"Hizashi-Sensei, you wouldn't want the Hyūga clan leader to know about your glorious deeds, would you..."
"I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please don't tell him."
In the living room, Hizashi knelt in front of Yami in a full dogeza. Beside Yami sat Kurenai and Yugao, both wearing serious expressions, clearly ready to pass judgnt on Hizashi.
They had already heard the whole story from Yami and were furious.
Although the capture of the spy had been an accident, it wasn't Hizashi's original intention at all. He'd simply fallen for a woman.
If Yami hadn't been smart enough, they would've wasted a lot more ti before realizing the real mission.
"Hizashi-Sensei, this is a bit tricky," Yami said, shaking his head in apparent difficulty. "A verbal apology doesn't seem very sincere."
Hizashi understood the implication and quickly responded, "One al—barbecue. Eat as much as you want."
Yami raised three fingers. "You wasted ti for all three of us. So if you're going to compensate us, it should be three als."
"Fuu..." Hizashi sucked in a breath.
Three als... With the appetite Yami showed last ti, he'd need to spend not only his entire mission pay but also the extra Ryō he'd earned on the side.
Not to ntion what he already spent at the brothel these past few days... Damn it, does he have to fund the mission himself now?
"Does Hizashi-Sensei not agree?" Yami asked casually when he saw the man still hesitating. "Then there's no need to force it. I'll just have Grandpa pay a visit to the Hyūga clan leader when we get back."
"Please don't!"
Hizashi imdiately bowed again. "It's all my fault. Three barbecue als, no problem at all!"
"Great! Very enthusiastic!"
A smile lit up Yami's small face as he praised him. "Then I'll thank Hizashi-Sensei in advance."
"Of course, of course." Hizashi forced a smile and found an excuse. "I'll go monitor Aya to keep her from running away."
With that, he fled the room in embarrassnt.
"Pfft!"
Kurenai and Yugao, who had remained silent the whole ti, looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Kurenai clapped her hands. "Yami, you're sothing else. You blackmailed Hizashi-Sensei for three barbecue als again. This trip was a total loss for him. If we eat more, he might even go broke."
Yami grinned wickedly. "Then let's eat a little less for lunch one day so we can hit him hard at dinner."
"You're so evil."
Kurenai laughed until she nearly fell over. She understood exactly what Yami ant. If soone's too hungry, they can't eat much. But if they eat lightly at noon, they'll have a bigger appetite at night.
...
Since the spy Aya was an ordinary civilian, strict supervision wasn't necessary. After Hizashi ensured she couldn't move, he told everyone to rest, taking on night watch duty himself.
However, Yami stood up and said he'd slept enough during the day and offered to take the night watch.
Hizashi didn't insist and handed over the responsibility to Yami.
In the dead of night, after confirming the others were asleep, Yami—seated by the door to Aya room suddenly opened his eyes.
"Seiji, Ryo, co out."
At his soft call, Abura Seiji and Yamanaka Ryo erged from the shadows.
Since leaving Konoha, the two had been secretly following Yami, waiting for orders at any ti or prepared to risk their lives to buy him ti to escape if needed.
With the Root's concealnt techniques, even Hizashi's Byakugan wouldn't detect them unless he actively searched.
"Master," Yamanaka Ryo whispered.
Yami closed his eyes again. "Get all the information and report back to my grandfather."
"Understood."
Yamanaka Ryo gently opened the wooden door without making a sound.
...
Konoha's Intelligence Analysis Division had always been managed by the Yamanaka clan. Their "analysis" involved using their clan's secret techniques to extract intel from the minds of spies or captives.
The strongest among them, Yamanaka Inoichi, could even retrieve information from corpses, provided they hadn't been dead too long.
Though Yamanaka Ryo wasn't on Inoichi's level, handling a civilian spy was simple.
Hizashi hadn't interrogated her because it wasn't his responsibility. If he learned classified information he wasn't authorized to know, it could cause problems.
So once he confird Aya's identity and that there were no accomplices nearby, he simply locked her up without asking further.
But Yami didn't have such concerns.
It wasn't that he didn't plan to hand her over to Hiruzen, but he wanted to keep a backup for Root.
Half an hour later—
Yamanaka Ryo reappeared, holding a small booklet.
"Master, all the information is recorded here."
Yami took it and began flipping through.
Aya's real na was Matsumoto Giku.
Yami was startled for a mont, but fortunately there was a character difference, so he didn't have to worry about getting stabbed by Shinsō.
Matsumoto Giku was a native of Kirigakure in the Land of Water. Although she had no talent to beco a shinobi, her striking appearance led to her being recruited by the Mist's intelligence departnt.
Her role was similar to a transfer point. She wasn't responsible for any missions herself, only for receiving ssages encoded in Kirigakure's cipher and forwarding them to her superiors—so she remained relatively safe.
She had been stationed in the Land of Fire for several years, moving frequently. About half a year ago, she was indeed sold by a rchant.
But the entire situation had been arranged by Kirigakure to allow her to more easily receive information from Sunagakure.
After Yami finished reading her background, he continued flipping through the intel. Much of it was outdated, so he skimd those parts.
Most of what remained was Sunagakure-related and seemingly irrelevant to him.
Until he reached the last page—Yami's hand paused.
[The Sand Shinobi intend to reconcile with our village and offer concessions. Their prepared show of sincerity will appear in the Great Canyon of the Land of Water on the 15th of next month.]
A long-buried mory suddenly resurfaced.
Although most of this world's storyline focused on Konoha, there were still descriptions of other villages' shinobi and so of them had left strong impressions on Yami.
One of them was likely the very "sincerity" Sunagakure was referring to.
Scorch Release bloodline wielder—Pakura!
(To be continued.)
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