Chapter 132: A Game of Shadows

After Sasuke's departure, the other members of Hebi lingered for a short while before also retiring to their respective rooms, leaving Ren alone in the quiet chamber. He lay on the simple cot, eyes closed, but his mind was far from restful.

*If the timeline holds, Naruto and his team should have infiltrated the base by now,* he thought. *The play is about to begin. All I need to do is wait for my cue.*

He had almost drifted into a light doze when his eyes snapped open. A faint, almost imperceptible ripple of chakra—meticulously suppressed but unmistakable to his heightened senses—was approaching his door. A slow, predatory smile spread across his face. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveI-Fire.ɴet

*So, the little mouse has come to play,* Ren mused. *He thinks controlling his chakra makes him invisible? How amusing. He's marked me as a target. The audacity of youth.*

The "mouse" was, of course, Sai. Having encountered both Uchiha brothers, the Root operative had evidently decided to expand his mission parameters. Ren silently rose from the bed. With a quick hand seal, a log transformed into a perfect replica of himself, lying on the cot with its back to the door. The real Ren melted into the deep shadows in the corner of the room, his presence vanishing completely.

Minutes passed in silence. Then, the door creaked open a fraction. Sai slipped inside, his movements utterly silent. His eyes immediately locked onto the figure on the bed. Seeing his target seemingly asleep and vulnerable, Sai acted with cold efficiency.

He unrolled a blank scroll onto the floor, his brush flying across the paper. In moments, several sleek, ink-black serpents took form. He formed a hand seal. "Ninpō: Chōjū Giga!" (Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitation Drawing)

The painted snakes writhed to life, slithering off the parchment and across the floor towards the bed. They moved with an unnatural silence, coiling around the sleeping form, tightening their grip with sudden, brutal force.

The Ren on the bed jerked awake, a strangled gasp escaping his lips as the serpentine bonds constricted his throat. He struggled feebly, his limbs flailing, but the grip was too strong. His movements grew weaker, until finally, he fell still, his face frozen in a mask of suffocated agony.

Sai watched dispassionately from the doorway. *Target confirmed. Uchiha Ren, eliminated.* He allowed himself a thin, satisfactionless smile. He stepped forward, drawing a kunai to sever the head for proof of death.

"Is that so?"

The voice, cold and laced with amusement, came from directly behind him. Sai's blood ran cold. Before his combat-honed reflexes could even engage, he felt a searing, piercing agony in his back. The tip of a blade, glowing with a faint red heat, erupted from the center of his chest. He looked down in disbelief at the fiery steel protruding from his torso.

His eyes darted back to the bed. The "corpse" of Uchiha Ren began to blur, its features softening and its color shifting to the grain of wood. A simple substitution log.

*A… Wood Clone?* was Sai's last, coherent thought. Then, his own body lost cohesion, dissolving not into blood and flesh, but into a pool of viscous, black ink that spread across the floor.

Ren stood over the spreading ink stain, the Ryūkō Seiun held loosely in his hand. "Tch. An ink clone. How predictable. The real one must be with Sasuke." He wiped the blade clean on the edge of the cot and sheathed it.

The door burst open moments later. Suigetsu, Karin, and Jūgo rushed in, weapons drawn, alerted by the subtle chakra fluctuations of the dispelled clones.

"Boss! What happened?" Suigetsu demanded, his eyes scanning the room.

"Nothing of consequence," Ren replied casually. "Just a minor interruption to my nap. A pest."

Karin's sharp eyes fell on the pool of ink. "This chakra residue... it's a clone technique. Were you attacked?"

"Attacked?!" Suigetsu exclaimed, his grip tightening on the Kubikiribōchō.

"A feeble attempt," Ren said, his gaze sweeping over them, lingering pointedly on Suigetsu and Jūgo. "Your vigilance, however, is lacking. It took you far too long to respond."

Before they could offer a defense, a tremendous **BOOM** echoed through the stronghold, the very stone walls vibrating from the force of the explosion. The sound originated from the direction of the main hall.

The assassination attempt was forgotten. A new, much larger conflict had begun.

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