Oyakuro En

Hell Valley, shrouded in drifting blood mist.

Inside a house.

Oyakuro En knelt before the bed, cradling a swaddled infant in his arms. He gazed sorrowfully at his wife, who had just died, his single-line red eyes filled with pain.

Behind him, however, the seven or eight Chinoike Clan elders could not hide their excitement.

"Excellent! En’s Eye Power has risen again!"

"His eye power is probably not much weaker than the clan head’s now!"

"It’s time to seek revenge against the Uchiha!"

"The clan head sparred with the Raikage candidate who came to persuade us last time, and the gap between them wasn’t that great. With En as well, we might even be able to fight the Five Kage!"

"I told you, only the ultimate pain of losing a beloved could awaken the Ketsuryūgan’s greatest power and make En stronger."

The elders chattered excitedly, their faces flushed, until that final remark was made.

Oyakuro Yo, the current head of the Chinoike Clan, raised a hand, and the room fell silent.

Even within this clan, those who had awakened the Ketsuryūgan were obsessives and lunatics just like the Uchiha. They enthusiastically discussed such things.

Anyone would find it unbearable.

Even the Chinoike Clan, whose minds had become even more twisted after being tormented by Hell Valley’s harsh environment.

Especially that final sentence, which practically told Oyakuro En outright that his wife’s death had been deliberately arranged to make him feel pain and strengthen his Ketsuryūgan.

"So… it was you old bastards who deliberately got her killed? I was wondering why she still couldn’t be saved even after I invited Medical Ninja from Kumogakure."

Oyakuro En slowly rose to his feet, his swaddled daughter in his arms.

"It’s all right, En. She was merely a woman who failed to awaken her eyes. From now on, you can pick any woman in the clan you want!"

Oyakuro Yo said, pressing a hand onto Oyakuro En’s shoulder.

"Including your wives and daughters?"

Oyakuro En sneered.

"En, watch your mouth!"

A Chinoike Clan elder struck the floor with his cane.

"Of course that includes them."

Noticing signs that Oyakuro En’s eye power was becoming unstable, Oyakuro Yo answered decisively.

"The time has come for us to leave Hell Valley and take revenge on the Uchiha. With Kumogakure’s strength, we’ll defeat Konoha and return the pain the Uchiha inflicted upon us tenfold! By then, not only the women in the clan, but women outside it as well will be yours for the taking."

"The Uchiha… they truly deserve to die. But did my wife… deserve to die too?"

Oyakuro En looked down at his daughter.

His wife was already dead.

He could not lose his daughter as well.

Even if he intended to do something, he first had to get his daughter, Chiyo, out of here. He could act after she was safe.

"She didn’t deserve to die, but for the clan to gain the strength to avenge itself on the Uchiha, she had to die! The ones who truly deserve death are the Uchiha! The reason our clan has fallen to this state, the reason your wife suffered these things—the root of it all lies with the Uchiha!"

Oyakuro Yo said seriously.

"Actually, if you want to defeat Konoha and take revenge on the Uchiha, I think Sunagakure would be a better choice than Kumogakure."

A young voice suddenly sounded from outside the door.

"Who’s there?"

A Chinoike Clan elder shouted toward the doorway.

The door opened on its own without a breath of wind, revealing Shimizu and the other three.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Shimizu. We come from Sunagakure, and we sincerely invite all of you to join Sunagakure."

A polite smile rested on Shimizu’s face. With his hands in his pockets, he gave a slight bow.

"Where did these little brats come from? Who gave you the nerve to barge into Hell Valley—"

A somewhat plump Blood Pond Clan elder at the side reached out to grab Shimizu.

"Don’t!"

Oyakuro Yo hurriedly shouted.

But Pakura moved faster than his cry.

A blazing Scorch Release fireball shot forth in an instant.

A scream rang out. The Blood Pond Clan elder reacted swiftly, drawing his blade and cutting off his own arm.

A hissing sound of evaporation filled the air as a mummified, dried-up arm fell to the ground, stripped of every last drop of moisture.

At once, Oyakuro Yo and the Chinoike Clan elders in the room grew grave.

That elder was admittedly among the weaker elders, but he had lost an arm in an instant. This showed that the young female ninja, who looked only fifteen or sixteen, possessed strength beyond that of an ordinary jonin.

She might not even be much weaker than their clan head.

Shimizu remained perfectly calm.

He also felt that Pakura had gone a little too far. They had come to invite the Chinoike Clan to join Sunagakure, and what Pakura had done was practically driving them away.

But it did not matter. He did not like these mentally unstable old men either.

They only needed to get rid of them and replace them with new leaders.

That one-armed elder was probably only at the level of a Special Jonin.

With Pakura’s current Elite Jonin-level strength, fighting him was like Baki dealing with Gekko Hayate in the original timeline. She could practically kill him in seconds. The fact that she had left him alive meant she had already shown mercy.

Well, even if it was mercy, crippling an elder’s arm the moment they met was still rather ruthless.

It was clear that Pakura disliked these Blood Pond elders very much.

They had been hiding in the distance and eavesdropping for quite some time.

The reason the fairly capable Chinoike Clan members had failed to notice them was that they had been hiding several hundred meters away.

They had relied on Shimizu’s Airflow Manipulation to eavesdrop, directly transmitting the vibrations of part of the air inside the house, unchanged, to everyone’s ears.

This ability was extremely convenient for gathering intelligence. Combined with Shimizu’s Transparent World, whose sensory range extended over a thousand meters, he could silently investigate almost any information he wanted within that range.

"Everyone, Hell Valley does not welcome you. We have already signed an agreement with Kumogakure and are preparing to join them."

Oyakuro Yo said coldly.

He had sold himself and the entire Chinoike Clan for a very good price.

Not to mention that they would not like Pakura’s attitude.

The only reason they had not started fighting outright was because Pakura had already displayed part of her strength.

The entire Chinoike Clan had barely more than a hundred people. Only thirty or forty had awakened their eyes, and fewer than ten possessed strength at or above Special Jonin level. One of them had just lost an arm to Pakura.

The other three from Sunagakure had been assigned to a mission alongside Pakura, so their strength could not be much worse. If a conflict broke out, Oyakuro Yo felt the Chinoike Clan would suffer devastating losses.

That would affect their standing after joining Kumogakure.

The only one with a different opinion was Oyakuro En.

"Everyone."

Oyakuro En rose from the floor with his daughter in his arms.

"I can join you with my daughter."

"En, don’t be impulsive."

Oyakuro Yo frowned.

"On the condition that you help me kill them."

Oyakuro En turned around, his expression cold as he spoke each word clearly.