A heavy atmosphere hung over the Daimyo Mansion. All of the Twelve Guardian Ninja except Katsuya Uchiha had gathered in the hall, seated along either side. At the head of the hall, the Daimyo sat gently waving his fan, staring expressionlessly at what lay in the center.
There were five corpses, all elite samurai from the Daimyo's household and Chakra Samurai trained under Tobi, captain of the Guardian Ninja. That morning, they had been found dead in their rooms. There was not a single wound anywhere on their bodies. They had simply died without explanation.
The Daimyo was furious. Chakra Samurai were precious assets, and training even one was a considerable undertaking. Although Tobi had a way to accelerate the process, that undoubtedly meant investing far more resources than normal. Only the Daimyo of an entire country could afford to train so many Chakra Samurai.
Now five had suddenly died, and they had been among the finest of the Chakra Samurai. How could the Daimyo not feel the loss? What troubled him even more was the inexplicable nature of their deaths. Such eerie events were frightening, and he was desperate to learn what lay behind them.
The Daimyo had summoned the Twelve Guardian Ninja to ask for their opinions. The physicians in the Daimyo Mansion had failed to determine the samurai's cause of death, so they had suggested consulting ninja, who specialized in such strange methods.
"Have you found anything, Master Tianyi?" the Daimyo asked, turning to Tianyi, the member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja who came from the Fire Temple.
As a monk of the Fire Temple, Tianyi had some knowledge of medical secret techniques. Yet even after examining the bodies carefully, he had found no clues. Their hearts seemed to have simply stopped for no reason.
"My sincerest