Strictly speaking, Tobirama was not the founder of Konoha's system—he was the founder of the ninja vilge era.

  Aside from the Police Force he created specifically for the Uchiha , the anizational structures he established in Konoha were widely copied by the other four major ninja vilges, adapted to their own needs.

  Kiri copied the least, but they directly replicated the ANBU and the Ninja Academy.

  Unlike Konoha, which ter divided the ANBU into different funal departments, Kiri's ANBU remained in its inal form. They had three primary tasks: assassihose the Mizukage disliked, colletelligence for the Mizukage, and openly follow the Mizukage to kill people.

  The night in Kiri was damp, with moisture in the air. The city's nighttime was more terrifying than the day. There weren't even streetlights on the roads, and ordinary people had to rely on faint starlight to find their way.

  Any sudden sound could easily startle someone.

  This was why no ordinary people would wander around Kiri at night.

  Masashi moved through the dark night, dressed in a knock-off ANBU uniform.

  During the day, when he and the Mizukage locked eyes as the tter was leaving, they had e to a tacit uanding.

  Visual genjutsu could aplish many things—it wasn't limited to bat.

  As he approached the Mizukage building, a figure suddenly appeared.

  "Password!" The figure was a Kiri ANBU. He immediately noticed at least ten fws in Masashi's disguise.

  In the past, he would have immediately shouted, "Intruder!" But tonight was different; orders from the Mizukage required him to wait.

  "Baby Turtle Doo Doo Doo." Masashi spoke with plete seriousness, face perfectly straight as he recited the password he and Yagura had agreed upon in the genjutsu.

  The ANBU stiffened. Years of training had prepared him for many things, but not this. His hand twitched slightly before he responded, clearly struggling to maintain his professional demeanor.

  "Mommy Turtle Doo Doo Doo," the ANBU replied. Then, with meical precision that showed of hours of relut practice, he performed three small sways, each synized with the "doo."

  Masashi kept his faeutral, but internally he was quite pleased. This had been his suggestion to Yagura—a password system so embarrassing that no spy would ever think it was real.

  The fact that it forced the elite ANBU to do the little dance was just a bonus.

  "You may call me Zero," the ANBU said quickly, clearly eager to move past the moment. Even through his mask, his disfort was visible.

  If someone had given the wrong password or failed to plete the dance moves exactly as specified, they would have been marked as an impostor. After all, only someoruly authorized would have been forced to learn this humiliating routine.

  "Where is the Mizukage?"

  "Same pce as usual. Don't go into the building; use the walls."

  After exging information, Zero quickly disappeared using the Body Flicker.

  Masashi smiled and vanished from the spot.

  Climb the walls? Walls weren't for climbing; they were for support.

  Appearing on the rooftop, Masashi saw Yagura, who was also dressed in bck.

  This was ridiculous—Yagura was wearing a knock-off version of Konoha's ANBU uniform. Masashi also immediately noticed at least ten fws in Yagura's outfit.

  "Mizukage-sama, what's with this getup?"

  "Being cautious is always a good thing." Yagura looked at Masashi's attire and winced. "Where did you get that uniform? Ours were updated ba the Third Mizukage's era."

  "Your outfit is outdated too, Mizukage-sama…"

  The two fell into a brief silence. After a moment, Yagura spoke first.

  "Do you have uniforms from the other vilges?"

  "Yes…"

  "Lend me one. I'll return it when we're done."

  "No need—I'll gift you a full set of ade ninja vilge uniforms, including ones from small vilges and defunct anizations. No one will be able to verify them."

  "You're too generous. I feel bad about making you spend so much."

  "We're allies—no need for formalities."

  Masashi pulled out a scroll and tossed it to Yagura.

  The Mizukage caught it and tucked it away with satisfa. He felt he had found the right person—such professionalism.

  "Follow me," Yagura said, leaping off the roof and disappearing into the darkness.

  Masashi activated his Sharingan and followed.

  The two quickly moved beyond the Mizukage building's viity. Yagura, as the biggest "boss" in Kiri, was extremely familiar with the vilge's streets, alleys, oints, and patrol routes. Their journey was safe and smooth.

  Yagura turned into a narrow alley and knocked on the door of a small, low house in a specific rhythm.

  The door creaked open, and a middle-aged man stood in the doorway. He did not immediately step aside when he saw Yagura; his gaze turo Masashi behind him.

  "He's one of us," Yagura said.

  The middle-aged man finally moved aside.

  The door was small, and Masashi had to duck slightly to enter.

  The interior was old and worn. The middle-aged ma into another room aurned with a young boy.

