A few days later—Kirigakure.
Walking through streets that felt even more suffocating than before, Kaguya Yomi scowled at the villagers rushing past with heavy faces, and at how many fewer shinobi silhouettes moved across rooftops.
"Hmph. Before, every one of them was full of confidence—like taking down Konoha, exhausted from years of war, would be easy as breathing…"
Her mouth twisted.
"Now they've finally recognized reality, huh."
The Kaguya bloodline hid a feral love of battle and bloodshed. Even someone like Yomi—who had already retired from active duty to become a housewife—didn't recoil from war.
If anything, when news of Kirigakure's early victories spread, the loudest celebrations and the biggest wave of applications to the front came from the Kaguya clan.
But unlike the shinobi who blindly believed Kirigakure had surpassed Konoha, most Kaguya understood the truth.
Those early victories happened because the monster in their clan had been absurdly active—smothering Konoha's stars beneath his shadow.
Everyone in Kirigakure acknowledged Kaguya Ren's strength.
But the moment anyone said, out loud, that the war's progress relied entirely on Ren alone—
the other clans, who had also bled and sent power to the battlefield, refused to stay silent.
What? You Kaguya want to step on everyone else's heads and raise Ren onto a pedestal?
Is having Konoha as your stepping stone still not enough?
So the argument about who was truly "carrying" Kirigakure in this war became the village's hottest daily brawl among the families who stayed behind.
And as Ren's older sister with far too much free time, Yomi had never missed those fights.
With Ren's ridiculous battle record—breaking Namikaze Minato, Orochimaru, and Shimura Danzo one after another—Yomi won again and again, crushing the other bloodline clan housewives until they didn't even dare breathe loudly.
Later, when Ren vanished, she had been forced to participate less and lie low.
But once Konoha's counterattack began—and once Kirigakure, without Ren and after losing most of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, began to collapse—
Yomi's conviction only hardened further.
Kirigakure is being carried by my little brother.
"This can't go on…" she muttered after buying groceries, taking the heavy bag from a shopkeeper whose face looked like he'd forgotten how to smile. "No one looks like they believe in victory anymore."
Her brows drew tight.
"If Ren doesn't come back… Kirigakure might really lose this war."
She trudged home, still grumbling under her breath.
"Seriously. Even if you wanted the whole village to 'understand your importance,' disappearing this long is enough, isn't it? If you don't come back soon, we're really going to lose…"
She set the supplies down and turned toward the bedroom, about to check if her son, Kimimaro, had been sleeping well—
And froze.
A familiar silhouette stood by the cradle.
But taller. More mature. And far too relaxed.
That figure was leaning over the baby—who had begun to grow white hair—teasing him gently.
Hearing Yomi's footsteps stop dead, Kaguya Ren turned his head and waved at her with a bright, easy smile.
"Yo, Sis. Since I'm back, you're not planning to treat me to something good?"
"…REN?!"
Yomi lunged forward and punched him square in the chest without hesitation.
Ren, forcing down the instinctive danger-sense that came with Sage Mode, didn't dodge.
He took the punch cleanly.
Yomi, meanwhile, immediately grabbed her own wrist and hopped in place, hissing through her teeth in pain.
Ren clutched his chest dramatically, looking wounded.
"Wah… I'm so hurt. Your little brother disappears for ages and finally comes home, and your first reaction isn't to ask if I ran into danger… it's to punch me…"
"Ghk—ck—!" Yomi grit her teeth and snapped her misaligned wrist back into place with a sickening pop. "Me… worry… about you, you freak?"
She glared up at him.
Ren had grown so tall he was almost a full head above her now.
"You've got some nerve, Kaguya Ren. I'm not deaf—I've heard your 'achievements.' Yellow Flash Namikaze Minato, one of the Sannin Orochimaru, 'Darkness of the Shinobi' Shimura Danzo… You beat them one after another, even killed them, and you want me to believe you 'ran into trouble'? Do you think I'm stupid?"
"I was just saying it," Ren muttered. "You're one of the only relatives in the clan I can still get along with…"
"Then go find a girlfriend. Get a bunch of them to circle you and say that kind of greasy comfort talk every day," Yomi snapped. "I'm too busy taking care of Kimimaro. I don't have energy to coddle someone who doesn't need worrying about."
