As Kuzi Endo prepared to retrieve Haru with his outcast group, known as "The Shadow Organization"—or, as some preferred to call it, "The Yami Organization"—he is their leader.
Beneath the fractured ruins of the Yami clan's oldest temple, the air stood still—thick with dust, decay, and silence. Hidden beneath a labyrinth of forgotten tombs, Ryu finally found what she had sought for years.
The archive chamber had been untouched by time. Walls inscribed with decaying glyphs circled an obsidian altar in the center, where a sphere of faint, flickering light hovered like a dying star.
With a wave of her hand, Ryu released a soft stream of light-infused chakra. The protective seal around the altar trembled, then cracked apart with a low hiss. The orb rose, shivering with pent-up memory.
Kimikage watched cautiously. Katakuichi stood behind him, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
Ryu extended her palm toward the orb. It pulsed once—then erupted with holographic projections, dozens of fragmented records and images dancing around them. Screams echoed faintly through the chamber. Faces twisted in agony. Reports scrolled like cursed scrolls.
Subject: Karou Zetsu
Rank: Elite Shadow Wielder
Cause of Death: Unstable chakra rupture following fatal wound
Resurrected 18 hours later—possessed. Classified as "Shadow Demon." Neutralized after 23 civilian casualties.
Kimikage felt a chill run down his spine.
Ryu didn't flinch.
"You wanted to know why I left," she said quietly. "This is why."
She turned slowly, her eyes heavy.
"I watched the clan kill their own to bury these secrets. Our clan—your clan—was corrupted beyond saving."What they protected so fiercely was nothing but a cycle of corruption."
Kimikage's voice broke through the rising dread. "Sensei Shidou... What about him?"
Ryu hesitated.
"There was no grave," she said softly. "No shrine, no memorial. His body was never recovered. And now we know why."
Kimikage's eyes widened.
"They took him," Ryu continued. "Used him. He was strong—even in death, his shadow chakra lingered. Someone is using him now... guiding others into darkness."
Katakuichi exhaled sharply. "So what happens? Everyone who uses shadow style dies and turns into some kind of monster?"
"No," Ryu said. "Only the ones who lose balance. Shadow style is unique. When it clings too long, it mutates. It festers. Even in death, it doesn't fade—it consumes."
She looked at him.
"I didn't just leave. I defected. Because I saw what was coming. I saw what it was doing to us."
Katakuichi's hands shook. "That doesn't excuse what you did."
His voice cracked. "You killed them. Our parents. You left me alone. You left me in hell."
Tears welled in his eyes. His composure shattered.
"All I ever wanted was a family. And all you gave me was pain!"
He dropped to his knees, sobbing. Kimikage remained still, stunned by the rawness of it all.
He dropped to his knees, sobbing. Kimikage remained still, stunned by the rawness of it all.
Ryu knelt beside her brother and placed a hand over his heart.
"You don't have to forgive me," she whispered. "But listen to me. Please."
She wiped a tear from his face.
"Our parents were not heroes. They were preparing to unleash the Shadow King. They were hunting relics to resurrect him—to tear down the balance between light and shadow. I stopped them before they could finish."
Katakuichi looked up at her with burning eyes.
Ryu continued, "Before I struck them down, they made me swear to protect you. They saw something in you—a purity. Your shadow style... it's untainted. You're the only one we've ever known who can use shadow style without corruption."
"They trained you so harshly because they feared what you might become—or what others might do to you. You were their hope. Their redemption."
"I'm... incorruptible? That's why Father wanted me to surpass Gaki?"
Ryu nodded.
Far beyond the temple ruins, fire lit the skies over the Yami region.
Masaki and Akashi fought their way through smoke and steel, battling rogue Yami loyalists under moonlight. Rika the mute bladesmith fought beside them, her sword flashing like starlight, and Toma—once a holy soldier, now a heretic—guarded their flank.
The sky above the Yami forest was blackened—not by night, but by smoke. Flames raged like serpents through the trees, crackling with a heat that warped the air. Animals fled. Shadows danced in the firelight. The once-holy grove near the outskirts of the Yami village was now an inferno.
Two figures stood at the edge of the blaze.
Toma adjusted the grip on his scorched halberd, his ash-streaked face stoic. Beside him, Rika, the mute bladesmith, wiped soot from the edge of her twin katanas. Her expression, unreadable as always, flicked toward the distant treetops where movement stirred.