  Yagura removed his mask. The boy, upon seeing his face, showed a faint look of joy.

  "Masashi, this child is Haku," Yagura said, patting the boy's head.

  The boy g Masashi and, frightened, hid behind Yagura.

  Masashi removed his mask.

  "Hello, Haku," he said kindly.

  "H-hello…"

  Seeing the distrust in the boy's eyes, Masashi didn't mind. He had seen such expressions many times before.

  What surprised him was Haku's apparent trust in Yagura.

  "You're pretty good with kids, Mizukage-sama."

  "I had more time back then to stay home ah my son," Yagura said nostalgically. "Masashi, are you married?"

  "No."

  "You should marry early and have children—otherwise, you'll regret it."

  We're here to plot assassinations, and you're tellio get married?

  Masashi ighat ent and asked, "Did y me here just to see this child?"

  "This pce is safer," Yagura expined. "Masashi, I o firm again—do you and Shisui agree to my previous ditions?"

  "Yes, in principle. After everything is over, we'll report back to the Hokage and formalize the agreement."

  "There's o trouble yourselves. Ohis is over, I'll apany you to Konoha and sign the agreement with the Hokage personally," Yagura said, satisfied. "As a fellow Fourth, I haven't yet met the Hokage."

  Masashi sidered this. It was a bit sudden, but it demonstrated their siy.

  "Generous of you, Mizukage-sama." He gave a thumbs-up.

  "It's you who are effit and decisive. I look forward to our cooperation."

  "When and how do we act?"

  "The time remains the same—two days from now," Yagura replied. "That day, I'll invite you and Shisui to further discuss the agreement, with key members of the Hōzuki d their allies present."

  "Will we act during the meeting?"

  "No—we'll act against your sman first," Yagura said, shaking his head. "Your sman, disguised as 'Tobi,' has been appointed as the ANBU leader and holds trol of the Mizukage Guards. The Hōzuki s to expose that I'm being trolled and will attack him and the forces under his trol."

  "You seem well-informed about their pn."

  "The Hōzuki 's goal is to bee the ruling Mizukage family. Even in a rebellion, they wouldn't directly attack the Mizukage. Go baasashi—don't let them discover you're missing."

  "Don't worry, Hikari will cover for me."

  "Good. Do you want to speak to this child?" Yagura asked, gng at Haku.

  Hearing his sister's name, Haku looked at Masashi curiously.

  "It's not the time yet. After this is done… but…" Masashi walked up to Haku, crouched down, aended his hand. "Haku, we shake hands?"

  Haku looked at Masashi, hesitated, and pced his small hand in Masashi's palm.

  "Do you know my sister?" he asked.

  "Yes, I do. We're good friends," Masashi replied with a smile, then stood up and withdrew his hand.

  He Yagura, ected to the Flying Thunder God Seal on his e at the inn, and activated the jutsu to leave.

  The sery ged, and Masashi realized he was now lying on a bed.

  What was even more eous was that Hikari was also on the bed. She was ging to him naked, blinking her eyes and staring directly into his.

  Masashi was dumbfounded. What kind of absurd plot was this?

  Why was he lying in bed with Hikari like this?

  Did his shadow e seriously sneak away?

  The moment, the memories of the shadow e came rushing back, and he uood.

  Knock, knock…

  A voice came again from outside the door. "Masashi-sama, are you ready yet?"

  Hearing this voice, Hikari instinctively hugged him a little tighter.

  You're butt-naked right now, to down a bit!

  "I'm sorry, Masashi-sama, this matter is urgent, so I'll have to e in first." The sound of the doorknob turning rang out.

  At that moment, Masashi swiftly wiped his hand over himself.

  Flying Thunder God activated, and his clothes disappeared entirely as well.

  Perfeow they were both naked.

  Then he pulled the b over, tightly c both of their bodies.

  The door opened, and a member of the Hōzuki , whom he'd seen at the ba, poked half of his body into the room. Seeing the two of them tightly ed up on the bed, he immediately turned back to the hallway and said, "I'll be waiting outside."

  "But please hurry! The elders have something very important and urgent to discuss. Could you meet with them now?"

  "Is it really that urgent?" Masashi responded with the perfect attitude of someoant to leave bed. "'t it wait until tomorrow?"

  Uhe b, his hand moved slightly, making the b visibly wriggle.

  Iy, he was just patting Hikari's arm, trusting that the girl would get the hint.

  The clever girl let out a soft whimpering sound.

  Nice! Great teamwork!

  "I'm really sorry, but the elders are very anxious. Tomorrow would be too te."

  "Alright, I uand. I'll get up now. Wait for me to ge my clothes."

