In the woods, two masked ninja moved swiftly through the trees. One of them carried a child of seven or eight in his arms.
They were the Kirigakure ninja who had killed the Feudal Lord.
After confirming that the Feudal Lord was dead, the two of them returned to the Castle Tower through a secret passage.
The purpose of their return to the Castle Tower was the child in their arms.
This child was the Feudal Lord's descendant.
As for the Feudal Lord's other descendants, the two ninja had not killed them.
It was not because they could not bring themselves to do it. Rather, with Puppet Corpses wandering throughout the Castle Tower and no ninja stopping them, they did not believe ordinary people without the strength to truss a chicken could survive.
Of course, they had not done nothing.
Before leaving, they sealed the Castle Tower's gates with Earth Release.
However, when they arrived at the gates, they found rows of wooden stakes blocking the entrance from the outside.
This... could there be others besides them who wanted to deal with the Feudal Lord?
Worried that the wood would not be sturdy enough, they used Earth Release to add another layer of earth.
They did not connect those wooden stakes with Wood Release. After all, aside from the First Hokage, they had only heard of one other person capable of using Wood Release, and that person could not possibly be here.
They merely assumed that other people dissatisfied with the Feudal Lord, or the first group to escape the Castle Tower, had used wooden stakes to seal the gates.
Their feelings were impossible to describe. The Feudal Lord's death would certainly quell the turmoil in the Land of Water and bring enormous benefits to Kirigakure's development!
Once the Feudal