Cutting Through the Void from the Opposite Direction, Coldly Watching the Night of the Bloody Mist

The Anbu squad leader's declaration, brimming with murderous intent, was like a frozen spike driven viciously into the chaotic streets, silencing the uproar for a moment.

Bloodline Detection Barrier!

Those five words were sharper than any blade, instantly severing the faint hope that had just risen in Mizuki Han's heart.

He had personally orchestrated this earth-shattering destruction, freeing himself from that physical cage. But his opponent had reacted far faster than he expected. In the blink of an eye, they had laid an invisible, intangible, yet even deadlier net over the entire village.

After a brief lull, the crowd erupted into even more desperate panic. The driven civilians were like startled sheep, helplessly pressing toward Central Plaza, where unpredictable screening and judgment awaited them.

At that moment, Mizuki Han's heart grew calm instead. Extreme danger often brought out the deepest, almost pathological composure in him. His mind was like a high-precision computer, frantically analyzing the dead end before him.

Follow the crowd? That would be no different from walking into a trap. He and Haku, two pure-blooded members of the Mizunotsuki Clan with Kekkei Genkai, would stand out like two bonfires in the night before a barrier designed specifically to detect bloodlines. They would have nowhere to hide.

He had to break away from the "main flow."

"Hold on to me." He lowered his head and gave the brief command in a voice only the two of them could hear. Haku was trembling all over in his arms with fear.

His hand was still cold, but it clamped around Haku's thin wrist like an iron vise.

Just then, the wooden beams of a burning shop nearby finally buckled under the scorching flames. With a piercing crack, they came crashing down!

"Rumble—!"

The thunderous crash and wave of scorching heat sent the already terrified crowd into complete chaos. Screams and sobs mingled as people instinctively fled from the collapse, forming a surging crush of bodies moving in every direction.

An opportunity!

A glint flashed in Mizuki Han's eyes. Rather than resist the pressure of the crowd, he went with it, pulling Haku along and pretending to stumble sideways and backward as if he had been knocked off balance. His broken left arm was concealed beneath his loose clothing, making his "weak and helpless" appearance all the more convincing.

"Thud!"

He "clumsily" fell to the ground, shielding Haku beneath him. The fleeing civilians had no time to watch their step. Countless feet passed right by them, splashing filthy water. Under the cover of the chaos, Mizuki Han wriggled like a loach, taking Haku with him as they rolled beneath the crowd's feet and silently into a narrow alley shrouded in shadow.

No one noticed them. In the face of a disaster like the end of the world, everyone was focused on saving their own life.

Only when the hubbub and footsteps had gradually faded did Mizuki Han slowly get up. His wounds throbbed again from the rolling, but he merely brushed the mud off his clothes without changing expression.

"Let's go."

He took Haku's hand and led her out of the alley.

The scene before them was completely different from the one they had just left.

This was a main road leading to the edge of the village. The streets, usually bustling with activity, were now eerily empty and silent. Most of the Anbu forces had been sent to the blast zone to provide aid and seal off the area, while large numbers of guards were driving civilians away for widespread screening.

This had instead become the "blind spot" where Kirigakure's defenses were weakest.

The place beneath the lamp that the light didn't reach.

The simplest psychological blind spot—and the easiest to overlook.

Mizuki Han led Haku right down the middle of the empty street, walking openly. He didn't sneak along the shadows by the walls, since that would only make him look suspicious. He simply kept up the shambling pace of an injured "refugee brother," leading his frightened "little sister" along without purpose or feeling.

That posture instead allowed them to blend into the apocalyptic scene around them.

The towering flames cast the thick blood mist in the light, making it look like a roiling sea of blood. The stench of burning wood mingled with the unmistakable smell of blood in the air, forming a nauseating reek.

Mizuki Han walked slowly, his gaze seemingly unfocused. In truth, it swept over every detail around him like the most sensitive radar.

He saw a squad of Anbu ninja kick open the door of a civilian home. A woman's piercing scream and a child's terrified sobs came from inside, but soon all sound abruptly ceased.

He saw two figures fighting for their lives on a nearby rooftop. One of them used a unique technique, liquefying his body to dodge attacks. It was the Hozuki Clan's Kekkei Genkai. But soon, several Anbu working in perfect coordination pinned him to a wall with Ninja Blades infused with Lightning Release chakra, electrocuting him into a charred husk in an instant.

