CHAPTER 170: CHAPTER 170

"Huh...?"

Baki froze for a second. His brain could barely keep up with everything Satoru was saying.

Don’t tell him... Satoru even planned out what would happen in the Sunagakure?

Is he serious!?

That would mean he knew all along it would come to this!

Even with all this going on, Hatake Satoru didn’t warn the people in Konoha—he just pulled strings from the shadows.

He’s insane. Is he really just a teacher!?

Satoru reached out, and a light blue mist instantly wrapped around the hawk. In the blink of an eye, his hand grabbed its wing.

The hawk seemed to notice Satoru and quickly tried to turn around and fly off in another direction.

It really was a messenger bird from the Sunagakure. It probably tried to avoid Satoru the moment it saw an outsider here.

They must’ve trained it for secret missions like this.

"Smart bird, but I can see really far, you know~"

"This kind of urgent news—better hurry up and deliver it properly!"

Everything he planned was tightly linked. Even a small delay could throw off the whole outcome.

That feeling—like he had everyone’s moves in the palm of his hand—was addicting.

Baki caught the hawk Satoru had tossed over. The sudden motion had scared it stiff, and it was now trembling, too afraid to fly again.

Unlike Konoha’s usual crows or pigeons, the Sunagakure used hawks because of the constant sandstorms.

Smaller birds would easily get blown off course in that kind of weather.

So when Baki saw Satoru catch the hawk, his heart sank completely.

He opened the scroll with shaking hands, read the contents, and then looked up at Satoru, trying to speak—but no words came out.

"You get it now, right~?"

"That body is the real Kazekage. And not just him—there are also the bodies of several of your elite jonin there too."

Hatake Satoru had found them himself, so he knew exactly what had happened.

"...Who killed him?"

Who could have killed the Kazekage?

Hatake Satoru was explaining things in such detail—if Baki didn’t know for sure it couldn’t have been him, he would definitely be suspicious.

But it really couldn’t have been Satoru.

Anyone who thought about it carefully would realize that. Even though Baki was shocked and angry, he hadn’t lost his mind.

"You seriously need to ask me that? Even if I did know everything, shouldn’t you be thinking a little on your own?"

"The Kazekage was already dead before the Chunin Exams started, and you guys were ordered to work with Otogakure to attack Konoha."

"Isn’t it obvious who the most likely suspect is?"

Orochimaru’s face popped into Baki’s mind. That guy really was dangerous.

Every nation was watching him, wary of him.

And thinking about it now, if Orochimaru was the one who killed the Kazekage—even if Baki didn’t want to believe it—it still made sense.

Actually, their cooperation with Otogakure had only started after a sudden order from the Kazekage.

Doesn’t that mean Orochimaru was pulling the strings from the shadows, using that order to push the two villages into working together?

They were just tools for him the whole time. He even fooled them with all sorts of reasons and made them swear loyalty to someone who was already dead.

"You’ve got everything planned out so well—even down to the timing, like making sure the Kazekage’s body was only found this morning. That’s crazy."

"So why are you only telling us now? If you’d told us earlier, then—"

"That would’ve been way too boring."

Hatake Satoru cut Baki off without hesitation.

He figured Baki was about to go on about how this could’ve stopped a war or saved lives, but Satoru didn’t care about protecting Konoha, and he didn’t care about protecting the Sunagakure either.

He wasn’t much of a peace-lover, either.

Honestly, if his own goals ever required starting a war, Satoru would probably be open to it.

"I’m not interested in protecting Konoha or Suna, and I’m not some peace freak."

"And besides, I’m telling you now when everyone’s already near Konoha, your Kazekage is dead, and you’ve got a chance to hit back at Orochimaru. Don’t you want to take it?"

Hatake Satoru looked down at Baki, his face unreadable.

"You’ve been used all this time, done all this work—and now you’re just gonna walk away?"

"..."

Baki couldn’t respond right away. Satoru wasn’t wrong. Teaming up with Konoha and turning against Otogakure was probably their best move now.

"Whether or not you go after the Otogakure ninja, that’s your decision. Doesn’t involve me."

"Think of it as me doing you a favor. You all went to war, wasted all that effort and manpower—"

"And in the end, you didn’t even realize your leader had been replaced. That’s just pathetic."

Hatake Satoru gave a mocking laugh as he stood up, dusted off his pants, and vanished from sight.

There was no way he actually felt sorry for them. Baki knew the real reason he told the truth was to get someone to go fight Orochimaru.

They’d think they were getting revenge, but really they’d just be doing Hatake Satoru’s work for him. He was just another puppet master now.

Orochimaru, still sitting in the Kazekage’s place, probably hadn’t realized anything had gone wrong yet.

What would he do once he figured it out?

Now that’s going to be fun to watch.

...

While Satoru was off talking with Baki, the Chunin Selection Exams not far away were moving along smoothly.

"Feels weird fighting in front of this many people."

Hozuki Suigetsu looked around, turning his head toward the nearby buildings. The audience seats surrounded the arena from all sides.

It felt more like they were here to put on a show than take a test.

Back when Kirigakure gave them missions, it was always in thick fog or under cover of night. No one ever saw what they could really do.

Showing them off like this in front of everyone... it really did feel kind of weird.

"They’re not some shameful secret or anything. Didn’t people watch during the preliminaries too?"

Kimimaro casually glanced to the side. Everyone who was part of the real matches had shown up.

But aside from the one Konoha ninja chewing on a toothpick acting as referee, none of the others’ team leaders were around.

"That was different. At least those watching back then were just other kids our age."

"Now it’s a whole crowd of people up there, and none of them are students..."

Suigetsu mumbled next to him.

"Alright, face the crowd properly. Everyone up there is watching you."

The referee with the toothpick turned and said to the genin who were still whispering to each other.

"The rules are the same as the prelims — the fight ends when one side gives up or dies."

"But if I think it’s already decided, I’ll call it off. You’re not allowed to resist."

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