Prologue

"The new Daimyo has been getting more and more outrageous lately! Does he even have the Yuki Clan in his eyes anymore!?"

This was the ancestral hall of the Yuki Clan, a prestigious bloodline family located in the Land of Water. At this moment, the core members of the clan had gathered, all of them filled with righteous indignation. The target of their verbal crusade was none other than the current Daimyo of the Land of Water!

The Land of Water is an island nation located on the edge of the continent, a country that has always been known for its mystery.

However, being mysterious is not necessarily a compliment. In truth, the history of the Land of Water can be summed up in two words: slaughter.

Its mystery stems directly from its unique geographical conditions and historical origins. The Land of Water, obsessed with internal strife, never had the leisure to engage in diplomacy; it didn't even bother to participate in the Third Shinobi World War.

Accompanied by wave after wave of slaughter, the Land of Water not only possesses the most brutal and cold-blooded shinobi legions in the world, but it also constantly refreshes the record for the highest turnover rate of old and new shinobi clans among the Five Great Nations.

The Yuki Clan is one such family. They rose to power through war, but today, their past merits have become their death warrants. Such tactics are no longer considered novel in the Land of Water.

The new Daimyo seems to have no intention of hiding his intentions. As he pushes step by step, the Yuki Clan has finally realized the crisis hidden beneath the family's prosperity. The tension between the clan and the Daimyo has begun to grow increasingly volatile.

This is the reason for the public criticism of the Daimyo at the Yuki Clan's family meeting. The conflict between the two sides has become almost irreconcilable.

However, the resentment caused by the Daimyo toward the Yuki Clan is clearly of a significant level. The tone of some of the younger clan members quickly began to spiral out of control, and it looked as if they were about to start insulting the new Daimyo's immediate family.

Youth is a wonderful thing... ignorant and fearless...

"Silence! As shinobi, how can you speak ill of your own lord behind his back!"

At the head of the hall, an old man furrowed his brows. The clan members' words were becoming increasingly excessive; if this continued, things would spiral out of control, and he had to intervene.

Even if the two sides were already standing in open opposition, as shinobi, badmouthing the country's Daimyo behind his back would provide others with ammunition if it ever leaked out. The Yuki Clan already had enough trouble; they didn't need more.

In this world, shinobi exist as a military force and are highly dependent on the state. Even the election of the Five Kage requires the presence and vote of the Daimyo. The status of both sides is extremely delicate.

But the Yuki Clan is not Kirigakure. Although they have courted some other clans, they could never reach the level of the Five Great Villages. In reality, such a force cannot even compare to a mid-sized shinobi village.

To the Daimyo, shinobi are merely tools. The Five Great Villages are a different matter, but if it is just a single shinobi clan, no matter how good they are at fighting, the Daimyo will not show them any restraint.

The old man seemed to have great prestige. As soon as he spoke, the hall quickly quieted down.

He nodded in satisfaction at this scene.

"Remember our identity. We are shinobi, and shinobi have their own rules. Furthermore, the topic of today's meeting is not to discuss the Daimyo's actions, but to decide how our clan will handle Yuki Qi!"

Yuki Qi—the name seemed to possess some kind of magic. Everyone present fell silent, and a deathly stillness suddenly descended upon the surroundings.

"Elder, I believe that even if the sky were to fall, our Yuki Clan must protect our own kin to the death!"

After a long while, a young clan member was the first to cup his hands toward the old man.

He seemed to represent the opinions of the vast majority of the younger generation. Following his words, a considerable number of young clan members nodded in unison.

Unlike most bloodline families, the Yuki Clan does not distinguish between main and branch houses. Anyone who possesses the clan's bloodline is given the surname Yuki and is prioritized for training; conversely, those who do not cannot even bear the name.

The Yuki Clan in the true sense refers to those who bear the name Yuki and possess bloodline powers. For the clan, every newborn Yuki is an irreplaceable treasure.

The reason is simple: the Yuki bloodline inheritance follows no pattern. Anyone with the blood of the Yuki Clan has the potential to awaken the bloodline. Skipping generations or skipping families—such situations are common within the Yuki Clan.

