In the darkness, two locations in the village were burning, thick smoke merging with the endless night, creating an indescribable sense of panic.
Without question, they had suffered external enemy invasion. The ninjas might have anticipated the worst-case scenario of their headquarters being directly attacked, but ordinary civilians could hardly endure such sudden upheaval.
Casualties had already occurred, and more critically, the village's vital reserve supplies had been destroyed.
Any perceptive person could see that while they might salvage some war materials, the vast stockpile of daily necessities accumulated by the Tsugawa Clan would likely be completely incinerated in one fell swoop.
Water Release ninjas were all being used as "fire trucks," but items like grain, after experiencing the complete treatment of explosion, burning, and water soaking, were simply reduced to soggy carbonized matter—what use was that? Probably less appetizing than tree bark.
Tsugawa ninjas worked to control the fires while desperately trying to rescue the squad members who had just entered the underground warehouse, simultaneously clearing the battlefield and digging out several corpses buried under debris.
An important figure seemed to have arrived at the scene to take command. After suffering the sudden strike and brief chaos, these ninjas began performing their respective duties under direction.
This important figure crouched beside the assembled corpses and, after a simple examination, discovered that these ninjas had died in almost identical fashion.
"All four died from rear ambushes, suffering fatal strikes instantly..."
"Three were pierced through the kidneys, one had his throat cut."
"But there were still superfluous finishing strikes, as if afraid they wouldn't die... A novice? Obsessive-compulsive?"
"Regardless of the enemy's identity, background, and strength, we can confirm he's extremely skilled at concealment and ambush."
"Death came extremely suddenly—our people very likely never saw the enemy's face from beginning to end... They were eliminated one by one, probably making no sound when they died."
"Moreover, the enemy could silently infiltrate the underground warehouse, set traps, then deliberately trigger the barrier, using this to eliminate several more of our ninjas."
"Without this, we probably couldn't have discovered the village invasion so promptly."
"Report this situation to the clan leader."
"Yes, Elder." A ninja hurried away.
"Everyone increase search intensity. The urgent priority is finding traces of the enemy—we must confirm whether he's still lurking in the village."
"Understood, Elder!"
After this elder issued orders, another ninja rushed to his front and reported more bad news:
"Elder, Captain Daisuke is dead."
Hearing this, the middle-aged ninja who had been trying to extract more intelligence from the corpses suddenly stood up:
"Who? Daisuke? Daisuke Tsugawa is dead?"
He seemed somewhat incredulous that a combat captain had died so silently.
"Yes, Elder, unfortunately... it's indeed Daisuke Tsugawa."
"Died from a rear ambush?" the elder instinctively asked, his voice carrying slight trembling.
That ninja nodded and said: "He had just left home, apparently planning to come here, and was ambushed en route."
"Take me to see the scene... You few protect their remains."
The ninja bringing bad news was stunned, seemingly not expecting the elder to make such a decision. Under the pressure of the elder's gaze, he finally reacted:
"Elder, please follow me."
Led by this ninja, the two hurried to another incident location.
Soon, they discovered a corpse lying at a small alley corner—legs spread, upper body leaning against a wall, with large amounts of blood from his back smeared on the white wall surface.
This "Daisuke Tsugawa" was a ninja this elder held in very high regard. In his view, the man might someday shoulder the clan's destiny. Who could have imagined he would die so pathetically?
He hadn't even made any resistance before death, just like those warehouse ninjas.
Under the stimulation of losing talent and seeing the young die before the old, this elder appeared extremely pained. He quickly walked to the deceased's front, crouched down, and looked toward the corpse's waist.
"The kidneys again? If the enemy is skilled at ambushes, why this obsession with attack location? Wouldn't directly piercing the heart be simpler and more efficient?"
In his view, stabbing the heart would definitely be more decisive than attacking the kidneys—why was the enemy so fixated on the lower back?
The ninja behind him thought for a moment, then carefully attempted to explain:
"Could it be to reduce struggling? As someone who's neither a doctor nor assassin, he probably only heard through hearsay that attacking kidneys reduces victim movement more than attacking the heart? After all, not everyone sufficiently understands human organ and tissue structure..."
"This..."
The elder's expression became thoughtful as he looked at the deceased's face—painful yet bewildered—then suddenly noticed something wrong.
Wait, this ninja's speaking manner seemed somewhat unfamiliar. The Tsugawa Clan had about a hundred ninjas total. While the elder couldn't claim familiarity with every ninja, he could detect certain incongruities.
Moreover, looking at the blood traces on the ground, they didn't seem to come from one person—the blood volume was excessive.
"You..."
However, just as he was frantically brainstorming, with a soft puff sound, this elder felt a chill behind him. No matter how he opened and closed his lips afterward, he could no longer make any sound.
He instinctively looked down toward his waist—large amounts of blood were gushing out...
Have I also suffered backstabbing?
Yes, now he could confirm it—the opponent's so-called "hearsay" was most likely correct.
Subsequently, a palm rested on the elder's shoulder, and he felt life force and chakra rapidly leaving his body.
So he struggled to turn his head and saw that face originally belonging to his clansman quickly change into a completely unfamiliar appearance.
For Yūshin, so-called weak spots were openings—he was far too skilled at attacking from behind.
During the process of consciousness being rapidly extracted, something even more surprising happened to the elder: that infiltrator's form rapidly grew taller, his face changing back to a familiar appearance... The elder's brain was somewhat oxygen-deprived. He struggled to think and finally discovered it was actually his own face.
"What kind of Transformation Technique is this..."
This thought flashing through his mind was this elder's final confusion in life—destined to remain unanswered.
Yūshin had long noticed these ninjas' very standardized clothing, so he didn't need to do much. After ambushing and killing the elder, he transformed into his appearance, then quickly brought this corpse to a nearby courtyard.
After entering a room, he hurriedly dug a pit and buried the elder's body.
This courtyard belonged to the captain called "Daisuke," and this captain was single. After his death, there was no need to worry about the elder's corpse being discovered in the short term.
After all, this village was already in complete chaos.
The person Yūshin initially transformed into was a ninja who acted together with "Captain Daisuke." It was from this person's mouth that he learned this man was a captain. So after ambushing both men—abandoning one corpse and hiding the other—he returned to the first crime scene.
Then from surrounding ninjas' conversations, he learned the elder's identity.
However, the elder choosing to follow Yūshin to see Captain Daisuke's corpse was unexpected.
Captain Daisuke was truly a good person—he had helped Yūshin considerably.
It seemed that in this operation, he didn't need Shichimi Uchiha's summoning beast. Very mysteriously, despite this being his first time, Yūshin felt completely at ease with this kind of sabotage work.
Next, he prepared to begin impersonating this elder whose name he still didn't know.
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