Only then did Pakura realize that she was still too young.
She couldn't get away with grabbing a few ordinary Kaguya Clan members just to go through the motions. Her target had probably realized from the start that she might do a halfhearted job.
There had seemed to be no specific requirements, but in fact, the hidden requirements made the task even harder.
If she captured Kaguya Clan members without any restraint, she would inevitably put these battle-crazed people on alert.
Once the Kaguya Clan was on guard, capturing them again would be difficult, and the mission's difficulty would shoot up.
What a miscalculation.
Pakura felt as though she'd been too clever for her own good.
Somewhere in the Land of Water, inside a concealed underground laboratory.
The Kaguya Clan members Pakura had captured were now housed here for Lan to study.
The laboratory's former owner was naturally Orochimaru. It had been built during the Third Shinobi World War to study Kirigakure's shinobi secrets up close.
The principle of having multiple hideouts suited Orochimaru best. He had built countless laboratories like this all over the place, some of which he didn't visit even once in several years.
This laboratory had been left unused after the war ended, and Orochimaru had later given it to Lan.
The facilities and instruments here might have been outdated in Orochimaru's eyes, but they were just about good enough for Lan to conduct some simple, temporary research on the Kaguya Clan.
The results of the tests on the instruments made Lan's eyes light up.
The Kaguya Clan's cells were far stronger than those of ordinary shinobi, and they also showed remarkable vitality. This was probably the power of Yang Release Chakra.
It seemed the Kaguya Clan really did possess a Sage Body similar to those of the Uzumaki Clan and the Senju Clan.
Perhaps the Kaguya Clan and the Hyuga Clan really had been distant relatives, both descended from Otsutsuki Hamura's bloodline on Earth.
The Hyuga Clan and the Kaguya Clan had each inherited one of Otsutsuki Hamura's gifts, just as the Senju and Uchiha had: the Sage Eye and the Sage Body.
If that was the case, then perhaps the Kaguya Clan's Sage Body could complement the Byakugan in much the same way that Hashirama Cells complemented the Mangekyō Sharingan.
After coming up with this theory, Lan began to study the Kaguya Clan's bodies in greater depth. He even used the power of the Tenseigan to extract chakra from Kaguya Clan members and absorb it into himself.
To his delight, when the Kaguya Clan's chakra entered his body and combined with his own, the resulting chakra made the Tenseigan stir.
Unfortunately, the Kaguya Clan members he had just captured were all too weak. Their chakra lagged far behind Lan's, not just in quantity but also in quality. Combining his chakra with theirs only piqued the Tenseigan's interest slightly, with no significant practical effect.
Even so, Lan was excited. The Dojutsu Power in his Tenseigan had recently almost stopped growing, and the new Dojutsu he'd expected to awaken soon had suddenly begun to seem a long way off.
Now that there was a chance to keep strengthening his Dojutsu Power and hasten the awakening of a new Dojutsu, he naturally had to seize it.
Lan summoned a puppet powered by the Tenseigan. "Go tell Pakura to capture a few Kaguya Clan members with outstanding talent and sufficient strength.
"Make it quick. We no longer need you here. Go help her get it done as soon as possible."
At Lan's command, all the puppets assisting in the laboratory immediately set out to help Pakura complete her new task.
In the Kaguya Clan's compound.
Bang!
With a tremendous crash, the table in front of him was smashed open and then shattered into pieces.
The young Kaguya Clan Head listened to his subordinate's report and flew into a rage.
"Two more clan members have gone missing! What are you people even good for?
"Is your brain really nothing but muscle?
"A bunch of thick-headed, muscle-bound fools!
"I'll give you two more days. Find the culprit, or I'll send you underground to explain yourselves to those clan members in person."
The Kaguya elders' hearts tightened as they heard their leader's furious outburst.
Given the Clan Head's volatile nature, his threat was no idle warning.
As though something had occurred to him, one of the Kaguya elders spoke up.
"Clan Head, whoever can abduct so many of our people without a trace must be an elite jonin at the very least.
"Someone with that kind of strength can't be an unknown figure. At first, only ordinary clan members went missing, but now young, exceptionally talented ones are being taken. It looks very much like a gradual series of probes.
"Do you think this could be..."
Hearing the elder's words, the Kaguya Clan Head realized he must have a suspect in mind.
"We're among our own people here. Don't speak in riddles. If you know something, say it."
With the Clan Head's permission, the Kaguya elder continued.
"Whoever the enemy is, they must be organized and acting according to a plan. And there's more than one of them.
"It's not as if we've found no clues. We discovered some shattered puppet remains at the sites where our people disappeared."
"Puppets? Is Sunagakure behind this?
"No, that can't be right. If they were responsible, they wouldn't have left behind such obvious evidence. Someone may be deliberately framing them, trying to point us toward another target."
Hearing the Clan Head's analysis, the elders hurried to flatter him.
"Only you, Clan Head, could see through their scheme to shift the blame."
The simple-minded Kaguya Clan Head was quite pleased by his subordinates' flattery and nodded. Then he remembered the earlier matter with Pakura, and a sense of foreboding came over him.
Could the village also be planning to discard them once they were no longer useful? The peace talks with Sunagakure had been delayed, but anyone with eyes could see they would happen sooner or later.
Once the war ended and the peace faction gained power, hardliners like them would likely be suppressed. What was happening now might only be a taste of what was to come. If they chose to back down, even harsher pressure would inevitably follow.
Where there was oppression, there would be resistance. With that thought, the Kaguya Clan Head rose to his feet.
"Only those rats in the village would be so sneaky. They're trying to probe us step by step and find out where our limits lie.
"Fine. Let's show those bastards exactly where we stand. We'll rebel against those traitors who bite the hand that feeds them!"
At the Kaguya Clan Head's brazen call to rebel, the Kaguya Clan members surged with excitement, shouting fearlessly.
"If they think our clan is an easy target, we have to show them what we're made of!"
"I've been sick of them for ages. A bunch of cowards and incompetents are clinging to power in the village. At this rate, the village will be finished sooner or later."
"Exactly. Our Kaguya Clan is the largest clan in Kirigakure. The Mizukage's position should belong to our Clan Head. How can a mere Jinchuriki tool become Mizukage?"
"Right! Kill them all, and take the Mizukage's position while we're at it!"
The Kaguya Clan's long-suppressed anger over Kirigakure's various policies ignited in that moment.
Although a failed rebellion would surely lead to their clan's annihilation, that didn't matter to the battle-crazed Kaguya Clan. They were a bunch of combat-loving madmen, and to them, dying in battle was no big deal.
Unlike the Uchiha Clan, who had talked about rebellion but never acted, even as their entire clan was wiped out, the Kaguya Clan were people of action. They truly intended to rebel.
But this was two or three years earlier than in the original timeline. The Third Shinobi World War had ended only recently, and the people were still settling back into peacetime.
There probably wouldn't be many people willing to join a rebellion at a time like this, but that didn't matter to the Kaguya Clan Head. He looked down on ordinary people anyway.
"Send someone to find the head of the Yuki Clan right away. Tell him I want to join forces with him and undertake a great cause."