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Konoha Village.
Two intelligence scrolls with identical contents were delivered almost simultaneously—one to the Hokage's office, and the other to the "Scapegoat Shadow's" office deep within ROOT.
However, the reactions of the two men reading them were worlds apart.
Hiruzen Sarutobi placed the scroll down, took a deep drag from his pipe, and furrowed his brow so deeply it looked like he was trying to crush a walnut with his forehead.
The urgent intel from his deep-cover network made his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach.
"What? It was going so smoothly... how did he get exposed so suddenly?" he muttered to himself, showing a rare moment of lost composure.
As a Hokage who had been in the seat for years, he knew exactly how hard it was to plant an efficient spy in the Five Great Nations.
Most sleepers had to play their roles with extreme caution just to survive. Whether posing as fishermen or merchants, their movements were restricted, their access to core secrets limited, and their reports mostly consisted of mundane observations.
Someone like Night Namikaze, who successfully infiltrated the Land of Water as a traveling merchant and maintained relative freedom of movement, was a unicorn in Konoha's intelligence division.
"Sigh... that kid had such a bright future," Hiruzen shook his head, sighing heavily.
He wasn't just mourning the loss of a valuable intelligence channel; he was heartbroken that the village had lost a young ninja with such immense potential.
---
Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the ROOT base was entirely different.
"Dead?"
Danzo stared at the report in his hand, a gleam of satisfaction passing through his remaining eye. "A clean ending."
He walked slowly out of his office, overlooking the busy ROOT agents below.
Night Namikaze, that disobedient pawn, had finally exited the stage in the exact way Danzo had hoped. It gave his need for control a massive fix.
Although he regretted not being able to leash that unruly young man, at least the threat of someone daring to refuse him had been eliminated.
"Destroy all files related to Night Namikaze," Danzo ordered the subordinate beside him without turning his head.
"Yes, sir," the ROOT agent replied, their voice devoid of emotion.
---
At the same time, the "confirmed dead" Night was leisurely hiding in an abandoned warehouse within the Kaguya clan grounds.
Thanks to his Flying Raijin markings, he could come and go as he pleased. This place was just a temporary observation post.
Over the past few days, he had witnessed the internal turmoil of the Kaguya clan firsthand.
True to his word, Naoto Kaguya had found two clansmen to serve as scapegoats to give the Mizukage his "explanation."
Right now, a solemn funeral was being held in the clearing at the center of the clan grounds.
"Rateki Kaguya. Tomei Kaguya. They gave their lives for the survival of the clan. Their sacrifice will be eternally remembered," Naoto announced, his voice heavy with grief as he stood before the two coffins.
Night watched the hypocritical ceremony with cold eyes.
Those two "sacrifices" hadn't died in the line of duty—they were secretly executed yesterday.
One of them lived not far from Night's hideout. Last night, Night had heard the brief struggle and the confused pleas for mercy with crystal clarity.
After the funeral, the Kaguya clan members dispersed in silence. Night noticed the unbridled anger and resentment written on the faces of the younger generation. The crack between the Kaguya clan and the Mist high command was widening quietly but surely.
---
While Night was lurking in the shadows, back in Konoha, Tsunade had just finished a surgery when she received the shocking news.
"What... did you say?"
Smack.
The surgical clipboard slipped from her hand and hit the floor.
"Chunin Night Namikaze... his cover was blown during his mission in the Mist... He is confirmed KIA." The ninja delivering the news kept his head down, afraid to look her in the eye.
Night was an orphan. He had no immediate family in the village, and his friends were mostly teenagers. Through a twist of fate, the notification was ultimately delivered to the Senju clan, the people closest to him.
Tsunade stood frozen.
The image of the boy with the cheeky smile flashed through her mind. She thought of the bracelet he gave her before he left, and the confident way he promised he'd come back safe.
That night, for the first time in forever, she didn't take her shift at the hospital. Instead, she went alone to her usual izakaya.
"Sake. Keep it coming."
As if trying to drown her emotions, she downed cup after cup, hoping the alcohol would numb her. But instead, his face only became clearer in her mind.
When the blue crystal on her bracelet caught the light, she finally couldn't hold it back. She buried her face in her palms.
"Liar..." she whispered, her voice choking up.
---
Back in the Mist, Night's operation was still in full swing.
After days of observation, he had locked onto a new target.
Kento Kaguya. A young elite with significant prestige within the clan.
He was straight-laced and fiercely opposed Naoto Kaguya's policy of compromise. He was the poster boy for the clan's radical faction.
Late that night, Night secretly infiltrated Kento's home and left a letter on his desk.
The letter detailed a "leak" exposing the Mizukage's conspiracy to gradually weaken the Kaguya clan. It also heavily implied that the Clan Head, Naoto, had sold out to the Mizukage, sacrificing his own people to secure his position.
At the same time, disguised as a "concerned Kaguya intellectual," Night quietly spread rumors throughout the village.
The word on the street was that Rateki and Tomei were just scapegoats. The real culprit was a high-ranking Kaguya elder, but Naoto had protected him. The execution was a cover-up to hide the truth about the clan's collusion with foreign villages.
These meticulously planned psychological attacks took effect quickly. Within days, the Mizukage's surveillance on the Kaguya clan intensified visibly, and dissatisfaction within the clan reached a boiling point.
The relationship between the village and the clan was now like oil and water—one spark was all it would take to blow everything sky-high.
---
Sensing the timing was right, Night pulled up his System interface.
His eyes scanned the long redemption list in the shop before settling on two options he had decided on long ago.
> [Yuki Clan (Ice Release) Bloodline — Cost: 600 Points]
> [Kaguya Clan (Dead Bone Pulse) High-Purity Bloodline — Cost: 500 Points]
"Redeem."
> [Current Pawn Points: 2870]
The system deducted 1100 points instantly.
A bone-chilling cold swept through his entire body.
Fortunately, anticipating that redeeming bloodlines might cause a scene, he had moved to a desolate, uninhabited area of the Land of Water beforehand.
As the bloodlines awakened, the natural chill radiating from his body caused the ambient temperature to drop several degrees instantly.
He could feel the nature of his chakra undergoing a miraculous change.
He raised his hand. A diamond-shaped ice crystal slowly condensed in his palm.
It might take some time to master the secret arts of the Yuki clan, but Night knew this raw capability was enough.
Miraculously, one person now possessed the two great bloodlines of the Hidden Mist.
However, just as he was immersing himself in the joy of his new power, his Mind's Eye of the Kagura suddenly picked up a strange chakra signature approaching fast.
It seemed like they were just passing by, but this chakra felt distinctly different from a Mist ninja's.
Because of the distance, even his full sensory focus yielded a blurry result.
Night quickly concealed himself, his sharp gaze fixed on the direction the signature came from.
An unexpected figure was heading straight for the heart of the Land of Water.