Toma exhaled sharply, eyes narrowing. "Looks like the old men took the bait."
From above, the flutter of cloaks. Two figures descended through the smoke: Master Akashi, calm but alert, his violet eyes scanning the destruction; and Masaki, firelight glinting off the knuckles of his armored gloves.
Masaki landed with force, cracking a stone beneath his boot. "You think fire's going to make us run?"
Toma grinned. "Nah. Fire's just the drumroll. The real performance's about to begin."
Akashi's eyes fell on Rika. "So, the silent one joins the arsonist. Sad. You once forged blades for protectors. Now you forge chaos."
Rika said nothing. But her swords flashed from their sheaths in answer, glinting crimson in the light of the burning woods.
Masaki stepped forward. "This distraction… it was never just about the fire, was it?"
Toma raised his halberd, swirling it in one practiced arc. "Nope. It's about keeping you two here—while our boss moves forward."
Above it all, smoke rose to the heavens—silent witness to the scheme unfolding in the shadows.
But high above them, on a jagged cliff overlooking the battlefield, a lone figure watched.
Kuzi Endo and his group pressed forward, while others distracted the strongest members of the Yami clan. Some were off duty, suspicious of the Yami clan's intentions regarding their comrades, Kimikage and Katakuichi, who had grown close to them.
Kuzi Endo. Cloaked in shifting shadows, his breath calm.
The wind caught his coat as he turned to the band of outcasts gathered behind him.
"This village," he muttered, "was a graveyard long before it fell."
One by one, they spoke.
"My mother broke my ribs for talking back," said one.
"My father never once looked me in the eye," said another.
"I miss my aunt," whispered the third. "She told me I mattered."
Kuzi smiled faintly.
"They built us to be weapons," he said. "But they never expected us to fight back."
He drew a dagger and pointed south, toward the gates of the Mitsuki sanctuary.
Standing resolute, Kuzi Endo set out to find Haru, his outcasts following closely behind. Master Akashi and Masaki remained engaged with the strongest outcasts.
"It's time," he said. "Haru is waiting."
At the Mitsuki Clan sanctuary, peace was brief.
Kimikage and Katakuichi stood before the elders of the clan, while Ryu—now stripped of her Yami powers—knelt beside them. Her chakra was different now. Light. Whole.
An elder stepped forward. "You carry both Yami and Mitsuki blood," he told Kimikage. "And you," he said to Katakuichi, "are the first uncorruptible shadow bearer in generations. You are balance."
Kimikage stepped forward.
"My parents... who were they?"
The elder's face grew solemn.
"We knew them. But that story must wait."
The ground trembled. Shouts echoed from outside.
Yami shinobi burst through the sanctuary gates, weapons drawn.
"Step away from them!" one barked. "You're using them as hostages, aren't you?!"
Kimikage raised his hands. "We're not hostages. Please, listen—"
"You expect us to believe that?! Did you find the relic or not?!"
"It was taken," Kimikage said. "By a masked man. He called himself... Kaji."
The name dropped like a stone in still water.
"Kaji..." one shinobi whispered. "That name... it's not new."
The Yami ninjas, confused about the masked man's identity, escaped from the Mitsuki clan. Ryu and the Mitsuki clan wouldn't have time to reveal Kimikage's true parentage or join their cause just yet.
Cutting back to Kuzi Endo, he was in his masked form, searching for Haru. The villagers attacked, but he dispatched them swiftly, feeling remorse for the lives he took. "Don't worry," he murmured. "Once Chernobog awakens, we shall all be free of this suffering."
An outcast approached, breathless. "Boss, got some good news!"
"Spill it," Kuzi Endo urged.
Anko replied, "Apparently, the child is in the Yami village to the southeast, and they've collected ten shadow relics so far."
"Good," Kuzi Endo said, a smirk forming. "Ten shadow relics and the vessel for Chernobog right at our hands. Everyone, I have an idea. Bear with me and listen."
As they approached the Shadow Organization, Kuzi Endo teleported using his shadow powers to the southeast of the Yami village, while the rest fought off the Yami members, following him closely.
The Yami ninjas engaged in battle with Kimikage and Katakuichi, who were still unsure of their intentions. Katakuichi summoned a large shadow demon, while Kimikage conjured a shadow companion, a technique he had learned during his time alone before training with Sensei Shidou.
