After making up his mind, Kōki got ready to explore the Kurama Clan's compound that night. He could hardly wait to test the effects of his special Shadow Clone.
Kōki formed hand seals, and a Shadow Clone immediately appeared before him. Leaving this sort of sneaking around to a Shadow Clone was the safest option.
After heading out, he went straight toward the Kurama Clan's compound, following the directions in his mind.
Along the way, Kōki carefully concealed himself, sticking to dimly lit alleys. Before long, he arrived outside the Kurama Clan's compound.
He looked around, confirmed that no one was paying attention, then leaped into the Kurama Clan's compound.
Without a detailed map of the compound, Kōki could only feel his way around slowly, searching room by room. His movements were extremely quiet, and with the Kurama Clan's current strength, they had no way of detecting someone infiltrating their compound. Of course, they had never expected that the Kurama Clan, which barely had any presence in Konoha, would attract prying eyes.
Time passed little by little. After searching most of the rooms, Kōki still had not found where the Kurama Clan stored their bodies. Just as he was puzzling over this, he suddenly heard a conversation in the room ahead.
He looked toward the source of the voices.
"Clan Head Masahiro, please think of something. Our Kurama Clan is practically disappearing from Konoha. Our clansmen are constantly looked down on during missions and blamed for being dead weight."
"That's right, Clan Head. Never mind anything further back-just today, someone was saying behind our backs that we shouldn't be ninja if our bodies are so weak."
"Exactly, Clan Head. I've run into that before too. Just because my Genjutsu failed to trap the enemy, my own teammates mocked me."
"Yes, Clan Head, I also..."
The room immediately descended into chaos. Everyone inside complained about the discrimination they had encountered on missions, while the man seated at the head, whom they respectfully addressed as clan head, said nothing. He simply watched the outraged clansmen loudly vent their resentment.
Finally, after making a racket for a while, the Kurama clansmen noticed that their clan head was merely watching them without saying anything, and their voices gradually died down.
Once his clansmen had settled down, Kurama Masahiro, head of the Kurama Clan, sighed. "Finished arguing? If not, carry on. We can all forget about sleeping tonight. I'll just listen to your complaints."
Hearing their clan head speak this way, the Kurama clansmen below him lowered their heads in embarrassment. They knew that making such a fuss would solve nothing, but they could not help themselves.
Back in the Warring States Period, their Kurama Clan had enjoyed considerable renown. They had been hailed as the foremost ninja clan in the Shinobi World when it came to Genjutsu. Once they awakened their Kekkei Genkai, there was no one who did not fear them. Who could have imagined they would fall so low?
There were no longer any awakened Kekkei Genkai users in the clan, and even comrades from their own village looked down on them. They truly could not accept it.
"Clan Head, we'll stop arguing, but you have to give us a solution. Surely you can't just watch our Kurama Clan, whose legacy stretches back to the Warring States Period, disappear from Konoha?" A ninja who held considerable standing within the Kurama Clan stepped forward and addressed Kurama Masahiro.
"That's right."
"That's right."
The surrounding clansmen echoed the ninja's words. They all knew that life in Konoha was difficult for the Kurama Clan now. Their clan's overall strength was poor, and only a small portion of them were ninja. Most of the others were ordinary people with frail bodies.
Among that small portion, only a dozen or so were stronger than Genin, and the clan head was the only one with the strength of a Jonin.
Such strength put them at the very bottom of Konoha's many ninja clans. They were all worried about their clan's future.
As clan head, Kurama Masahiro understood what his clansmen meant, but he could do nothing about the clan's lack of strength.
"I have no solution either. Do you think it doesn't pain me, as clan head, to see our Kurama Clan decline? Do you think I don't want the Kurama Clan to stand among Konoha's strongest, like the Uchiha Clan or the Hyuga Clan?"
"I want that too, but the reality is that our clan is simply this weak. Our frail bodies limit what we can do. If we had healthy bodies, we could at least have a few more Jonin."
"And we've already asked Lady Tsunade to examine the problem with our bodies. It's not as though you don't know her answer. Our spiritual energy suppresses our physical energy. Even Lady Tsunade can do nothing about our condition."
"You all know these things. Must I repeat every one of them?" Helplessness filled Kurama Masahiro's eyes as he spoke. He knew the predicament facing the Kurama Clan, but he had no way to break out of it.
The surrounding Kurama clansmen could only lower their heads at Kurama Masahiro's words. They all knew the problems, but their clan head was their pillar of support. Who else could they turn to when faced with trouble?
"Clan Head, we don't have any solutions either. We understand all of that, but is there really no hope left for our Kurama Clan?" one Kurama clansman asked dejectedly, a trace of despair in his voice.
Those around him were infected by his dejection and lowered their heads in despair as well. Suddenly, someone in the crowd thought of something. He looked up at Kurama Masahiro and said, "Clan Head, why don't we let Some out? If it's him, he might be able to restore the Kurama Clan's prestige."
The Kurama clansman's words jolted everyone around him, and a trace of fear flashed through their eyes. That name had left a deep impression on them all.
Kurama Some, currently fourteen years old, was a genius ninja of the Kurama Clan. Everyone present had once regarded him as the hope for the clan's revival.
From an early age, Kurama Some had displayed exceptional talent for Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. Although his body was still somewhat frail, he was stronger than the average Kurama clansman. By thirteen, he already possessed the strength of a Jonin. Barring any accidents, the Kurama Clan would surely regain its former glory under Some's leadership.
But just when everything seemed certain to go smoothly, something went wrong. The exceptionally gifted Kurama Some successfully awakened the Kurama Clan's unique Kekkei Genkai-Five Senses Manipulation.
Yet this was also the source of Kurama Some's tragedy, because a monster named Ido awakened along with it. Under this monster's control, Kurama Some's power ran wild. Wielding his Kekkei Genkai, he killed several Jonin and more than a dozen Chunin within the Kurama Clan outright.
Although the Kurama Clan's powerful ninja eventually subdued and sealed him away, the losses he had caused were irreparable. It was because of this that the Kurama Clan fell into complete decline.
It could be said that this boy named Kurama Some had played a part in bringing about the Kurama Clan's current decline.
Even now, quite a few members of the Kurama Clan both loved and hated him.