"I'm not certain. Although the Koeda Clan's barrier has been dispelled, in that area… there are still far too many barriers. It's impossible to sense the surrounding situation with precision."
The Anbu concealed in the ceiling answered Ōnoki in a low voice.
His words were somewhat vague—
but Ōnoki understood at once.
No matter how severe a blow the Koeda Clan had suffered for their grave transgression, it did not erase the fact that they were once among the many great houses of Iwagakure. The Clan of the Magic Flute was a name that held no small repute across the shinobi world.
Thus, it was only natural that the Koeda compound lay in one of the best districts of Iwagakure, surrounded by other noble families. And for such houses, erecting barriers around their estates to prevent prying eyes was the most basic of precautions.
Now, though the Koeda had fallen so low that they could no longer sustain even their own barrier, their neighbors thrived—and their barriers still stood in full force. With so many layers of protection, even sensory ninja struggled to discern the situation nearby.
"...Schist. Take some men and come with me. We'll see for ourselves what's happening with the Koeda Clan."
Ōnoki fell silent for two seconds before deciding to take matters into his own hands.
He did not comment on the barrier issue.
In truth, there was nothing to be said. The practice of erecting clan barriers was not unique to Iwagakure, but common to all five great villages. To these noble clans, family came first, village second. Individuals might sacrifice themselves for the village, but no one could expect an entire clan to do the same.
Besides—
among all of Iwagakure's great houses, the foremost was the Iwate Clan—Ōnoki's own. No clan's barrier surpassed theirs. If Ōnoki were to crack down on the practice, he would have to begin by dismantling his own clan's defenses.
So he let the matter pass.
And of course, it wasn't only the barrier issue that made him act personally. What weighed on his mind far more was the fate of Shale. Unlike Schist, who was a sensory specialist, Slate and Shale were combat elites of the Anbu. Slate himself had led a squad to Kusagakure to pursue Koeda defectors—proof of his caliber.
Even broken ships have thousands of nails. However far the Koeda Clan had fallen, they still had real strength. Sending the wrong man against them would risk not just mission failure, but lives.
Shale, though a step below Slate, was still considered an upper-mid tier among Iwagakure's jōnin—a fighter comparable to Enkō. What's more, Shale hadn't gone alone; he had taken a full squad. For them all to be annihilated meant the Koeda compound harbored danger of no small scale.
In other words—
to investigate properly, someone stronger than Shale was needed.
But shinobi of that level were few in Iwagakure, and most were already committed to the Kusagakure front. The few who remained in the village were tied up with official duties. The only fighter free at the moment was the jinchūriki of the Five-Tails, recuperating in the village.
But this was Iwagakure itself—the very heart of the village. Letting the jinchūriki act here carried unthinkable risks. If he lost control, it would mean catastrophe.
After weighing it all, Ōnoki resolved to act himself—
and, as insurance, to bring along Schist, the sensory specialist.
With this setup, the situation would be ironclad. There was no risk of failure.
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama."
At Ōnoki's command, Schist emerged from hiding with his squad, following the Tsuchikage out the window. Avoiding the main roads, they leapt across rooftops under the cover of night, racing eastward toward the quarter where Iwagakure's noble clans were clustered.
"How is it? Do you sense Shale's presence?" Ōnoki asked, eyeing the Koeda compound gates ahead.
"No."
Schist shook his head beneath his mask, then added:
"Not only is Shale's chakra gone—there are very few living signatures ahead at all. They're clustered together, and dwindling by the moment. And… there's another presence. A strong one. Its chakra flickers in and out, appearing and vanishing… it's very strange."
Behind the mask, Schist's brows furrowed deeply. What he sensed left him genuinely unsettled.
But Ōnoki, veteran of countless battles, quickly pieced together the meaning:
"You're saying a powerful shinobi—one you don't recognize—is slaughtering the Koeda Clan's women and children? And this chakra is unfamiliar to you?"
"That's how it seems."
Schist nodded slowly.
"How interesting."
Ōnoki's eyes narrowed to slits.
If Schist did not recognize the chakra, then the intruder was almost certainly not an Iwa-nin. As one of the elite Anbu assigned to guard the Tsuchikage's office, Schist might not know every villager's chakra—but he would certainly recognize every elite jōnin and special jōnin.
In other words, the one butchering the Koeda Clan was very likely an outsider who had infiltrated the village.
"I'd like to see who bears such a grudge against the Koeda that they dare sneak into our village to kill them… Schist, where exactly are they?"
"Two hundred meters ahead, to the left."
"Then let's go!"
Ōnoki charged forward, leaping past the unmanned gates. Schist and his men hurried after him. For shinobi, covering two hundred meters took less than ten seconds.
And then—
They arrived at a broad training field. There, instead of a mountain of corpses and rivers of blood, stood a dozen elderly figures, stooped with age, no younger than Ōnoki himself.
The next instant, a figure suddenly materialized in the torchlight. His golden hair blazed bright in the dark night.
"...The Yellow Flash?"
Ōnoki froze for a moment, blurting out the nickname that filled him with envy, hatred—and awe.