Chapter Forty-Seven: The Plan

A faint sense of loathing rose in Yu Higashino’s heart. Ordinarily, because of his temperament, he wouldn’t bother acting on such mild disgust—after all, he knew there was much darkness in the shinobi world yet had never intervened before. But now that he had encountered it, and with the involved character being one he rather liked from the original story, he thought he should do something.

But what should he do?

Should he simply annihilate the Grass Village? The thought flashed through Yu Higashino’s mind, but he immediately dismissed it—he’d already said he disliked killing indiscriminately.

Then… send them to the Leaf Village? That seemed practical. The Land of Whirlpools was already connected to the Leaf. If Karin and the others went, there was no reason for the Leaf not to take them in. The only obstacle might be Danzo, but that wasn’t a significant problem. Yu Higashino wasn’t sparing Danzo out of caution, but simply because Danzo hadn’t leapt out to cause trouble directly in front of him. If it came to that, dealing with Danzo would be no more than a single stroke.

That settled it. Tomorrow, he would ask them if they wanted to entrust him with helping them leave this place. He found his plan quite satisfactory—helping through a commission wouldn’t seem abrupt, and might even earn him a new skill. It was practically perfect.

With the decision made, Yu Higashino and Kakuzu returned to their lodgings. After eating, they each retired to their own rooms.

…

In a chamber arranged like a laboratory, four figures concealed behind animal masks, along with another man, gathered around a boy lying on an operating table.

“Muin, do not hesitate any longer. The Grass Village is facing an unprecedented crisis—a single powerful man repelled the Hidden Waterfall by himself. Only fools would believe he acted for the so-called bounty; there must be a plot. Now, only opening the Box of Ultimate Bliss can help us.”

Muin still hesitated. He glanced at the large box not far away, its surface carved with four faces—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. The face of joy was currently turned toward them, but Muin felt not a trace of happiness.

Opening the box required a vast amount of chakra. The boy on the table was the sacrifice to provide that chakra—and was also his son.

“Muin, this is for the village!” the man in the ram mask barked. “Mukou would support your decision.”

Thinking of how his son had agreed to this, and that it was only to provide chakra—not necessarily fatal—Muin struggled inwardly for a moment, then finally began to form seals.

A stream of chakra surged from the boy’s body toward the box. The flow grew ever faster, the force so strong that it lifted the boy off the table.

“Aaah!” the unconscious boy let out a cry of pain.

Immediately after, the grinning face on the box slowly opened its mouth. A suction force emerged, and the floating boy was swallowed into the box.

Everyone in the chamber stared in shock. After the box had devoured the boy, nothing else happened. The open mouth slowly closed again.

“Was the chakra insufficient?” the man in the monkey mask asked.

“It seems so,” replied the man in the tiger mask.

“No, we must open the Box of Ultimate Bliss!” the ram mask’s voice was urgent. “For the sake of the Grass Village, it must be opened!”

Though they spoke grandly of the village’s sake, their urgency to open the box was simply because Yu Higashino had provoked them.

First, there was envy—a single stroke had repelled the Waterfall ninja who had given them so much trouble. Such overwhelming power! Why shouldn’t they possess it themselves?

Then, there was fear. If that same stroke were turned on the Grass Village, would they have any hope of survival?

Finally, despair. With such a powerful enemy blocking their ambitions, their dreams would never be realized unless they possessed matching strength.

Thus, they were desperate to open the Box of Ultimate Bliss.

“If one person’s chakra is not enough, then we’ll use several,” the ram mask said harshly.

“The village isn’t entirely under the ‘Shi’ faction’s control. If the ‘Hana’ faction catches wind, things won’t be so simple,” the tiger mask objected.

“And if they do? By then, we’ll have already opened the box—who would dare oppose us?”

“Don’t underestimate ‘Hana.’ If we make too much noise, they’ll come for us immediately.”

While the ram and tiger masks argued, the bull mask, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

“I have an idea.”

Everyone turned to him.

“What idea?”

“Aren’t there two of the Uzumaki clan in the village? They’re famed for their vitality. If we extract all their chakra, that should be enough to open the box.”

“I know who you mean—they’re not even shinobi. They have hardly any chakra within them.”

“That’s why I said extract. I recall the village once developed a secret drug that could burn the user’s life force to release a massive amount of chakra.”

Silence fell over the group for a moment.

“That could work,” the tiger mask said, “but the drug was destroyed. There are no ready doses—it’ll have to be made.”

“How long will it take?” asked the ram mask.

“Most of a day. It should be ready by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Then it’s settled.”

“Wait,” the bull mask interrupted, “there’s one more issue.”

“What is it?”

“The reason I thought of those two Uzumaki is because that man had contact with them this afternoon. I’m not sure if they’re his target.”

“What should we do, then?”

“My suggestion: take the woman first and leave the child at home for now. Even if he is targeting the mother and daughter, he won’t notice anything unusual right away. And for us, perhaps the woman alone will be enough. If not, we’ll find another way.”

“Good. That works.”

“Agreed.”

Ram, tiger, and monkey all nodded. The plan was set.

Muin, meanwhile, had not spoken since earlier. He seemed dazed, as if in doubt, lost, or regretful—his heart awash with conflicting emotions.

But the four masked figures paid him no mind. Or perhaps, if they noticed, their swelling desire had left no room for concern about anything else…