The Mizukage Building's Secret

Perhaps it was because the Kaguya Clan's frenzy in this battle was too extreme, most of the gathered corpses could not be kept intact.

Many were hastily stitched together from mismatched parts, not even necessarily from the same person.

"Confirm pawn."

[Current Pawn Points: 9525]

Staring at the suddenly empty morgue, then glancing at his massive pile of points, all the scheming and risk felt worth it.

Just as Namikaze Yoru was about to quit while ahead, his bile-type senses caught the sound of clear footsteps at the end of the corridor, heading straight for his room.

"Tch, troublesome."

Namikaze Yoru frowned slightly, scanning his surroundings. Seeing nowhere to hide, his form flickered, and like a bat, he silently clung upside down to the shadows of the ceiling, holding his breath.

"Creak—"

As the door pushed open, a middle-aged man in a Medical Ninja uniform with a mask stepped inside.

He muttered under his breath in complaint: "Honestly, so soon, already demanding Kaguya Clan corpse cells for analysis. These lunatics won't let me rest even in death..."

His words suddenly cut off.

His gaze landed on the empty morgue, freezing him in place. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Ah, this...?"

In the instant his shock left him dazed, a black shadow pounced straight down.

Namikaze Yoru's hands clamped like vices around the man's neck, and with an irresistible force, he twisted sharply.

"Crack."

A crisp sound. Without even a chance to resist, the man slumped limply, the remnants of shock and confusion still in his eyes.

Namikaze Yoru quickly caught his falling body to avoid a loud noise that might draw attention.

He swiftly changed into the man's uniform, put on the mask with slight distaste, and simultaneously used the Transformation Technique to mimic the man's form and appearance.

"Looks like an unexpected bonus."

Fingering the identity clearance card he'd taken from the man, along with a classified document demanding the extraction of Kaguya cell samples for delivery to "A-1 Laboratory," Namikaze Yoru formed a new plan.

A-1 Laboratory—sounded extremely high-end. It seemed there were other secrets hidden here.

Now that he'd taken the man's identity, as long as he was cautious enough, moving around this area shouldn't be hard.

He mimicked the Medical Ninja's walking posture, kept his head down, and calmly pushed open the morgue door, heading deeper along the path.

With the identity clearance card on his chest, he passed unimpeded. The personnel inside were all in a hurry, at most nodding in greeting.

The deeper he went, the more oppressive the atmosphere became, and a strange energy fluctuation even permeated the air.

Finally, he stopped before a metal door engraved with complex sealing arrays, marked clearly with "A-1."

0

A masked ninja stood guard at the entrance. He presented his identity clearance card and handed over the document for inspection before being allowed inside.

As the metal door slid open to both sides, the scene beyond was revealed.

In that instant, Namikaze Yoru's pupils sharply contracted, but he forcibly controlled his emotional fluctuations.

Behind the door was no ordinary lab, but a vast space that combined a prison and a laboratory.

It was clearly conducting human experiments. Rows of transparent cylindrical containers filled with pale green nutrient solution were neatly arranged, each holding a person of uncertain life or death, connected to countless tubes.

Most of these people had distinctive fiery red hair, while others had already turned ashen white.

The Uzumaki Clan!

Beside these cylindrical containers were numerous research instruments, scrolls recording experimental data, and several... disemboweled corpses with unrecognizable faces.

Before he could inspect further, a ninja dressed as a researcher poked his head out from behind a stack of instruments. Spotting the Medical Ninja Namikaze Yoru had disguised as, he immediately asked:

"Aoki? Did you bring the Kaguya cell samples?"

Namikaze Yoru reacted swiftly, lowering his voice and mumbling vaguely:

"Something came up. The bodies are all gone. The higher-ups sent me to inform you—tighten security."

"What?! How is that possible?"

The researcher was shocked, so stunned he didn't even notice the odd tone in the other's voice.

In that moment of shock, Namikaze Yoru stepped forward quickly, pretending to hand over the document, but using it as cover, he cleanly drove Bone Spikes through the man's chest.

Before the man could cry out, Namikaze Yoru clamped his hand over his mouth and nose. Soon, blood stained the floor.

This was, after all, a secret location of Kirigakure. Namikaze Yoru dared not linger, unsure when he'd be exposed.

He swept his gaze across the room. Aside from the lifeless corpses, the Uzumaki Clan members submerged in the containers had faint auras, yet their vitality remained stubbornly strong—clearly they had endured inhuman torture.

"Pawn."

[Scan complete. Pawnable items detected as follows:]

[Ding! Uzumaki Clan Member (Living)*5... Valuation: 100 Points/unit]

[Ding! Uzumaki Clan Member Corpse (Incomplete)*11... Valuation: 50 Points/unit]

As for the broken remains, due to the passage of time or excessive bloodline extraction, the system no longer recognized them.

"Confirm pawn."

Having done all this, he turned his gaze to the center of the laboratory—the mountains of scrolls and documents piled high.

Without hesitation, he pawned them all. These materials were judged by the system as Secret Technique Scrolls.

[Ding! Three-Tails Chakra Research Report*1... Valuation: 100]

[Ding! Three-Tails Jinchuriki*3... Valuation: 50/copy]

[Ding! Bloodline Fusion Failure Record*12... Valuation: 0]

"Confirm pawn."

[Current Pawn Points: 11155]

In just a few seconds, the entire A-1 laboratory was nearly swept clean, leaving only rows of empty containers and a pool of glaring blood on the floor.

He hadn't expected such an unexpected gain. The Mist Village had actually been using the Uzumaki's Seal Techniques and bloodline to research how to create a perfect Jinchuriki.

These bloody experiments must have cost many lives in human trials. From that perspective, that researcher deserved to die.

Just as Namikaze Yoru was about to check if he had missed anything, or even see if he could find traces of the Three-Tails, the entire laboratory suddenly began to flash. A torrent of alarms blared, and the lab doors instantly locked tight.

"Oh? Looks like the Mist Village has finally reacted."

Namikaze Yoru said calmly, showing no panic. With Space Ninjutsu and thorough preparations, he was confident that no one could stop him if he chose to retreat.

Just as he thought this with confidence, the ground beneath him suddenly shook violently, as if something was about to erupt.

A flicker of confusion rose in Yoru's mind. Could the Mist Village be playing at hiding in plain sight?

Then, a wild, cold chakra presence—utterly different from a ninja's—descended abruptly.