The Cruel Truth

The Iburi Clan possessed a unique Kekkei Genkai that allowed them to turn their physical bodies into smoke.

It was somewhat like the Hozuki Clan's Hydrification Technique, making them nearly immune to physical damage.

However, the Iburi Clan's Kekkei Genkai had a fatal flaw. They could not freely control their bodies after becoming smoke. Once blown by the wind, they would scatter into nothingness and die completely.

Thus, their clan could only live in an underground world without wind, leading a sunless life with scarce supplies.

After Orochimaru saved their clan back then, he used Cursed Seals to allow them to barely control their smoke transformation, extending the clan's survival.

But in exchange, Orochimaru took the Iburi Clan's children and promised that by studying them, he would completely unravel the Iburi Clan's secrets and allow them to live beneath the sun.

The result, however, was that all those children died in Orochimaru's live experiments.

"Who are you?!" As the clan leader, Gota stepped forward, his burly body shielding his clansmen as he glared furiously at the intruder.

Yamato's voice was low beneath his mask. "He is the mysterious shinobi who has recently risen to fame in the Shinobi World! His codename is 'Asura,' and his strength is unfathomable!"

"No matter how strong you are, I will not allow you to slander Lord Orochimaru!" Gota bellowed, turning into a cloud of smoke and charging forward.

The other members of the Iburi Clan also transformed into smoke. In an instant, the entire underground space was shrouded in haze.

"Celestial Maiden," Menma called softly.

A "woman" drifted out from the dim tunnel and positioned herself before Menma. She swung the ribbons in her hands, creating a fierce gust like a tornado that swept through the underground space and blew toward the Iburi Clan's smoke.

At once, more than half of the smoke was blown away, sending the Iburi Clan retreating in terror.

"You bastard!" The smoke that was Gota tried to enter the mysterious "female shinobi's" body and use the Smoke Smothering Technique.

This was the Iburi Clan's secret technique: turning into smoke and entering an enemy's body through their mouth or nose, scorching their internal organs from within.

If a shinobi did not understand the Iburi Clan's traits, there was a high chance they would be killed by this move.

Even when Kakashi had tracked them here, Gota had subdued him with the Smoke Smothering Technique. If Yamato had not appeared and rescued Kakashi, Kakashi would have been severely injured even if he did not die.

But after circling the Celestial Maiden, Gota was shocked to find no opening through which he could enter her body.

This move, which had almost never failed, had actually become useless!

There was no mouth or nose for him to enter!

"How is that possible?!" Gota, still in his smoke form, was utterly stunned.

Having lost their greatest secret and never received systematic shinobi training, Gota and the Iburi Clan had very weak combat strength.

"Wind Release..." Menma raised his hands as if to form hand seals.

The moment he heard the words "Wind Release," Gota jolted in alarm and immediately drifted backward, widening the distance.

But when he returned to his clansmen, he discovered that the mysterious person opposite him had not used any Wind Release ninjutsu at all. His hands had merely remained in the same pose.

Having been feinted out, Gota dispelled his smoke form, his pupils trembling.

The person before him seemed to know his clan extremely well!

"Wood Release: Silent Strangle Jutsu!" Yamato also made his move. As he completed his hand seals, a diamond-shaped piece of wood burst from the ground, extending endlessly as it shot toward the Celestial Maiden floating in the air and generating the fierce wind.

Whoosh—

Whoosh—whoosh—

Yet several wind blades flew out from behind Menma, slicing the serpent-like wood into several pieces.

Yamato sensed the chakra of his Wood Release: Silent Strangle Jutsu being absorbed. He could not help staring in shock at another mysterious masked figure who floated out from behind the masked man, holding a scythe!

"He can absorb chakra?!" Yamato sensed trouble. The greatest feature of his Wood Release was that once it ensnared someone, it could absorb the enemy's chakra to grow. That was why Wood Release could restrain Tailed Beasts renowned for their enormous chakra reserves!

But now, a mysterious shinobi had appeared who could absorb chakra as well!

"No, he might not even be human."

As Yamato, Gota, and the others remained wary, Menma slightly raised his right hand, and the Celestial Maiden stopped generating wind.

Menma turned toward Yamato. "You still have not told them? What Orochimaru did that got him wanted by Konoha."

"!!!"

Yamato fell silent.

As a survivor who had emerged from the laboratory, he naturally knew about Orochimaru's experiments and how many innocent lives they had claimed. Among them were many young children, including children of the Iburi Clan...

"Then let me tell you." Menma slowly walked forward, with the Celestial Maiden of Jade and the Grim Reaper of Three floating behind him, intimidating everyone present.

Overwhelmed by that powerful presence, Gota and the others involuntarily took half a step back.

"Orochimaru came from Konoha, yet he kidnapped Konoha shinobi for live experiments, causing many deaths. The Third Hokage personally led a team to purge him, severely wounding Orochimaru. Right now, he should be on his way to deal with you."

"Oh, and the children of your Iburi Clan all died in Orochimaru's laboratory as well."

Gota staggered back, instinctively about to refute him, but Menma spoke to Yamato again. "You can ask him. He is a child who survived Orochimaru's laboratory."

"Tenzo..." Yukimi looked anxiously at Yamato, seeking confirmation.

At that moment, Yamato, wearing a tanuki mask, fell into a brief daze.

He remembered being immersed in Orochimaru's experimental vessel, surrounded by other vessels containing children. He also remembered a girl who looked very much like Yukimi, smiling at him through the glass.

In the end, they disappeared one after another.

They had likely been disposed of after the experiments failed.

Just as he himself had nearly been.

If Danzo had not discovered him, Yamato might have died long ago as well.

Yamato's kind nature made him want to tell Gota and the others the truth, but Root's education left him deeply conflicted.

Gota lowered his head and looked at Yamato. Seeing that he did not deny it, he knew the truth was likely even crueler than the mysterious person opposite them had said.

This also shook Gota's loyalty to Orochimaru.

The condition for the Iburi Clan's loyalty to Orochimaru was that he would help them solve the problem of being unable to control their smoke transformation. Orochimaru had asked for children as test subjects, saying that because children's bodies had not fully developed, he might uncover the Iburi Clan's secrets through their growth.

With only a little over twenty adults in their clan, the Iburi Clan handed over five children. Other than the young Yukimi, all the children were given to Orochimaru.

And Orochimaru had promised them that he would definitely bring the children back alive.

If Orochimaru was truly insane enough to slaughter even his fellow Konoha people, what were those promises worth?

Yukimi's pleading gaze finally shattered Yamato's hesitation. "Those children... truly did not survive."

"No... impossible..." Gota's world collapsed.

As the clan leader who had agreed to cooperate with Orochimaru and sent the children away, Gota could not believe such a cruel truth.

Among the children sent away had been his own son.

"Then, how about we make a bet?" Menma's mischievous impulse surfaced again.

"Let the lives of your entire clan be the wager."

The voice beneath the mask was light and cheerful, as though he were proposing a game.

"I am really looking forward to adding the Iburi Clan's Kekkei Genkai to my collection."

The white three-eyed Fox Mask gleamed with an eerie light beneath the dim firelight.