  "Uood." The Hōzuki sman bowed slightly, pulled his body back out, and shut the door.

  Their as were entirely within Yagura's predis. The Hōzuki was doomed.

  He got out of bed. Out of sideration for his partner, he didn't fling the b off with a swift kick like he normally would.

  He even helped Hikari pull the b back up to cover herself properly.

  Theered the wardrobe room and ged bato his standard Konoha shinobi uniform.

  When he came back out, Hikari was sitting on the bed ed in the b, looking at him.

  Masashi made a "quiet" gesture to her, then walked over, leaned down, and whispered into her ear: "Just pretend to be asleep. Don't make a sound until I'm back."

  Hikari nodded obediently and y back down on the bed.

  He gave her a thumbs-up, turned around, and walked to the door to unlock it.

  The Hōzuki sman was standing outside, apanied by several others.

  "Where's the room key?" Masashi asked.

  The Hōzuki sman ha over, and Masashi took it, log the door behind him.

  "How many keys are there?" he asked.

  "There are three. Don't worry, Masashi-sama. No one will enter without your permission."

  "You came in just now. Collect all the keys ter and hand them to me—this is a matter of principle."

  "Uood. Rest assured." The Hōzuki sma relieved. I didn't expect the White Ghost to be so lustful and possessive. This is perfect.

  Hikari wasn't even the best. Among their allies, they had no she of women.

  In Kiri, there were far too many ninja s, and women outnumber men signifitly. As a result, ea had an abundance of unmarried daughters who couldn't marry non-shinobi. Every arranged marriage became a kind of war.

  The grooms' families were also under great pressure because choosing among so many options was overwhelming.

  Such matters were too plex to manage individually.

  Thus, arranged marriages between ninja s had bee a refined art. The s excelled at precisely identifying matches, perfectly bang family needs and personal preferences.

  In this regard, they were professionals.

  The Hōzuki sman thought his sister would actually be a good fit. Maybe he could arrange a dinner meeting ter.

  "Go collect all the keys. Don't leave a single one. Also, no one is allowed to approach this room while Masashi-sama is away. Viotors will be severely punished under rules. These are the elders' orders." The Hōzuki sman instructed his subordihen turned baasashi enthusiastically. "Masashi-sama, please follow me."

  "Thank you for the trouble."

  Following the Hōzuki sman, Masashi wound his way through the halls aered a small room.

  The room wasn't big, and the lighting was dim. Luxurious animal pelts were nailed across the walls and ceiling, yered thickly on the floor like the most expensive carpet, soft like a bed. There wasn't much furniture—just a round table in the ter, with a few people already seated.

  "Masashi, you're here." Ketsuki waved from his seat with a grin. "I apologize for disturbing you so te, but time is tight, and we must discuss this."

  "Ketsuki-sama, staying up te is bad for your health." Masashi walked over and sat in a chair. "Isn't Shisui here again this time?"

  "Your brother seems quite servative and likely wouldn't want to join our pn. So this time, we didn't invite him."

  "Oh? I've already taken care of that. Shisui will act with me. In that case, please notify him to join us."

  Ketsuki's eyes brightened. He turo the Hōzuki sman at the door.

  "Quickly, ihe Teleporter over as well."

  After the sman hurried off, Ketsuki turned back, smiling. "The Mizukage—no, Yagura—has firmed the final version of the agreement. This agreement was orchestrated by your sman, aiming to sabotage the renewal aroy retioween Kiri and Konoha. We've all agreed that we'll expose your sman's identity."

  "Arrest him on the spot?" Masashi rubbed his , as if deep in thought. "At su occasion, Kiri's higher-ups will all be there, right?"

  "Yes, even that old man Genji will be there, along with the current iors of the Seven Ninja Swords. With you and Shisui, even if the enemy trols Yagura, they won't stand a ce. Of course, I personally reend that you kill the traitor on the spot."

  Kill him?

  Masashi shook his head. Seeisuki's puzzled expression, he said, "Every has its rules. A traitor to the Uchiha must be judged at a meeting."

  "The Uchiha 's discipline is truly admirable," Ketsuki sighed with a hint of envy. Their younger geion was unruly and often disobedient.

  "The's finalize the pn when Shisui arrives. What do you say?"

  "Of course. The sooner we finalize it, the sooner we prepare. Just ohing." Masashi said, "Although he's a traitor, this is an internal matter for the Uchiha . It's not appropriate for others to take a. I hope you uand."

  "Absolutely. Rest assured. We will only deal with Yagura and the others."

  Masashi nodded, looking satisfied. They're beyond saving. Arrogant to this extent, this is really doomed.