Those who bear the name Yuki are one fewer every time one dies. Wanting a new Yuki to appear is purely a matter of luck, and there are almost no direct descendants involved, meaning there is a significant time gap.

Under these circumstances, the importance of Yuki Qi—who is only six years old but awakened his bloodline at the age of four—to the clan is self-evident.

But there is a fatal issue here—a matter that has plagued the Yuki Clan for six full years and is the direct reason they had to keep Yuki Qi under temporary house arrest.

That matter is: Yuki Qi's father was not from the Yuki Clan, but from the Kaguya Clan!

In the world of shinobi, this is a truly fatal affair.

For bloodline families, the purity of the bloodline is a matter of life and death for the clan. Let alone the Yuki or the Kaguya, even the weakest bloodline families are consistent in their stance on preventing their bloodline from leaking out!

Yuki Qi's parents undoubtedly violated the most important rule of the shinobi world. As the fruit of their love, Yuki Qi was brought back to the clan after his parents were captured by the Yuki.

However, the Yuki Clan only sent back the Kaguya man, but kept Yuki Qi in custody. This matter has entangled the Yuki and Kaguya clans for six whole years.

On the issue of bloodline leakage, no matter how much the Kaguya Clan prefers muscles over brains, they know they must stick to their principles.

Although it was a pity, the clan could only keep Yuki Qi under house arrest. In the blink of an eye, the infant of the past had become a six-year-old child.

If they kept him locked up any longer, even if Yuki Qi were willing, the Yuki Clan would not be, especially after he awakened his bloodline at four. Every bloodline possessor is extremely precious! If they delayed any longer, they would miss the best time for training!

In the eyes of the Yuki Clan, protecting Yuki Qi is undoubtedly more cost-effective than offending the Kaguya Clan.

This family meeting was originally intended to make a final decision on Yuki Qi's issue, but after a few sentences, it had veered off-topic into a verbal crusade against the Daimyo of the Land of Water.

This left the old man feeling both dissatisfied and anxious.

The old man was once a fierce general on the battlefield and had seen countless schemes and plots. The recent atmosphere made him extremely vigilant.

This vigilance and worry came not only from the Daimyo but also from the clan itself.

As a powerful bloodline clan in the Land of Water, the Yuki Clan seemed to have become too arrogant. The clan members' casual mockery of the current Daimyo was a manifestation of this mentality.

But is the Daimyo someone who can be mocked at will? Or perhaps, the Daimyo's recent series of actions had already clearly shown his impatience.

Daimyo, what exactly are you thinking? What benefit could there possibly be for the Land of Water in purging us shinobi clans on such a large scale...

Looking at the hopeful eyes below the stage, the old man felt a splitting headache.

The Daimyo's recent actions were essentially forcing the Yuki to rebel! And looking at the reaction of the clan members, he was doing a very good job of it.

Could it be that you are truly determined to exterminate our clan!?

His brows furrowed deeply. Having lived to this age, he no longer had any so-called "impulse," so he gave the many young people an answer that left them very unhappy.

He wanted to secure one last chance at survival for his clan, even though the odds were incredibly slim.

"Elder, Yuki Qi is one of our own; it is not for outsiders to point fingers. I believe we have no reason to yield on this point. What is more important right now is the issue of the Daimyo!"

The young clansman who had spoken earlier saw the Elder lost in thought again and could not help but feel impatient.

This was a characteristic of the Yuki Clan. Because their rise to power had not been long—even if their history as a clan was quite extensive—they were a young, powerful family. It was not just the elders who had a say here; there were so few true members of the Yuki Clan that everyone had the right to participate in clan discussions.

The young man's impatient words represented the opinions of most of the clansmen. They looked at him with approving eyes, then turned back to the old man, clearly hoping for an answer.

Yet, they did not know that to the old man, this scene was utterly ridiculous... and short-sighted.

"Is that so? Since you want an answer, then I have only one word: endure!"

"What!?"

The hall erupted in an uproar. The older members could remain somewhat calm and think, but the younger ones were incredibly agitated.

