Kara

Kara, a name that reads as either "shell" or "husk," is a hidden society that spent most of its history under Isshiki Otsutsuki before command fell to Code. Its people divide into two ranks. Those at the top, the Inners, each take charge of one region, wear a Roman numeral inked onto the face, and go about in a hooded black cloak, its lining tinted with color and pinned at the right shoulder by a metal clasp. Every Inner has been rebuilt as a cyborg carrying Shibai Otsutsuki's DNA, a modification that lifts them near the strength of the Otsutsuki Clan and earns them their monstrous reputation. Since these elites hold the whole structure upright, wiping out all of them would strand the lower rank and finish Kara off.

Beneath them sit the Outers, backers who serve Kara from a distance by handling tasks for the Inners and acting as spies, sleeper agents, and behind-the-scenes allies. Merchants and politicians fill these ranks, and a number of them labor to undercut the authority of the Daimyo and the Kage. Because a great many Outers are engineers and scholars pulled from assorted villages, they drive the spread of Scientific Ninja Tools, improving each device before returning it and leaving the group with gear that surpasses even what Konoha wields. The society has piled up vast riches and political clout, leans heavily on that cutting-edge weaponry, and stays in contact across great distances by way of genjutsu.

What Kara chases above all is the growth of a fresh God Tree and the chakra fruit it will yield. Nearly a thousand years back, Kaguya's betrayal left Isshiki all but dead, and he clung to life by forcing his way into the body of a wandering monk, Jigen, then used that stolen form to assemble the society. He drew his Inners in by vowing to grant each of their private desires, while his head scientist, Amado Sanzu, refitted every recruit with advanced cybernetics and planted Shibai's cells inside them. Jigen's failing frame could not serve as a proper vessel, so Isshiki bought fifteen orphans to engineer one that could, an effort that yielded Kawaki. After Boruto Uzumaki became Momoshiki's host, the group swung its plan toward feeding him to the beast in Kawaki's place.

Isshiki Otsutsuki built the earliest Kara while inhabiting Jigen. The follower he trusted most, Code, was the sole survivor among fourteen washed-out vessel candidates and ended up with a White Kama. Amado stood as Isshiki's right hand yet secretly plotted to erase the Otsutsuki menace, and to that end he engineered a Jiraiya clone, the Inner known as Koji Kashin, to act as his accomplice. The pair broke away, spirited Kawaki out of danger, and tricked Isshiki into a botched resurrection that sealed his doom. Further Inners such as Delta, Boro, Victor, Deepa, and Oga rounded out the roster, and nearly every one of them turned on the group at some point. Kawaki, regarded strictly as the vessel rather than a genuine member, bore the numeral nine. When Isshiki finally died, his spirit lingered briefly within Code and charged him with carrying on the Otsutsuki will, sending Code to breed his own Claw Grimes from the Ten-Tails and take hold of whatever survived.