Chapter 299 – The Ambush (Part II)
"Nice move, Captain… this whole framing trick of yours is pretty damn convincing."
On the road to the Kaguya Clan's compound, Kenta Imai couldn't help but mutter as he adjusted the swirling-patterned mask on his face.
Beside him, Ayaka Hyūga also looked curious, her pale eyes glancing toward Kei, who strode silently ahead.
The three of them were wearing identical masks—
the same spiral-patterned design once worn by the mysterious person who had assaulted Konoha.
The same mask Obito had used.
The color was slightly off, but the spiral engraving was unmistakable.
---
Kei didn't answer immediately. In truth, he hadn't even intended to frame Obito.
At least, not consciously.
If he were honest with himself, he'd long since come to regard Obito as one of his own men—
a subordinate running a dangerous undercover mission.
And if a commander could spare his operative unnecessary trouble, he would.
But the situation had changed.
Now, knowing that there was a Byakugan user—Ao—still active in the Mist, Kei had no choice but to alter the plan.
Obito and Black Zetsu might know the truth, but others did not.
And if he was going to strike against the Mist's forces,
then it was best for the blame to fall elsewhere.
---
Fortunately, Kei had plenty of White Zetsu tissue samples on hand,
along with several chakra-dampening masks he'd once crafted specifically to counter Byakugan detection.
They were imperfect—Zetsu would probably recognize the material—but Kei didn't care.
So what if he knows? he thought. What's he going to do—convince Obito to kill me first?
Unlikely.
Besides, even if Black Zetsu realized what he was doing, he wouldn't risk interfering.
Kei had already proven his strength.
Obito couldn't beat him, and Nagato wasn't yet at full power.
If anyone tried to stop him now, they'd risk being the ones buried.
---
"Not bad," Kei finally said, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"After all, that man once attacked Konoha. If he now attacks the Mist,
well… it fits the story nicely, doesn't it?"
Ayaka tilted her head. "And the Fourth Hokage—can he really extract us if things go wrong?
Or… how's his control over the Nine-Tails these days?"
"The kunai I carry is his," Kei replied smoothly. "That should tell you everything."
It was a deliberately vague answer—because even he wasn't sure.
Though he trusted Minato's brilliance, the truth was hard to ignore:
the man had been dead for years, and yet after his return,
he'd immediately mastered the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode with near perfection.
Kei had no doubt about his talent.
If anyone could befriend the beast that once tore the village apart, it was Minato Namikaze.
Still, Kei mused, I doubt they were chatting in the Shinigami's stomach all those years.
If they had, then how had Hashirama and Tobirama not even recognized him after being summoned back?
He chuckled under his breath. "Alright, we're here."
---
The mists thinned, revealing the silhouette of the Kaguya compound ahead.
"Final confirmation," Kei said, voice low but steady. "Kenta, you're on diversion duty.
Ayaka and I will move in to retrieve the targets. Got it?"
"Yes, Captain!"
Both answered sharply, their demeanor shifting to that of trained killers.
"Then move."
Kei's tone dropped an octave—cold, commanding.
He and Ayaka split off to the flank, disappearing into the fog.
Kenta took a deep breath, flexing his fingers as chakra began to boil under his skin.
His job was simple but dangerous: draw attention.
Hold off the Kaguya, give Kei and Ayaka their opening.
And so, he began gathering chakra, letting it surge through his body until it hummed.
---
He didn't have the Byakugan, but his sensory ability was exceptional—
especially after refining the White Zetsu serum he'd been injected with.
Closing his eyes, Kenta reached out with his senses.
There it was—that cold, unmistakable chakra signature.
Kei.
He's in position.
Three minutes later, Kenta's eyes snapped open. His chakra roared to life.
---
"Water Release: Tearing Torrent!"
He clapped his hands together.
A roaring vortex of water exploded upward from the ground like a living tornado,
then crashed forward in a surging wall of destruction.
