I moved through the streets until I found what I was looking for.
I needed a sake house near the merchant district. I wanted the kind of place where samurai drank after their shifts. I knew information flowed as freely as alcohol in these establishments.
I sat at the bar and ordered sake I wouldn't drink.
The bartender was an older man with scarred hands. He poured without comment. He was used to customers who kept quiet.
Two samurai sat three seats down. Their armor was clean but worn at the edges.
"Another long one," the first said. He was younger, maybe twenty-five. "Three shinobi fights this week alone."
"At least they kept it to the eastern district," his companion replied. He was older, graying at the temples. "Remember last month? That Earth-Cloud skirmish that took out half a residential street?"
"Shinji-sama compensated the families."
"With Iwa's money." The older samurai's voice was flat. "Blood money."
The younger one glanced around nervously. "Careful."
I listened without looking at them directly.
"Saw another group heading to the castle yesterday," the younger samurai said. "Foreigners. Dressed like merchants but moved wrong."
"Shinobi?"
"Probably. That makes what, five groups this month?"
The older one grunted. "Six. You missed the ones who came through during the storm last week."
"All going to see Shinji-sama?"
"Where else would they go? The capital's crawling with them now. Different villages, different allegiances, all making deals with our Daimyo."
I memorized the information. Six groups of shinobi had visited Shinji in the past month. All of them had disguised themselves as merchants or travelers.
The samurai finished their drinks and left.
I waited ten minutes, then followed suit. I had what I needed. The Land of Iron wasn't just allowing shinobi to fight on its soil anymore. Shinji was actively meeting with them. He was making deals. He was selling access or services.
The old neutrality was gone.
---
I spent the next two nights gathering more information.
I watched the roads leading to the capital after dark. I noted the travelers who moved with the controlled grace of trained fighters. I counted the groups heading toward the castle.
The old samurai at the sake house had been right. Shinobi were arriving regularly. Some wore Iwagakure headbands openly once they were inside the city walls. Others kept their affiliations hidden.
I also watched the castle itself from a distance once night fell.
It sat in the mountains a day's journey from the main population centers. The structure was massive and built into the rock face, surrounded by walls and guard towers. The Three Wolves mountains loomed behind it, perpetually covered in snow.
The fortress prison was separate from the castle, built into a different section of the mountain range. I'd scouted it carefully over two nights.
Six guards stood at the main entrance. Two guarded the supply door on the eastern cliff face. Four more patrolled the perimeter at irregular intervals.
The supply door was my best option. Two guards were manageable. The cliff face would provide cover from the main entrance.
On the third night, I moved.
---
The descent down the cliff face was silent. I used handholds carved into the rock, relics from when this fortress had been built generations ago. The guards never looked up. Why would they? No one attacked from above.
I dropped the last five meters and landed behind them without sound.
The first guard started to turn. My hand caught the back of his neck and squeezed the pressure point there. He dropped instantly, unconscious.
The second guard had time to draw breath. I was on him before sound left his throat. My hand covered his mouth. The other hand struck the nerve cluster at the base of his skull. His eyes rolled back and he went limp.
I lowered both bodies carefully. They would wake in a few hours with headaches but nothing permanent.
The supply door was locked with a heavy mechanism. I examined it, then broke it open quietly.
I pulled the door ajar just enough to slip through, then closed it behind me.
The tunnel descended at a steep angle. Torches lined the walls every fifty meters. I extinguished each one as I passed. The darkness meant nothing to me. My eyes had changed along with everything else. I could see perfectly.
After five minutes I reached the first checkpoint.
Three guards sat at a table playing cards. The junction was where the tunnel split into multiple passages.
I studied the layout. Two doors led deeper into the fortress. One led back toward the main entrance. The guards were positioned to see anyone approaching from any direction.
I waited and watched their pattern. One guard was bored and checked his cards frequently. Another was focused on the game. The third kept glancing at the passage to my right, the one leading deeper.
After ten minutes, the bored guard stood. "I'm checking the lower levels."
"Again? You checked them an hour ago."
"Can't be too careful."
He walked toward the right passage. The other two returned to their game.
