Hiiragi Shinsuke's eyes were bloodshot as he lunged at the railing. "Try to touch Senri, and the Kamisato Clan will be utterly destroyed!"
Kujou Takayuki also trembled, his voice hoarse. "Kamaji is the head of the Tenryou Commission! How dare you threaten him?!"
"The head?" Kamisato Ayato chuckled softly, as if he had heard something amusing. "A head of a clan who's been locked in a prison? Does anyone still care about his status now?"
"As for whether the Kamisato Clan will be utterly destroyed..." He raised his hand, elegantly adjusting his cuff. "If Inazuma is gone, what meaning is there in the Kamisato Clan's existence?"
"Two seniors," he finally looked at the two of them, his eyes devoid of warmth. "Trade the wealth you've hidden for your children's lives, and for a glimmer of hope for Inazuma. This deal isn't a loss."
The prison cell fell into a dead silence.
Hiiragi Shinsuke and Kujou Takayuki stared fixedly at Kamisato Ayato, as if truly seeing this young man, who always smiled so calmly, for the first time.
Beneath that gentle and elegant mask lay a resolve colder than a glacier, and a cruelty sharper than a blade.
For Inazuma, he could trample all rules, including the unspoken bottom lines among nobles.
After a long while.
Hiiragi Shinsuke seemed to have been drained of all his strength, slumping to the ground, his voice hoarse: "The items are in Ritou, Warehouse Number Three, three floors underground. Open it with my seal... The key is inside the doll in Senri's room."
Kujou Takayuki closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face. "The Kujou Clan's secret vault is in the cave behind the abandoned shrine on Mt. Yougou. The key... is sewn into the lining of Kamaji's amulet."
"Very good." Kamisato Ayato nodded slightly, a smile returning to his face. "Thank you both for your wisdom and understanding."
He picked up the lamp and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Hiiragi Shinsuke suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "Kamisato Ayato! It's fine for you to take the money, but you must guarantee Hiiragi Senri's..."
"Pfft!"
A flash of bright sword light streaked across without warning, passing over Hiiragi Shinsuke's neck.
Blood splattered on the mottled wall.
Hiiragi Shinsuke clutched his neck, gurgling, staring in disbelief at the figure behind Kamisato Ayato.
At some point, a masked Shuumatsuban ninja had silently appeared, a short blade dripping blood in his hand.
Almost simultaneously, another ninja appeared inside Kujou Takayuki's cell, his blade plunging into the latter's heart.
"Two seniors," Kamisato Ayato said, without looking back, his voice calm and unwavering. "You know too much, and your hatred is too deep. Staying alive would be of no benefit to Inazuma."
"Rest in peace. Be a good person in your next life."
"Oh, and I didn't promise you anything just now. As for your clans, I'll handle them as I see fit."
The lamplight flickered, illuminating his departing back and two corpses with wide-open, unseeing eyes... Inazuma City, enveloped in an unusual, deathly silence, lay shrouded in the night.
Only the swift, wind-like movements of the Kamisato Clan's Shuumatsuban ninjas created faint whooshing sounds.
Treasures from the deepest part of the Ritou warehouse, the secret vault behind the Mt. Yougou shrine... boxes and bags of astonishing wealth were retrieved.
As the sky began to lighten, two simply processed heads were hung on the most conspicuous notice board at the entrance to Inazuma City.
Hiiragi Shinsuke and Kujou Takayuki, these two former Tri-Commission heads who once wielded immense power, thus announced the end of their lives in a profoundly shocking manner, and also proclaimed the shattering of certain unspoken rules.
"Is that Hiiragi Shinsuke and Kujou Takayuki?!"
"My heavens! They... they were actually..."
"They plundered the nation and harmed the people; their deaths are well-deserved! Good riddance! Good riddance!"
"Heaven has eyes! These bloodsucking nobles should have faced retribution long ago!"
The public's emotions erupted like a volcano, years of accumulated anger and grievances finding an outlet at this moment.
Some wept bitterly, some cheered loudly, while others gazed at the two heads, their expressions complex, murmuring, "It's changed. The sky over Inazuma is truly about to change..."
Meanwhile, Kamisato Ayato shed his fine clothes and sword.
He wore a plain white tunic, firmly bound himself with rough hemp rope, and even had several thorny bramble branches stuck to his back.
In this manner, under the complex gazes of his family's ninjas, he walked step by step towards the Tenshukaku.
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