This night, naturally, nothing happened.
However, in this calm before the storm, after a night of brewing tension, nearly all Tsugawa ninjas found their nerves stretched increasingly taut while their bodies grew ever more exhausted.
After all, the more urgent the situation becomes, the faster one's energy depletes.
By dawn, "Elder Shūhei" began pacing restlessly in the office. After a while, as if unable to contain himself any longer, he said to the clan leader:
"Clan Leader, I'm going to patrol the village."
Clan Leader Taishi Tsugawa considered this briefly, then nodded in agreement.
Following Yūshin's earlier suggestion, before leaving, two ninjas accompanied him—moving in groups of three to counter the "unknown enemy's" unpredictable ambushes.
Yūshin silently observed the ninjas beside him, noticing both appeared mentally drained yet jumpy.
After the three departed, under Yūshin's guidance, they headed toward a location where a combat squad was gathered.
Since Yūshin had participated in arranging the current ninja positions throughout the village, he knew their distribution like the back of his hand.
Upon reaching the combat squad's gathering point, Yūshin's group naturally encountered no obstruction, and he quickly met with the captain here.
"Captain Yoshihisa, how is everyone? After the night passed, did you discover any unusual circumstances?"
"Everything's normal, Elder Shūhei. However... we actually hope those skulking rats would show themselves. This passive counterattack strategy isn't really our style," the captain replied.
Yūshin nodded, saying: "Good that there are no problems... This enemy is somewhat special, so we must maintain patience."
After confirming no issues here and offering a few words of encouragement, "Elder Shūhei" seemed prepared to leave.
However, just as he turned around and stepped toward the exit, his entire movement suddenly froze.
Then, the wise elder's eyes flashed with brilliant insight. He stared at Yoshihisa Tsugawa with an expression of utter horror and roared:
"Something's wrong! You're not Captain Yoshihisa—who exactly are you?"
The ninjas here had been on alert all night, and most were somewhat listless. Now, startled by Yūshin's thunderous voice, many were stunned into shock.
As they displayed expressions of complete bewilderment and disbelief, Elder Shūhei had already plunged a blade into Captain Yoshihisa's chest.
This kind of scenario—where a visiting senior official suddenly does a complete about-face—is nearly impossible for ordinary people to react to quickly.
Yoshihisa Tsugawa stared wide-eyed at the elder, then looked down at his own chest, his mind seemingly rusted and unable to process what was happening. He had no idea what had just occurred.
Am I... am I not Yoshihisa Tsugawa? Then who am I?
Faced with a conflict between their direct superior and a high-ranking clan member, the others found it difficult to react promptly, unable to determine whom they should trust.
"Everyone, don't move! Block the entrance—don't let this impostor escape! He's been disguised by the enemy."
Yūshin came prepared and naturally began his performance of "thief crying thief."
Upon hearing the word "run," Captain Yoshihisa finally reacted thanks to Yūshin's helpful reminder... Regardless of what was happening, if he didn't want to die, he had to escape from here.
So, clutching his chest with one hand, he immediately turned and fled.
Yūshin had clearly ordered everyone not to move, but after the captain escaped unimpeded, he instead stamped his foot in frustration and said:
"Why didn't you stop him... Forget it, don't move—I'll chase him myself."
Under everyone's bewildered gazes, Elder Shūhei pursued the half-crippled Captain Yoshihisa.
Soon after, sounds of combat echoed from the distance, and reconnaissance ninjas deployed nearby also detected the anomaly.
The battle seemed extremely brief. Two or three minutes later, the blood-soaked Captain Yoshihisa staggered into a narrow alley, concealing himself while moving toward another combat squad's base.
This area seemed to have noticed the village disturbance, but before they could react, Captain Yoshihisa had already burst in.
"Captain Yoshihisa, you... what happened?"
This captain was named Morita Tsugawa. Seeing Yoshihisa Tsugawa severely wounded, covered in blood, and barely able to stand, he immediately rushed over to support him.
Well, what these captains were actually named didn't matter at all.
Captain Yoshihisa was in a miserable state, barely breathing as he said:
"It's Elder Shūhei... Elder Shūhei Tsugawa has gone mad—he's the enemy's inside agent! Just now, during his morning patrol, he suddenly launched a vicious attack on me."
"I barely escaped, but... quickly, inform the clan leader. I probably won't make it."
His voice sounded like it was barely squeezed from his throat, like final words.
Theoretically, people tend to believe the dying words of those at death's door. However, just as Captain Yoshihisa began rolling his eyes and convulsing from excessive blood loss...
His right hand had already steadily thrust a kunai into Captain Morita's chest cavity.
The dying Captain Yoshihisa, as if experiencing a final surge of vitality, suddenly opened his eyes wide and shouted fiercely:
"No! You're also an inside agent!"
Yūshin finally experienced the feeling White Zetsu had when moving unimpeded through the Allied Shinobi Forces—the weaker side could still stir up storms, giving him the illusion of being the stronger party.
Fortunately, Yūshin was rational and wouldn't be deceived by such illusions.
It had nothing to do with his strength—it was simply because the enemy couldn't defend against him. When enemies voluntarily exposed their soft underbellies, what else could Yūshin do?
Just keep stabbing relentlessly.
One could see that starting today, Yūshin had adopted a different attack strategy. He no longer sneakily targeted rear ends like yesterday, but directly chose to "boldly gambit."
The reason was simple: only this way could make the enemy more chaotic and more terrified.
"You... you..."
Captain Morita was so shocked he couldn't speak. This time, Yūshin had precisely pierced his heart.
"Hello?"
Yūshin thought this person was politely greeting him, so he responded in a courteous yet warm manner:
"Hello to you too."
Morita Tsugawa was certainly not well—the blade still embedded in his chest made the wound area feel like it was being burned by flames, while rapid blood loss left his entire body ice-cold.
However, his vitality was tenacious, and theoretically he could last a few more minutes. But after hearing Yūshin's sincere greeting—perhaps feeling the last trace of beauty in the human world—he immediately passed away.
Yūshin felt this young man was a bit temperamental. Seeing his objective achieved, he dropped the act and turned to flee.
The scene just performed was so beyond imagination that no one managed to pursue him in time.
On this very morning, countless people in this village witnessed the bizarre spectacle of an elder killing a captain and a captain killing another captain.
It was utterly inconceivable, driving people to lose their reason.
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