I moved when he passed my position.
My hand covered his mouth. The other struck the pressure point at his neck. He went limp immediately. I lowered him to the ground gently.
The other two never looked up from their cards.
I circled around using a side passage I remembered from childhood. My father had shown me these tunnels once, explaining the fortress's layout. Back then I'd been too sick to walk far, but I'd memorized everything.
The side passage brought me behind the remaining guards. I approached from their blind spot.
The first guard's head snapped back as I struck the nerve cluster. He collapsed forward onto the table. The second started to stand. I caught him, one hand over his mouth, the other striking the base of his skull. He slumped in my grip.
I arranged their bodies to look like they'd fallen asleep at the table. From a distance, in the dim light, they would appear normal.
I continued deeper.
Two more checkpoints waited ahead. Five more guards stood in total. Each one fell to precise strikes at pressure points and nerve clusters. The Uchiha training helped.
Finally, I reached the lowest level.
The temperature had dropped significantly. Ice covered everything. Prison cells lined both sides of the corridor.
I paused at the first cell. It was empty.
The second held a man curled in the corner. He was an ordinary civilian based on his clothing. He was probably a criminal.
The third cell made me stop.
Someone sat against the far wall. I could barely see them in the darkness, but I felt their chakra immediately. It was larger than normal. Much larger. This was no civilian.
This was a shinobi.
I moved to the next cell. Another figure sat inside. Another large chakra signature existed there.
The fifth cell held two people. Both had substantial chakra reserves.
They were shinobi prisoners. Multiple cells held them.
What was Shinji doing? The Land of Iron was supposed to be neutral. We didn't imprison shinobi. We didn't get involved in their conflicts.
I continued down the corridor and checked each cell. Seven cells total held shinobi. I couldn't identify any of them.
At the end of the corridor was a single cell, larger than the others. It had a reinforced steel door instead of iron bars.
I approached it slowly. My footsteps made no sound on the icy floor.
Through the small window in the door, I could see a figure against the far wall.
I examined the door. The lock was heavy and the frame was reinforced. It was built to hold someone dangerous.
I inserted threads of hardened flesh into the lock mechanism. I felt for the tumblers and manipulated them one by one until I heard the click.
The door swung open silently.
The cell was dark and colder than the corridor. Ice had formed in thick sheets on the walls.
The figure sat against the far wall, chained there by heavy shackles.
I stepped closer.
The man's head hung forward. Long hair, matted and dirty, obscured his face.
I knew him immediately. I recognized the build. I recognized the posture even in chains.
Michikatsu Tsugikuni.
"Michikatsu," I said quietly.
His head lifted slightly. He lifted it enough for me to see his face.
My breath caught.
Where his eyes should have been, there were only empty, scarred sockets. The wounds were old and healed over, deliberately inflicted.
His arms ended at the elbows. The cuts were clean. The stumps were wrapped in dirty bandages.
His legs were gone below the knees. The same clean cuts marked them. The same careful mutilation had been performed.
He was chained to the wall by his torso. Heavy iron shackles kept him upright against the stone.
"Who's there?" His voice was hoarse and weak but still recognizable.
I couldn't speak or move. I just stared at what had been done to him.
The strongest samurai in the Land of Iron. The man who had taught me. Who had protected me. Who had stood up to Shinji and paid for it.
They had taken everything from him. His sight. His limbs. His ability to fight. To move. To defend himself.
They had left him here in the dark to rot.
"Answer me," Michikatsu said. His head turned slightly as he tried to locate me by sound. "I can hear you breathing."
I forced myself to speak. "It's Muzan."
Silence filled the cell.
"Muzan?" His voice changed, held surprise and disbelief. "How are you here?"
"I came to find you." I moved closer. The chains rattled as he tensed. "I heard you were imprisoned. I came to free you."
"Free me." He laughed. The sound was bitter. "Look at what I am. What's left to free?"
I knelt in front of him. Up close, the damage was worse. Scars covered his face and torso. They were signs of torture, of months of deliberate pain.
"What did they do to you?"
