Interrogating Yotsuki A

After Mokushō left, Kakuzu remained in the Izakaya, maintaining a vigilant posture as if ready to fight at any moment.

The black line lingered outside the cuff for a moment before finally receding like the tide.

The screen blocked his view, so the Tavern Keeper couldn't see what he was doing.

Seeing that he had no further instructions, the Tavern Keeper didn't dare to ask any more questions and simply continued wiping her counter.

Kakuzu stared at the empty cushion opposite him for a long time, then turned and left the Izakaya.

At the other end of the Hot Spring Street, Tobirama's Shadow Clone led Hiroyama and Tamamo-no-Mae the warehouse.

The warehouse, located on the west side of the dock, was a long-abandoned Salt Warehouse with peeling paint on the walls and windows completely covered with black cloth.

Hiroyama had dispatched a patrol team from the vicinity to guard the area early on. The two men at the entrance bowed to them upon seeing them and then opened the door.

Hiroyama stepped in first.

The warehouse was filled with the mixed smell of hay and rust. A guard lit an oil lamp and hung it on a pillar, illuminating the dozen or so dark figures tied to the wall.

The Ninjas from the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water were bound with ropes, unable to move, their mouths stuffed with strips of cloth, and their wrists and ankles wrapped with Sealing Cloth that Konoha Tobirama.

When they saw people come in, they looked at them, their eyes shining frighteningly bright under the light, like a pack of wild dogs trapped in a cage.

Tamamo-no-Mae behind Hiroyama, raised her sleeve to cover her nose, used her Gunbai to shield half her face, and glanced at the Ninjas.

Without a word, Tobirama's Shadow Clone stepped forward and removed the cloth from Yotsuki A's mouth.

As soon as the strips of cloth were removed, Yotsuki A grinned. His lips still had dried blood on them, his hair was messy and stuck to his forehead, and he was bound more tightly than anyone else, but he looked like he had just woken up in Tavern, without the slightest awareness of being a prisoner.

"Yo, Lord Tobirama, it's nice to see you again." His voice was a little hoarse, but his tone was light. "Although it's a bit awkward, I'm still very happy to see you here."

Tobirama's Shadow Clone stood before him, looking down at him with an expressionless face.

Hiroyama and Tamamo-no-Mae, one with his arms crossed and silent, the other waving a Gunbai, looking Yotsuki A up and down.

"You look good," Tobirama said.

"It's alright." Yotsuki A tilted her head to the side, stretching her stiff neck. "When are you planning to take us back to the Land of Lightning? Let me make this clear, I can't stand being on the same ship as those guys from the Land of Water. They grind their teeth in their sleep and steal my rations."

Tobirama didn't respond to his question, but instead asked, "Do you know why you were arrested?"

"I know," Yotsuki A replied matter-of-factly. "I lost. You two leaders are ruthless, one more ruthless than the other. I was thrown out before I even got a chance to make a move. And that handsome boy of yours, tsk tsk, the wind was so strong, I would probably be dead five or six times over if this were on the battlefield. So I have no complaints at all."

Tamamo-no-Mae chuckled softly behind Hiroyama. Hiroyama turned to look at her, Tamamo-no-Mae coughed, took out a folding fan to cover her mouth, and continued to laugh.

Tobirama stared at Yotsuki A for two seconds, then suddenly asked, "How many people from the Land of Lightning actually came to this operation in the Land of Hot Water?"

Yotsuki A's smile faded.

He glanced at his companions, whose mouths were gagged, then at Tobirama, and sighed, "Lord Tobirama, you're a sensible man. If I really told you, I'd be dead when we got back. Why don't you ask me a question I can answer, like..." He paused, then gestured with his chin toward Hiroyama, "How much does Masato owe me for drinks?"

"Stop interrupting." Tobirama unleashed his imposing aura, and the entire warehouse fell silent. "You've hidden people in the Shipyard and planted spies at the dock. The Land of Hot Water isn't a warring nation; what you've done is tantamount to invasion."

"I'm talking to you now to give you a chance to speak up. Once the Land of Hot Water officially takes over tomorrow, their methods won't be any gentler than mine."

Yotsuki A pouted. "Fine, I'll confess."

Yotsuki A sighed, and then began to give out the information.

From the first liaison point established by the Land of Lightning in the Land of Hot Water, to the docks, Shipyards, chambers of the Merchants' Association, and Pleasure Quarter, they revealed exactly where people were hiding, where they were responsible for relaying messages, and which shops were ostensibly doing business but secretly laundering money for them.

Tobirama listened without uttering a word, only nodding occasionally.

Hiroyama's expression grew increasingly grim as he listened; he hadn't expected the people of the Land of Lightning to have infiltrated to this extent.

