Naruto: Under the Banner of the Clans

In a dark corridor of the base, two cultivators in black robes walked leisurely, half-patrolling, half-chatting.

Their noisy footsteps echoed in the darkness.

A pendant shaped like a raven was visible on each of their necks.

Amid their laughter and joy, they failed to notice the young boy silently walking on the ceiling above them.

His blood-red eyes observed them with a coldness that could paralyze a bear.

Moving closer, Chikara, whose hands glowed with blue chakra shaped like blades, quietly followed them with his gaze, waiting for them to pass beneath him.

The moment the two cultivators stepped under Chikara, he dropped down, slashing their throats and landing silently on the ground.

As he continued on his way, the bodies of the two cultivators fell lifelessly to the ground, their blood gushing like a fountain.

Sadness and rage mixed on Chikara's face. If only he had unlocked his Sharingan a moment earlier. Perhaps he could have saved Xue Lian...

He knew he couldn't defeat the cultivators who had captured them; his only chance lay in speed and stealth.

Walking resolutely toward the place where Xue Lian had been taken, Chikara encountered a few guards here and there.

The training from his clan proved vital in these moments. The art of the ninja.

The one who struck first had half-won the battle.

As another body fell before him, Chikara no longer resembled the foolishly smiling boy of old. His outfit and face were stained with blood. His eyes had transformed into a one-tomoe Sharingan.

Passing through the door leading to the room where Xue Lian had been taken, he saw a man in a black robe grinning broadly as he held a completely red pill emanating powerful energy.

"Excellent! It's a success!" laughed the man in front of Chikara. Turning his gaze to him, the man displayed the pill in his hand and smiled even wider. "Are you ready? Ready to become a pill yourself? Hehehe!"

"You bastard!" Rushing toward him, Chikara thought of nothing but killing him with his own hands.

Drawing his sword, the man cracked his joints, producing loud sounds throughout the room. A Bone Strengthening level cultivator. "Let yourself become my precious pill! With you and a few of your friends, I'll finally break through!"

"Die!" Fueled by hatred, Chikara poured all his chakra into his eyes. "Sharingan!"

Locking eyes with the young boy, the man froze in place, watching as the ground beneath him cracked and hands emerged, clawing their way up from the grave.

He recognized some of the faces—children who had died at his hands to become his precious pills.

"What's happening?!" Feeling the hands grabbing his robe and legs, he lost his footing and swung wildly. Only when he lowered his arm did he realize he no longer held his sword.

Nor his right hand, for that matter...

"AAAAAHHHH!!!" Screaming in pain and fear, he saw his sword in the hand of the boy with red eyes.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Summoning six more clones of himself, Chikara was determined to unleash all his fury.

Over the past two months, the ninja group had evidently also mastered the Multi-Shadow Clone technique. Although the maximum number of clones he could create was far fewer than Akeno's, it remained an invaluable technique.

Each holding a replicated sword created by the cloning technique, they approached the man who seemed unable to move.

In Chikara's eyes, nothing could stop him. But to the man, it was as if hundreds of zombies pinned him down, a mountain of corpses staring at him with wide grins.

Their eyes rolled back, missing teeth, dirt-covered bodies, decaying flesh, exposed bones in some places, and missing parts in others—the man, who should have possessed twenty times the strength of a human without cultivation, seemed paralyzed in the face of his old demons.

Muttering under his breath, the man tried to reassure himself. "This isn't real... you're dead... I KILLED YOU!" He was interrupted by the pain of being pierced in seven places at once.

Left thigh,

Right thigh,

Left shoulder,

Right shoulder,

Stomach,

Kidneys,

And finally, lungs.

Losing all strength in his limbs, the man collapsed to the floor, still alive but bleeding out. "Please... help me..."

Circling him with his clones, Chikara stared at him with hatred and disgust, tears streaming down his face. His rage was overflowing and unsated.

"...Please."

...