"I thought I was strong." His empty eye sockets turned toward me. "But it turned out I was a frog in a well. Look at me, what have I become thinking I could deter them with strength. I guess I was delusional."
"How long?"
"Four months. Or maybe more. I lost count after the first month." He shifted against the wall. The chains clinked. "They took my eyes first. Said I didn't need to see anymore. Then my hands. Said I didn't need to hold a sword. Then my feet. Said I didn't need to stand."
My hands curled into fists.
"Why are you here, Muzan?" His voice was gentler now. "You should be far away from this place. You were sick. Dying. How are you even alive?"
"I found a cure."
"A cure for what you had?" He sounded incredulous. "Impossible. Your father searched everywhere on earth and still couldn't find it."
"Not impossible. It was just expensive." I stood. "I'm going to get you out of here."
"To what end? Look at me. I can't walk. Can't fight. Can't see. I'm nothing but a broken reminder of what I was."
"You're still alive."
"For now. They bring me food once a week. Water every few days. Just enough to keep me breathing. Shinji wants me to suffer. To know what happens when someone defies him."
I examined the chains. They were heavy iron bolted directly into the stone wall. I could break them, but it would make noise.
"Can you stay quiet if I remove these?"
"Yes."
I gripped the chain where it connected to the wall. My fingers dug into the stone. I pulled slowly and steadily, let my enhanced strength do the work without sudden movements.
The bolts groaned. Stone cracked. The chain came free.
I caught Michikatsu as he slumped forward. His weight was less than I expected. Four months of minimal food had wasted his body.
"I need to carry you."
"I know." His voice was flat. "I hate it, but I know."
I lifted him carefully. He was lighter than he should have been. A man his size should have weighed more.
"The guards?" he asked.
"Unconscious. We have until dawn before they wake."
"You didn't kill them."
"No."
"Good. They're innocent. But those shinobi bastards..."
"It's okay. We'll have them pay for it." I moved toward the door.
Michikatsu was quiet as we left the cell. The other prisoners watched us pass. One of them called out, but I ignored him.
The journey back up through the tunnel was slower with Michikatsu in my arms. We passed the unconscious guards. Some were starting to stir.
When we emerged from the supply entrance, the sky was still dark but the horizon showed the first hints of approaching dawn.
I needed to move quickly. Sunlight would come soon.
Michikatsu turned his face toward the cold air. "Outside. I can feel it."
"Yes."
"I thought I'd die in that cell. Never breathe free air again."
I started down the mountain path at a run. My enhanced body didn't tire. Michikatsu's weight meant nothing to my strength.
"What's the rush?" he asked.
"Nothing. I need to reach shelter."
"There's a cave system. Two kilometers east. It used to be a smuggler's route when I was younger."
I changed direction. The eastern path led through dense forest. The trees provided some cover but not enough.
The sky continued to lighten. I could feel it now. A prickling sensation spread across my exposed skin.
"The entrance is hidden behind a rockfall," Michikatsu said. "You'll need to look for it."
I pushed harder. The forest thickened. Rocks jutted from the snow-covered ground.
I spotted it ahead. A collapsed section of cliff face stood before me. Boulders piled against the mountain. But between them was a gap. Darkness lay beyond.
I slipped through just as the first ray of sunlight touched the treetops behind us.
The cave was deep and completely dark. It was perfect for what I needed.
I set Michikatsu down carefully against the wall.
"Safe?" he asked.
"For now." I looked back at the entrance. Sunlight was spreading across the forest outside. It was beautiful and deadly.
"So what did it cost?"
"What?"
"Your cure."
I sat down across from him. "I don't know. Maybe everything."
"Everything?"
"Perhaps not everything. I'm still alive, aren't I?"
Michikatsu's empty eye sockets turned toward me. "Yes. It's good that you're okay now. But what will you do now?"
"This is still my home. Shinji is still my enemy. I'll reclaim it."
"How?"
"I need help." I leaned back against the stone. "Your help."
"What help can I offer in this state?" Michikatsu shook his head with a self-mocking smile.
"I'm not sure, but I can turn you back to normal. Better and even stronger. But I don't know what it will cost."
"Anything, even death, is better than how I am now."