Tamura Hao didn't know what was happening in Konoha. After returning to the Hidden Cloud Village with the fleet, he once again transformed into the appearance of Yeyue Ai, son of the Raikage, and roamed through various critical departments, carefully sensing those harboring malevolent intentions.
Regardless of rank, justification, or origin—anyone with signs of malice would be tagged and monitored by Tutai.
Soon, he arrived at the research department, where several individuals exhibited hostile thoughts toward Yeyue Ai, while others harbored cryptic ambitions.
"What's going on?" Hao asked.
Seeing Hao emerge from a laboratory, Tutai's expression immediately turned serious.
"There's something wrong with the man leading the chakra cannon project," Hao said solemnly. "Both the mini-Ten-Tails and Kaguya's phantom reacted to him… at the same time. That's never happened before."
This research lab was working on the chakra cannon—an experimental weapon that, in future timeline events, would become one of Kumogakure's responses to celestial threats like the Moon.
The project was still in its infancy. Only a skeletal framework of the cannon existed, and many technical hurdles remained.
Yeyue Ai and Fukai, who had followed using transformation jutsu, furrowed their brows. "Is he a spy too?"
"Are you certain?" Tutai asked, his voice low and grim.
"Absolutely. Pull him aside discreetly so I can sense him directly. There's something in him… something deeply wrong," Hao insisted. His curiosity was genuine. What kind of person could provoke simultaneous reactions from both the phantom of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki and the embryonic Ten-Tails?
"Wait until Dr. Oss finishes work. We'll intercept him on the road, knock him out, and bring him here. Say it was a spy attack. We can control the narrative," Dodai instructed after careful thought.
Fukai nodded, understanding immediately.
Tamura Hao resumed wandering the research division in Ai's guise. By nightfall, he followed Tutai into a concealed chamber. Fukai was already waiting inside with the unconscious Dr. Oss.
Hao stepped forward and linked his chakra to both the Little Ten-Tails and the dormant will of Kaguya in his sealed mental realm, channeling the connection toward the researcher.
His brow furrowed as his attention honed in on the man's brain.
He gently placed a palm on Oss's forehead, feeding chakra into the man's consciousness. Then, he saw it—faint but unmistakable.
A curse mark, deeply embedded in neural tissue.
Extremely well hidden.
And terrifyingly familiar.
"Ōtsutsuki Isshiki," Hao muttered, voice heavy.
There was no doubt. The chakra signature was the same as the residual imprint Isshiki had left when Hao had previously come into indirect contact with his essence. Hao had sensed it numerous times—this was identical.
"There's a highly refined chakra curse seal in the depths of his brain. It's stronger in quality than even the Nine-Tails," Hao explained gravely, withdrawing his hand.
He didn't tamper with the seal. That level of control was beyond him, and besides, it was enough to know that Dr. Oss had been marked by Isshiki's power.
In the Boruto timeline, Isshiki was revealed as the true mastermind behind the Kara organization—a clandestine group with agents embedded across the shinobi world, including among the Five Great Nations. These external members—the "Outers"—oversaw key technology development and surveillance.
It made perfect sense that such a person would be embedded in the Hidden Cloud Village's advanced weapons program.
"A curse seal more refined than the Nine-Tails' chakra?" Tutai's face darkened, as did Fukai's and Ai's.
It was an impossibility for a Cloud shinobi to wield chakra of that quality. And they certainly wouldn't use such power to brand their own with a curse.
So who was the hidden puppeteer?
How many had already been marked?
"I'll report this to the Third Raikage myself. No one else hears about this. No signs of disturbance or suspicion," Tutai said after deliberation.
War was already looming. Opening another front against a cosmic-tier enemy like Isshiki would be suicidal.
Hao and the others nodded silently and left.
Let Dodai and the Raikage handle what came next.
"There are too many shadows hidden in this world," Fukai muttered as they exited the Raikage Building.
"The only chakra I know of that rivals or surpasses the Nine-Tails… belongs to two legends of Konoha," Ai murmured, implying the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha.
"It's not the same," Hao corrected. "It's purer. Not like Uchiha's eye-based chakra or Senju's life force. It's alien."
"…Even worse," Ai groaned. This wasn't an old enemy—they were up against something unprecedented.
"Don't overthink it. They're still in hiding. That means they don't want exposure yet. We'll be fine in the short term," Hao said calmly.
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki's objective was to find a perfect vessel—a "karma" compatible body. Kawaki hadn't even been born yet. His father, perhaps not even conceived.
Without a host, Isshiki wouldn't act openly or risk the exposure of the Kara shell organization.
"But someday, we'll clash," Ai said. Their dream was to unify the world. The hidden powers of the old era wouldn't allow that.
Thinking about chakra stronger than even the tailed beasts gave him a headache. Whoever wielded that level of power had to be close to Hashirama's level—or worse.
"That's a worry for tomorrow. Besides, when the sky falls, it's the tallest that catch it. We're not even the tallest in the Cloud Village yet," Hao teased.
"I'm going to train!" Ai declared and stormed off, fists clenched.
Fukai also left to resume his training regimen. Being selected to share the Raikage's medicinal baths showed how much faith their leader had in them.
The three were the pillars of Kumogakure's future.
Of course, Hao's chakra ceiling limited his combat potential, but Fukai and Ai had no such constraints. The real burden of protecting the village would fall on them.
Hao, however, didn't return home just yet. Instead, he bought flowers, fresh fruit, and a bowl of eight-treasure porridge, then made his way to the hospital.
"Karura-san, feeling better today?" he asked softly as he entered a private ward, setting down the food.
The room filled with the warm aroma of porridge.
Karura lay silent, her body wrapped in thick bandages. Only a single eye, her nose, and her mouth were exposed.
They'd found her barely alive in the ruins of Uzushiogakure. Both legs blown off, third-degree burns covering most of her body. But she was breathing—so they had saved her.
Now, her remaining eye was lifeless.
She knew.
Her beauty, her pride, her future—it was all gone.
Even if she healed, what would remain?
Just a disfigured husk.
A shattered woman.
Her heart had died in that village.