Meanwhile, outside, a group of men in black robes and hoods opened the hatch leading to the base and descended.

Moments later, a hundred clones approached the hatch without opening it, waiting silently.

ILLUSTRATION

Mo Tian's group, walking more calmly than before, passed by the kidnapped children.

Without a word, Mo Tian didn't stop and headed directly toward a room at the back of the underground base.

What he didn't notice in the narrow, dark corridors was that at the end of the line, two individuals broke away from the group, staying behind with the tied-up and unguarded children.

While one kept watch on the surrounding passages, the other moved quietly toward Kaede and Maiko.

This base was far larger than it appeared, composed of hundreds of galleries dug directly into the earth.

"Kaede, Maiko, are you okay?" he whispered.

Startled by being addressed, Kaede and Maiko raised their heads to see the face of a stranger wearing the same outfit as their captors.

A moment later, Kaede's expression lit up with joy. "Akeno!"

"Yes. I see I can't hide from the Uzumaki heiress," Akeno said, focusing on the children's bindings.

"Big brother, we can't undo our seals or use our cultivation!" Maiko whispered urgently, visibly relieved nonetheless.

"They must have used some kind of spell or something like that," Akeno replied. "I just hope it's not a worm..."

Being only a clone, he had no Qi in his body; all he could do was probe the children's bodies with the little chakra he had left.

As soon as the chakra entered Kaede's body, she suffered violent coughing and spasms. Vomiting a black and yellow substance, she felt a release within her body.

Attempting to unlock her chakra seal or use her Qi, she encountered no issues. "It works!" she exclaimed joyfully.

"Shh! Keep it down."

Freeing all the children, Akeno returned to Kaede and Maiko. "Where is Chikara?"

Akeno tried to remain calm despite the stress and fear. The Multi-Shadow Clone technique was an incredible advantage in this situation.

If it were Akeno's real body there, the fear of being caught or killed would have prevented him from doing many things, such as walking calmly into the enemy base.

That was the power of clones.

Found me? Watch me disappear.

Slit my throat? I'll be back.

Clones were unkillable and impossible to imprison. They could be sent on reconnaissance missions or to eliminate a target without endangering the user.

It was perfect for Akeno, who wasn't used to venturing alone into a base where everyone wanted to kill him and turn him into a pill.

"A man took him with Xue Lian..." Kaede said dejectedly. She hadn't been able to protect her friend before her.

"Alright, I'll find him. You must leave immediately," Akeno said. "Follow the other clone; it will lead you to the exit."

"No, I want to go with you!"

"No! End of discussion! I'm just a clone, unable to defend you if the situation demands it. It's far too dangerous, and we still don't know where the mayor is," Akeno replied firmly.

Understanding reluctantly, Kaede stopped arguing, accepting with a heavy heart. She wasn't strong enough yet to fight alongside him...

On his side, Akeno's clone let the children follow his other clone and ventured deeper into the passage Kaede and Maiko had indicated.

Walking as silently as possible, still disguised as the man he had killed, Akeno searched the rooms along the corridor.

After a few minutes, he stumbled upon the bodies of two guards in a pool of blood.

Approaching the bodies, he saw their throats had been cleanly slashed.

"Chikara..."

Now rushing through the passage, Akeno found a door wide open, from which a strong smell of blood emanated.

Entering the room, he saw the body of an old man in a black robe pierced in several places, dead in a pool of his own blood.

Around him were several bloody footprints and a sword dragged along the ground.

Turning his gaze in another direction, Akeno saw Chikara standing with his back to him, staring into a large, still-smoking cauldron.

"Chikara?" Moving cautiously behind him, Akeno began to see inside the cauldron and the skeleton lying within, frozen in a position of pain and fear.

"She's dead... and I did nothing..." Chikara said apathetically. "I heard her screams... her cries for help..."

Faced with Chikara's tears, Akeno stood speechless, his mind blank, unsure how to comfort his younger brother...

"Aaaaaaaaaa!!"