"Let me see just how deeply Ōtsutsuki Isshiki has laid his plans on this planet."
The morning after Shengu Xuan said those words, the five Kage were urgently summoned to the Shinobi World Union's council chamber. The one who summoned them was not Tsunade, but Shikaku, and the thickness of the intelligence report in his hand changed the expression of everyone present.
"Kara." Shikaku spread the documents across the round table, tracing a finger from one marked location to another. "Last night, the Shadowkhan simultaneously detected chakra fluctuations with Otsutsuki characteristics in seven countries. We've confirmed six core members, spread across the Land of Rain, the Land of Wind, the Land of Water, the Land of Lightning, the Land of Fire's border, and two unknown coordinates."
Raikage A clenched his fist against the table. "They have people on my turf?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't I know?"
"Because their disguises go beyond what conventional sensory ninja can detect." Shikaku's voice was level. "If the Shadowkhan hadn't been using a detection method from an entirely different system, we still wouldn't have found them."
Mei Terumi turned to the second page, her slender brows furrowing. "What do these body-modification marks on the core members mean?"
"All we know so far is that the energy signature of those marks is highly similar to the Ōtsutsuki Clan's chakra." Shikaku glanced toward the door. "Lord Shengu will deliver the detailed analysis himself."
The door opened.
Shengu Xuan walked in with a grass stem between his lips, his hands in his pockets as usual. He glanced at the people seated around the round table, then leaned against the windowsill without sitting down.
"You've all read it?"
"We have." Tsunade's voice carried clear unease. "What exactly is the relationship between Kara and the Ōtsutsuki Clan?"
"Pawns." Shengu Xuan shifted