fell, there were always enemy shinobi launching harassment attacks from all directions.

As a result, a few people went missing nearly every single day.

This made it nearly impossible for them to get any rest.

[Bang!!]

A high-quality desk was smashed with a punch, even the floor beneath it shaking violently and cracking with spiderweb fractures.

"This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

A, the son of the Third Raikage, had a much more volatile temper than his father, who had grown more restrained with age.

The moment he heard the news Dodai brought back, he was first stunned in disbelief, then overwhelmed with a tidal wave of uncontrollable fury.

"My old man is invincible in the ninja world!"

"He's the one who crushes others—how could he possibly be defeated, let alone captured alive?!"

Inside the Raikage's office, Dodai and the other jonin remained silent. They, too, found it difficult to believe. Even Dodai himself, who had witnessed everything firsthand, still felt a surreal sense of unreality.

A small part of him even wondered—could he have fallen under a genjutsu?

But that was just self-consolation.

"Brother, calm down, think things through, brother!"

Killer Bee adjusted his dark sunglasses and gestured with rhythmic hand motions as he spoke in his usual rapping tone.

"I know, Bee."

A gradually calmed down, looked at his little brother, and said, "We need to find a way to get our old man back!"

"No problem, brother, we'll go together, brother~"

Killer Bee agreed without hesitation.

"Ah?!"

But Dodai and the nearby jonin all turned pale with shock. They thought A was planning to head for the Land of Wind, which would turn the situation into a complete disaster.

A glanced at Dodai and the others and said in a deep voice, "I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, I'm not planning to go to the Land of Wind. Even my father wasn't a match—what could I possibly do if I went?"

"Whew—"

Dodai and the others immediately let out a sigh of relief.

At the same time, they were surprised at how rational he was being despite his anger—as if he had suddenly matured all at once.

"So what do you plan to do?"

"I'm going to deploy 5,000 troops to the border of the Land of Fire and demand an explanation. At the same time, we'll reach out to Iwagakure and Kirigakure to discuss suppressing the Land of Wind together!"

A's fierce gaze turned toward the window, where black clouds gathered over jagged mountain peaks.

From within the clouds, faint rumbling thunder could be heard—it wouldn't be long before another thunderstorm rolled in.

But Kumogakure was different from Amegakure.

Every time a storm passed, it was followed by clear skies—vast blue skies like freshly-washed glass. He believed everything would get better just like that.

Because Kumogakure was strong enough to make it so!

"Good idea. Whether or not those people were Konoha shinobi, Konoha has to give us an explanation. And as for Sunagakure, the other villages definitely won't want them harboring such a powerful individual."

Dodai nodded thoughtfully.

"Even Kirigakure, the farthest from the Land of Wind, would probably be interested in those high-speed, long-barreled firearms and those capsule-like explosives with tremendous destructive power."

Compared to conventional handguns, these weapons posed a significant threat to shinobi.

Under these circumstances, if Kirigakure doesn't find a way to obtain samples and develop manufacturing capabilities, then once the other great nations possess such weapons and they do not, they'll inevitably fall behind.

So this time, Kirigakure can't afford to stand by and watch.

"Bee, your next mission is to go to the Lightning Gorge and train with the Tailed Beast Bomb. I want you to master its use as soon as possible!"

At this moment, A seemed to think of something else and looked at Killer Bee with great seriousness.

"Now that my old man is gone, the other shinobi villages might try to invade us too. When that time comes, I need you to keep firing Tailed Beast Bombs to blast them back—and I swear, I won't let a single enemy get anywhere near you!"

"But... my Lariat's still not—"

"Forget about your Lariat! From now on, you're not allowed to take a single step outside the village! Do you hear me?!" A shouted in anger.

Right now, Kumogakure had to rely on a fully trained jinchūriki—that is, the power of the Tailed Beast—to stabilize the situation.

Although the village also had the Two-Tails, they still hadn't found a suitable jinchūriki. So for now, only Killer Bee could be trusted to guard the village.

Even if A had to leave, Killer Bee absolutely could not.

"Alright, brother, I got it!"

Killer Bee didn't argue. He turned around and left straight away, preparing to head for the Lightning Gorge to begin training with the Tailed Beast Bomb—even though a thunderstorm was about to hit.

Because he could feel his big brother's anxiety and unease.

And if that was the case...

Then all he could do was race against time, do what he could, and help his brother as much as possible!

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