"What... exactly happened?"
Clan Leader Tsugawa Taishi stood by the window. Seeing the commotion, unrest, and chaos visible outside with the naked eye, he could not help murmuring under his breath.
Facing an unseen enemy, he had actually grown restless as well.
A very ominous premonition kept surfacing in his mind.
Sure enough, his premonition was soon proven right. A scout ninja hurried in.
The scout ninja's gaze quickly locked onto the Clan Leader before he said at lightning speed:
"Clan Leader, this is bad! While Elder Xiu Ping was patrolling the village, he suddenly launched an attack and viciously struck at Captain Keihisa."
"After suffering severe injuries, Captain Keihisa managed to escape. Then, when Captain Morita came to his aid, he suddenly became inexplicably terrified and killed Captain Morita without any reason."
"Afterward, Captain Keihisa fled again."
"At present, both Captain Keihisa and Elder Xiu Ping have vanished..."
Tsugawa Taishi blinked. First, he suspected his ears. Then he began to suspect his own mind.
What on earth was this guy talking about?
Once Tsugawa Taishi's mind finally caught up and he understood the specific meaning of the information, he felt the veins on his forehead bulge, while his temples throbbed.
"Why... what exactly happened?"
Even after learning the latest information, he almost instinctively repeated his earlier question.
Immediately afterward, he thought of the most reasonable explanation—one that nevertheless deviated from the truth. Someone in the clan had been controlled by the enemy's genjutsu, and only someone whose mind had been invaded would suddenly attack a fellow clansman.
But his speculation was quickly disproven when another piece of news arrived.
Another ninja came before him and said:
"Clan Leader, we found Captain Keihisa's corpse. Judging from his movements after he was injured..."
"Judging what?"
"We believe Captain Keihisa had already died before attacking Captain Morita. His corpse was found in an alley between the deployment areas of the two teams."
"What?"
Tsugawa Taishi felt his mind turn into a muddle once again, and his thoughts grew increasingly chaotic.
"Keihisa died before Morita, so how did Morita die? Who killed him?"
At that moment, a third ninja hurried over to Tsugawa Taishi, breathing heavily. His face was filled with anxiety, confusion, and even fear as he said:
"Clan Leader, we found Elder Xiu Ping's corpse in the residence of the late Captain Daisuke. Judging from the corpse, the Elder should have died a day ago."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "It's very likely that he died around the same time as Captain Daisuke."
Tsugawa Taishi no longer felt dizzy. Instead, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Elder Xiu Ping had died long ago. Then who had been attending meetings here from yesterday until this morning?
Cold sweat slid past the corner of Tsugawa Taishi's eye. At that moment, he felt as though he had been enveloped by endless darkness... Could the enemy transform into one of their clansmen without leaving behind the slightest flaw?
Could they even imitate chakra signatures with one-hundred-percent accuracy?
The more Tsugawa Taishi thought about it, the more horrifying it became. He quietly moved away from the three ninjas who had brought him the latest news.
In other words, from this moment onward, none of the ninjas in the clan could be trusted. Anyone might suddenly attack him.
"What... exactly are we fighting?"
The Clan Leader's mood at that moment was far worse than the feeling of an approaching storm. He felt that the entire ninja clan had been pushed to the edge of a cliff, where one careless step would leave them shattered to pieces.
After burning two warehouses, killing several ninjas, and putting on a somewhat deranged performance, Yuzhen instead temporarily withdrew from the village.
His mood was somewhat complicated. After all, just a few months ago, the Tsugawa Clan had been an insurmountable behemoth to him. When the Hagane Clan's village was breached, every resistance he had put up at the time had looked like an insect trying to stop a chariot.
Yet in such a short time, the positions of the two sides had completely reversed.
The powerful Tsugawa Clan had instead become the weaker side, unable to withstand a single blow.
On one hand, Yuzhen's strength had made great strides after his physique and chakra were enhanced, along with his ability to skillfully utilize White Zetsu's infiltration abilities. On the other hand, the offensive and defensive relationship between the two sides had already been reversed.
Yuzhen came to a realization. Ninjas truly were a profession that emphasized offense to the extreme, one that required them to actively and aggressively initiate attacks.
His actions had gone so smoothly that they could probably be described in the most commonplace way possible: one bad apple spoiled the whole barrel.
Though a bad apple was small, it certainly had the ability to disgust people.
After regrouping with the other two, both sides reported their progress to each other.
Uchiha Nanami and Fūma Kotarō had not only ambushed and killed several teams of ninjas, but had also conveniently dealt with a Combat Captain. That counted as an unexpected gain.
"What about the enemy's Clan Leader?" Uchiha Nanami asked Yuzhen.
Yuzhen grabbed a water flask and gulped down water before letting out a long breath. Only then did he say, "As planned, he's still perfectly safe."
The goal was not to preserve that Clan Leader. Rather, according to Yuzhen's group's plans, it would be best to deal with him at the final moment... Once a ninja clan had endured enough psychological pressure, the Clan Leader's death would become the moment that signaled their collapse.
"So... the enemy's upper echelon now consists of only one Clan Leader, one Elder, and one Combat Captain." Fūma Kotarō counted on his fingers.
Yuzhen nodded.
"Should we launch a full-scale assault on the village according to plan?" Uchiha Nanami asked again.
Their ultimate goal was to disperse this ninja clan, so they had to cause a major disturbance.
"According to the original plan, we need to give the fear enough time to spread, so we'll act in three days... By then, our main force should arrive in time to catch the tail end. That way, we'll have enough manpower to clean up the battlefield."
Something moldy only became more sour and foul after being covered up for a while.
At this point, the Tsugawa Clan would never believe that the attacks they had suffered were revenge from the obscure minor ninja clan they had annihilated. They would only believe that they had somehow offended a major power in the ninja world, and that the other side intended to toy with and destroy them.
Slightly extending the duration of the attack would put their mental endurance to a severe test.
Yuzhen would not remain idle during those three days, either. From time to time, he would infiltrate Tsugawa's village, sometimes carrying out assassinations and sometimes simply setting fires. In short, he would keep their nerves taut, leaving them no time to relax.
Time flew by, and soon it was the evening of the third day.
A full-scale assault by just three people against an entire ninja clan was about to begin.
According to plan, Yuzhen would infiltrate the village and carry out a "blossom-from-the-center" operation, while Uchiha Nanami and Fūma Kotarō would attack from the outside inward.
Uchiha Nanami and Fūma Kotarō stopped hiding. After an explosion rang out from inside the village, the two of them swaggered directly toward the village gates.
At the same time, Uchiha Nanami began forming hand seals without haste.
Perhaps because Yuzhen had previously misunderstood the origins of her ninjutsu, she decided to distinguish herself this time and let him understand that the Fire Release techniques of different Uchiha ninjas were not the same.
Although they were still quite far from the village walls, Uchiha Nanami had already finished forming her seals. She therefore paused in her steps.
But at this distance, it was absolutely impossible for an ordinary Fire Release technique to reach its target...
Uchiha Nanami's nostrils twitched as she inhaled deeply.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation."
Hmm...
This was Madara Uchiha's ninjutsu.
Before you continue