The Mitsuki clan followed closely, determined to bring Kimikage and Katakuichi back to their side, as they were key to defeating the Yami clan.
Kuzi Endo arrived at the southeast and encountered Gaki. "Well, well, well, look who it is—the mysterious Shadow Organization. Let me guess, you're Kaji, the one Shidou once heard about from his students, correct?"
"Far off, as usual," Kuzi Endo replied. "I'm assuming the child is in this castle you're guarding?"
"And why would I tell you that?" Gaki challenged.
"Oh, let's get this over with," Kuzi Endo said, springing toward Gaki. Gaki charged at him, but Kuzi Endo summoned a thousand shadow clones to distract him, darting off toward the castle.
Gaki, thinking this was one of Sensei Shidou's techniques, handled the shadow clones with ease. "What are you laughing about?" he shouted, trying to punch Kuzi Endo, but his fist passed through him.
Kuzi Endo grinned to himself. "Father, I told you I would surpass Gaki, and I did. Hahaha!"
Gaki, surprised, realized they shared the same techniques. "What are you?" he demanded, baffled.
Kuzi Endo burst into the castle, urgency driving his every step. Summoning his soul-finding shadow companion, he sent it forth to seek Haru's precise location. As the spectral entity glided silently through the corridors, Kuzi engaged Gaki in fierce combat. Yet Gaki's strikes passed through Kuzi as if he were intangible.
A flicker of doubt crossed Gaki's mind. "Is this what I've mastered? Could he be the strongest here?"
Simultaneously, both warriors unleashed their signature technique—"Void Pulse." The simultaneous clash stunned Gaki; the realization sank in that their abilities were identical. Bewildered, he pondered aloud, "Has someone finally surpassed me?"
As they fought, they drew closer to Haru's location. However, Kuzi's chakra began to deplete. Reaching the exact spot, he gathered the shadow relics and tossed them to his waiting comrades. Just as his chakra waned, he whispered, "Well, Sensei, can you even protect your students?
He vanished like a wisp of smoke, revealing that it was merely his dominant shadow clone. He remained at his base camp, unwilling to risk everything just yet.
The battle's tide began to shift
From the shadows beyond the castle walls, Kuzi's comrades silently emerged, each clutching ancient cursed artifacts—dark relics imbued with potent anti-shadow magic, forged in secret by exiled mystics seeking to level the treacherous shadow powers wielded by the Yami clan.
With practiced precision, they chanted incantations, and the cursed relics pulsed with an eerie, pale light. Tendrils of spectral energy snaked out, converging toward their primary target—Sensei Gaki.
Gaki's eyes narrowed as the cursed energy fast approached. He lunged to intercept, but the relics' magic moved faster than any shadow technique could evade.
When the cursed energy enveloped him, a sharp, agonizing roar echoed through the air. The shadow chakra that had long been the source of Gaki's strength began to unravel, flickering like a dying flame. His control slipped as his shadow style powers waned, flickering in and out before fading into nothingness.
Gaki struggled desperately against the intangible void swallowing his power.
Kuzi Endo, monitoring from afar, allowed himself a rare smirk. "This is only the beginning... Without his shadow style, Gaki will be vulnerable. It's time to reclaim what's rightfully ours."
But just as victory seemed within reach, a chilling realization struck Kuzi. "Where is Haru?" he demanded, scanning the chaos around him with his shadow clones.
A sudden commotion erupted from the castle's depths. The Yami clan had taken Haru, the vessel of Chernobog, and retreated into the shadows, their intentions shrouded in darkness.
Kuzi Endo's shadow clone stepped forward, its voice commanding as it addressed the outcasts.
"No," it said firmly, eyes gleaming with shadowlight. "They're not taking Haru. We bring him back—whatever it takes. That's an order."
Though only a clone, the authority in its tone was unmistakable—Kuzi Endo's was speaking through it from the safety of the base camp.
The air grew thick with anticipation. With Gaki weakened but still defiant, Kuzi's group prepared to press their advantage, knowing that the battle was far from over. The stakes had risen dramatically; not only did they need to confront Gaki, but they also had to rescue Haru before it was too late.
Despite the urgency of the situation, a sense of relief washed over Kuzi and his comrades. They had successfully gathered 15 shadow relics—just five more to go before they could fully harness their power for Chernobog.