The Five Brothers of Demon River

No one had expected to encounter the Five Brothers of Demon River by the Naka River.

This was the war zone between the Senju and Hagoromo clans.

In a sense, any outsider who dared enter this area would be treated as someone with malicious intentions and hunted down by both clans-

After all, the Senju's sage body and the Hagoromo's Heavenly Eye were both exceedingly rare kekkei genkai. Neither clan could allow outsiders to covet them.

More importantly, these men had slipped behind them without a sound, despite the combined vigilance of a jonin, Setsuna's level-four concentration, and Naoki Senju's monstrous perception.

These bastards had to have some way of concealing their chakra. Some secret technique, or some special tool-whatever it was, it allowed them to haunt battlefields like ghosts, scavenging opportunities.

Setsuna stared fixedly at the man in the red half-mask as he approached step by step.

He turned slightly, quietly preparing to shield Hiruzen Sarutobi behind him.

At that very moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi was doing the same thing-turning sideways and reaching out, trying to put his companion behind him.

The two children's movements collided.

But Setsuna reacted far faster than Hiruzen.

After being chased and beaten by Madara Uchiha in over a thousand Arena matches, he grabbed Hiruzen and hauled him behind himself.

"Get behind me. Don't drag me down."

Hiruzen Sarutobi refused, gritting his teeth as he whispered, "I'm a boy."

Setsuna nearly shot back, So am I.

He swallowed those words.

There were two young clan heirs here, one Sarutobi and one Senju.

To these rogue ninja without a shred of morality, those two identities were tempting enough to send them into a frenzy, making them disregard the pressure of the Senju and Hagoromo clans and take the risk.

If they learned he was an Uchiha too, adding yet another prize to the mix, they would probably go wild with greed.

Damn it.

Under these circumstances, he couldn't even use his Sharingan.

Setsuna rapidly analyzed their situation.

On his side, only one man stood before them, wearing a red half-mask.

The frightening part was that, if all five brothers had come, he couldn't sense the other four's chakra at all.

But judging by how they would distribute their manpower-

One adult ninja was enough to capture two children aged five or six. Even allowing for extra caution, two would be more than enough.

So at least three were on the opposite bank.

That made sense.

There was a jonin across the river. If the Five Brothers of Demon River truly intended to target the Senju heir, they would have to commit enough fighting strength to separate Naoki from his guard.

To ensure they could escape intact, there would have to be at least three on the opposite bank. All four might even be over there.

In other words, the lone enemy before him had been assigned to the task they had judged to "require the fewest men."

Setsuna's fingers moved slightly.

A pitch-black shadow slid out of his sleeve, curled around his fingertips, and silently seeped into the Straw-Woven Shuriken.

A plan formed in his mind.

Since they had sent only one man to deal with two children aged five or six, the enemy's own carelessness was his greatest opening.

But the problem was that he had no idea how this man attacked or what abilities he possessed.

Out of the corner of his eye, Setsuna glanced toward Liangzhu Senju on the opposite bank.

He couldn't count on the Senju to give him information about the Five Brothers of Demon River now. They could barely fend for themselves.

But if he rashly struck first to probe the enemy's techniques, he would inevitably risk exposing an opening.

A bead of cold sweat slid down Setsuna's neck and disappeared beneath his collar.

He had never imagined that even a Kite Style fighter like him would have to play mind games one day.

"Mr. Kikawa, the Sarutobi Clan isn't a major clan. We barely have enough money to get by. Capturing us won't do you any good, will it?"

Just as Setsuna's entire body tensed to the limit, like an arrow ready to leave the bowstring, Hiruzen's calm voice came from behind him.

Setsuna paused.

He turned his head slightly in disbelief.

There was no fear on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face. In its place was a composure identical to his father Sarutobi Sasuke's.

Negotiation.

Beyond Setsuna's choice of fighting or dying, Hiruzen had chosen a path Setsuna had never considered.

The man in the half-mask bent forward slightly, the mouth beneath his mask curling into a vicious smile.

His gaze passed over Hiruzen and fixed on Setsuna, greed dripping from his voice.

"Isn't the Hagoromo Clan's princess here too? A Heavenly Eye would fetch quite a price on the market."

Every muscle in Setsuna's body tightened to its limit again.

He had already calculated it-if the man took one more step forward, he would throw the shuriken.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi moved faster.

The six-year-old stepped forward, placing himself in front of Setsuna.

"If you really know the market, you should know that no Hagoromo woman has ever awakened the Heavenly Eye," Hiruzen said, neither meek nor arrogant. "Taking Miss Hagoromo back with you will gain you nothing except the Hagoromo Clan's enmity."

The man in the half-mask narrowed his eyes.

