The Night of the Rebellion

"Shun-kun, long time no see!"

Though he had taken on the face of an unfamiliar ninja, Orochimaru still hadn't given up his purple eye shadow. He sat across from the red-haired boy, who was drinking tea, and casually picked up a glutinous rice dumpling and took a bite.

Dōmeki, long accustomed to such things, barely reacted. Still, faced with the garish purple eye shadow on this rough, burly version of Orochimaru, he couldn't help twitching at the corners of his mouth.

He wondered whether it was because Orochimaru had spent time studying with a certain popular group, but he always placed inexplicable importance on such things.

The members of the Akatsuki had a remarkably consistent style with Orochimaru. It was one thing for Konan, as a woman, but all the other members wore nail polish too. Even a certain old man in his eighties had been assigned brown nail polish, and someone had even accepted a garish Barbie pink with delight.

The thought gave Dōmeki goosebumps.

"Orochimaru, are you really that confident I could come to Kirigakure alone?" Dōmeki hurriedly took a sip of tea to calm himself.

"But haven't you already done it, Shun-kun?" Orochimaru looked at his disciple with trust in his eyes.

"Well, I just happened to meet a few reasonable seniors!" The red-haired boy scratched his head in embarrassment.

Then the boy grew serious and told Orochimaru everything at once: someone was controlling Kirigakure's Mizukage, and a rebellion was about to break out. He only left out the information about Obito Uchiha.

"The Sharingan!!?"

Orochimaru hadn't expected to hear such news either. After all, ever since Uchiha Itachi had brought him down with a single glance and sent him fleeing in disgrace, no one had been more eager to obtain those miraculous eyes than the man who was the Uchiha's biggest admirer.

He had originally only wanted to collect more experimental equipment. If possible, he could capture the Three-Tails as well, and that would have fully accomplished his objective. But now...

"Who could it be?" Orochimaru's tongue flicked back and forth in excitement, but he couldn't think who could use a Sharingan of this level to control a Tailed Beast and the Mizukage.

Judging by the style and methods, Danzo of Root was the most likely. Taking control of the Kage of a major ninja village and plunging an entire country into turmoil both sounded like things he would do. Besides, Shisui's eye had fallen into his hands.

Then Orochimaru shook his head. That sinister man didn't have the capacity for something like this.

That left only the man who had defeated him. Given that organization's motives, it was possible, but it wasn't Uchiha Itachi's style!

"Could there be another Mangekyō out there?" As thoughts flashed through Orochimaru's mind, he actually guessed part of the truth.

"I think it could be Kakashi-senpai!" Dōmeki raised his hand to speak. "He infiltrated Kirigakure, and he has a Sharingan. He's the perfect candidate!"

"I've always thought there was something strange about that eye! Why don't you take it and study it, Orochimaru?"

"Hehe, Shun-kun!" Orochimaru recalled that ordinary Mitsudomoe and couldn't help smiling and shaking his head. "You still don't understand the Sharingan very well!"

"I think there's no one in the Shinobi World who understands the Sharingan better than I do!" Dōmeki muttered under his breath, thinking that Orochimaru would regret it one day.

"All right!" Orochimaru put his feelings aside, turned to Dōmeki, and asked for information about the Kaguya Clan and when the rebellion would begin.

Dōmeki was about to answer when he suddenly froze for a moment.

A moment later, he spread his hands. "What a coincidence!"

"Thanks to information from a certain bandaged senior, the rebellion's been moved up!"

In a secluded clan compound.

The ninja clan everyone feared and shunned, the mad fighting machines, the sharpest Ninja Blade in Kirigakure's hand, the inheritors of the Shikotsumyaku—the Kaguya Clan-lived here.

The Kaguya clansmen, who claimed to be the strongest clan, were cruel and warlike. They cared for nothing but killing and ignored even the Mizukage's orders. Moreover, they liked to kill ordinary civilians indiscriminately, earning the hatred of nearly all of Kirigakure's ninja and villagers.

Restrained by the village, the Kaguya Clan had long been dissatisfied with Karatachi Yagura's rule. They believed Kirigakure should belong to the Kaguya Clan, and their rebellious intentions were plain to see. Thus, they immediately hit it off with Zabuza when he came to visit!

When Kaguya Tsuhito, the Kaguya Clan's leader, learned that the Mizukage was being controlled, he was overjoyed. Even the cause of justice was on his side.

"Zabuza, once our clan takes the Mizukage's position, you'll certainly have a place among the elders!" The Kaguya leader dangled the promise before the Demon, already imagining Kirigakure falling into his hands.

A cold glint flashed through Zabuza's eyes. He immediately buried his killing intent toward the Kaguya Clan deep down, but told him about the plan Genji and the others had recently made to rescue the Mizukage.

"Crack, crack, crack!" Kaguya Tsuhito's bones ground against one another with a piercing screech. "We absolutely can't let those good-for-nothings ruin our plan! Move it up!"

"Oh?" Zabuza raised an eyebrow. "The Anbu at the Kirigakure building are manageable, but Yagura's strength is nothing to underestimate!"

"Hahaha!" Kaguya Tsuhito let out a mad laugh. "I'll go with you, Zabuza. Besides..."

"The Kaguya Clan has a secret weapon that guarantees victory!"

Zabuza's heart jolted, but he asked, "When?"

"Why not tonight!!!"

The two Mist Ninja, each harboring ulterior motives, immediately laughed, neither noticing a small snake vanish from a corner of the wall.

That night, the moon vanished, and mist emerged.

It would have been an ordinary night in the village.

But a bloody tang had crept into the air.

A patrolling Mist Ninja suddenly clutched his neck as a bloody hole abruptly burst open there, blood spraying out like a fountain. Air and liquid suddenly rushed in, blocking his windpipe. Unable even to make a sound, he struggled in agony and suffocated.

And this was only the beginning.

Gleaming bone blades flashed, and Mist Ninja fell one after another before the white-haired ninja. Gradually, their blood pooled on the ground, only to be trampled through by the mad, bloodthirsty killing machines.

At last, in a corner near the Kirigakure building, a dying ninja struggled to send a signal.

An enemy attack alarm instantly rang throughout the village. Countless Kirigakure villagers were jolted from their sleep, able only to stare helplessly toward the Kirigakure building.

Reinforcements from Kirigakure immediately broke the silence of the slaughter. Amid a deafening tumult of screams, Kirigakure's ninja, led by Ao and Mei Terumi, moved to wipe out the rebelling Kaguya Clan.

Though every Kaguya clansman was astonishingly strong, and the sharp bones that could emerge from anywhere on their bodies were practically natural killing weapons, their mere few hundred were quickly overwhelmed by the vast number of Mist Ninja, leaving only corpses piled into small hills.

Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, a tremendous explosion suddenly erupted at the Kirigakure building.

Mei Terumi and Ao exchanged a glance and cried out in anger at the same time.

"Zabuza!!!"