Tamamo-no-Mae forgot to wave her folding fan, and a chill gradually settled in her beautiful eyes.

By the end, Yotsuki A herself was getting bored, so she leaned back and said, "That's about it. There are some things I don't know; you can ask others."

"You're quite cooperative," Tobirama said calmly.

"Cooperation doesn't guarantee survival," Yotsuki A shrugged. "But at least we don't have to get beaten up now."

He had barely finished speaking when he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head from dozens of stares.

The bound Ninjas from the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water glared at him as if he were their Father's Killer.

Someone had cloth stuffed in their mouth, yet still managed to squeeze out muffled angry sounds from their throat, desperately nudging towards him, as if they wanted to gouge two holes in him with their eyes.

Yotsuki A's temper flared up after being glared at like that.

He spat to the side and yelled back, "What are you looking at! You dare glare at me? Huh? Every single one of you here, who can beat Hashirama Senju? Who can beat Madara Uchiha? Damn it, even his little brother could swatt you all away, what do I have to fight them with? My head?"

He grew angrier as he spoke, his voice booming through the warehouse. "If you were so capable, why didn't you strap Explosive Tags to yourselves and charge in last night to take us all down with you? Now that you're tied up, all you know how to do is glare at us!"

"I told you guys not to mess with them before, that way we could at least hide some of them. Now that everything's been exposed, you're blaming me? A bunch of idiots who only know how to bully their own kind!"

The group of people were stunned by his scolding at first, then their faces turned ashen, but none of them could utter a single word in rebuttal. Even if they wanted to, their mouths were stuffed with cloth and they couldn't make a sound.

The warehouse was eerily quiet for a moment, with only the light of the oil lamp flickering on a few embarrassed and angry faces.

Tamamo-no-Mae covered her mouth with Gunbai, but her shoulders trembled slightly as if she was struggling to hold back her laughter. Even Hiroyama turned his face away, raised his hand, and rubbed his nose with a loosely clenched fist.

Tobirama, only speaking calmly after Yotsuki A had finished her tirade, "Are you done?"

"I'm done." Yotsuki A took a couple of deep breaths, then laughed again. "How was that? Was it sincere enough, Lord Tobirama?"

"Whether it's enough or not, we'll have to verify it to know." Tobirama took a step closer to him, half-squatting down, his Red Eyes calmly reflecting the Kakkō the oil lamp. "If what you say is true, you can at least get back alive. As for whether you'll survive after you get back, that depends on you."

Yotsuki A looked at him, and the smile on her face slowly faded.

At this moment, Hiroyama walked over, his tall figure casting a dark shadow under the oil lamp.

"Since you're from the Land of Lightning, you must have heard at least a little about your Summer Festival."

Yotsuki A raised an eyebrow. "What? I'm already like this, I can't possibly go to the festival, can I?"

"I'm not joking with you." Hiroyama looked down at him. "I received information that someone is planning an assassination attempt at the Summer Festival."

Yotsuki A replied decisively, "I haven't heard of this."

"If you're hiding something..."

"Oh, I'm serious!" Yotsuki A gestured towards the prisoners, "You can try asking them, but they probably won't know."

Hiroyama frowned, still somewhat doubtful.

"Do you think the people sent by the Land of Lightning would know the full picture of the mission?" Yotsuki A said. "That's a matter for higher-ups, especially since it's happening at the Daimyo Summer Festival of the Land of Hot Water."

"It seems you understand the importance of Summer Festivals."

"Who doesn't know?" Yotsuki A curled her lip. "The Summer Festival of the Land of Hot Water is no less than the gathering of gods in Izumo Day. During those days, you could throw a shoe on the street and it might hit Daimyo."

"They probably won't come after us for an assassination attempt at a time like this."

"Won't they come looking for you?" Tobirama asked.

"Yes," said Yotsuki A. "We've long been marked in the eyes of our own people. When it comes to assassinating important officials, it's best if even the assassins themselves can't figure out where they came from."

"Those of us who are already registered, if we take action, it's easier for them to be traced back. If they want to do something, they'll definitely find some unorthodox methods outside."

Tobirama frowned. "But now that Shinobi Villages have been established, those clans should all be registered..."

"The Land of Lightning isn't just home to the Kumogakure Shinobi Village," Yotsuki A interrupted him.

"Not all Ninja are like your Konoha, with two powerful figures overseeing them. Other Shinobi Clans, even a fool could see that without considerable Strength, they have no choice but to join you, or they'll be wiped out sooner or later."

"While our Yotsuki Clan does have a certain degree of influence within the Land of Lightning," Yotsuki A said, "we're not as powerful as you. Other Shinobi Clans that don't respect us naturally want to establish their own independent clans. Our Yotsuki Clan has the largest village, which is why we earned the name 'Kumogakure.'"

