Something went wrong?
What went wrong?
Oniyuzu Anjō blinked in confusion. His eyes darted rapidly around the area—everything looked normal. Nothing seemed out of place. He was just about to ask what Kyoichi meant, but before he could open his mouth, he heard Kyoichi continue:
"Mizushiro's chakra signature has disappeared."
"What?"
Anjō's eyes widened.
He knew exactly what it meant for a chakra signature to vanish, and his heart jumped into his throat. He blurted out:
"Is Konoha making a move against us?"
"Uncertain."
Kyoichi's brows knitted tightly.
"Mizushiro's chakra vanished very abruptly, and I didn't sense any unfamiliar chakra entering the area."
"Huh?"
Anjō froze.
His thoughts tangled together.
Normally, when someone's chakra suddenly disappears, the most likely explanation is that the person has been killed. A dead body has no chakra signature.
But Kyoichi said he didn't sense any foreign chakra…
He couldn't possibly mean Mizushiro was killed from afar, right?
And Mizushiro wasn't some weakling—
among the jōnin class he was elite even by comparison.
To kill Mizushiro from a distance without alerting anyone, and without leaving even a ripple of chakra—
Even if the First Hokage were resurrected, that should be impossible.
"Where did his chakra signature disappear? Take me there first."
Anjō forced himself to regain composure.
This unexpected event had blindsided him, but he wasn't some inexperienced rookie. He fought down the surge of fear and anger, steadied his mindset, and sorted out his priorities.
No matter what—
the first thing they needed to do was inspect the spot where Mizushiro vanished.
"Follow me."
Kyoichi didn't waste another word.
He leapt over the railing, sprinting down the vertical wall toward the second floor. One kick shattered the window; he slipped inside with the lightness of a crane landing. The corridor was empty—only rows of shut doors and a decorative plant at the far end.
"Kyoichi, here?"
Anjō arrived behind him.
"Mizushiro's chakra disappeared here?"
He looked around—
No corpse.
No blood.
No signs of a struggle.
The place was spotless, like an ordinary hallway.
"Right here."
Kyoichi nodded, his eyes resting on the freshly repainted wall to the left.
"...There's nothing here."
Anjō frowned.
He was deeply perplexed.
He didn't think Kyoichi was lying; in fact, he trusted his judgment.
But that trust only made this situation harder to understand.
A ridiculous thought slipped into his mind—
Could Mizushiro... have been spirited away by the gods?
At that moment—
rushed, chaotic footsteps echoed from the stairs.
Ringo Ameyuri and Biwa Jūzō burst in from below.
"Ameyuri, you sensed it too?"
Kyoichi glanced over at the girl.
"Mm."
Ringo Ameyuri nodded, her gaze scanning the corridor as though hoping to catch some clue.
"Any findings?"
"None at all."
She shook her head.
"Same here."
Kyoichi again stared at the wall to the left.
"Mizushiro should've been standing right by this wall. Then… in the very next instant, he was gone. No breath left, no chakra trace. Completely erased."
"Yes—and his chakra didn't fade. It simply vanished. This isn't like someone dying; it feels more like he stepped into a powerful barrier that concealed everything in an instant."
"But there is no barrier here."
Kyoichi frowned deeper.
"If there was one, there's no way we wouldn't have sensed it."
Ringo Ameyuri nodded in agreement.
Then—
silence descended on both of them.
"Anjō-sama… what is happening?"
Jūzō carefully approached Anjō, lowering his voice so as not to interrupt Kyoichi and Ameyuri.
"You don't know what happened?"
Anjō looked at him, surprised.
"I only saw Ameyuri dash up here like a madwoman, so I followed… From what they said, something happened to Mizushiro?"
Jūzō whispered, then asked urgently:
"What exactly happened?"
"Mizushiro's chakra suddenly vanished here."
Anjō summarized in one line.
"…Is Konoha coming for us?"
Jūzō instinctively reached for the hilt of the Kubikiribōchō on his back.
"Uncertain."
Anjō used the same line Kyoichi had.
"What's going on?"
"Are we under attack?"
Hōzuki Mangetsu and Momochi Zabuza came rushing down from the upper floor.
Seeing Jūzō gripping his weapon made them tense up as well—Mangetsu grasped the hilt of Hiramekarei, while Zabuza formed a one-handed seal, ready to unleash Hiding in Mist.
"DON'T MOVE!!"
Kyoichi's shout cracked through the air.
That single bark froze Zabuza; his jutsu collapsed before forming.
Mangetsu and Jūzō tightened their grips but didn't draw their blades.
Every gaze turned toward Kyoichi.
Every pair of eyes asking: Why?
Kyoichi ignored their unspoken questions.
He looked only at Anjō and said sharply:
"Anjō-sama, we don't yet know what happened to Mizushiro—but we can confirm he's gone. I recommend immediately contacting the Konoha shinobi and reporting everything."
"Notify Konoha?"
Anjō frowned even harder.
That proposal was beyond unexpected.
"There are two possibilities for Mizushiro's disappearance.
First: he was taken. Someone used an extremely advanced method to abduct him. But frankly, I think that's unlikely. Even the Yellow Flash couldn't pull this off without leaving a trace."
Kyoichi paused—he didn't voice the second possibility.
But Anjō Oniyuzu was no fool.
He immediately understood what Kyoichi did not say:
The second possibility was that Mizushiro left on his own—using some unknown ability or technique.