At noon, Bunpuku returned, and Pakura left.
"Akaseki, is something troubling you?" Bunpuku asked, looking into the neighboring cell after finishing his porridge and flatbread.
"Your Kazekage came back after losing a battle. I'm thinking about how to kill him," Akaseki said shamelessly.
After all, Akaseki had said things like this more than once or twice. It would have been strange if he hadn't.
Seeing Akaseki roll over and ignore him, Bunpuku thought nothing more of it—
After all, Akaseki had been alternating between bouts of depression and inexplicable excitement for the entire month. By his reckoning, another "low" was due!
Akaseki lay with his back to Bunpuku, feeling rather nervous.
Still, there was nothing strange about avoiding Bunpuku right now. Normally, Akaseki would have been dissecting his previous immersion experience at this point, so ignoring him and speaking less was perfectly natural.
It was only because Akaseki had always been wary of Bunpuku that his behavior felt somewhat deliberate.
Fortunately, Bunpuku didn't give it much thought—
At dinner, Koyomaru arrived cursing and grumbling, then tossed their respective food boxes into their stone cells.
Akaseki was still "asleep." Koyomaru had long since grown accustomed to his bizarre sleep schedule.
"If you're not eating, I'm taking it away—" Koyomaru called halfheartedly to Akaseki, then turned to the other cell. "Don't dawdle either, Bunpuku!"
Bunpuku picked up his porridge. He hesitated briefly, but drank it anyway.
Akaseki was very tense now—
This would determine whether he could repeat his success in Kumogakure!
If he failed, he would have to face a seemingly stable jinchuriki right at the start of his escape—
That morning, Akaseki had hypnotized Itaro with genjutsu. The dojutsu power of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan was already strong enough to control someone's mind directly.
Akaseki hadn't done much. He hadn't altered