The first-posting site's domain is
Konoha.
Two intelligence scrolls containing identical information were delivered almost simultaneously to the Hokage's Office and to the Pot Kage's office deep within Root Base.
Yet the two men who read them reacted very differently.
Hiruzen Sarutobi set down the intelligence scroll and took a long drag from his pipe. His brows furrowed into a deep frown.
The urgent report from an undercover source sent his heart sinking.
"What? Everything was going so smoothly. How could he have been exposed so suddenly?" he muttered, unusually rattled.
As Hokage for many years, he knew all too well how difficult it was to plant an effective spy in one of the Five Great Nations.
Most operatives had to play their roles with extreme caution to avoid exposing themselves.
Some posed as fishermen, others as merchants. Their movements were restricted, making it hard to obtain crucial secrets, and most of the information they sent back was little more than everyday observations.
Someone like Namikaze Yoru, who had entered the Land of Water under the guise of a traveling merchant and could move around with relative freedom, was a rare find even within Konoha's entire intelligence network.
"Alas... that boy had so much potential." Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed and shook his head.
He mourned not only the loss of a valuable intelligence channel, but also the village's loss of a young ninja with tremendous promise.
By contrast, the atmosphere at Root Base was entirely different.
"Dead?" Danzo glanced at the report, a gleam of satisfaction in his one eye. "A clean and decisive end."
He walked slowly outside and watched the members bustling around Root Base.
Namikaze Yoru, the uncooperative pawn, had finally left the board in exactly the way Danzo wanted. The outcome greatly satisfied his desire for control.
He regretted that he had never managed to bring the rebellious young man to heel, but at least the one who had dared to defy his threats was gone.
"Destroy every file related to Namikaze Yoru," Danzo ordered his subordinate without turning around.
"Yes," the Root operative replied emotionlessly.
Meanwhile, Namikaze Yoru, already presumed "dead," was comfortably hiding in an abandoned warehouse in the Kaguya Clan Compound.
With the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, he could come and go whenever he pleased. This place was only a temporary base from which to observe the situation.
Over the past few days, he had witnessed the turmoil within the Kaguya Clan.
Just as he had said he would, Kaguya Naoto had found two clan members to serve as scapegoats and handed them over to the Mizukage as an "explanation."
At that moment, a solemn funeral was being held in an open space at the center of the compound.
"Kaguya Ritsuki and Kaguya Toumei gave their lives for the survival of the Kaguya Clan. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten." Standing before the two coffins, Kaguya Naoto spoke in a sorrowful voice.
Namikaze Yoru watched the sham ritual coldly. The two clan members being mourned had clearly been executed in secret the day before.
One of them had lived near the place where Yoru was hiding. He had heard the brief sounds of a struggle the previous night, along with the victim's bewildered pleas.
After the funeral, the Kaguya Clan members dispersed in silence. Yoru noticed that several young clan members wore expressions of anger and resentment. The rift between the Kaguya Clan and Kirigakure's leadership was quietly widening.
While Namikaze Yoru remained hidden, news of his supposed death reached Tsunade in Konoha, just after she had finished an operation.
"What... did you say?" The surgical notes slipped from her hand and hit the floor with a slap.
"Chunin Namikaze Yoru was exposed while carrying out a mission in Kirigakure... He's all but confirmed dead." The ninja who had come to deliver the news lowered his head, afraid to meet her eyes.
Namikaze Yoru was an orphan with no immediate family in the village, and most of his friends were young. By a twist of fate, the news eventually reached the Senju Clan, to whom he was closest.
Tsunade stood frozen, the image of the boy with his ever-present sly smile flashing through her mind. She remembered the bracelet he had given her before leaving, and the certainty in his voice when he promised he would return safely.
That evening, for once, she did not go on duty at the hospital. Instead, she went alone to her usual izakaya.
"Bring me some sake."
As if trying to pour all her feelings into drink, she downed cup after cup, hoping to numb herself with alcohol. But his image only grew clearer in her mind.
When the bracelet he had given her caught the light, she could no longer hold back and buried her face in her hands.
"Liar..." she whispered, her voice choked with tears.
Meanwhile, Namikaze Yoru's plans in Kirigakure continued.
After several days of observation, he had settled on a new target.
Kaguya Kengenin, a young and well-respected member of the Kaguya Clan's elite.
He was forthright and deeply dissatisfied with Kaguya Naoto's policy of compromise, making him a representative of the clan's hardliners.
Late that night, Namikaze Yoru secretly slipped into Kaguya Kengenin's residence and left a letter on his desk.
The letter "revealed" in detail the Mizukage's plan to gradually weaken the Kaguya Clan. It also suggested that the clan leader had secretly sided with the Mizukage and was willing to sacrifice his own people to protect his position.
At the same time, Yoru took on the guise of a concerned Kaguya Clan member and quietly spread rumors around the village, claiming that Kaguya Ritsuki and Kaguya Toumei were merely scapegoats.
The real culprits, the rumors said, were senior Kaguya Clan elders, whom Kaguya Naoto had protected. The true purpose was to conceal the truth about their secret collusion with an outside village.
The carefully laid plans quickly began to work. Within days, the Mizukage had significantly tightened surveillance of the Kaguya Clan, while resentment within the clan continued to grow.
The village and the Kaguya Clan were now on the brink of open hostility. All it would take was a spark to set everything off.
He brought up the system interface and scanned the long list of items in the shop. At last, his gaze settled on an option he had chosen long ago.
[Water Release Bloodline - Exchange Points: 600] [Kaguya Clan Bloodline - Exchange Points: 500]
"Exchange."
[Current Pawn Points: 2870]
The system deducted 1,100 points, and a wave of cold instantly swept through his body.
Knowing there could be complications when exchanging for bloodline abilities, he had moved to an uninhabited place in the Land of Water well in advance.
The area was sparsely populated. The chill naturally released as his bloodline awakened caused the temperature to plummet by several degrees.
He could feel the nature of his chakra undergoing a strange transformation. Raising his hand, he watched a diamond-shaped ice crystal slowly form in his palm.
He might need more time to refine his abilities before he could use the many secret techniques of the Yuki Clan.
But Namikaze Yoru knew that this power was already enough. The two great bloodline abilities of Kirigakure had, miraculously, now come together in one person.
Yet just as he was basking in the joy of gaining a new power, his Mind's Eye of the Kagura suddenly sensed an unfamiliar chakra approaching at high speed.
It seemed to be passing by, but this chakra was clearly unlike that of a Kirigakure Ninja.
The distance made it difficult to sense clearly, even with his full concentration.
Namikaze Yoru quickly concealed himself and stared sharply in the direction from which the chakra was coming.
An unexpected figure was heading toward the heart of the Land of Water.
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