"Yemu, someone outside is looking for you. Aren't you going to answer them?"
Hinata Hyuga tilted her little head and asked curiously.
Yemu glanced at the Root ninja standing behind him at the entrance.
After not seeing them for a while, he found that the Root ninja's attitude had improved considerably.
Even this Root squad captain knew Danzo was making empty promises.
How could Yemu possibly not know?
"Let's eat first."
"Hey, Qingxue, you stole my meat again!" Yemu noticed that the three pieces of meat left in his bowl had now become two.
He couldn't help calling her out.
"Yemu, I still have some in my bowl. You can have mine." Hinata Hyuga smiled softly and transferred all seven pieces of meat from her bowl into his.
"Qingxue, look at her."
"Why can't you be more like that?"
Yemu complained to Qingxue Uchiha beside him.
Qingxue Uchiha was unmoved. With a resentful look on her pretty face, she popped the meat she had taken from his bowl into her little mouth. "Hmph, I want yours."
"From now on, I'm going to eat yours every day. I need to grow bigger too."
Qingxue Uchiha lowered her head, more or less accepting that she wasn't as developed as Hinata.
After they finished eating.
Yemu went outside first.
Looking at the Root squad captain, who was still waiting, he said quietly, "I've heard your request. I'll consider it."
Hearing his response, the Root squad captain asked again, "We want a definite answer. Yemu Hyuga, are you joining Root or not?"
Yemu Hyuga's expression was cold. "I'll consider it."
Leaving him with those words, Yemu returned to Ichiraku.
"Let's go!"
Having received an answer, the Root squad captain wanted to keep his subordinates from causing trouble.
He immediately led them away.
Yemu wasn't bothered. Since Danzo liked making empty promises...
He would give him an equally vague answer.
Soon.
A few days passed.
Yemu received a Chunin exam application form from Kurenai Yuhi.
"The Chunin exams aren't mandatory. If you three want to participate, sign these application forms."
"All right, Miss Kurenai."
Without the slightest hesitation, Yemu signed his form.
If he remembered correctly, Orochimaru would launch the Konoha Crush Plan during the Chunin exams.
When that happened, Yemu could salvage the ninja killed in the attack and turn them into puppets.
"Yemu, just how strong are you now, anyway?" Seeing how relaxed he looked, Kurenai Yuhi's expression turned speculative.
She could no longer feel any oppressive presence coming from him, but that very absence filled her with an inexplicable fear.
"Well, I don't know either."
Yemu spread his hands. "But winning these Chunin exams should be a piece of cake."
Besides collecting corpses to make puppets, he also intended to harvest emotion points.
An exam this large would yield even more of them.
"Of course! Our Team 8 is really strong!"
Qingxue Uchiha raised her little head, her expression brimming with confidence.
"That's right."
Hinata Hyuga nodded in agreement beside her.
"Don't worry. With me here, you're both sure to become Chunin." Yemu patted Hinata's and Qingxue's heads.
He also knew how much pressure Hinata was under in the Hyuga Clan.
With the outstanding talent she had displayed, Hyuga Hiashi was undoubtedly grooming her as his successor.
To keep her little sister from being branded with the Caged Bird Seal, Hinata naturally had to work especially hard and prove herself. Only greater strength would let her overcome everyone's objections.
The Caged Bird Seal, huh?
A rare chill surfaced in Yemu Hyuga's eyes.
It was time he found an opportunity to put the Hyuga Clan in its place.
This system was overdue for abolition.
On the night before the Chunin exams.
Yemu finally sensed Zabuza and Haku approaching.
With Konoha hosting the Chunin exams, its Perception Barrier naturally wasn't as tightly guarded.
Quite a few unfamiliar ninja could even enter the village with ease.
That was also why Orochimaru had chosen the Chunin exams to launch the Konoha Crush Plan.
Zabuza and Haku appeared with the Body Flicker Technique in a secluded alley off a Konoha street.
