You Say, Who Is the Fox Demon?

Night fell like thick ink, spilling over the rows of rooftops.

Menma stood before the windowsill on the third floor of his small courtyard home, both hands braced against the frame as he calmly gazed out at the quiet night.

It was a three-story detached villa in one of the quieter residential districts of the Hidden Leaf Village, facing the Hyuga Compound.

Its architectural style blended traditional Japanese design with modern elements. The outer walls were a simple beige-white, the roof was laid with dark gray tiles, and several cherry trees and carefully trimmed shrubs grew in the courtyard.

The night wind blew in through the open window, carrying the faint lingering fragrance left after the cherry blossoms had fallen.

Menma wore dark house clothes, his short black hair stirring slightly in the wind.

His gaze seemed to sweep casually over the streets outside, the rooftops, and the shadows of the trees.

But deep within those calm eyes, a scene no ordinary person could see was reflected.

The Mind's Eye of the Kagura unfolded soundlessly, compressed within the range of the Hidden Leaf Village's protective barrier.

With him at the center, chakra fluctuations within a radius of dozens of kilometers appeared clearly in his perception like stars glittering in the night sky.

The ordinary villagers had already fallen asleep, their chakra weak and steady, like slumbering fireflies.

The shinobi were different. The chakra of the Anbu on duty was sharp and vigilant, the chakra of patrolling Chunin steady and regular, and occasionally, several jōnin-level chakra signatures lay quietly hidden in key locations around the village.

But tonight was somewhat unusual.

"Tonight sure is lively." Menma's brows furrowed slightly.

In his perception, at least twenty chakra signatures belonging to elite Anbu were moving at high speed throughout the Hidden Leaf.

Their