Under the cover of night, Night Namikaze moved like a phantom through the outskirts of the Hidden Mist Village.
As the mastermind behind the entire chaotic spectacle, he obviously wasn't stupid enough to actually blow himself up.
The charred remains currently sitting in the Mizukage's office were nothing more than a carefully prepared body double.
Days ago, on his way to the Land of Water, Night had encountered a group of bandits. He noticed one of them shared his exact build. acting on intuition, he hadn't killed the man. Instead, he captured him and "pawned" him to the System.
He had originally just wanted to test what happened to a living person if they weren't redeemed within 24 hours. He hadn't expected this casual experiment to become his ace in the hole.
The bandit he redeemed from the System had become an empty shell. His physiological functions were intact, but his consciousness was gone—a vegetative state. He was the perfect puppet.
Night had cast a Transformation Jutsu on the body and rigged the explosion site with meticulous care.
As for the "Kaguya ninja" wielding the bone spike? That was Night himself. He had simply used the Flying Raijin technique to teleport away the instant the explosion triggered.
You could say that after suffering in the Rain Country battlefield because he hadn't prepped his teleportation markers, Night had learned his lesson. His "aimless wandering" around the town earlier wasn't aimless at all; he was marking coordinates.
"Danzo, you wanted to use me as a weapon to do your dirty work?" Night sneered, his figure melting into the darkness. "Let's see if you don't end up cutting yourself on the blade."
Although he had used Danzo's scheme to achieve his own goals, Night had already mentally signed Danzo's death warrant. The old man had tried to trip him up one too many times.
---
While the Hidden Mist Village was turned upside down by the manhunt for the "merchant's killer," creating a tense standoff, Night had already quietly infiltrated the Kaguya clan's territory.
Relying on the sensory capabilities of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, he easily bypassed every guard and locked onto a few isolated Kaguya clansmen.
"That's one."
He approached a patrolling ninja silently. With a swift chop to the back of the neck, the man collapsed before he could even register an enemy. Night dragged him into the shadows.
"Pawn."
> [Ding! Kaguya Clan Ninja (Living) x1... Valuation: 100 Points]
Night confirmed the transaction without hesitation.
This was a crucial part of his plan. He wasn't just here to stoke the fires of conflict between the Kaguya clan and the Mist leadership; he was here to farm points and stock up his System store.
The Kaguya clan was terrifying on a frontal battlefield, but their sensory and reconnaissance skills were relatively weak. As long as Night didn't engage them head-on, he was in his element within their own compound.
Over the next few hours, he rinsed and repeated the process, abducting three more clansmen. He specifically targeted younger members with average strength. The operation was clean, efficient, and left zero traces.
Just as he was preparing to bag another target, he sensed several powerful chakra signatures returning to the compound.
Night immediately concealed himself.
Naoto Kaguya, surrounded by several guards, walked into the grounds with a face like thunder.
"Clan Head, the Kage is pushing us too far!" a young Kaguya ninja shouted indignantly. "Are we really just going to take this lying down?"
Naoto stopped walking. He looked around at the clansmen gathering around him. In the flickering torchlight, he looked exhausted.
"I saw the merchant's body at the Mizukage's office today. The fatal wound was caused by a bone spike piercing the heart and lungs—our clan's Kekkei Genkai." His voice was low and raspy.
The crowd erupted into an uproar.
"Someone is framing us! It's a setup!"
"But besides the Kaguya clan, who else can use bone spikes?"
"Wait, where is Kaguya Mahito? Why hasn't he shown up?"
The crowd suddenly realized that several clansmen were missing. The realization hit them hard—this absence made the accusation of a "rogue operation" look all too real.
Naoto raised a hand to silence the chatter, a flash of pain in his eyes.
" The Third Mizukage gave me an ultimatum. Either we find the real killer, or the entire Kaguya clan bears the consequences."
He took a deep breath. "I have sworn to the Mizukage that I will find the culprit within two days and give the village an answer."
Hidden in the dark, Night listened closely, a cold smirk playing on his lips. Naoto's speech sounded like he was calming his people, but he was clearly preparing to make sacrifices.
Sure enough, once the general crowd dispersed, Naoto called the elders into a private meeting room. Night moved closer, eavesdropping on their hushed conversation.
"Clan Head, do you truly believe our people acted on their own?" a white-haired elder asked.
Naoto didn't answer immediately. He sat in silence for a moment.
"This whole thing smells wrong. But the bone spike wound on that corpse is real. Unless... there is an outsider in this world who can use our Kekkei Genkai."
"Impossible!" another elder snapped. "Every ninja who has awakened the bloodline is registered in our records."
"What if there are clansmen lost to the outside world? After all, considering what happened with Konoha..."
The comment made everyone pause.
However, another elder raised an objection. "Then what about the clansmen who vanished today? And if there really is a lost clansman, could they really move through our heavily guarded compound as if it were an empty field?"
The room descended into bickering, with no one able to convince the others.
Naoto, who had been listening quietly, suddenly stood up. His voice suppressed a violent rage.
"Several clansmen have vanished into thin air. A merchant who could prove our innocence was killed by a bone spike. If our people didn't do this, then someone is targeting the Kaguya clan from the shadows!"
The meeting hall fell dead silent.
In the darkness, Night raised an eyebrow. This Clan Head is sharper than I thought.
After a long silence, an elder who hadn't spoken yet opened his mouth slowly. "Regardless of the truth, the priority is to give the Mizukage an answer. Since we are in an impossible situation..."
He didn't finish the sentence, simply looking at Naoto, waiting for the decision.
Naoto closed his eyes and nodded painfully. "Pick two clansmen who have committed minor offenses recently. For the survival of the Kaguya clan, this is a necessary sacrifice."
"And the missing clansmen?"
"Report them to the village as fugitives. Claim they fled to escape punishment."
Naoto waved his hand, his tone carrying the exhaustion and extreme repression of a volcano about to erupt.
"The Kaguya clan will remember this. From today on, abandon your unrealistic fantasies. Never expect mercy from those in power."
His eyes snapped open, burning with ambition.
"It is time the Kaguya clan produced a 'Kage' of its own."
The elders in the room froze, then their eyes lit up with a fervent, dangerous hunger.
Night quietly retreated, his understanding of this cruel ninja world deepening. In the face of absolute interest, even blood relatives were just chips to be bargained with.
He put a pin in his plan to continue harvesting Kaguya members for now. A bolder idea had just taken root in his mind.
He didn't return to Konoha immediately. instead, he decided to pull the classic move: " The safest place is right under their noses."
He would hide right here, in the eye of the storm—inside the Kaguya clan's own territory.