"How did it go?"
In the pitch-black darkness, after an unknown amount of time, Hirohiko's voice reached his ears.
Then, a faint glimmer of light, almost too weak to exist, sliced through the endless darkness.
"Not bad."
Chiba slowly opened his eyes. Before him was a darkness slightly better than pitch black—the sight of the solitary confinement cell.
"Quickly close the viewing hatch. If the guards see it, I probably won't be able to bring you food anymore."
Hearing Chiba's voice, Hirohiko hurriedly spoke from behind the door.
The viewing hatch was the small iron flap Chiba had pulled open. Though it was not locked, it could only be opened from the outside, not from within. Normally, it was not permitted to be opened. Even the guards needed special orders to open it, while food could only be delivered through the food slot below.
After all, the point of this solitary confinement cell was to make ninja who had made mistakes reflect in endless darkness, unable to contact anyone. They could not exactly let people come visit whenever they pleased.
When Kushina and Yukina had brought food to Hirohiko, the guards had informed them of this rule and given them a very serious warning.
"Click!"
Hearing that, Chiba quickly shut the viewing hatch.
"Don't worry, it's fine. I'm the acting Hokage assistant now, after all. I still have a little privilege like this."
Chiba, however, sounded rather unconcerned.
As the Hokage's assistant, entrusted by the Hokage with the major task of the village's future construction, his words carried nearly a third of the Hokage's authority. Let alone a tiny viewing hatch, he even had some authority to mobilize the Hokage's directly subordinate Anbu.
Moreover, Hirohiko had already been placed on his construction crew roster. He could claim he was assessing