Scraping Bone to Heal Poison, Breaking and Then Establishing

"I originally thought that everyone from the Blood Mist was elite, but now it's clear that's not the case at all!"

Terumi Mei's pretty face showed disgust, even loathing. She never imagined that Kirigakure's intelligence division could be rotten to such a degree.

Kirigakure actually wanted to use what this kind of department collected to wage a war—wasn't that just handing victory to the enemy on a silver platter?

"It's normal. Hiding dirty filth in corners where sunlight doesn't reach—that kind of thing happens everywhere." Yoru said calmly, "If you think it's too troublesome, you can resign and dump this mess on the Mizukage or Yagura. After all, you were always a combat genius. Having you do intelligence work—you've always felt it was beneath you, haven't you?"

"No way!"

Terumi Mei refused outright. Her personality was quite stubborn; since she had taken on this task, there was no chance she would give up.

"Since you've made up your mind to see it through, you might as well do it thoroughly."

"What do you mean?" Terumi Mei's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

"Kirigakure's current intelligence division is rotten to the bone. If you only give it some medicine and do some surface-level work, it won't cure the disease. You need to strike hard."

"Scrape the poison from the bone, rebuild after destruction."

Yoru leisurely picked up a teacup from the side, poured himself some tea, and also poured a cup for Terumi Mei.

Terumi Mei paused visibly. Holding the teacup in both hands, the tea rippled, and hesitation flickered in her beautiful eyes.

"Right now, we're in the middle of a war. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen have all fallen, which has already sunk Kirigakure's morale to rock bottom. If we add a large-scale purge on top of that, I'm afraid..."

"It's precisely because we're in the middle of a war that now is the best time for a purge."

Yoru said calmly, "Because during wartime, no matter what you do or what chaos you cause, as long as you win one battle, all of it can be covered up."

"The prestige, results, reparations, and glory brought by a war victory will bury everything that happened during the war!"

"For example, right now, as the war nears its end and Konoha has almost stuffed half the fruits of victory into its pocket—does anyone still remember the wave of suicides that swept through all of Konoha before the war broke out?"

"The White Fang of Konoha..."

Terumi Mei murmured. She already understood Yoru's thinking.

But the problem was—

Could Kirigakure really win?

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen were dead, and Kirigakure's morale was at rock bottom.

On the other side was Konoha.

The defeat at Kannabi Bridge was bringing the Iwagakure front to a close, and Kumogakure didn't dare act rashly. As time passed, more and more strong fighters would appear on the Kirigakure front.

All things considered, Kirigakure's chances of victory...

"Hesitating and second-guessing isn't a good habit. Besides, even if Kirigakure loses this war, are you just going to leave this rotten-to-the-bone intelligence system untouched?"

Yoru said calmly, "Reform has to happen sooner or later. Instead of scheming and plotting with a bunch of old fogies during peacetime, it's better to cut through the knot with a sharp blade now."

"Cut through the knot with a sharp blade..."

Terumi Mei murmured. After a moment, she lifted her head, looked at Yoru with a serious expression, and nodded firmly.

"I understand. I'll handle this matter properly!"

"Good. I have high hopes for you." Yoru drained the tea from his cup, then suddenly spoke, "Oh, by the way, what I said isn't limited to just the intelligence division."

"Not limited to the intelligence division?"

Terumi Mei was taken aback. "What does that mean?"

"No, nothing. Just wait for the Third Hokage's orders."

Yoru shrugged and gave her a clear dismissal. "It won't be easy for you to handle these things in your current position anyway. Wait until the orders come down before you start dealing with them."

"Ugh, people who speak in riddles deserve to die!"

Terumi Mei scratched her head in frustration. Seeing Yoru's smug smile, she couldn't help but get annoyed.

"Don't get too cocky. Your days aren't going to be easy either!"

"?"

"Heh, you've already awakened your Ice Release, haven't you? Don't look at me with those eyes. Whether it's that giant Cross Ice Flower on the Konoha border or our undercover agents in Konoha, they've all gotten word of it. It won't be long before news of your bloodline awakening spreads all over Kirigakure."

Terumi Mei snorted lightly. "When that happens, just wait for those old geezers in your clan to pester you to death!"

"...That's not my clan."

The expression on Yoru's face gradually cooled, and even his eyes turned indifferent, even cold. "I cut ties with that clan ten years ago. So please don't address them that way, Terumi Mei."

Terumi Mei immediately realized she had misspoken. She shrank her neck and laughed it off. "My mistake, my mistake. Anyway, I'll go deal with things now."

With that, Terumi Mei fled the scene. Only after she left Yoru's tent did she let out a deep sigh.

"Stupid Terumi Mei, almost forgot about that matter. Nearly brought up Yoru's taboo!"

"The Yuki Clan really did this to themselves. Back when Yoru hadn't awakened his bloodline, they could pretend not to see him. Now that Yoru's Ice Release has awakened, let's see how they handle this."

Terumi Mei muttered to herself, then glanced back at Yoru's tent. In the end, she sighed and turned to leave.

Konohagakure camp.

With Kinoe's sudden emergence, the entire Konoha frontline position had drastically tightened security—both the arrangement of sentry posts and the frequency of patrols had been greatly increased, all to prevent another surprise attack from the Mist side.

At this moment, Jiraiya, wearing wooden clogs, arrived at the interrogation room with a grave expression.

Gazing at Suikazan Fuguki, who was barely breathing and had nearly completely lost his vitality, Jiraiya's eyes fell on Yamanaka Miki inside the interrogation room. "How is the interrogation going?"

"It's basically finished. Everything—including the Mist's strategy, the high-level structure of the village, the use and secret techniques of Samehada, and various other matters—has been recorded in this scroll."

"As for frontline information..."

Yamanaka Miki respectfully handed the scroll beside him to Jiraiya, glanced at Suikazan Fuguki, and lowered his voice. "Though saying this might sound like underestimating the enemy, Lord Jiraiya, the intelligence I extracted from this Suikazan Fuguki's mind actually contains little of use. This man, as the Mist's intelligence chief, has repeatedly sold intelligence to other nations for his own profit."

"But the most absurd part is that most of the intelligence he sold to other countries was fake..."

"..."

The corner of Jiraiya's mouth twitched slightly. How to describe this man? If he loved his village, he sold intelligence; if he didn't love his village, the intelligence he sold was fake.

Truly worthy of being one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—definitely different from ordinary people.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and asked in a low voice, "Did you find anything related to Yuki Yoru?"

"Yes!"

Hearing this, Jiraiya jolted violently!