Outside Konoha Village
The forest was lush and green, with a few large trees turning yellow and withering.
"Clan leader, look. There are clear traces of Earth Style ninjutsu here. These trees were obviously knocked down when the ground was violently disturbed, then replanted by hand."
"And there wasn't a slope here before. We can still detect traces of chakra now."
Uchiha Saburo pointed out a small, noticeably raised slope as he spoke to Naraku.
Naraku stepped forward, touched the ground with his fingers, closed his eyes, and quietly sensed the area.
"This chakra feels familiar. I think I've seen it somewhere before."
Naraku furrowed his brow slightly, a thought flashing through his mind. The faint traces of chakra on the ground seemed somehow familiar.
That feeling hadn't come from nowhere. As an elite jonin, he wouldn't mistake a sensation like this.
"Who could it be?"
Naraku ran through the shinobi he knew, comparing each of their chakra signatures to the one he sensed.
"Damn it, how could I have forgotten him!"
Naraku suddenly opened his eyes and formed Hand Seals.
亥-戌-酉-申-未
"Summoning Technique!"
"Meow!"
A calico cat with two short swords strapped to its back appeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Kozunmaru, the Hiruko you've been watching—has he stayed inside his residence the whole time?"
Naraku asked in a low voice. The chakra reminded him of someone he'd met once before.
It was Hiruko. He was also reputed to be skilled in Earth Style ninjutsu.
"Meow, Lord Naraku, the white-haired Hiruko has stayed at home, meow. He's gone out to Ichiraku Ramen, a barbecue restaurant, and the ninja tool shop, but nothing else unusual, meow. He spends most of his time at home, meow."
How could his chakra reach outside the village if he'd been home the whole time?
Clearly, Hiruko had noticed that there were stray cats and other creatures around his place, realized he was being watched, and misled his watchers.
Hiruko must have slipped out using a disguise or some other method.
"I mocked my father, Sanzang, for underestimating Konoha's shinobi, yet I made the same mistake myself. I underestimated these Konoha jonin!"
Naraku's emotions stirred. He already knew about Hiruko's experiments, though he didn't know how far they'd progressed.
"I know who the culprit is. Come with me back to Konoha!"
Naraku gave the order and turned toward the village.
"Meow!"
Kozunmaru the Ninja Cat, the guards, and Uchiha Saburo of the Police Force followed after him.
"I never imagined Hiruko would dare kidnap shinobi in secret right outside Konoha. His experiments must have reached a crucial stage, and he's short on test subjects. Now's the perfect time to capture him."
Naraku held his hands behind his back and moved at high speed in the shinobi running stance, his thoughts racing.
In Konoha, near the edge of the village, stood a two-story house. It was Hiruko's residence.
Naraku led four members of the Guard Corps and Uchiha Saburo inside, where they searched in secret.
The others used the Body Flicker Technique to appear before Naraku and quietly reported:
"Clan leader, there's no one here!"
"Meow, I saw him inside this morning. He never came out."
Naraku couldn't be bothered to listen to Kozunmaru. The cat's surveillance had clearly been discovered. Hiruko had grown wary of the stray cats, so Kozunmaru and the cats nearby could only see what Hiruko wanted them to see.
"Search again. See if there's a basement!"
"Yes!"
Everyone spread out and continued searching.
"Kozunmaru, I think Hiruko must have an outpost outside the village. Did you ever see him go beyond the village?"
After giving his orders to the shinobi squad nearby, Naraku watched as they used the Body Flicker Technique to search for concealed doors, basements, and other hidden spaces.
"Meow, Hiruko left the village twice. I followed him from a distance and tracked him with Sensory Ninjutsu. He shouldn't have noticed me, meow."
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
"Clang, clang!" The shinobi searching the house triggered a trap. Fortunately, Naraku's guards and Uchiha Saburo were all skilled, and none of them were caught off guard by the Kunai and Shuriken.
"Hissssss!"
"Boom!"
A fuse burned, then exploded. Hiruko had clearly set Explosive Tags as well.
Naraku frowned at the traps. How could anyone experiment in peace after laying so many of them? It seemed Hiruko had already left.
Before long, the guards had finished searching the entire house and returned to Naraku.
As a Konoha jonin, Hiruko's home wasn't particularly luxurious, but it was spacious—a detached house of his own.
"Kozunmaru, lead the way. Take us to Hiruko's outpost outside the village."
"Meow."
Kozunmaru ran toward the village outskirts, and everyone followed.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Naraku created a Shadow Clone and left it hidden inside Hiruko's house to see if Hiruko would return.
Hiruko had been careful when kidnapping shinobi, and so far there was no evidence pointing to him. He had no need to defect or flee.
His home in Konoha was only a cover. He must have dug out a secret base beyond the village long ago to develop his forbidden technique.
Naraku regretted underestimating someone as talented as Hiruko. The group raced to a weak point in the barrier along the high wall. Naraku opened the barrier again, and they quickly left the village.
Outside Konoha
Inside an underground base
A young man lay on an experiment table, his body wrapped in a disgusting mass of gray-black, fleshy growths. The mass was burrowing into the unconscious man's body.
Above it was a giant centipede several meters long, half its body submerged in the mass. As the growths merged with the young man, the enormous centipede was fusing with him as well.
Hiruko watched the man on the table, his handsome face perfectly calm. But his eyes revealed his excitement.
"Hahaha! It worked! It worked! The Chimera Technique fusion is possible!"
"The next step is to observe the results and see how much strength the fusion adds!"
"Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade—you Sannin owe your reputations to having a good teacher! I, Hiruko, am the true genius!"
The fusion was progressing smoothly, and Hiruko couldn't contain his excitement. He began muttering to himself in a frenzy.
Hiruko's resentment wasn't entirely unfounded. Among his classmates, he'd been the best apart from the Sannin. But the Sannin had a teacher known as the Professor of Ninjutsu and the strongest Hokage to guide them.
They had an endless supply of ninjutsu scrolls and could learn whatever techniques they wanted. With a great teacher to show them the way, they advanced at incredible speed.
Hiruko, too, was a civilian, but he could only rely on his own efforts and struggle to obtain ninjutsu.
Every Earth Style technique Hiruko had learned had cost him an A-rank or S-rank mission, which he'd risked his life to complete.
The Sannin, on the other hand, never had to do that. They could learn any technique Konoha had to offer. It was enough to make anyone sick with envy.
After being badly wounded in the Second Shinobi World War and returning to the village for treatment, Hiruko's pain made him realize how unfair the education system was. He also saw how powerful the Kekkei Genkai users and shinobi techniques of the other nations were during the war.
Convinced that fate was unfair and frustrated by his own limitations, Hiruko grew even more jealous of his classmates, the Sannin.
Unable to make further progress, Hiruko had come up with the idea of researching a fusion technique.
At first, it had been only an initial concept. Now, he was finally conducting real experiments. After several early failures, he had learned from his mistakes and hit upon a new inspiration. He couldn't wait to test it.
Desperate for test subjects, Hiruko had turned his attention to the people of Konoha...
Before you continue