Naruto Bloodline Theory? Just Trash

"Sigh..."

Hanzo of the Salamander could not help but sigh.

Akatsuki Organization had been founded by a young man named Yahiko.

The organization was full of vitality and idealism.

Many young people from the Land of Rain had thrown themselves into it.

Watching them grow stronger by the day, Hanzo had come to see them as something of a thorn in his side.

Now, seeing an outstanding young man refuse to join Akatsuki—

He truly felt rather moved.

"Then is he willing to join Amegakure?"

"I invited him, but he seemed to have matters to attend to. He said we would meet again if fate allowed..." Asuka answered.

"So he did not refuse, but neither did he agree immediately..."

Hanzo nodded slightly and silently committed this information to memory.

"What is his name?"

"Mingren... Amakawa Mingren."

Asuka spoke that pleasant, almost magical name.

That handsome face and those unwavering eyes burning with Black Fire seemed to appear before her once more...

Autopsy, Konoha High Command's Decision

A day later...

At the heart of the distant Land of Fire, Konohagakure.

It was daytime, with thunder and rain raging outside.

Inside the Morgue, the stench was nauseating.

This was not Ibiki Morino's first time in a place like this.

Ever since graduating as a Chunin, taking part in the Third Shinobi World War, and joining the Interrogation Division—

Ibiki had dealt with countless corpses.

Yet looking at the bodies before him still made his entire body feel uneasy...

Makoto, Shikahide Nara, and Tetsuya Senju lay side by side on the examination tables.

The trays around them were filled with various surgical, dissection, and autopsy instruments, along with traces of their use.

These fallen comrades had been brought back from the Land of Rain by Kakashi Hatake.

Autopsies.

At times, they were also part of the Interrogation Division's duties.

At the same time, ANBU personnel had joined today's autopsy.

"How brutal..."

Ibiki Morino frowned.

Kakashi was his classmate, and both of them were Konoha shinobi.

Ibiki Morino held the rank of "Special Jonin."

At such a young age, that was already astonishing.

But his old classmate Kakashi had obtained the rank of "Jonin" even earlier. He was a true genius.

Wiping the blood from his gloves—

Ibiki Morino looked toward his colleagues and superiors.

"Makoto, the youngest, had his neck snapped directly. Judging by his expression, he was killed before he could react at all."

"Shikahide Nara reacted slightly and raised an arm to block the blow, but his skull and hand bones were smashed apart together. The murderer struck multiple times, relying on immense brute force to accomplish this... Preliminary judgment: his strength was more terrifying than that of many Jonin..."

Every shinobi's promotion was evaluated.

Once their overall abilities reached a certain level and they passed the tests, they could obtain the corresponding rank... such as Genin, Chunin, Special Jonin, and so on.

In terms of overall ability, some people stood out for their Chakra reserves, while others excelled at Genjutsu.

Then there were a small number of people... whose strength stood out.

"Judging from the handprints and fist marks left behind, the perpetrator was approximately thirteen or fourteen years old."

Ibiki Morino stared at the corpses as he gave his assessment.

His colleagues and superiors nodded repeatedly, clearly satisfied with Ibiki's professional skills.

"The murderer was not Hanzo's Granddaughter, unless she was born with extraordinary strength. If the culprit was an Amegakure shinobi, then they were most likely a guard or ANBU agent secretly dispatched by Hanzo..."

Ibiki Morino deduced.

"The most horrifying death was Tetsuya Senju's..."

Ibiki Morino walked over and used his gloved right hand to move Tetsuya Senju's broken left leg.

"Tetsuya Senju was a shinobi of the Senju Clan. He naturally possessed powerful Yang Release, as well as Water and Earth affinities... When facing danger, even if he could not win, he should theoretically have been able to escape using Earth Style... But his left leg was broken beforehand, and then someone used Fire Oil on him..."

"Wait... Even if his left leg was broken, that should not have affected his ability to form hand seals with both hands, right?" Kakashi, his expression gloomy, stepped forward and asked softly.

During this sudden mission, he had failed to bring his teammates back.

Kakashi blamed himself deeply for that.

"Correct. That is exactly my next point..."

Ibiki Morino nodded.

