"Tama should be here around now. I'll help you look for him, but if it's urgent, I can relay it to Lord Ryuzan for you." The staff member was exceedingly humble. Xingran noticed that he was not wearing an Iwagakure forehead protector. He was an ordinary person with no talent for ninjutsu. No wonder he was so cautious around ninja, even one like Xingran who had come from another country.
"No need to trouble Mr. Ryuzan. I only wanted to discuss the matter of meeting the Tsuchikage with Tama." What a joke. He was here to save Kabuto's life—what did he need that scrawny middle-aged uncle for? His arrival would only make things troublesome.
The staff member quickly left, and Xingran settled in for a battle with his fried noodles.
Just as Xingran noisily wolfed down barely a few bites from the plate, Kabuto appeared outside the door.
"You came at just the right time. Um, there are some details about meeting the Tsuchikage today that I'd like to ask you about. Um, this hall isn't very convenient. Let's take a walk in the courtyard out front." Xingran finished the last two bites on his plate and, without waiting for Kabuto to respond, headed outside on his own.
Kabuto was puzzled. What did this Konoha Ninja want with him? How irritating. Konoha Ninja were all irritating people. He had not seen Mother Nonō for years now—it was all Konoha Ninja's fault.
Kabuto cursed furiously in his heart, but outwardly, he still wore that gentle, smiling expression, as if serving this esteemed Konoha Ninja was the happiest thing in the world.
The front courtyard of the inn was not suitable for secret talks. However, it held many stone artworks distinctive to Iwagakure. Xingran had noticed long ago that, due to its angle, one particular sculpture happened to avoid the lines of sight from both the front gate and the main hall. As long as they watched out for anyone peering down from upstairs, it could barely count as a place for covert business.
"I wanted to ask—do you know anything about that female Anbu from yesterday? Don't misunderstand. It's just, um, her hair color and the eyes I saw through her mask were very similar to mine. I was just curious, hahaha." As Xingran spoke, he led Kabuto behind that stone artwork. To avoid attracting attention along the way, he asked seemingly irrelevant questions, like some chuunibyou teenager who had gone out in search of family.
"Um, that Anbu? Sorry, I don't know either." Kabuto felt like his mindset was about to explode. He could be considered a ninja working for Konoha now, yet the intelligence he had once risked his life to obtain was meant to serve idiots like these? Even ninja from the same village could not casually reveal intelligence, and Anbu were secret even from their own villagers. What kind of upbringing would send a ninja like you out on missions?
But just as Kabuto was feeling too exhausted to even complain, the two arrived behind the stone artwork. A small wad of paper was swiftly slipped into Kabuto's hand. It had been crumpled tightly, and judging by its weight, it contained quite a lot of information.
Kabuto's eyes flickered wildly before quickly returning to calm. Neither of them paused in their movements, as though they were merely taking a normal stroll. Less than two seconds later, they walked out from behind the stone artwork without breaking stride and continued chatting as they wandered through the inn's front courtyard. Both acted as if nothing had happened, maintaining an official cordiality on the surface along with an inadvertent sense of distance.
Xingran asked about the customs and local color of the Land of Earth, as well as interesting places in Iwagakure. He even suggested that, after meeting the Tsuchikage, Kabuto should show them around Iwagakure properly so they could have some fun and buy local specialties to take home.
Two hours later, Konoha's three-person delegation met the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki of Both Scales. Xingran had not expected Ōnoki to already look as he had during the great shinobi war in the original story, only slightly younger, with a few black hairs still faintly visible in his beard.
The task for the two Konoha Anbu this time was to submit the diplomatic letter and clarify the matter at Konoha's border last time. They explained that Konoha had determined that the group in question had not been genuine Iwagakure ninja, nor were they Iwagakure rogue ninja, but someone else entirely. As for who that someone was, Konoha did not say. They merely stated that peace between the two countries remained in effect and that cooperation could be further strengthened, and so on.
Xingran's main task was to answer the Tsuchikage's questions. It was not particularly complicated—he only needed to clearly explain the details of the massacre back then. Xingran repeatedly stressed that when they had been attacked, the enemy had been highly unskilled in Earth Style ninjutsu.
As for other leading details, such as the enemy's proficiency in Water Style and the characteristics of the Yugito Clan in his skin, he did not mention a word.
Yamaki Atsushi had specifically emphasized this while they were traveling. Lord Hokage did not want this matter to create further complications and continue escalating.
Therefore, the entirety of their explanation to the Tsuchikage this time centered on clearing Iwagakure of suspicion.
As for whether the Tsuchikage believed Konoha's explanation, Xingran did not care. The Tsuchikage was a sensible man. Even if he suspected that Konoha had staged the entire incident themselves, he would not rashly start a conflict.
The reason they had handled the matter so laboriously was ultimately a matter of attitude. They had to make clear Konoha's desire to maintain peace with Iwagakure, so Iwagakure's higher-ups and advisers could see Konoha's sincerity.
While Xingran was going through the motions of his mission, the young Iwagakure ninja named Tama was alone in his small room, reading the crumpled paper he had received from that Konoha Ninja that morning.
He carefully unfolded the paper. Densely packed writing entered Tama's sight, and the very first sentence caused the pupils of this boy, who possessed abundant espionage experience, to contract sharply.
Kabuto. No one had called him by that name in a long time. Only his orphanage companions and a few people in Root knew that name. Was this Konoha Ninja a member of Root? Had another mission come up? Why had no familiar handler contacted him?
As time passed, Kabuto quickly finished reading the entire message. There was no mission. Instead, it was help from a kindhearted person.
Everything he had striven for over the years, the suffering he had endured to lessen his adoptive mother's burden—it was all false. Danzo, that despicable liar, and that blond, blue-eyed Anbu... indeed, his adoptive mother possessed those same traits. Was everything written on the paper true? What exactly was that ninja named Yamanaka Xingran trying to accomplish?
Suppressed roars and unwilling sobs faintly came from the small room. He had been played for a fool for so many years. His adoptive mother had been deceived just like him. Danzo had even wanted him and his adoptive mother to kill each other. Unforgivable.
Kabuto would not completely believe Xingran's words, but the circumstances described were highly possible. After working as a spy for Root for so long, he knew Root's methods very well. If his adoptive mother had been deceived just as he had been back then, then there was a great chance things would develop exactly as the paper described.
Damn it. I have to find Nonō as soon as possible.
At noon, when Konoha's three-person delegation returned to the inn, the young man Tama, who had been receiving them, had unexpectedly taken leave. No one knew what he had taken leave to do.
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