Chapter 44 — Ignition: An Armed Coup
"Clan Head, we've confirmed it. There are no longer any ANBU watching the perimeter."
The reporting clansman spoke through clenched teeth, barely containing his fury.
"But these traces—there's no mistake. They're fresh. Less than two days old."
He slammed a strip of bark onto the table.
"Ice Release. It's the Yuki clan. Those bastards are still spying on us from the shadows."
Kaguya Naoto remained silent.
The rage in his chest churned no less violently.
He picked up the bark. The biting cold had already dissipated, yet the frost damage remained—an unmistakable scar left by Ice Release chakra.
In truth, this development made Namikaze Yami sigh in quiet exasperation.
He had begun laying down those Ice Release traces four or five days ago. He'd expected a handful to draw attention—but the Kaguya clan's observational dullness was borderline astounding.
In the end, he'd been forced to increase the frequency just to get noticed.
"Ice Release… the Yuki clan."
Naoto muttered the words, cold light flickering in his eyes.
He summoned the elders at once and presented the evidence.
"On the surface, the Mizukage withdraws surveillance. In secret, he sends the Yuki clan to keep watch."
"What level of humiliation is this?"
The elders erupted in fury, shouting demands to storm the Mizukage Tower and demand answers.
"Protest?" Naoto cut in sharply.
"That kind of hollow gesture does nothing but advertise our weakness."
He suppressed their anger with a raised hand, sweeping his gaze across the room—his voice rising, heavy with resentment.
"If the village has already decided to treat us this way, then every meek response is nothing but a defeated dog's whimper."
His fist clenched. Bone joints creaked audibly.
"If the Mizukage insists on guarding against us… then we will make him lower his guard."
"And wait."
That night, Naoto finalized his decision.
On the surface, the Kaguya clan sent elders to the Mizukage Tower—offering a restrained, almost conciliatory protest. Their tone was markedly softer than before, even carrying hints of compromise.
To outsiders, it looked like surrender.
As though the Kaguya clan had finally bowed their heads—so beaten down they could do no more than lodge symbolic complaints.
In secret, however, the entire clan retreated like a wounded beast.
They curled inward.
Licked their wounds.
Sharpened their claws.
The calm that followed was nothing more than the stillness before a volcanic eruption.
They were waiting—for the moment of detonation.
Ironically, the Mizukage himself was utterly confused.
He had withdrawn most targeted surveillance, leaving only routine patrols.
From his perspective, the Kaguya clan was simply pushing their luck after his earlier concession.
Assigning the Yuki clan—another major bloodline family—to monitor the Kaguya would be tantamount to trampling their dignity outright.
He had no intention of provoking internal conflict.
In his eyes, these accusations were nothing more than excuses—manufactured outrage from a clan looking for leverage.
He had no idea that the fuse had already been lit.
And that the explosion was no longer a question of if—
—but when.
Internal investigations further confirmed that no Ice Release ninja from the Yuki clan had recently left the village on missions, reinforcing the Mizukage's belief that the accusations were nothing more than paranoia.
Watching all of this unfold from the shadows, Namikaze Yami couldn't help but reassess Kaguya Naoto.
The man's restraint impressed him.
At this point, the Kaguya clan was like compressed gunpowder—all it needed was a single spark to explode.
Yami was just considering whether to play another card and accelerate the detonation—
when fate handed him the perfect opportunity.
Several days later, on what appeared to be a calm, ordinary morning.
Kaguya spies embedded within the Mizukage Tower detected abnormal movements.
Large numbers of elite Mist ninja—including many ANBU—were being urgently redeployed.
Though the orders themselves were tightly sealed, the thinning of guards around the Mizukage Tower was impossible to miss.
"Clan Head!"
An elder burst into the chamber, barely containing his excitement.
"Village elites have been mobilized en masse. According to our intelligence, security around the Mizukage Tower is less than half its usual strength!"
Ambition burned fiercely in his eyes.
Kaguya Naoto sprang to his feet. The emotions he'd suppressed for so long finally erupted.
"A gift from the heavens!" he roared.
"The Third Mizukage tried to exclude us from the core of power—yet in doing so, he left us with our full strength intact!"
"This is your own grave you've dug!"
He wasted no time.
"Mobilize every clansman capable of battle!"
"Target: the Mizukage Tower!"
"Today, the Kaguya clan ascends to the seat of Mizukage!"
"OOOOH!!!"
The clan's long-repressed fury exploded into a thunderous roar.
--
Kaguya warriors surged forth like demons clawing their way out of hell.
Bone spikes tore through flesh, grotesque and gleaming, as they followed Naoto and the elders out of the clan compound—charging straight toward the heart of the village.
Civilians fled in terror at the horrifying sight.
Scattered Mist ninja rushed to warn the tower.
The Kaguya clan did not slow.
In their eyes, there was only one thing left to see—
the building that symbolized supreme authority in Kirigakure.
High above, Namikaze Yami watched calmly.
The rebellion he had engineered unfolded exactly as intended.
The Kaguya advance was terrifyingly fast, smashing through resistance and reaching the plaza before the Mizukage Tower almost unopposed.
Too smooth.
A flicker of unease crossed Naoto's heart.
But ambition drowned it out.
Staring at the tower now within reach, a savage smile twisted his face—as if the Mizukage's throne were already his.
HUM—
A massive barrier, glowing blue, erupted from the plaza's perimeter—descending like an inverted bowl.
In an instant, every charging Kaguya warrior was sealed inside.
"A trap!" an elder screamed.
At the same moment, the Third Mizukage appeared atop the tower.
He gazed down at the trapped clan with cold detachment, killing intent radiating from him like frost.
"Kaguya Naoto."
"I gave your clan a chance."
"Since you refused it… today, I will cut away the rot—no matter how painful—and purge you completely."
As his words fell, the plaza's outer perimeter came alive.
The elite forces previously "redeployed" emerged from every direction.
Mist ANBU.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Prepared. Waiting.
Even more chilling—
Yuki clan Ice Release users stood among them, cold mist swirling around their bodies.
And there were members of the Hōzuki clan as well—masters of the Hydrification Technique, perfectly suited to counter the Kaguya clan's Dead Bone Pulse.
Only then did Naoto understand.
The Ice Release traces.
The conveniently weakened defenses.
The illusion of opportunity.
It had all been meticulously engineered.
Bait—designed to force the Kaguya clan into open rebellion.
His eyes split wide with rage as bone spines erupted even further across his body.
"Third Mizukage—!"
"You plotted against me!"
But there was no retreat left.
With the madness of a man who had already lost everything, Naoto launched himself toward the tower in a suicidal charge—
only to be intercepted by elite Mist ninja before he reached halfway.
The plaza became a blood-soaked abattoir.
Bone clashed against blades.
Ice Release detonated against skeletal techniques.
Roars, screams, explosions—layered into a single, endless cacophony.
Blood flooded the stone ground within moments.
From above, Namikaze Yami watched without emotion.
This—
was still far from the end of his design.