"Shadow's" Ambition

In the night, Namikaze Yoru's figure darted through the outskirts of Kirigakure like a phantom.

As the mastermind behind all this, he would never have been foolish enough to actually blow himself to a crisp.

The remains brought back to the Mizukage Building were nothing more than a carefully prepared decoy.

Several days earlier, on his way to the Land of Water, he had happened upon a group of bandits. One of them was remarkably similar to him in build.

On a hunch, he had spared the man's life, captured him, and put him up for pawn.

At first, he had only wanted to test what happened if a living person went unredeemed for more than 24 hours. He hadn't expected this unintentional act to prove useful at a critical moment.

The bandit redeemed from the system had become an empty shell. His bodily functions were intact, but he had lost all consciousness and was like a vegetable—an ideal decoy.

Namikaze Yoru had used the Transformation Technique on the body, then carefully staged the explosion.

As for the "Kaguya ninja" who had used Bone Spikes, that had been Yoru himself. He had simply used the Flying Thunder God to escape in the instant after the explosion.

You could say that Namikaze Yoru had learned his lesson on the battlefield in the Land of Rain: he had suffered for not preparing Flying Thunder God Jutsu formulas in advance. This time, his "stroll" through the town had been anything but aimless.

"Shimura Danzō, you want to use someone else to kill for you. But let's see if you can handle this poisoned blade." Namikaze Yoru sneered as he disappeared into the night.

Although he had achieved his goal, he believed Shimura Danzō had repeatedly schemed against him and had earned a death sentence. In his heart, he had already marked the man's days.

While Kirigakure was thrown into a sweeping manhunt over the "death of the traveling merchant," with tensions running high, Namikaze Yoru had already slipped into the Kaguya Clan Compound.

Using the sensory abilities of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, he easily evaded the guards and pinpointed several Kaguya who had been separated from the others.

"First one."

He silently approached a Kaguya ninja on patrol and brought down a sharp chop. Before the man could react, Yoru knocked him unconscious and dragged him into the shadows.

"Pawn."

[ Ding! Kaguya Clan Ninja (living)*1... Estimated value: 100 points ]

Namikaze Yoru confirmed the pawn without hesitation.

This was an important part of his plan. He intended not only to stir up conflict between the Kaguya Clan and Mist Village, but also to seize the opportunity to build up his Pawn Points and stock the shop.

Few clans could rival the Kaguya Clan on the front lines, but their sensory and scouting abilities were comparatively weak. As long as he avoided a direct confrontation, Namikaze Yoru could move through their compound as easily as a fish in water.

Over the next few hours, he repeated the process and abducted three more members of the Kaguya Clan. He targeted young men of modest strength, and the entire operation was swift and clean, leaving no trace.

Just as he was about to continue, he sensed several powerful chakra signatures returning to the compound.

Namikaze Yoru immediately hid. He watched as Kaguya Naoto returned with several clan members at his side, his expression grim.

"Clan Head, the Shadow has gone too far!"

A young Kaguya complained indignantly, "Are we really supposed to swallow this insult?"

Kaguya Naoto stopped and looked around at the clan members gathering around him. In the flickering torchlight, his face looked especially weary.

"Today, I saw the traveling merchant's body in the Mizukage Building. The fatal wound was made by a bone spike from my Kaguya Kekkei Genkai, which pierced his heart and lungs." His voice was low and hoarse.

The crowd erupted into an uproar.

"This has to be a frame-up! Someone staged the whole thing."

"But who else besides the Kaguya Clan can use bone spikes?"

"Where's Kaguya Maru? Why hasn't he come back yet?"

Only then did they realize that several clan members were missing. That seemed to confirm suspicions that they had acted on their own.

Kaguya Naoto raised a hand to quiet the discussion, a hint of pain flashing in his eyes.

"The Third Mizukage gave me one last ultimatum: either find the real culprit, or the entire Kaguya Clan will bear the consequences."

He drew a deep breath and continued, "I have sworn to the Mizukage that I'll find the culprit within two days and give the village an answer."

Hidden in the shadows, Namikaze Yoru heard every word and sneered inwardly. Kaguya Naoto seemed to be reassuring his people, but he had probably already decided to sacrifice some of them.

Sure enough, once the other clan members had dispersed, Kaguya Naoto kept several elders behind. Namikaze Yoru crept closer and eavesdropped on their private discussion.

"Clan Head, do you really believe one of our people acted on their own?" asked a white-haired elder.

Kaguya Naoto didn't answer right away. He pondered for a moment before speaking.

"This whole matter is strange from beginning to end. But the bone-spike wound on the body is real. Unless... there's someone outside the clan who can use our Kekkei Genkai."

"That's impossible!" another elder declared. "We have records of every ninja in the clan who has awakened the Bloodline Limit."

"What if there's a clan member who was lost outside? After all, what happened with Konoha last time..." His words served as a reminder to everyone.

But another person objected. "What about the clan members who disappeared today? And if there really is someone lost outside the clan, could they really move through our compound without hindrance?"

They began arguing back and forth, but no one could convince the others.

Kaguya Naoto, who had listened in silence, suddenly rose to his feet. His voice carried restrained fury.

"Several clan members have vanished without a trace, and the traveling merchant who could have proved our innocence was killed with bone spikes. If our people didn't act on their own, then someone is targeting the Kaguya Clan from the shadows!"

A deathly silence fell over the meeting hall. In the shadows, Namikaze Yoru raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected the clan head to be so perceptive.

After a long while, an elder who had been silent spoke slowly. "Whatever the truth, the most important thing now is to give the Mizukage an answer. Since we're already in a dead end..."

He fell silent and looked at Kaguya Naoto, waiting for him to decide.

Kaguya Naoto closed his eyes and nodded with difficulty. "Choose two clan members who've recently made mistakes. For the survival of the Kaguya Clan, this sacrifice is necessary."

"What about the clan members who disappeared?"

"Report them to the village as wanted fugitives. We'll say they fled because they were guilty."

Kaguya Naoto waved a hand, his voice carrying the weariness of a volcano before it erupted and a deep, tightly suppressed anger.

"The Kaguya Clan will remember this. From now on, we'll abandon all unrealistic fantasies and never again expect mercy from those in power. Our Kaguya Clan needs to produce a Shadow of its own."

The elders present heard him, and their eyes all sharpened. Then excitement and longing began to show in them.

Namikaze Yoru quietly withdrew, having gained an even deeper understanding of this cruel Shinobi World. When absolute self-interest was at stake, even clan members bound by blood were nothing more than expendable pawns.

He temporarily set aside the idea of continuing to harvest members of the Kaguya Clan. But a bolder plan had already begun to take shape.

Rather than return to Konoha immediately, he decided to use the trick of hiding in plain sight and lie low right in the eye of the storm: the Kaguya Clan Compound.