He also saw a man covered in bone spikes, raging like a madman as he charged out of a completely destroyed training hall. He was a survivor of the Kaguya Clan. Laughing wildly, he tore two Anbu ninja apart with his bare hands, but in the next moment, Kunai fitted with Explosive Tags flew at him from every direction and blew him apart in a shower of flesh and blood.

A slaughter.

A cold, efficient purge targeting every family with a Kekkei Genkai... the Great Purge.

This was the night of the Village of the Bloody Mist. Cruel and bloody, it followed no rules.

Mizuki Han's face showed no emotion. No sympathy, no anger, not even the slightest stir. He was merely a bystander, watching coldly with an almost clinical gaze as this grand ceremony of death unfolded.

He was analyzing. The standard formations of the Anbu squads, their attack patterns, the myriad abilities unleashed by those with Kekkei Genkai in their final moments.

It was all intelligence. Capital he needed to survive in this cruel world.

Beside him, Haku was already frozen with terror. Her little hand was cold as she clutched the hem of Mizuki Han's clothes, her teeth chattering. She didn't dare look at the bloody scenes. She could only bury her face against his back, as if that could shut out all the horror around them.

Mizuki Han could feel her trembling, but he offered no comfort.

Fear was a privilege of the weak. And he wouldn't allow his "possession" to be nothing but weak.

They crossed the street, dotted with death, and reached an intersection. Once they got through it and crossed two more streets, they would reach the slums on the very edge of Kirigakure. A chaotic place filled with all sorts of people—and a natural hiding place.

But just as they were about to step into the intersection, Mizuki Han abruptly stopped.

His pupils contracted slightly in the crimson glow of the fire.

The road ahead was blocked.

Not by rubble or an Anbu barricade.

It was blocked by an execution happening right before their eyes.

In the middle of the intersection, a girl who looked only fifteen or sixteen was leaning against a fallen stone lantern, gasping in despair. Her rare red hair flowed like flames, and she wore the uniform of a Sunagakure ninja. She clearly wasn't from Kirigakure. Four ninja wearing Mist Anbu masks had her surrounded in a tight semicircle.

"Pakura of the Scorch Release..." The name and the intelligence connected to it flashed through Mizuki Han's mind.

Sunagakure's hero. Betrayed by her own village because she had become too powerful, she had been lured to Kirigakure on a supposed "peace mission"—in truth, it was an assassination that had been arranged long ago.

So it was tonight?

"Give it up, woman from Sunagakure." The leader of the Anbu spoke hoarsely, with the cruelty of a cat toying with a mouse. "Your comrades already sold you out. You're not getting away."

Pakura's chest heaved. Her beautiful face was full of anger and indignation, and blood stained the corner of her mouth. She glared at the Anbu, hatred burning in her eyes. "You despicable Mist... and those damned elders..."

"Enough talk. Finish her!" Another Anbu clearly had no patience. He swiftly formed Hand Seals. "Water Style: Water Wild Wave!"

A torrent of water burst from his mouth like a raging serpent, surging toward the cornered Pakura!

The sudden, gruesome scene at such close range made Haku, who had been hiding her face behind Mizuki Han, raise her head without thinking.

She saw the surging Water Release, the flames of despair and hatred in Pakura's eyes, and the cold murderous intent behind the Anbu ninja's masks.

How much this resembled the scenes she remembered from the slaughter of her clan!

An uncontrollable fear and grief, rising from the depths of her blood, surged through her mind.

"No..."

A faint, tearful syllable slipped involuntarily from her throat.

In this night filled with screams and explosions, the sound should have been insignificant.

But at that moment, it was like a pebble tossed into a still lake.

The Anbu ninja performing the technique abruptly stopped.

Almost at the same time, all four Anbu surrounding Pakura turned their heads toward the sound—the shadowed street corner where Mizuki Han and Haku were hiding!

Four icy gazes, thick with murderous intent, locked onto them like swords!

They'd been exposed!

All because of one uncontrollable syllable!

The moment those four gazes fixed on her, Haku's body went completely rigid. She finally realized what she had done, and boundless fear and regret washed over her like an icy tide, drowning her completely.

But just as she was about to let out an even louder scream from fear,

a cold hand, smeared with dust and blood, reached around from behind her without warning. Gently, yet with absolute resolve, it covered her eyes—and muffled the scream about to escape her lips.