Mitsuro left the bridge behind, its wooden frame spanning the dark, stagnant water below, and ventured into the thick forest. The dense fog that clung to the Land of Waves had transformed Gato's villa into a menacing silhouette in the mist.
He leapt from branch to branch, reaching the top of the villa's wall and freezing in place as a guard passed by. Mitsuro smiled to himself, knowing that luck was on his side. These guards were slow, showing no signs of alertness or skill. He took ten steps, stopping in a corner. For a moment, he felt an itch on his nose but resisted the urge to scratch it. He carefully surveyed the surrounding paths before continuing along the wall.
Seven steps...
Fifteen steps... Mitsuro moved silently from the shadows to the edge of the building, making sure the guards wouldn't notice him. With a noiseless jump, he landed behind a guard, where his shadow fell upon the wall. He hid for a moment, waiting for the right opportunity.
After a few minutes, the guard shifted and looked to the other side. That single moment was all Mitsuro needed. He used the opportunity to silently place his foot on the wall and ascend it like a shadow, reaching the highest window of the building.
The architecture of the house was strange, like a large, red mushroom or a spinning top, covered in windows and balcony railings. The doors and arches were made of white cedar wood, painted red. It was clear that Gato valued security over appearance; otherwise, all these balconies would be useless except for creating guard posts.
Mitsuro entered the third floor through a window that seemed to be unlocked. Without needing to be too cautious, he silently made his way to a room. Behind the door, two guards were talking.
Guard 1: "Did you hear they say Gato himself went to the bridge?"
Guard 2: "Yeah, but why? Isn't that Zabuza guy there?"
Guard 1: "He doesn't trust Zabuza. You saw how he came back wounded last time with all his big talk. If that effeminate kid hadn't stuck to him, Gato wouldn't have given him another chance. This time, Gato-san himself went to get the job done."
He looked around and continued, "He even took more than half the guards with him."
Guard 2: "More than half? So we're guarding an empty house?"
Guard 1: "Apparently. They said this place is just being guarded by a small group of ronin. Their only job is to watch the main cargo."
Hearing these words, Mitsuro gave a secretive smile. "Just as I guessed, I've arrived at the perfect time." He quietly slipped past the door and headed toward the stairs to the fourth floor. In a corner, a guard was leaning against the wall, clutching his spear and dozing off for a midday nap.
Mitsuro glided past him with light steps and entered a room where a half-naked woman was sleeping on a bed, with someone in white clothes massaging her. With a single glance, Mitsuro realized this woman was either Gato's wife or his favorite mistress. The woman and the masseuse didn't notice his presence at all. With every stroke from the masseuse, the woman let out a sound of pleasure as her muscle knots were released.
Mitsuro appeared like a shadow behind the masseuse. For a moment, the woman felt the masseuse had stopped, but a second later, the massage seemed to resume. The masseuse's hands felt a bit bigger, and the pressure increased slightly, as if the female masseuse had been replaced by a male one. The woman didn't care; what mattered was getting more pleasure.
Woman: "Yes... right there... a little higher... that's so good... keep going."
A quiet voice whispered in her ear: "So it feels good, huh? If you tell me where Gato's safe is, I'll give you an even better massage."
The woman was startled for a moment and tried to get up, but the man's hands pressed down, holding her in place.
Mitsuro: "Not so fast! Calm down."
The woman tried to scream, but suddenly she felt the coldness of something against her face. "Let's handle this like civilized people! You don't want to get blood all over the bed, do you?"
Woman: "Who are you, you vile man?"
She thought to herself,
What are those guys outside doing? They didn't even know a stranger came in. What useless garbage.
Mitsuro said in a calm, pleasant tone: "Please be polite! A lady is expected to speak more beautifully."
Woman: "Do you realize who you've laid a hand on? Gato won't let you get away with this!"
Mitsuro: "I know what I'm doing, but it seems you don't!" Then the cold metal pressed harder against the woman's throat. "You'd better tell me what I want!"
The woman was scared. "Please... have mercy on me!"
Mitsuro: "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you... just don't bore me! Tell me where Gato has hidden his fortune... and then I'll fade away like a memory."
