"Mangetsu, are you interrogating me?"
Suikazan Fuguki sat on a low stool. Even a slight shift of his weight made it creak under the strain, but he paid it no mind, simply staring at the young man who had appeared out of nowhere.
"I'm only here to make inquiries on behalf of the Mizukage. But if you can't give a reasonable answer, Fuguki, then it'll become an interrogation."
"So you're using the Mizukage to pressure me?"
"You're free to interpret it however you like. I just want an answer."
Hozuki Mangetsu wore a faint smile as he straddled the wall of the earthen fort, one leg dangling and swinging. He looked relaxed and carefree, completely unbothered by the fierce killing intent Suikazan Fuguki was giving off.
The other Kirigakure shinobi around them remained silent, like rocks along the shore, unmoved no matter how violently the waves crashed.
The conversation between their immediate superior, Suikazan Fuguki, and Hozuki Mangetsu, who had come on the Mizukage's behalf, was not something they could interfere in.
"What an irritating little brat."
Suikazan Fuguki made no effort to hide his dislike of Hozuki Mangetsu. "You want to know what I'm waiting for, right? Take a look for yourself."
As he spoke,
he pulled a folded sheet of white paper from his pocket, rolled it into a tube, and slipped it into the hollow center of a shuriken. With a flick of his hand, he hurled it toward Hozuki Mangetsu.
Hozuki Mangetsu caught it, tossed the shuriken into the dirt, and unfolded the paper. The lazy, carefree smile vanished from his face at once. He held the paper and read it over carefully, turning it back and forth two or three times.
Then he abruptly looked up at Suikazan Fuguki and asked:
"Is what's written here true?"
Suikazan Fuguki didn't answer. He waved his hand, and the Kirigakure shinobi standing motionless around them sprang into action. In the blink of an eye, they scattered, clearing out a space where the two men could continue talking without being overheard.
"I can't be sure,"
Suikazan Fuguki replied. "But there's a good chance it's true."
"What makes you say that?"
"I've been attacking this mountain for five days, and not a single Konoha Ninja has come to reinforce it. It's as if someone is deliberately creating a tense situation, so they'll have an excuse to send someone here."
"......"
Hozuki Mangetsu said nothing. He lowered his head and looked at the paper again.
There was quite a lot written on it, nearly half a page. The writer claimed to have a deep grudge against Hyuga Ritsu, the new Clan Head of the Hyuga Clan, and asked the Kirigakure shinobi to help eliminate him.
It went into detail about Hyuga Ritsu's background, claiming he might have used some kind of Forbidden Jutsu to gain both the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku. To be safe, the letter said, Hyuga Ritsu would be sent to the Shigushan Mountain defense line alongside Uchiha Shisui. They could use the opportunity to probe him and discover what he was capable of.
After that, the writer would create a better opportunity to send Hyuga Ritsu into the Kirigakure shinobi's encirclement, and hoped they would take him out with the same ease as a lion catching a rabbit.
That,
was the full contents of the letter.
"Why didn't you report this to the Mizukage sooner?"
"Because I was worried it might be a Konoha trap, a ploy to move our forces around and achieve some hidden objective."
"But didn't you say there was a good chance it was true?"
"That's why I took a gamble and waited for Konoha's reinforcements. I wanted to see whether Uchiha Shisui and Hyuga Ritsu would show up. If those two really came, it would mean the internal struggle in Konoha was so fierce that they were willing to use us to eliminate their rivals. That would be great news for us!"
"Of course, if they weren't—"
The corners of Suikazan Fuguki's mouth lifted slightly. He spoke with calm nonchalance. "Then we'd only have missed our chance to take Shigushan Mountain. The worst that could happen is that we all die here, but our lives and deaths won't have much impact on the village."
"So I can afford to gamble."
Suikazan Fuguki stared at Hozuki Mangetsu and spoke each word distinctly.
After a few seconds, he looked at the silent young prodigy and suddenly raised his voice. "But the Mizukage can't. He can't gamble, because he's the leader of Kirigakure, and every move he makes has a huge impact on the village. He shouldn't get involved in something this risky. That's why I planned to wait until I'd verified some of the information before reporting it."
At last, he asked, "Mangetsu, do you think there's anything wrong with my judgment?"
Hozuki Mangetsu narrowed his eyes slightly.
He thought Suikazan Fuguki was full of it, making excuses. The truth was probably that the old fatso had gotten used to doing whatever he wanted back when the Third Mizukage was in power. He still didn't take the Fourth Mizukage seriously, and thought he could handle everything himself without reporting it.
If the Mizukage hadn't sent him, Suikazan Fuguki probably wouldn't have reported this until everything was settled.
"What I think doesn't matter. That's the Mizukage's decision to make."
Hozuki Mangetsu didn't take the bait.
Suikazan Fuguki wasn't an ordinary Jonin. He was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and arguably their most prominent member. He was also the deputy commander of the border defense forces, with a group of elite Kirigakure shinobi under his command, tasked specifically with gathering intelligence on other nations' hidden villages.
There was no doubt that Suikazan Fuguki was a powerful man with considerable authority!
Only the Mizukage himself could order his punishment.
"Where did this come from?"
Hozuki Mangetsu skipped the matter he couldn't do anything about, raised the sheet of paper, and pressed for more details. He was definitely going to report what had happened here to the Mizukage; without getting the details straight, he couldn't even write the report.
"One of my spies sent it back. In the past, someone—or perhaps several people—in Konoha has used me as a pawn, one practically out in the open, to pass along information more than once."
"Who do you think sent it? Or who wants to eliminate Hyuga Ritsu, the new Clan Head of the Hyuga Clan?"
"Konoha's higher-ups, I'd say. The Third and his allies. From what I've gathered through other channels, Hyuga Ritsu may have taken a rather extreme, direct approach to becoming the Hyuga Clan's Clan Head without the Third's or his allies' approval. Given how much more controlling the Third has become in recent years, it's no surprise he couldn't tolerate that."
Suikazan Fuguki was clearly well suited to his job of gathering intelligence on other villages. He understood Konoha extremely well, and his analysis was thorough and convincing.
At least, Hozuki Mangetsu couldn't find anything wrong with it.
Just then—
"Lord Fuguki, we have a situation!"
The sensory ninja called out loudly from outside.
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