Buildings shattered. The Kaguya's outer district was swallowed by the deluge.
Kenta surveyed the devastation and smirked in satisfaction.
Already, shinobi were emerging, rallying in confusion and anger.
Perfect.
---
"Time for the next act."
His fingers flashed through seals again.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
The river nearby erupted,
its current twisting into a titanic cascade that ripped through the compound like the wrath of nature itself.
---
"Overkill," Kei muttered from the flank as he and Ayaka advanced through the shadows.
He could feel Kenta's chakra from here, wild and blazing.
"The Kaguya won't like that."
But that was fine. Their "business relationship" had always been transactional.
If Kaguya Shigemitsu had any sense, he'd prepared for this.
"Twenty shinobi ahead," Ayaka whispered, Byakugan veins bulging at her temples.
"Our target is fifty meters beyond them."
"Got it."
Kei's eyes bled red.
"Stay back. I'll handle them. Watch my six."
"Yes, Captain."
---
With a flash, Kei was gone.
The air cracked as he appeared beside the first Kaguya guard,
Jewel Cutter (Kiryoku), his chakra-forged blade, blazing blue in the fog.
The man never even turned. A single arc of light—then silence.
Before the body hit the ground, Kei had already vanished again,
reappearing behind another.
A whisper of steel. Another life ended.
---
"Their bones really are hard," Kei thought grimly as blood spattered his blade.
Even without activating their Kekkei Genkai, their skeletal density made them tough to cut cleanly.
But "tough" meant little when he could read their every move before they made it.
To the Kaguya, it was a battle.
To him, it was articulation practice.
Within minutes—less than three—
the field was silent again.
Twenty warriors.
Twenty corpses.
A slaughter, swift and clinical.
---
Ayaka approached cautiously, her expression flickering between awe and disbelief.
She'd known Kei was powerful—everyone in Konoha knew that—
but seeing him dismantle a clan patrol so effortlessly was something else entirely.
Even her Byakugan trembled slightly from the chakra pressure he radiated.
"Captain," she called quietly, scanning the area. "They've noticed the intrusion. We don't have long."
"I know."
Kei's Sharingan spun, the tomoe blurring into motion.
The last surviving Kaguya shinobi froze as Kei's hand gripped his throat.
"Now," Kei said softly, "you'll answer my questions."
The man's pupils dilated, his body trembling.
"That house—who lives there? Name them."
"F-family of Kaguya Kōhei," the man whispered mechanically. "His wife, Kaguya Ran, and their son… Kimimaro.
Kōhei was once a candidate for clan head, but—"
"That's enough."
Kei released him—and the man obediently drove a kunai into his own heart.
---
Ayaka said nothing.
She simply followed as Kei turned toward the indicated house,
his expression calm but his eyes burning crimson beneath the mask.
So it's true, he thought. Kimimaro…
A faint, cold smile tugged at his lips.
This was exactly what he'd come for.
The boy who would one day carry the Shikotsumyaku,
the rarest remnant of the Kaguya bloodline—
now within reach.
---
All that remained was to extract them.
And perhaps, deal with the mother, if she became an obstacle.
Kei had never heard of Kimimaro's mother, not once.
But that didn't mean she didn't exist—after all, where else would the boy have come from?
Still, that realization brought an inconvenient problem: what to do with her.
"Forget it," Kei muttered inwardly as he neared the small wooden house.
"I don't have the time or mercy to play savior.
If she survives, then she's lucky. If not… then history has simply corrected itself."
His fingers tightened on the hilt of his blade.
Blue chakra flared violently along its edge, lighting up the mist.
With a sharp kick, he blew the door off its hinges.
---
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the village—
Ao and Mei Terumī led a squad of ANBU and elite Kirigakure shinobi, sprinting through the fog toward the Kaguya compound.
They were Yuan-shi's people—his personal faction's core enforcers.
