A Blood-Soaked Script of Murder by Proxy and the Wails of the Powerful

Inside the Hokage's Office, the fragrance of tea lingered.

Baishi's fingertips were as cold as the metal railings outside the window, untouched by sunlight.

Within the Water Mirror, Hyuga Hiashi was leading the last of his clansmen, forming a tragic and resolute wall of flesh and blood, prepared to use their lives to carry out that seemingly glorious but effectively suicidal encirclement order.

Every Hyuga ninja's face was filled with the fervor of those ready to die together with their enemy.

They were blades—the sharpest knives in that lord's hand.

The purpose of a blade was to cut down its enemy, never retreating even if it shattered in the process.

Baishi silently admired the scene. In his dark eyes, reflecting blood and fire, there was neither pity nor approval—only an almost indifferent scrutiny, as though he were assessing the final performance limits of a tool.

"It has been tempered enough..."

He muttered softly, his voice as faint as the rustle of tea leaves unfurling in a cup.

It was time for the next act of the play.

Rather than using a Communication Scroll, he sent an imperceptible thread of Yin Release Chakra along the invisible mental connection between himself and Hyuga Hiashi.

A cold, unquestionable command exploded directly within Hyuga Hiashi's mind.

—"Contract the line. Let them through."

Kyoto, the ruins of the Daimyo Residence.

"For Lord Hokage—!!"

Hyuga Hiashi was about to give the final charge order and hurl himself at the largest bull-headed monster.

Then, that godlike voice descended with a thunderous crash, like an oracle from the heavens!

Contract the line?

Let them through?!

Hiashi's body abruptly stiffened, and his mind went blank.

He instinctively looked ahead. Nearly half of his clansmen had already fallen, while every survivor was wounded and on the verge of running