The Kaguya Clan

At the border of the Land of Water, aboard a small boat.

Only three members of the Yuki Clan had managed to escape Kirigakure.

The rest of the clan had been killed in the Mizukage's roundup, except for a few members who were away on missions.

Yuki Yuki's face was deathly pale as she sat limply at the bow.

Behind her, her two companions rowed with all their strength. They had just left the pier.

Yuki Kyō had stolen the boat from the pier.

They hadn't stopped once along the way. They'd set out from a small town farthest from the mainland, and it would take at least three days of sailing around the coast to reach the Land of Whirlpools.

From there, they would take another boat to the border of the Land of Fire.

Once they reached the other side, there would be far fewer Kirigakure pursuers.

"Yuki, are you sure you didn't know that man? Why would he risk his life to save you? Didn't he leave you any kind of backup plan?"

Another member of the Yuki Clan, Yuki Yuichi, asked wearily.

"I really didn't know him."

Yuki Yuki shook her head.

She glanced at Yuki Kyō beside her and saw that he wasn't correcting her. Her mind eased a little.

That older man was probably one of her father's friends.

Yuki Yuichi was a Chunin, stronger than the two of them combined.

They didn't dare defy him.

"Where should we go now?"

Yuki Yuichi asked again. He had no idea what to do, and had been following the two of them around, assuming the mysterious clan member had some special plan.

But after all these days, they'd spent almost all their time at sea, going ashore at night only to find something to eat.

Yuki Kyō remembered the mysterious clan member's final instructions.

"Go find Orochimaru."

Yuki Kyō made the suggestion. Yuki Yuichi furrowed his brow.

"Orochimaru? One of Konoha's Sannin... Didn't he defect?"

"Can you find where he is!?"

Yuki Yuki's gaze hardened. Touching the mark on her wrist, she said, "I know where he is."

The mysterious clan member had left it for her before the clan was wiped out.

It faintly pointed in a certain direction.

On the outskirts of Kirigakure.

Inside a secluded cave.

Uchiha Ao's eyes suddenly opened. Beside him, Yinqian was ravenously devouring several mice.

Sensing movement, Yinqian looked up, a mouse in his mouth, and mumbled, "Oh, boss, you're back! Want a bite? There are so many field mice here! I can't eat them all."

"Go ahead."

Ao glanced over, stood up, and stretched with all his might. His joints popped one after another.

As usual, he activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan and checked his physical condition.

Compared to before he left, he'd lost some muscle and fat.

But with the Hashirama Cells, it wasn't much of a problem.

He couldn't keep his soul separated from his body for more than three days. During that time, the impact on his body would be minimal.

That was what he'd learned through long experience.

If he stayed away for more than three days, he'd have to prepare enough nutrient solution for his body to ensure the Hashirama Cells could keep replenishing its nutrients and energy.

That would keep the body's cells functioning normally.

"Orochimaru sent me here not just for the Yuki Clan's Ice Release, but also for the Shikotsumyaku."

"I'll have to make time to visit the Kaguya Clan, too."

"Rumor has it their Kekkei Genkai also came from the Sage of Six Paths or Otsutsuki Kaguya. I wonder if that's true."

Ao murmured to himself.

He took an apple from his pocket, wiped it on his sleeve, and took a bite.

After so many nights roughing it outdoors, he finally understood why Orochimaru liked apples.

They were easy to carry, nutritious, and helped replenish fluids. They also kept longer than most foods in the same conditions.

They wouldn't go bad for at least three to five days.

"Yinqian, go back. I'm going to the Kaguya Clan."

"Then I'll return to Ryūchi Cave."

"Ask the Sage where that child he mentioned is. Take care of him for a while. When I get back, I'll take him myself."

He gave Yinqian his instructions.

He already had three children with him. If he added another child with Kaguya Clan blood...

He suddenly felt like the director of an orphanage.

Had he become a nanny working under Orochimaru!?

"Ah... All right, boss!"

Yinqian froze. He'd finally gotten to come out, and now he had to go back so soon.

There was so much delicious food out here.

"Boss, remember to bring me along next time..."

Yinqian swallowed the field mouse and curled up.

As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished in a cloud of white smoke.

Ao cleaned up the area, erasing all traces of human presence, then quietly headed for the Kaguya Clan.

The Kaguya Clan had originally lived in the heart of Kirigakure.

But because they were so warlike and frequently caused violent incidents in the village, they'd become widely despised by the villagers.

During the Second Mizukage's time, they had been forcibly relocated to a vacant lot not far from the village.

It became a settlement of their own.

With no interference from the village, it had turned into an independent kingdom ruled by the Kaguya Clan.

During his time in Kirigakure, Ao had already familiarized himself with the area.

This time, he wasn't going to hide and use the Sage Soul to take over someone's body.

Instead, he planned to infiltrate the Kaguya Clan.

This clan of ninjas, whose members had nothing but fighting on their minds, had an even worse reputation in the Ninja World than the Uchiha.

They were nothing but mindless brawlers.

They had practically no resistance to genjutsu.

The only reason their clan had survived this long was that they'd settled in a favorable location.

They had no natural enemies.

On the mainland, any clan skilled in genjutsu could have swallowed them up.

A Shikotsumyaku expert wouldn't even get the chance to react against a genjutsu master.

Ao's genjutsu skills were average, but as his soul grew stronger, his Uchiha talent in that area was starting to emerge.

He had already mastered several of the genjutsu in Orochimaru's possession.

He slipped into the Kaguya Clan with ease.

No one stopped him.

Every Kaguya clan member who spotted him quietly collapsed to the ground.

He didn't linger on the outskirts of the Kaguya Clan, but headed straight for its prison.

A very unusual figure was being held there.

Kimimaro.

A Kaguya clan member who had awakened the Shikotsumyaku at birth and was hailed as the strongest Shikotsumyaku user in history.

When he was born, the Shikotsumyaku erupted unconsciously and killed his mother. His father, resentful of him, threw him into the clan prison.

They had originally intended to brand him ill-omened and execute him outright.

But the Kaguya Clan Head stopped them. From the age of two months, Kimimaro had been confined in the prison, surviving on rice gruel fed to him by clan members.

The Kaguya Clan Head had once proclaimed to Kirigakure's leadership that Kimimaro would become the Kaguya Clan's greatest prodigy.

Many people in Kirigakure knew about him.

Ao had happened to hear the news, too.

This prodigy of the Kaguya Clan was the reason he'd come.

"You're Kimimaro?"

Ao looked at the figure inside a dog cage. He was small, perhaps a little over two years old.

There wasn't an ounce of flesh on him; he was little more than a skeleton.

He was naked, with nothing on.

His eyes were vacant. When faced with the name "Kimimaro," he showed no particular reaction.

Before Orochimaru came along,

the boy had never had a name.