Night gradually fell.
The sky began to darken.
At several public training grounds in the village, quite a few ninja were still working up a sweat.
A black robe with red clouds, a mask.
The mysterious figure walked in from outside the grounds, his steps unhurried.
Every ninja on the training ground acted as though they saw nothing of this mysterious figure who had suddenly appeared.
The mysterious figure walked straight toward a boy of fifteen or sixteen.
After confirming the boy's face, the mysterious figure took him down in one move.
Then, in full view of everyone, he slung the boy over his shoulder and quietly left.
Only after the mysterious figure had gone far away did the eyes of everyone on the grounds flicker slightly. Then they resumed training as though nothing had happened.
"Tomoki?!!"
Another boy's startled cry drew quite a few people's attention.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing someone ask, the boy hurriedly said, "My friend Tomoki was training right in front of me just now, but he disappeared in the blink of an eye!"
"Huh?"
"Maybe he left when you weren't looking."
"Impossible! He was training right beside me. I could see him out of the corner of my eye the whole time."
"Tomoki isn't the sort to play a prank and suddenly leave without saying anything, either!"
Seeing the boy's frightened expression, their tone grew more serious.
Someone on the grounds suddenly asked, "Which clan is your friend from?"
"If he really is missing, go check his home first."
"My friend's name is Tomoki! Sarutobi Tomoki!"
The boy looked around the grounds once more, but still found no sign of him.
He immediately ran toward the Sarutobi Clan compound.
Near the barrier at the edge of Konoha.
In a deserted little grove.
The mysterious figure appeared there, carrying Sarutobi Tomoki over his shoulder.
He took a golden shuriken from inside his robe.
After using chakra to activate the mark left within it, he casually tossed it aside.
The next second,
Haruma, dressed in the same outfit, appeared instantly through the Flying Thunder God Mark.
Carrying the boy, Fugaku looked at Haruma, who wore a mask and the same black robe with red clouds, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Did we have to dress exactly alike...?"
Haruma waved a hand. "It doesn't matter. From now on, everyone can just wear this outfit when we do this sort of thing."
After all, outfits like this, which added absolutely nothing to combat power, only cost a mere two or three hundred in the shop's clothing section.
That amount of money was practically nothing to Haruma now.
Fugaku replied in a lowered voice, "I really do wonder whether Obito offended you back in the clan."
"I wouldn't go so far as to say he offended me. I'm not that petty."
Haruma raised his brows and said quietly, "It's just that he was always doing work for people for free in the recuperation area back then. He seriously disrupted the market!"
"For that stretch of time, I really couldn't stand the kid!"
Hearing this, Fugaku felt distinctly uncomfortable.
I suppose you really aren't petty...
Fugaku glanced at the unconscious boy and said softly, "We have him, and the location's confirmed. The rest is up to you."
Fugaku, who was not skilled in sensory ninjutsu, had discovered several of Orochimaru's experimental bases one after another by spending long periods tailing Root ninja.
To avoid encountering Orochimaru head-on, Fugaku used genjutsu to abduct someone each time, then summoned Haruma to scan the area.
After making sure no one was there, they hid the unconscious ninja from the various clans,
or their corpses, in concealed spots within the underground bases.
No wonder neither the Anbu nor the clan ninja could find any leads in the disappearances that had begun drawing the attention of the village's various clans.
These kidnappings had actually been carried out personally by Fugaku, who possessed Kage-level strength, using Mangekyō genjutsu.
As for the ninja who had kept appearing in the clan compound with Fugaku's face during this time, that was naturally Shisui in disguise.
Every so often, he deliberately showed his face, letting the Anbu watching the Uchiha Clan pass along word that he was still in the compound when the crimes occurred.
So far, Haruma and the others' plan was going very smoothly.
Haruma nodded slightly, then rapidly formed hand seals with both hands.
"Secret Technique: Mayfly Technique!"
Haruma slammed one hand hard against the ground. A truly vast amount of chakra turned into countless transparent particles and surged into the earth in an instant.
"We're in luck. Orochimaru isn't at this base."
A moment later, Haruma stood up and led the way toward the base.
Fugaku hurried after him with the boy over his shoulder, marveling inwardly once again.
This kid is definitely a freak.
The amount of chakra he released in that instant was already on par with a Kage's.
He's the same age as the boy on my shoulder, yet he has Kage-level strength.
What a monster!
"Earth Release: Flowing Wall!"
A passage opened underground beside a large tree.
The two walked down without hesitation.
The dim underground base was somewhat damp.
Along both sides of the long, narrow passage, an oil lamp hung every ten meters.
A faint smell of blood drifted from the depths of the passage toward the entrance.
Haruma spoke calmly. "It looks like human experimentation has taken place at this base recently."
Fugaku nodded without saying anything more.
They had already visited several laboratories like this during this time.
They could guess what sort of bloody scene lay inside the experimental rooms deeper within without looking.
Fugaku casually dumped the boy from his shoulder at the entrance to the base, then turned to Haruma and asked quietly, "Is this enough?"
Haruma nodded slightly. "It's enough. We've already drawn quite a bit of attention."
"If we keep going, their clan heads, and possibly even the Third, might personally stake the area out."
"With this kid from the Sarutobi Clan added to the count, that should do it."
Fugaku straightened his top and asked coldly, "Then this kid... do we kill him?"
Haruma did not answer. His dark gaze rested on the unconscious boy on the ground as he said evenly, "Perhaps you haven't done anything wrong, but for the sake of my plan, all I can say is sorry."
Then Haruma lifted his foot and lightly tapped the boy over the heart.
The unconscious Sarutobi boy never woke again.
"Proceed according to plan."
Fugaku nodded, turned, and left the base.
Only the final step of the plan remained.
Fugaku would deliberately leave a small clue, drawing more Anbu or clan ninja into this base.
Haruma, who knew the Flying Thunder God Technique and could withdraw at any time, would stay behind.
He would make sure no Root ninja got in first and destroyed the human experimentation laboratory inside the base.
With nothing to do, Haruma leaned against the wall and waited with his eyes closed.
Meanwhile, Fugaku had just stepped out of the base when he looked up and noticed a light rain falling from the darkened sky.
Ten minutes after Fugaku left.
Deep underground, Haruma could now hear peals of thunder from above through the thick stone walls.
Haruma, who had been resting with his eyes closed, frowned slightly.
Within his perception, someone was rapidly approaching the base.
And that cold, sinister chakra... was nothing like Fugaku's.
Such was the secret-technique-level sensory ninjutsu worth seventy million.
Not only could it sense numbers and distances, it could even distinguish chakra natures.
Its perception was finely detailed, and its range could also be called boundless.
Provided you could keep feeding it an endless stream of chakra...