After making his decision, Kaito summoned a new shadow clone and transferred the Chakra Plate to him.
As the new chakra clone came into being, he and Kaito exchanged a smile, each knowing what needed to be done without a word. The clone reshaped his appearance back into that of Souta, and once Kaito had retracted his Aura, he cleared his throat and announced loudly, "Mr. Kaito, we accept your commission. Please rest assured, I will handle this personally and guarantee the mission's perfect completion."
"Excellent. With you on the job, I can rest much easier." Kaito tossed a stack of bills onto the table. "This is the deposit. Upon completion, I will pay you a satisfactory reward. I only hope that you can set out with me as soon as possible."
"Mr. Kaito is indeed a man of action. I like that," the chakra clone said with a smile. "In that case, let's not delay. We shall leave at once."
"Good."
They opened the door to find all the Grass ninja standing in neat rows outside. Upon seeing the two emerge, the guards' stern faces instantly broke into smiles.
The chakra clone gave them a casual glance. "I will be accompanying this gentleman on a trip. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be back tomorrow."
"Leader, are you going on a mission alone? That's too dangerous! You should at least have a four-man squad," one of them said, speaking up first. He shot a provocative look at Wulei, only to be met with a mocking smile in return.
Before he could ponder what that meant, the chakra clone's cold voice cut in. "Are you telling me how to do my job?"
"No, of course not!" Remembering the carnage from a few days ago, the man immediately fell to his knees, his face pale.
"Hmph. Good." The chakra clone's cold gaze swept over the crowd. "I know some of you still don't accept me. You can use my absence today to leave quietly. I guarantee I won't come after you. But when I return, if any of you are still half-hearted, don't blame me for being merciless!"
While the others were still anxious, Wulei was the first to declare his loyalty. "Leader Souta, I will never leave you! From the moment I first saw you, I knew you were the leader I would follow for my entire life. I will stay by your side, for all eternity, never to be parted!"
"Could you be any more disgusting? Get lost!" the chakra clone pointed at Wulei and said with a laugh, then, without another word, left with Kaito.
Wulei, however, wasn't finished with his performance. He threw himself to the ground and began to roll around, wailing with tears streaming down his face. "Leader, you must come back soon! I will protect everything here for you!"
It was only after Kaito and the clone had completely vanished from sight that he wiped his tears and stood up, his face a mask of sorrow.
The Grass ninja who had just been reprimanded couldn't stand it any longer and sneered, "I don't think your name should be Wulei. It should be 'Shameless'."
"What does it matter if I become shameless for the sake of the leader? I do so willingly," Wulei replied smugly.
"Hah! 'Leader' this, 'Leader' that. I don't recall you being so loyal to Leader Tenko."
"Tenko? What kind of trash was he? A good-for-nothing who was taken out in a single blow. How dare you compare him to Leader Souta?" Wulei shook his head. "I trust my own judgment. Leader Souta is the most brilliant ninja I have ever seen, even better than that Hanzo. If you want to live comfortably in this cruel ninja world, a smart person knows to cling to a thigh like that."
At the mention of Hanzo's name, the faces of the others soured. He was the very reason they had fallen into such dire straits.
"Hmph! Cling to his thigh? I'm afraid you won't live to see that day. I refuse to serve under such a temperamental man. If you don't want to die, come with me!"
He looked around, but the others avoided his gaze.
"Give it up. We're not as brainless as you are. If you want to leave, go by yourself," Wulei said with a sneer.
"Fine, I'll go! You fools can just wait for that guy to kill you for his own amusement!"
He turned to leave, but Wulei's expression suddenly turned cold. He shot forward, his hand glowing crimson, and slammed his palm into the man's back.
"Fire Release: Sky Prison!"
"Argh!" The man was sent flying more than ten meters. He scrambled to his feet, furious. "Bastard! What do you think you're doing?!"
"The leader is magnanimous and might forgive your betrayal, but I cannot. You will die here," Wulei said, as if he had become a different person, his expression unnervingly cold.
"Wulei, don't think I'm afraid of you!" The man tried to form a hand seal to attack, but a fiery red chain-like mark appeared on his back. His body instantly became weak, and he collapsed to the ground. He looked at Wulei in terror. "Why? Why can't I use ninjutsu? What did you do to me?"
The other Grass ninja, who had been watching from the sidelines, were shocked by this development and all turned to look at Wulei.
Wulei smiled. "This is a secret jutsu passed down in my family. Anyone hit by it cannot mold their chakra. So, just be a good boy and die."
"No, I don't want to die! Wulei, I was wrong! I'll be loyal to the leader from now on, I swear! Please, forgive me just this once!"
"Sorry, too late!"
A kunai flew through the air, instantly taking a life.
"He actually killed him..." Seeing how decisive and ruthless Wulei was, some of the Grass ninja instinctively took a few steps back.
"Heh. Why are you looking at me like that? Isn't this how a traitor should be treated?" Wulei's eyes narrowed into a smile. "Don't worry. You are all my dear colleagues. I would never harm you."
"Uh..."
"That fellow, Wulei, is quite interesting," Kaito said to the chakra clone with a laugh, retracting his Aura as they stood outside the village.
"His son, Mui, is also quite promising. They are both worth cultivating."
"Indeed. Their family's secret jutsu alone makes them valuable."
After traveling a little further, the two stopped.
"Alright, summon a shadow clone."
"Okay."
The chakra clone formed a hand seal and summoned a shadow clone. At the same time, Kaito manifested the Icicle Plate from his body.
"And now, it's time to witness a miracle." The shadow clone smiled as he embraced the Icicle Plate. The two merged in a flash of blue light. When the light faded, an ice clone with long, light-blue hair stood in his place. After retracting the plate's energy, he reverted to a normal appearance.
"Alright. With the three of us working together, we're invincible. We have even less to worry about from the lonely old man's last stand."
"Don't get careless. We don't know if he has a collection of other Mangekyo Sharingan. Be careful not to fail over something simple."
"Hmm, good point," Kaito said, stroking his chin in thought. "So, you two should go. You're clones, after all. If you die, you can just be revived."
"Ugh, you're such a dog."