Nearly every capable operative loyal to the elder was present, except those too high-ranking to risk exposure.
And they weren't the only ones moving.
The Mizukage's ANBU had also mobilized, along with multiple battalions from other divisions.
Only difference was—the Mizukage's units were trailing behind them.
Clearly, someone intended for Yuan-shi's forces to clash head-on with these mysterious invaders first.
---
"I don't know who they are," Ao said grimly, "but I know they won't be easy."
Then, after a pause, his expression hardened.
"But no matter how strong they are—there's too many of us to lose."
"Understood, Captain Ao."
Mei nodded, though her voice dropped to a murmur, just loud enough for him to catch.
"Still… I almost hope they're Konoha shinobi."
Ao heard her—and said nothing.
But the name Konoha stirred something cold in both of them.
---
One year ago, in the Land of Grass, they'd encountered a Konoha strike team.
It had been a nightmare.
Of the entire Mist unit that went in, only two had made it out alive—
Ao and Mei.
The rest had been annihilated.
Even Mei, with her terrifying Kekkei Genkai, had barely escaped death…
and only because the Uchiha boy who'd cornered her had let her live.
At the time, the boy hadn't given his name.
But power like that—those eyes, that precision—it wasn't hard to trace.
They'd found his identity soon after.
Kei, the "Scarlet Hero" of Konoha,
and newly appointed Head of the Konoha Police Force.
When they saw his photo, the anger had nearly choked them.
Because his title made vengeance impossible.
He was too high-profile, too protected—
a national hero.
If they struck him, it wouldn't just be assassination.
It would be war.
So they'd waited, hoping that someday fate would bring them to the same battlefield again.
And now, maybe fate seemed to have listened.
---
"Stay sharp," Ao ordered, snapping himself out of the memories.
"We're close."
He forced the emotions from his mind, focusing his chakra.
Raising a hand to his covered right eye, he let chakra flow through the ancient Byakugan embedded there.
Veins bulged at his temple.
His vision expanded, piercing through mist and walls until the Kaguya compound came into view.
Instantly, he saw them—three intruders.
One outside, manipulating water with devastating force.
Two inside, carving through Kaguya defenses with terrifying precision.
---
But then he froze.
No matter how hard he focused, his Byakugan couldn't pierce the masks they wore.
Impossible.
The Byakugan could see through everything—skin, chakra pathways, even genjutsu layers.
But these masks blocked his sight completely.
"What material is that…?" he muttered, stunned.
"How can it obstruct the Byakugan?"
He shifted focus—and that's when he saw it.
The one with the blade moved like a phantom—
each step a blur, each strike deliberate and perfect.
His speed, his chakra control, the seamless blend of taijutsu, kenjutsu, and genjutsu…
Ao's stomach tightened.
He knew this fighting style.
He'd felt it before.
That flowing, almost artistic killing rhythm.
The way opponents froze for a split second before dying—victims of subtle genjutsu interference.
It could only belong to one clan.
---
"The Uchiha…"
Ao's breath caught in his throat.
No. It couldn't be him. Not here.
But as he watched the red blur weave through the chaos, his instincts screamed the truth.
If that wasn't Kei,
then it was someone exactly like him.
---
"Captain Ao?" Mei's voice snapped him back.
"What is it? You've gone pale."
Ao swallowed hard, closing his Byakugan with a visible effort.
"Prepare for battle," he said finally, his tone heavy.
"Our opponents… are powerful.
Every one of you—be ready to die."
"What?!"
Several Mist shinobi gasped, exchanging uncertain looks.
Even Mei stiffened.
"Captain, what's going on?"
Ao clenched his fist. "There are two groups. One includes a shinobi who might be an Uchiha."
He hesitated, the next words tasting like ash on his tongue.
"And the other…"
He looked toward the heart of the compound, where something darker stirred—
a chakra signature vile and serpentine, unmistakable even after years apart.
"…is Orochimaru."
---