"You! Yukimo! The clan has nurtured you for so long! Yet you choose to betray us! You truly are a bastard!"
"Hmph! Nurtured? What has the clan ever done for me? Old man, I still remember exactly how your son humiliated me back then!"
"I remember every word he said while he had me pinned under his boot!"
[A bastard is a bastard! Your mother ran away from her arranged marriage to be with some wild man outside. I thought he was someone impressive! In the end, didn't he just die out there? And didn't your mother end up crawling back, kneeling at the clan gates, begging the Clan Head to take you both in!]
[Bah! A traitor! A bastard! How do you have the face to come back?!]
"Third Elder, I remember this all too clearly! Hehe! Your son was quite fired up back then!"
"Sigh~ but it's all in the past! After all, I was the one who sold out the intel on your son! Hahahaha... Ahahaha!"
"You!" Hearing that there was more to his son's death, the Third Elder across from him flew into a rage and charged at Yukimo.
"You little beast! Today, I will ensure you have no place to be buried! Die!"
"Hmph! Old man! You're completely ignoring me!"
Seeing the Third Elder charging, Fuguki Suikazan, standing in front of Yukimo, swung Samehada and swatted the Third Elder back.
"Third Elder! Third Elder!"
"Are you alright, Third Elder?!"
The Yuki Clan members caught the Third Elder as he was sent flying back, rushing to check on him.
"Get away! I'm fine!"
The Third Elder shoved aside the clansmen helping him and stood at the front of the group once more.
Though still fuming, he didn't step forward again; Fuguki Suikazan's strike had knocked some sense back into him.
"Hmph! Yukimo. Even if you have a grudge against my son, that is a matter between you and me; it has nothing to do with the clan! The clan has nurtured you for years—is this how you repay us, you ungrateful wolf? If you turn back now, I promise this will be forgotten. I will even restore your mother's Yuki surname and allow her to be buried in the clan cemetery."
Did the Third Elder hate Yukimo?
Of course he did!
But from that brief clash with Fuguki Suikazan, he realized he was outmatched.
However, Yukimo was standing right behind Fuguki Suikazan. If he could just land a sneak attack... For the sake of the clan, he would endure this humiliation for now.
Once they were through this crisis...
"The clan? What has the clan ever given me?!" Hearing the Third Elder's words, Yukimo burst out laughing. "Hahahaha... Old man, I remember it vividly—when my mother took me, having just refined Chakra, to the clan's resource center to collect cultivation materials."
"The looks on those clansmen's faces!"
[The clan giving you two a place to live is already an act of mercy, yet you dare come asking for cultivation resources?! Bah! It's all because of you, refusing to marry that lord from the Water Capital!]
[That lord's anger led him to cut off all cooperation with our clan, causing our resources to dwindle. Now we have to earn money ourselves just to buy what's missing! Bah! It's already good enough that we haven't demanded compensation from you for the deficit. And yet you have the nerve to ask the clan for more?!]
[Get out! Get out! Get out! Just looking at you makes me sick!]
"So! What resources do you think the clan ever gave me?!"
"Then think of your mother! She was a member of the Yuki Clan. Do you really want to watch the Yuki Clan perish?!"
"Shut up! My mother was killed by the Yuki Clan!"
"Without clan resources and with my father's inheritance dwindling, my mother chose to do odd jobs for people in the clan to earn some money for my sake."
"But everyone in the clan hated her! Because of that important person's anger, the clan's income dropped, affecting everyone. They directed all their malice toward my mother and me!"
"Even so, my mother managed to find work thanks to her excellent sewing skills. Although her pay was lower than anyone else's and she worked harder than everyone."
"With my mother working, we had a new source of income. Despite the constant cold shoulders, life was starting to improve."
"But was it really?"
"Because my mother did such a good job, the tailor shop owner fired two other women."
"So those two felt my mother had stolen their jobs and robbed them of their livelihood!"
"One night, they pushed my mother into the river. She tried desperately to swim to the shore, but they pushed her back in again."
"When I felt something was wrong that night and went looking for her, I saw... three women laughing on the bank, while a body floated in the river, motionless!"
"Hehehe! Third Elder! Do you think such a clan is better off destroyed, or... better off destroyed?!"
Third Elder: "..."
[Wait, after you've said all that, what else can I say? You've maxed out your tragic backstory buffs!]
"Clap! Clap! Clap! What a tragic tale. To think the internal affairs of Kirigakure's number one Shinobi clan were like this! How shocking! Such a filthy Shinobi clan..."
"Then it's definitely better for it to be destroyed! This inherently evil Yuki Clan deserves nothing less than total destruction!"
Before the silent Third Elder could speak.
Fuguki Suikazan, who had been listening to the juicy drama the whole time, had already stuck Samehada into the ground and was clapping his hands.
"Come out! The story's over, time to get to work!"
With that, Fuguki Suikazan picked Samehada up again and prepared for battle.
Preparing alongside him were the five other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist called by Fuguki Suikazan, each accompanied by a squad of Anbu elites.
Except for Jinpachi Munashi, everyone was present, completely surrounding the members of the Yuki Clan...
Ten minutes later.
As the Third Elder's final roar echoed, his head went flying.
Thud!
As the Third Elder's head hit the ground, it signaled that all resisting members of the Yuki Clan had been executed.
Fuguki Suikazan gave Samehada a light shake, flicking off all the blood and flesh stuck to it.
He then walked over to Yukimo, patted his shoulder, and spoke.
"You deserve great credit for helping us wipe out the Yuki Clan's elites so easily!"
"What reward do you want? I will report your achievements to the Mizukage!"
Yukimo, who was still panting from the intensity of the battle, perked up at Fuguki Suikazan's words.
His face lit up with a smile. Hadn't he betrayed his clan and fought so desperately just for this very moment?
Immediately, Yukimo began to state what he wanted.
"My Lord, I would like... Ugh... Ugh..."
Halfway through his sentence, Yukimo suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, and the words died in his throat.
Looking down, he saw that Fuguki Suikazan had plunged a Kunai into his heart.
"Wh... gurgle... y... gurgle!"
"Hehe! My orders were to leave not a single member of the Yuki Clan alive! And aren't you one of them?"
At Fuguki Suikazan's words, Yukimo's eyes widened, but that was all he could do.
With his heart pierced, he lost all strength and finally collapsed in bitter resentment.
[Hehe! So this was my fate? How... ironic!]
After finishing off the last member of the Yuki Clan.
Fuguki Suikazan formed a hand seal to release the Kekkai, then split the forces into two. The others went to clean up the remaining Yuki clansmen, while he led his own squad to support Yagura Karatachi.