Dusk settled over an unremarkable village, home to the Tsugawa Clan, tucked away in a nondescript alley deep within its heart.
The quiet atmosphere lent a sense of temporal stagnation, as if time itself had paused. When night fell and human activity in the village momentarily subsided, it revealed a natural harmony.
But such "peace" was merely a facade. This village was about to stage a silent, eerie evening.
Though everyone here could be categorized as mere cogs in the societal machine, not all cogs were the same. Some, for instance, had the habit of rising early and retiring late.
This unassuming building, blending seamlessly into the village, concealed a vast underground space that served as a critical storage hub and logistical center for the Tsugawa Clan.
Thanks to intelligence gathered by Uchiha Nanami, Hane Genma located this place swiftly after infiltrating the village.
Nanami's skills went beyond merely pinpointing the enemy's supply stockpiles; she even uncovered details about the types and quantities of resources stored.
The Tsugawa Clan's village was loosely guarded on the outside but heavily monitored within, with numerous sentries posted. Yet, even without intelligence support, Genma's extraordinary infiltration skills made it nearly impossible for these shinobi to detect his presence.
Using the Mayfly Technique, Genma passed through the wall silently, slipping into the warehouse without a trace.
He didn't act immediately. His body melded almost entirely into the wall, leaving only his eyes to survey the courtyard within the warehouse.
One, two, three, four—four shinobi in total. One was the "supervisor," directing the other three in tallying the incoming and outgoing supplies.
Rather than targeting the enemy's key figures, Genma prioritized destroying this place. In war, striking the enemy's logistical nodes was a principle he understood instinctively.
He remained patient. The group was still gathered, but they would eventually scatter.
Genma knew the habits of workers well—warehouse laborers wouldn't stay clustered forever.
Ten minutes later, one shinobi entered a side building to inventory its contents.
Genma followed at lightning speed.
Inside the room, he saw the shinobi facing a shelf, back to the wall, engrossed in counting. The position was decent, but the man was too close to the door. Genma held back.
When the shinobi finished with the shelf and moved deeper into the warehouse, out of sight from the doorway, Genma seized his chance.
Without hesitation, he struck.
Emerging from the wall, his left hand clamped over the shinobi's mouth and nose, pinning the man's head against the wall. His right hand drove a kunai into the man's lower back.
The sharp pain caused the shinobi's body to arch forward involuntarily, as if trying to escape the blade. But the brutal "kidney strike" obliterated his ability to react. Strength and chakra drained rapidly from his body, sapped by the cold agony radiating from his back.
Even if Genma hadn't silenced him, the man could barely have made a sound.
With a slight twist of his wrist, Genma's kunai shredded the shinobi's organs. The man's body twitched unconsciously.
Genma's hand slid from the shinobi's face to his neck, his elbow locking around it before he yanked with force.
A destroyed torso and a near-snapped neck—the combined effect was greater than the sum of its parts. The shinobi died silently.
Using the same method, Genma dispatched the second and third shinobi with chilling efficiency.
When only the supervisor remained, Genma appeared behind him without a sound. Before the man could react, the edge of Genma's kunai delivered a swift, fatal slash across his throat.
"Cough… ugh…"
Thud.
The supervisor's brief, struggling breaths and the sound of his body collapsing to the ground were the only noises produced by Genma's infiltration and assassination.
The underground warehouse's entrance was likely protected by a barrier to ward off intruders. But Genma didn't need to search for an entrance. With the Mayfly Technique, he simply sank into the ground, passing through effortlessly into the subterranean space.
Genma was adept at adapting to circumstances. Had he been infiltrating the Uzumaki Clan's village, he would have subdued the supervisor and coerced him into disabling the barrier.
But in the Tsugawa Clan's village, such measures were unnecessary.
As he'd observed, ninja villages were often makeshift operations. A village formed by a single clan, no matter how formidable, lacked the diverse talent needed for complex, powerful sealing barriers—something beyond the grasp of most clans.
The barrier at the underground entrance, if Genma had chosen to force his way through, likely wouldn't have stopped him.
Inside the underground space, just as the intelligence suggested, he found a stockpile of war supplies.
Rifling through the crates, he quickly located several dry, cushioned boxes filled with explosive tags.
"Much appreciated."
Genma gathered nearly all the explosive tags, swiftly attaching most of them throughout the warehouse. At the entrance, he set several concealed trigger traps.
Then, instead of using the Mayfly Technique, he boldly passed through the weak alert barrier.
The enemy's response was immediate. The moment Genma triggered the barrier, they realized an outsider or enemy had breached their critical supply warehouse.
Within minutes, five Tsugawa shinobi came rushing toward the site.
"They're all dead…"
Soon, someone discovered that everyone in the warehouse had been assassinated.
"The critical war supplies in the warehouse—damn it…"
Realizing their own had been killed, the shinobi deduced an enemy invasion. In a panic, one of them rushed toward the underground entrance.
"Wait, be careful—"
Someone tried to warn him, but the impulsive young shinobi had already entered the underground space.
Then—
BOOM!
A muffled, oppressive explosion roared, startling the sleeping village and sending the approaching shinobi spiraling into oblivion.
Smoke rose from the village in the aftermath.
No shinobi, no matter how fast, could outrun an explosion.
The village wasn't large, so the blast alerted everyone. Five minutes later, more shinobi arrived at the scene.
What greeted them was a scene of burning ruins.
The once-flat ground was now riddled with jagged cracks, spewing flames and thick smoke.
The Tsugawa Clan excelled in Water Release, so they united in a swift effort to extinguish the flames, desperately trying to salvage what supplies they could.
Meanwhile, another group began searching the area, hoping to track down the intruder responsible for the destruction.
But while the village's attention was fixated here, several more explosions echoed nearby, followed by towering flames piercing the night sky.
The shinobi turned in horror, staring toward the source of the fire.
The warehouse they were trying to save contained war supplies, including many iron weapons, so the fire hadn't spread far after the initial explosion.
But the subsequent blasts targeted the village's living supplies—grain and other highly flammable materials. The flames were so intense they illuminated the gloomy midnight sky.
With a simple feint, Genma had executed a masterful diversion, showcasing his tactical artistry with devastating results.
The destruction of these supplies wouldn't bring the Tsugawa Clan to its knees immediately, but it would undoubtedly sow panic, hastening the clan's descent into an uncertain future.
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