Hiruzen glanced at the Senju across the river and continued.

"The same applies to the Senju. All you'll accomplish is angering them and being hunted by one of the strongest ninja clans on the entire continent. You won't gain a thing. You should understand that."

The river breeze swept through the reeds, gently stirring the loose hair over Hiruzen's forehead.

He stood with his back perfectly straight. The reckless boy who had once panicked and prostrated himself in apology when White Ape pulled off his wig now bore a faint resemblance to Sarutobi Sasuke.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the rogue ninja, speaking slowly and sincerely as he tried to persuade him. "You should know that patrols here never stop, even when there's no fighting. I'd wager both clans' Patrol Squads will reach this spot within ten minutes. Why take a deal that can only leave you worse off?"

The man's presence abruptly darkened.

Setsuna's heart gave a heavy thump.

Something's wrong.

There was no way the Five Brothers of Demon River didn't already know everything Hiruzen had said.

Rogue ninja who survived by scavenging opportunities on battlefields knew better than anyone which prey they could touch and which would mean suicide.

Yet they had come anyway.

That left only one possibility-they had been hired.

Their employer had offered far more money than expected! Enough for them to consider being hunted by both clans an acceptable price!

Setsuna thought rapidly.

First, he ruled out the Uchiha-with an overbearing figure like Madara Uchiha keeping them in line, even the radicals wouldn't dare lay a hand on a Senju child.

The Hagoromo were impossible too. Shōgatsu wouldn't do something so stupid as to play with fire and burn himself.

Could it be the daimyo? To provoke further conflict?

No, both sides have already suffered considerable losses, and the Uchiha have been drawn in too. They're at a stalemate now.

Escalating the conflict now could easily plunge the entire continent into war. That was certainly not what the daimyo wanted.

What the daimyo wanted had always been balance, not endless chaos.

Besides-

He and Hiruzen had decided to visit the Naka River on a whim. If these men had shown up at precisely this spot, he and Hiruzen couldn't have been their targets from the start.

They had only one target!

The Senju Clan's young heir-Naoki Senju.

But...

How did they know Naoki Senju would definitely come here? The Senju Clan would never leak their heir's movements.

Wait.

A name exploded in Setsuna's mind.

Who would provoke hatred between the Senju and Uchiha even at the cost of throwing the entire world into chaos?

Who would do anything to make both clans shed ever more blood?

Who could move freely through every barrier without attracting anyone's attention, gathering information?

People in the Warring States era didn't know. Those from Konoha's founding era wouldn't know either.

But Setsuna knew.

There truly was such a being in this world-

Black Zetsu.

That disgusting creature who would stop at nothing to resurrect Kaguya!

His goal was simply to make the Senju and Uchiha fight until both suffered devastating losses, plunging Indra's reincarnation-Madara Uchiha-into despair, so that his pursuit of greater power would lead him to believe that absurd Eye of the Moon Plan.

Madara Uchiha was the core of the Eye of the Moon Plan. To make that core obedient, Black Zetsu first had to leave him betrayed by everyone, utterly cornered.

Damn it.

I forgot about that thing!

Isn't covering his tracks that thing's specialty? Those chakra-concealing tools these five men have must have come from him!

Black Zetsu had only been exposed as the mastermind during the Fourth Shinobi World War, but that didn't mean he hadn't existed during the Warring States era.

Kaguya Otsutsuki had been sealed for a thousand years, and Black Zetsu had never stopped scheming for a single moment throughout that millennium.

He had guided every incarnation of Indra into opposing Asura, stoked the ancestral feud between the Uchiha and Senju, and planted hidden agents beside every reincarnation of Indra-all of it had begun a thousand years ago and had never stopped.

If Black Zetsu wanted to hasten Madara's despair, the most effective method was to make him lose Izuna.

And the best way to trap Izuna in a fatal situation was to make the Senju and Uchiha go to war again.

And to make the Senju and Uchiha go to war again-what could be more direct than the unexplained death of Hashirama Senju's son?

Who would believe that their ancestral enemies, the Uchiha, had nothing to do with it?

Setsuna felt a bone-chilling cold shoot up his spine.

Now he had to protect not only himself, but also Naoki Senju across the river.

And he was only five and a half. With his height and chakra reserves, he couldn't even bring out the full strength of a C-Rank Ninja from the game.

To ensure their plan succeeded, these bastards would never let him and Hiruzen live as witnesses!

Damn it!

Fuck you, Sage of Six Paths! You left this thing around for a thousand years! What the hell were you doing?!

Just as Setsuna finally pieced it all together, Naoki Senju and Liangzhu were already locked in a fierce battle with the three Kikawa brothers across the river.