Land of Water.
A black-clad figure wearing a fox mask moved through the night, eventually stopping before a small village.
Kurogane Ren looked at the settlement ahead. If the map wasn't wrong, this was the territory of the Kaguya Clan within the Land of Water.
What surprised him slightly was that despite being such a tiny village, there were still night guards.
"Who are you?!"
The leading Kaguya clansman glared fiercely, dark circles under his eyes, his hair tied in a bizarre style that made him look mentally unstable.
In truth, that wasn't far from reality. The Kaguya Clan, also known as the Bamboo-Taking Clan, indeed had psychological issues.
They could be considered the most deranged and bloodthirsty clan in the entire ninja world.
Every member of the Kaguya Clan had an eccentric personality, but they all shared one trait: an obsession with combat and killing, as if nothing else in life held any meaning. It was only through battle that they seemed to find purpose.
Their madness once drove them to launch a night raid against Kirigakure—a village backed by a great nation—with nothing but their clan's strength, simply to prove how terrifying they were.
Their eventual annihilation could only be called self-inflicted.
"I'm a ninja who enjoys collecting rare and peculiar things. I heard there's someone here who can manipulate bones. Would you mind handing him over to me?" Kurogane Ren said in a deliberately androgynous voice.
"No!" The Kaguya clansman's eyes widened as he roared like thunder. "That little monster belongs to us!"
Before he even finished speaking, he could no longer hold himself back and threw a punch at Kurogane Ren. The fact that he had spoken so many words already seemed to be his limit.
At that moment, he imagined Kurogane Ren being torn apart by his strike, a cruel grin spreading across his face.
Kurogane Ren paused for a moment, not expecting an immediate attack. Truly, a clan of lunatics.
Since the other party had already made a move, he didn't hold back either. He threw a punch of his own, chakra precisely concentrated within it.
Boom!
The Kaguya clansman's smile hadn't even fully faded before he was blasted away like a cannonball, crashing through multiple houses before finally stopping.
By then, his body was no longer recognizable—dead beyond doubt.
This was monstrous strength.
Kurogane Ren wasn't sure if his version differed from Tsunade's, but the principle was the same: concentrating chakra into a single point of the body to unleash power far beyond natural physical limits.
Of course, after months of training, his physical strength wasn't weak either. Unfortunately, his talent in pure taijutsu seemed lacking. While training had its effects, techniques like the Front Lotus felt awkward for him to use.
Pure taijutsu simply didn't suit him as well as nin-taijutsu.
Seeing their companion killed with a single punch, the other Kaguya clansmen showed no fear, nor any regret. Their faces still bore those eerie smiles.
They were excited.
Excited that they could fight again.
Watching this scene, as more Kaguya clansmen emerged from the houses, Kurogane Ren shrugged helplessly.
"What a pity. I'm actually a ninja who prefers peace. I don't like fighting and killing."
No one responded. Wearing those unsettling smiles, they charged at him.
"In that case, let's test it out. I happen to have some ninjutsu I want to experiment with." Kurogane Ren formed hand seals, and a massive surge of purple chakra burst out behind him.
"Peacock Mystical Method: Tiger Hunt!"
The enormous, tangible purple chakra began to take shape, forming a giant tiger crouching above him. It let out a roar that struck like a wave of sound.
The roar caused the charging Kaguya clansmen to falter, and for the first time, expressions of pain appeared on their faces. It was the first time Kurogane Ren had seen anything other than their twisted smiles.
Rare… truly rare.
With another roar, the tiger pounced into the crowd like a beast among sheep, unleashing slaughter and bloodshed.
Throughout it all, Kurogane Ren remained still. He had yet to figure out how to maintain the Peacock Mystical Method while moving, let alone combining it with other ninjutsu.
This flaw hadn't been overcome, but using the technique occasionally was still viable.
The feeling it gave him was heaviness—chakra had weight, especially when condensed into a tangible form.
In the original story, there were countless remarks about how Uzumaki Naruto, after sprouting four tails, could still move despite possessing such immense, tangible chakra.
Even Orochimaru, when facing Naruto's Tailed Beast Bomb in that state, hadn't expected chakra of that density to be launched, and was struck directly because of it.
Similarly, the incomplete Wind Release: Rasenshuriken was another massive chakra construct, unbearably heavy.
When Naruto threw it in the original story, even the Toad Sage marveled at how he could hurl such dense, rapidly spinning chakra. It was an incredibly difficult feat.
At present, Kurogane Ren found it hard enough just to hold it, let alone throw it.
Even if he could throw it, the speed would be far too slow to hit anyone.
So he understood—when the technique was incomplete, throwing it required a Sage Mode-enhanced body. Naruto had only overcome that limitation after gaining immense physical strength.
Kurogane Ren could only hope that once he perfected the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, the conditions for throwing it would be less demanding.
For now, he continued using Tiger Hunt to massacre the Kaguya clansmen. Before it, they were utterly powerless—gutted in one strike, torn apart in the next.
Yet they showed no fear of death. They didn't hesitate at the sight of their comrades falling. Instead, they shouted about showing the terror of the Kaguya Clan and charged recklessly into the slaughter.
Truly, worthy of the Kaguya Clan.
Kurogane Ren clicked his tongue. That such a clan had survived this long was nothing short of a miracle.
Gradually, blood covered the ground, and mutilated corpses lay scattered everywhere.
At that moment, they seemed to notice Kurogane Ren standing motionless behind the tiger and began rushing toward him.
Kurogane Ren let out a sigh. Even a clan as deranged as the Kaguya could spot this weakness.
It seemed that until he figured out how to move while using the Peacock Mystical Method, he couldn't afford to use it carelessly.