Hoshigakure.
"What's going on? Did they find Natsuhi?"
"Don't know. The Hoshikage suddenly summoned us and said there was something important to announce."
"Even you don't know?"
"Could they have captured Natsuhi's child, An?"
"Impossible. If he'd been captured, Natsuhi would've shown herself long ago."
The entire village buzzed with discussion.
Just moments ago, Akahoshi, the acting Hoshikage, had summoned every ninja searching for Natsuhi.
It was utterly baffling.
If Natsuhi had really returned, there should have been a huge commotion.
After all, Natsuhi was the most talented ninja Hoshigakure had seen in a century.
She was a ninja who had cultivated the Mysterious Peacock Method to its peak.
If she had not killed the previous Hoshikage and defected from the village, she should have become Hoshikage by now.
However, those who knew the inside story understood that there was something strange about Natsuhi's assassination of the Third Hoshikage.
After all, even if things were as she claimed—that Hoshigakure's Star harmed the human body—she should not have assassinated the Hoshikage.
In a hidden corner of the village, a red-haired woman poked her head out and watched the residents and ninjas discussing matters in a noisy crowd.
"What is Akahoshi trying to do again? Is he planning to do something harmful to Hoshigakure?"
Her heart felt heavy.
She could not understand why Akahoshi had stopped the ninjas from searching for her and gathered the ninjas and villagers instead.
Just then, the man weighing heavily on her mind appeared in the distance.
Two guards followed closely behind him.
"Yotaka, Shisō... Akahoshi, you killed the Third Hoshikage. You will pay the price."
Hatred filled her eyes as she looked at the three people who had turned her, her husband, and her son into enemies of Hoshigakure.
What worried her most were the deceived