"Elder, how can we endure this? Once our strength is whittled away again and again, we will have no capital left to fight!"

The young clansman who had asked was clearly unconvinced. He could not accept such an answer; gratification and vengeance were what he craved.

"Why can we not endure? Do you think that by 'fighting' now, or by rebelling this very moment, we have any chance of winning?"

The old man's gaze remained calm as he looked at the young clansmen one by one.

"We are ninjas, not samurai. When it is time to endure, we must endure! Meaningless pride should be discarded; ninjas do not need superfluous vanity."

The clan had been sailing too smoothly for too many years. The younger members seemed to have forgotten that they were ninjas, not samurai.

"How many clans in the Land of Water have been wiped out? Is that not enough to make you alert? Or do you truly believe our clan's strength can stand against the entire Land of Water?"

The old man's tone was very calm, but each word carried more weight than the last. Eventually, the noise in the hall grew quieter until it fell silent.

However, a significant number of people in the crowd still wore displeased expressions. They were all young; the elders, even if they disagreed, would at least not show it on their faces.

The old man's authority could only suppress the surface; it could not change what was in their hearts.

Knowing what these clansmen were thinking, the old man stopped wasting his breath. The current state of the Yuki was exactly the same as those clans that had been exterminated years ago, which filled him with profound sorrow.

"Forget it, you may all leave. Bring Yuki Qi to me."

The clansmen's mindset was so frivolous and reckless that the downfall of the Yuki Clan seemed inevitable. If people are determined to die, they cannot be saved. It was time to make plans for the future.

Looking at these clansmen who lacked any sense of crisis and instead wore expressions of utter ignorance, the old man finally lost his last shred of hope.

"Elder."

The old man's sudden coldness surprised the many clansmen, but they understood his meaning.

One by one, the clansmen bowed to the old man and left the ancestral hall. Soon, only two people remained.

"Do you still have something to say?"

The old man narrowed his eyes and looked at his only disciple—the current head of the Yuki Clan.

"Master..."

The middle-aged man who remained looked somewhat awkward.

"About Qi..."

"You don't need to worry about that. Leave."

The old man felt like laughing.

He knew what his disciple was thinking, but at the same time, the entire clan would likely never guess how he intended to treat Yuki Qi.

In the eyes of the old man now, the value of Yuki Qi could no longer be summarized by the term "bloodline successor."

The clansmen were already beyond saving. If he could preserve even a single spark, he would.

"But... Qi does not possess the Shikotsumyaku. I beg you, Master, for the sake of that, do not agree to the demands of the Kaguya Clan. Leave a bloodline for our clan..."

The middle-aged man did not leave; at the very least, he wanted to finish what he had to say. After all, he was the old man's disciple, and their relationship was not that distant.

"You are a Yuki too. How can you say such childish things?"

The old man sneered and retorted to the middle-aged man's words.

"He was able to awaken water control; is it impossible for him to awaken the Shikotsumyaku? Has there never been an example of a dual bloodline in the history of the Land of Water? If you were the Kaguya Clan, would you dare to take that risk?"

"This..."

The middle-aged man was speechless, for he knew the old man spoke the truth.

However, protecting one's own is human nature. The unique inheritance mode of the Yuki bloodline directly caused the Yuki Clan to be particularly protective of their own.

Otherwise, given the old man's personality, he would not have imprisoned Yuki Qi; he would have killed him directly. Such things were common in the ninja world—the so-called "best of both worlds" where no one gets anything.

For a detailed example, one could refer to the unfortunate father of Hyuga Neji.

More importantly, the Yuki Clan Head, like this old man, had already seen the cruel reality of the Yuki Clan and was equally full of expectations for a "spark" like Yuki Qi.

Although he had completely guessed wrong about what his master intended to do.

In fact, the old man was of the mind that if you are going to do something, you do it thoroughly—far more thoroughly than the clan head could ever imagine.

"You don't need to interfere with this matter. That child will be fine. Go out."

The old man waved his hand, a trace of impatience finally appearing on his face.

"As the head of a clan, you are indecisive and unseemly! Go do what you are supposed to do! You don't need to worry about this!"