Woman: "What... what are you talking about? Gato's fortune?"
The woman was trying to stall, thinking that someone would eventually come to her aid.
Mitsuro lowered his mocking voice: "Don't play dumb... or do you think by not answering me, someone will eventually come and save you? Aren't you curious how I got in? Do you really think anyone is coming to help you?"
Then he told the woman, "Get up and turn to look at me!"
The woman was terrified. She thought if she saw the man, she would have no chance of survival. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed herself into the mattress.
Mitsuro: "I told you to look at me."
Woman: "No!"
Mitsuro: "Don't be afraid. Look at me."
With growing fear, she sat up on the bed and looked behind her. The masseuse was lying on the floor, and there was no one there but a man wearing a strange crow-shaped mask.
The man's eyes turned red.
At the same time, the woman's eyes began to glaze over.
Mitsuro: "Now tell me where Gato's fortune is?"
The woman, emotionless like someone under a spell, said: "Gato doesn't tell anyone where he keeps his fortune. But there's a large safe in the basement..."
Mitsuro: "How do I get there?"
Woman: "The hallway on the right has a spiral staircase that goes down. Through that, you'll reach the first floor... there you have to go into another hallway... you'll get to a big door that always has two guards in front of it."
Mitsuro: "What's the level of the guards?"
Woman: "I don't know... but one of them is a man in a suit who only answers to Gato and doesn't even look at anyone else..."
Mitsuro: "How do you know about the safe?"
Woman: "Gato himself showed me..."
Mitsuro: "Good! Now sleep. "
The woman gently fell asleep and collapsed onto the bed.
Reaching the safe wasn't difficult at all. After following the path the woman had described, he quickly found the staircase that led to the basement. There were several alarm wires in the hallway, which Mitsuro easily passed.
He whistled softly, and both guards fell asleep instantly.
He walked past them and entered the basement, reaching a large entrance door. With a small infusion of chakra, he realized a chakra barrier was in front of him. He thought for a moment and then searched the surroundings. These barriers weren't stable without a constant infusion of chakra; he just needed to find the source and disrupt it. After a short search, he finally found the chakra circuit.
A man was sitting in a small room, steadily and continuously infusing chakra into the barrier. Mitsuro gently placed his hand on the wall and sent his own chakra, like a thin thread, into the circuit. The chakras interfered with each other for a brief moment, and the barrier became unstable. Mitsuro rushed through the barrier with full speed toward the one who was supplying the chakra. He saw a bald, middle-aged man sitting in front of a large steel door. He didn't even have a chance to defend himself and was knocked unconscious with a single move.
"Here's the safe! Now how do I open it?"
He went closer and ran his hand over the surface of the steel door in front of him. "It's made of chakra metal... Gato spent a lot on this one."
Mitsuro smirked and knelt down. He placed his backpack on the ground and took out two large bottles.
"Let's see how resistant you are to acid!"
He went forward, carefully opened the bottles, and poured the liquid inside onto the two large metal hinges. Thick, toxic smoke rose from the hinges at the same time as a sizzling sound.
"This might take a while, so we might as well do something else."
He turned to the unconscious man lying on the ground behind him. He took out another bottle from his pocket. Unlike the previous two, this one didn't contain a liquid; instead, it held blood and a few strands of hair.
"Let's summon my first loyal servant!"
With complete confidence, he began to perform complex and ancient hand signs. There was no hesitation in his movements. Suddenly, the ground filled with spiral symbols, and a circular shadow formed under his hand. A similar shadow also appeared under the unconscious man's body. The middle-aged, bald man with a expressionless face, in an expensive suit, was merely a sacrifice.
He pulled his hand back and shouted: "Edo Tensei no Jutsu!"
He slammed his hand hard onto the black circle below him. At the same time, the circle under the man's feet began to glow. A cold, white light emanated from the symbols, drawing dust and ashes from the surroundings toward the man's body. An inhuman scream came from him as the ashes covered his entire being. His skin began to crack, and a layer of dark ash formed on his body.
With every passing moment, the man's body turned more and more into a shapeless mass, as if his human essence was disappearing. A deathly sound filled the air for a moment. Then, from the midst of the ashes, a dark, heavy wooden coffin emerged from the ground with a horrifying sound. Its lid slowly opened, and a gray being slowly took shape, transforming into a new human form. As the light faded, a complete man appeared.