When it came to reading corpses, he was an expert.

"Judging from the strangulation marks left on the back of the corpse, the other party used both arms to hold the deceased tightly, preventing him from forming hand seals. In the end, Tetsuya Senju was burned alive..."

Ibiki Morino shook his head.

"Tetsuya Senju was very strong, but the other party was even stronger. If it was not inborn superhuman strength, then it was very likely some kind of technique—or even a Kekkei Genkai."

Otherwise, the murderer could not possibly have endured the flames.

Rumble!!

Thunder crashed outside.

Rainwater poured down.

Everyone's faces were illuminated a ghastly white.

Ibiki Morino was about to continue speaking.

When hurried footsteps came from outside.

Soon, another corpse was carried in.

The deceased was from the Reconnaissance Squad.

Many of the Konoha shinobi present recognized this comrade.

He had also taken part in the military operation in the Land of Rain.

The Reconnaissance Squad often had missions where a single person operated alone.

By the time his body had been discovered, he had already collapsed in a pool of blood...

"The corpse has fractures throughout its entire body. His body was shattered alive, fist by fist..."

Ibiki Morino, Kakashi, and the others only needed one glance to understand everything.

"Judging from the size and shape of the fist marks, we suspect it was done by the same person... That bastard!"

Ibiki Morino clenched his fingers.

"Who exactly is this murderer?!"

"..."

The two comrades who had delivered the body looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Hmph! There is no need to say any more. No matter what, this has gone beyond normal combat methods."

A Jonin from the Senju Clan stepped forward, his face filled with fury.

"This is clearly an act of revenge! Those bastards from the Land of Rain! They must pay for this blood with blood!"

The enraged crowd quickly conveyed their sentiments to the Konoha High Command...

Not long afterward, at the Hokage Building in central Konoha.

An emergency meeting was convened.

Seated at the head was the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, wearing the Hokage's hat and known as the Shinobi God.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was in his prime, and his strength had reached its peak.

His name alone was something people revered and feared.

"It seems that capturing Hanzo's Granddaughter and resolving this peacefully will be somewhat difficult..."

The report from Ibiki Morino's side showed—

The murderer possessed outstanding strength and feared no flames.

It was highly likely that he possessed some kind of Kekkei Genkai... in other words, bloodline abilities.

The Five Great Shinobi Villages under the Five Great Nations—Konoha, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure—possessed the most advanced military forces.

But some smaller shinobi villages belonging to lesser nations also had their own unique strengths.

Many shinobi who possessed special secret techniques or bloodlines had grown up in those smaller villages.

And Amegakure was the strongest of all the smaller shinobi villages in the Ninja World.

It was not strange for some shinobi with special Kekkei Genkai to appear there.

Hanzo of the Salamander, Amegakure Village Leader, was even known as the Demigod.

Over the years, through the Third Shinobi World War, the major shinobi villages had failed to crack this hard bone.

Instead, they had kept one another in check, dragging the situation into a quagmire.

On one hand, Amegakure was indeed difficult to deal with.

On the other hand, Konoha, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure all had similar plans. Each wanted to capture Amegakure, and in the end, none of them could gain an advantage.

Because no village wanted another to gain control over Amegakure.

That situation—

Had shifted last year, when ten thousand Stone Ninja besieged the Third Raikage, only to be completely wiped out...

Iwagakure no longer had sufficient troops to contest Amegakure's territory.

Adding to that was last year's Kannabi Bridge Battle, when one thousand Stone Ninja attempted to cross the Land of Grass and launch a surprise attack on Konoha, only for the bridge to be destroyed, cutting off their supply line and forcing them to retreat in defeat.

It could be said that Iwagakure had completely lost any hope of winning the war.

At the very least... they would no longer be Konoha's match.

But Iwagakure was still one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

If Konoha launched a direct assault, it would still have to pay an enormous price.

That was why Konoha's leadership wanted to win Hanzo over as an ally.

As long as Amegakure became Konoha's shield against Iwagakure—

Konoha could free up its energy and manpower to deal with Sunagakure, which was likewise eyeing Amegakure greedily.

And the battlefield of the Third Shinobi World War was not limited to the Land of Rain.