After finishing their dinner, Team 7 hurried out of the Star Village, their steps swift as they crossed the old stone bridge. The towering gate of the village soon disappeared behind them, swallowed by the dense night mist. In a matter of minutes, they crossed the borders of the Star Village, heading back towards the Land of Iron.
The scene shifted.
A lone figure crouched atop a tall pole overlooking the Star Village. Cloaked in darkness, he stood still like a statue, only his Kamigan eyes glowing faintly under the moonlight. It was Yuto's shadow clone — the one carrying eighty percent of his original chakra.
The clone narrowed his eyes, his Kamigan scanning every inch of the village with meticulous precision. Every flicker of chakra, every heartbeat, every whisper of movement was visible to him. He had already mapped out the locations of the ninjas infused with the meteorite chakra. More importantly, he had pinpointed the exact location of the meteorite itself.
The clone's gaze briefly flickered toward the distance where Team 7 had vanished. His Kamigan's range extended up to ten kilometers, but now, Naruko, Hitomi, and the original Yuto were well beyond its scope.
'Good,' the clone thought calmly. 'They're out of my range. Now... time to act.'
Just as he was about to move, his Kamigan's thermal vision caught something hidden underground. His eyes sharpened.
Three faint but distinct chakra signatures lay buried beneath the earth, stealthily following the trail Team 7 had left.
'Zetsu clones...' the clone thought, his lips curling into a cold smirk. 'Ever since I got the chakra thermal vision ability from the system, I've been able to see them... pathetic.'
He knew he couldn't expose this ability before; not yet. It was too dangerous to attract the attention of Obito or, worse, Black Zetsu. So he always pretended not to notice them, acting oblivious for the sake of survival.
'But now... they are focused on Team 7. Perfect.'
His hands reached behind his back as he unsheathed a massive sword, easily bigger than Zabuza's Executioner's Blade. The black metal gleamed menacingly under the starlight. Yuto's clone slicked his blonde hair back Aizen-style, a habit he found strangely fitting for what he was about to do. He placed a white mask over his face — the mask had enormous, exaggerated closed smiling eyeholes and a wicked grin carved across it.
He then threw a black cloak over his shoulders, its tails billowing in the cold night air, almost identical to the one Kirito wore in SAO. The giant sword, which he had named Kaito, now rested diagonally across his back, ready to drink blood.
'Time to pull an Itachi... no, a Nagato,' Yuto's clone thought darkly as he tightened his grip on the handle of Kaito. 'If I want to surpass Madara and the Otsutsuki... if I want to rise above them all... I have to be ruthless. Colder than ice. More brutal than death itself to reach my goals while making sure my loved ones are okay.'
With that, his figure blurred into nothingness — the telltale sign of the Body Flicker Jutsu.
Within seconds, he arrived at a large tower located deep within the village. His Kamigan activated once again, allowing him to peer straight through the solid walls of the tower. Inside, he saw them — a group of ninjas sitting cross-legged around a glowing meteorite resting atop a claw-like pedestal. The meteorite pulsed softly, sending waves of ethereal purple chakra through the room.
'There it is...' he thought as his eyes gleamed dangerously. 'The Heart of the Star Village.'
Around the chamber, more guards roamed the ten floors of the tower. Thick security... but nothing he couldn't handle. The least people, only 5, were on the first floor, So the clone decided to start from there.
The clone inhaled slowly before releasing a long, quiet sigh. His hands blurred into a rapid hand seal.
"Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu," he muttered under his breath.
He sank silently into the earth, moving through the solid stone walls like a specter. Emerging quietly on the first floor, he remained half-embedded in the wall, analyzing the patrol patterns of the guards.
Two guards strolled down the corridor, their casual conversation about the upcoming village festival filling the silence.
Without hesitation, Yuto's clone shot out of the wall like a phantom, Kaito flashing in a deadly arc.
Two muffled thuds echoed in the hallway as both their heads detached cleanly from their bodies. The clone's expression remained unreadable behind his smiling mask.
"No witnesses," he whispered coldly as he stored the bodies in his system's inventory for later — planning to extract the meteorite chakra from them.
He moved like a ghost through the corridors. Soon, he encountered three more ninjas who immediately noticed him.
"Intr-!" one of them was about to shout, reaching for a kunai.
Too slow.
Yuto's clone appeared between them in a blink. With a single wide sweep of Kaito, their bodies collapsed lifelessly onto the floor.
He swung the massive blade once, flinging away the blood that stained its edge, before calmly sealing the bodies into his inventory as well.
The halls reeked of iron, but Yuto paid it no mind. His Kamigan remained active, sweeping the entire floor for any remaining chakra signatures.
'Clear,' he thought grimly as he wiped a small drop of blood off his coat.
The clone paused for a brief moment, feeling a subtle chill creep into his heart.
'So this is what it feels like... killing without hesitation... without mercy...'
He could feel it — the darkness creeping at the edge of his soul, whispering sweet promises of power and domination. The same darkness that had consumed Sasuke, Madara, Orochimaru, and so many others.
But Yuto clenched his fists tightly, grounding himself.
'No. I won't lose myself to it. I will use this darkness... bend it to my will. I will control it, not the other way around.'
His Kamigan locked onto the stairs leading up.
'Now... onto the next floor,' he thought, his heart growing colder, his resolve sharpening like a blade.
Without another word, Yuto's clone melted into the shadows, ready to continue his silent slaughter.