While Terumi Mei tracked the noble from the Daimyo's Mansion and uncovered a staggering conspiracy,
Uzumaki Kushina was enduring an ordeal of her own as she searched the other elders' villas.
"What on earth are those old geezers up to?"
Like a red ghost, Kushina slipped silently into a luxurious villa on the western side of the capital.
According to Mei's intelligence, it belonged to another highly respected Kirigakure elder, though he had long since been stripped of power in the village.
If it's a secret base, it'll have heavy guards or some incriminating documents hidden away!
Kushina ran through the possibilities in her head. She was even ready to fight at a moment's notice and unleash her Adamantine Sealing Chains.
She carefully avoided the guards patrolling the courtyard, then climbed a thick veranda pillar and nimbly pulled herself onto the main house's roof.
Let's see if this old geezer is staying up late to plot a rebellion.
Kushina gently lifted a roof tile, held her breath, and peered inside.
But what she saw
froze her hands in midair, just as she was about to form hand seals. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
There was nothing suspicious in the spacious room.
Elder Kameda, whom the intelligence had described as ruthless and decisive, sat cross-legged on the tatami in a gaudy pink silk nightgown, looking utterly undignified.
In front of him stood the latest large-screen color television, imported from Konoha.
It was playing a tragic late-night drama that had recently become a huge hit in the Land of Fire.
"Waah... This is awful... Poor Flower! How could that scumbag abandon her and their unborn child?"
As he watched, Elder Kameda frantically wiped his tears and snot with a teddy-bear towel, sobbing his heart out.
On the roof, Kushina