"Kimimaro's pretty well-behaved," Ren said, glancing at the baby lying quietly in the cradle. "Aside from being a little gluttonous, he shouldn't be hard to take care of, right?"
"Bullshit," Yomi said, rubbing her brow. "Ever since his hair started growing in, I've been carrying him to the clan's doctor every day."
Ren's gaze sharpened slightly.
"His hair?"
Yomi stepped to the cradle, stroking Kimimaro's soft white hair—so different from the rest of the clan.
She sighed, irritation threaded with unease.
"Of course it's the hair. The Kaguya have existed for ages—no one's ever had a child born with white hair. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong, but… I just can't shake the feeling something's off."
"…Has anyone considered it might be a sign of… talent?" Ren offered, after a moment.
"Talent?" Yomi grabbed Ren's waist-length black hair and yanked it up with a glare. "You're the biggest, strongest monster the Kaguya have ever produced, and your hair is black. Now you're telling me white hair is 'talent'? Do you have even a shred of credibility?"
Ren went quiet.
He gently took Kimimaro's little hand instead, distracting himself by teasing his absurdly calm nephew.
Yomi released Ren's hair and narrowed her eyes.
"Alright. Enough nonsense."
Her grip locked onto Ren's arm.
She stared at him hard.
"You came back to the village now, of all times. Why? With your ability, you can't possibly be unaware the village is about to be completely defeated by Konoha."
Her voice dropped.
"So why didn't you go straight to the front? Why did you sneak back here and waste time talking to me—someone who doesn't matter to the war?"
"Because it's exactly when the village needs me most that I'm here, Sis," Ren said quietly.
He pulled a chair closer and sat, tone calm, deliberate.
"This is a bone clone made with the Shikotsumyaku. It doesn't have my original's… strange abilities, but if an enemy shows up, protecting you and Kimimaro is more than enough."
His eyes lifted.
"As for my real body—right now, it should be in the Third Mizukage's office, bringing him 'a heartfelt talk'… while holding the Uchiha genius I captured on the battlefield."
"An Uchiha genius… alive?!" Yomi's eyes widened, then she slapped her palm with sudden understanding. "That's worth leaving the front for. That's a resource you bring back personally."
"That's right." Ren nodded. "That was the reason I reported to the Third and requested temporary return from the front."
Yomi hugged Kimimaro tighter, her tone tense.
"Then the enemy you're guarding against is… Uchiha revenge?"
She swallowed.
"With their temperament, they'd absolutely try every possible way to reclaim a lost Sharingan…"
"Nah." Ren raised a finger and wagged it lightly. "Not happening."
"The Uchiha clan head is badly injured. For a while, they won't have the guts or manpower to come throw their lives away in Kirigakure."
"Then what's the problem?" Yomi blinked. "Other than those Uchiha lunatics, who would dare come onto Kaguya territory to assassinate people connected to you?"
Ren's smile vanished.
"There are plenty."
He lifted his hand toward the ceiling.
A crack of bone.
A sharp, muffled groan.
A shadow fell—and a shinobi in Kirigakure assassination-unit attire dropped from the roof outside the room with a heavy thud, kicking up dust.
Ren's voice cooled into ice.
"The Third's ANBU have been keeping a very close eye on you, Sis."
Yomi's heart lurched.
A thought—so mad it would make even the most radical Kaguya elder choke—rose in her throat.
"Ren…" Her lips were dry. Her voice shook. "Don't tell me you… you want to launch a coup against the Third Mizukage?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Ren interlaced his fingers. Behind his calm eyes, fire burned.
"Strength rises. Weakness yields. That's Kirigakure's iron law. If I'm stronger than that insect by this much, why would I let him keep poisoning the village?"
He leaned forward slightly.
"The elders probably planned to wait until the war ends, then build momentum and support me becoming the Fourth Mizukage, right? Sorry."
Ren's gaze sharpened to a cutting edge.
"I don't believe Kirigakure—already hanging on the passing line among the Five Great Villages—can be governed properly alongside a bunch of 'little insects' brainwashed and refined by a big one."
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