...
In the bustling port of the Land of Waves, the shouts of workers mingled with the roar of the waves. A large wooden cart filled with sealed boxes was slowly being moved toward a boat docked near the pier. Mitsuro, his face pale from exhaustion and his eyes listless, leaned against the wooden wall of the warehouse.
Senta, with his usual cheerfulness, walked up to Mitsuro and said, "Hey, old man! Get up, we've loaded the cargo onto the boat, we have to go."
Mitsuro, his voice hoarse, said, "You go, I'm not coming."
Senta asked worriedly, "What's wrong? You're sick now that we're rich?"
Mitsuro said calmly, "No, I'm just tired. I used too much of my chakra, I need to rest."
Senta sat down next to him and said, "Alright, we'll rest on the boat. Get up, let's go."
Mitsuro, as if swatting a fly from his face, said with determination: "I said I'm not coming, you go! I still have some unfinished business here." Then he looked at Senta and continued, "Send thirty million of the money to our people in the Hidden Waterfall Village and hide the rest in the hideout near there. When the coup starts, let Kaori know to make her move."
"You, go to the Land of Earth. Find Hiroko."
Senta, as if he had realized something, said: "You want to start? Konoha and the other five powers will definitely react."
"I know it's not time yet, but we have to take the first steps eventually."
Senta nodded and asked, "Where are you going?"
Mitsuro smiled. "I have a few hours of work. After that, I'll return to Konoha."
Senta looked at the boat for a moment. Then he said with a sarcastic tone: "Alright! I'm going. But if anything happens to you..."
Mitsuro, his voice now calmer, said, "Nothing will happen. Just go."
Senta got up and whistled, "Alright, boss, see ya... I'm raking in the cash, raking in the cash..."
Mitsuro shouted, "The next time I see you, if I find out a single ryo of the money is unaccounted for, I'll skin you alive..." Then he smiled.
...
On an island among several archipelagos surrounded by turbulent waters, there was a ruin. What was once a large village was now nothing more than a mound of destruction.
The old wooden houses, once built with elegance, were now just rotten skeletons. Their tiled roofs had collapsed, and only the black and broken wooden beams remained. A cold wind howled through the empty, broken windows, sounding like the whispers of ghosts. There were no signs of life in this place. Most of the wooden doors had been torn off and hung sadly from their hinges.
Mitsuro could see symbols carved into the broken doors and walls amidst the wreckage; symbols in the shape of several intertwined circles that looked like whirlpools. Twisted, dry branches of trees had grown among the ruins, as if nature itself had abandoned this place.
Every step he took on the ruined ground made the sound of crumbling rotten wood and broken stones. Under the rubble, household items and personal belongings were scattered. Torn cloth dolls, broken bowls, and old clothes were all signs of a once-normal life. This place was once the home of one of the greatest ninja clans in the world: the Uzumaki clan.
Ruins that were another symbol of the current Konoha's sin, proof that Konoha must pay.
In the center of the village was a building that once resembled a temple. Its curved and domed roof, which had been covered with gray tiles, had collapsed, and only its dark and heavy wooden beams remained, pointing toward the empty sky. The walls, once adorned with intricate wooden carvings, were now pieces of rotten wood barely standing on top of each other. The symbol of the Uzumaki clan was carved on the remaining and half-collapsed pillars. This symbol, once a symbol of power, was now just a bitter reminder of the past.
Mitsuro slowly stepped inside the temple. The smell of dampness and dead soil was in the air, creating a deep sense of loneliness. He hadn't come here for no reason. He cautiously went to a part of the temple called the Uzumaki Mask Hall. In fact, Mitsuro had previously thought this place was located near Konoha, but after a lot of searching, he realized that the Mask Hall was probably in the Uzumaki clan's original location, and now he saw that he was right.
In front of him was a wall full of Shinigami masks. He looked at them. He had initially planned to take them all, but then he decided to only take one. He jumped and, from the wall, on the third row and third column, he snatched a mask.
"I found you!" he said in a quiet voice.