"Leader!"
Zabuza and Haku dropped to one knee, their eyes filled with respect.
Zabuza in particular felt something close to adoration for Yemu.
That Chakra Core had not only greatly increased the power of his ninjutsu, but had almost allowed him to develop a new technique.
After all, the core had been condensed from the chakra within Yemu's body. As the progenitors of chakra, the Otsutsuki possessed energy pure enough to bring about a fundamental transformation in a ninja.
Zabuza now felt several times stronger than before.
"Have you prepared the materials?"
Clad in a white robe and wearing a white mask, Yemu sat on a Wooden Box, his voice cold.
"Leader, we've scoured the black markets around the Land of Fire lately and found plenty of the materials you requested."
Zabuza respectfully handed him a storage scroll.
Yemu gave its contents a quick scan. The materials inside would be enough to condense at least ten Chakra Cores.
"Well done. From this day forward, the Shadow Organization is established."
"From now on, use code names when dealing with outsiders."
Yemu tossed two specially made white robes and white masks to Zabuza and Haku.
Silk interwoven with cloud patterns, lapels gathered with golden spiral designs, and a faded antique silver chain around the waist gave the robes the air of both priests and hermits.
Zabuza's mask was engraved with a large blood-mist blade, while Haku's bore a blue ice-crystal snowflake.
By contrast, Yemu's mask was plain and unadorned, a pure White Mask without a single decoration.
Yet it inspired the greatest fear and pressure.
"These are your identity tokens. I can contact you through them at any time. If anything important happens, you can also channel chakra into them to contact me urgently."
Yemu tossed them two black tokens engraved with the characters for "Zabuza" and "Haku."
The tokens weren't made from ordinary material.
They were Black Rods created through Yin-Yang Release.
"For now, hide within Konoha and await my first orders."
"Yes."
Zabuza and Haku put on their white robes.
They vanished into the night with the Body Flicker Technique.
The Konoha Crush Plan, huh?
Yemu gazed at the bright moon overhead. Whether he could strike it rich in one go depended on whether he could seize this opportunity.
Meanwhile, outside the village.
Having received Danzo's invitation, the Kumogakure ninja had already arrived at Konoha's gates.
"Bro, what's the Third Hokage playing at, yo~?"
Killer B spoke beside Fourth Raikage A in his rapping cadence.
"Who cares? We came all this way to see how strong Konoha is. Besides, they're offering us benefits. Why wouldn't we come?"
Fourth Raikage A wasn't the sort to act without something to gain.
Moreover, he was extremely confident in his own strength and wasn't remotely afraid that Konoha might be setting a trap.
If anything, he rather hoped Konoha would make a move against them.
That would give Kumogakure a legitimate reason to declare war on Konoha!
"Yo, yo, can you three handle the show~?"
Killer B asked the three students beside him.
"Master Killer B, aren't Konoha's Genin just a bunch of useless kids who've barely seen real combat?"
Omoi had brown skin, short white hair, and a lollipop in his mouth. Completely unconcerned, he said, "Let's show these locals what real Cloud Ninja Swordsmanship looks like!"
Thump!
Yet no sooner had he finished speaking...
Than Killer B slammed a fist into his head.
"Ow! Master Killer B, why did you hit me?"
Omoi clutched his head with a cry, tears welling in his eyes, his face full of bewilderment.
The harsh environment Kumogakure's people lived in year-round drove its ninja to train especially hard.
Their swordsmanship was almost masterful.
Their teacher, Killer B, could even wield seven swords at once.
"Hey, yo~ don't underestimate your foe!" Killer B warned.
"B, you're right. Even a lion gives its all when hunting a rabbit. You three had better not disgrace Kumogakure."
"Yes, Lord Raikage!"
A cool, beautiful woman beside Omoi answered firmly.
Her name was Samui. Blonde and blue-eyed, with fair skin and a large bust, she was also the central figure of this three-person squad.
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