"Since Kumogakure has a reputation, they naturally get more missions. As for the smaller ones, they'll do anything for money. If there really is an assassination attempt for the Summer Festival, it's much easier to contact them than us."

Tobirama pondered for a moment.

He had originally thought that the Kumogakure had unified most of the Shinobi Clans in the Land of Lightning, but now, hearing what Yotsuki A said, it was clear that the Land of Lightning was still divided among numerous warlords.

But why did this guy tell me this? Isn't this revealing the country's secrets? Aren't he afraid he'll use this information for something?

Tobirama pondered, his gaze inadvertently fell upon Ai's eyes.

In the candlelight, his eyes were incredibly sharp, and the smile on his lips was no longer frivolous, but filled with unwavering determination.

Tobirama couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.

This guy is trying to use this incident to force those unruly ninja Shinobi Clans to join their Kumogakure.

After being captured, instead of figuring out how to escape, he first thought of using Konoha as a weapon to eliminate dissidents for the Kumogakure.

That's incredibly bold.

The problem is that he can't refuse his idea, after all, this matter concerns the future world order. If every country has a backup plan like this, it will be very detrimental to their intelligence.

It is imperative to unite the Shinobi Clans of Kumogakure and even other countries. This guy has also used us.

"There's no other way; we'll have to investigate this ourselves." Hiroyama turned and nodded to Tobirama's Shadow Clone. "Lord Tobirama, you can go back now. Thank you for your help."

Tobirama's clone nodded and vanished with a bang.

Izuna, who was walking down the street with Izuna and the others under the Tobirama scouting enemy positions but actually shopping for souvenirs, suddenly stopped.

He instinctively covered his forehead; his Shadow Clone had been out all night, and the exhaustion washed over him as the clone dissipated.

In his mind, the coldly smiling face under the oil lamp in the warehouse, and the information that Yotsuki A gave him piece by piece, flooded his consciousness like water.

He closed his eyes, processed the information, and when he opened them again, he was back to normal, showing no signs of fatigue.

Hashirama noticed his action, turned his head and asked, "Is everything over there finished?"

Tobirama nodded. "We've made some progress. The Land of Lightning is more complex than we imagined. Yotsuki A has revealed quite a bit, but we still need to verify how much of the truth is mixed in."

"Let's talk about it when we get back," Ban said calmly. "Are you afraid others won't hear us if you discuss it outside?"

Tobirama rolled his eyes.

The interrogation continued inside the warehouse.

The information that Yotsuki A just gave was rather general, only including some locations and the names of the leaders; he didn't provide any specific details.

To prevent them from colluding, Hiroyama isolated them and questioned them individually.

He picked out those whose faces looked the worst after being scolded by Yotsuki A, left them out for a while, and then had someone drag one of them to a small cubicle next door.

These people were different from Yotsuki A; they no longer had that carefree, smiling demeanor. Some of them, upon seeing Hiroyama, would stiffen their necks and snort curses like "traitor" or "lackey of the Yotsuki family."

Hiroyama wasn't in a hurry. He simply sat down opposite them and waved for someone to drag them away.

Tamamo-no-Mae followed him away with a grin.

After being dragged away and then dragged back, these people all behaved themselves.

Seeing that the first few had spoken, the remaining people stopped insisting and answered each question with a simple, one-line answer.

They pieced together the contact points, handover codes, and transfer routes of the Land of Lightning in the Hot Spring Street. Hiroyama had his men write them down one by one and then compare them with those confessed by others.

The intelligence gathered was taken away by Tamamo-no-Mae, and Tamaro used the pretext of collecting debts to "pay a visit" to those strongholds.

As for the Summer Festival, very few people know about it.

An older Ninja hesitated for a long time before saying that he had heard his superiors mention that "don't go near the high platform before or after the festival," but that was all.

If asked further, she couldn't say anything.

Hiroyama and Tamamo-no-Mae exchanged a glance, both understanding that these people truly knew nothing about the Summer Festival.

Hiroyama stood up and gestured to the guards to blow out the lamp.

The two left the warehouse one after the other, the night wind blowing in their faces, carrying the salty, damp scent of the sea.

Tamamo-no-Mae took a deep breath and exhaled, saying in a relaxed tone, "Then I'll go get to work."

Hiroyama glanced at her. "Shall I take you?"

Tamamo-no-Mae raised her hand to stop her. "I'm not that weak. Don't always treat me like a child, okay, Big Brother?"

Hiroyama smiled upon hearing this and didn't insist further, "Alright then, be careful on the road."

Hiroyama stood outside the warehouse door, watching her figure turn into the direction of West Street before turning away and walking towards his Dwelling.