Information

At noon, the Tsurutsuki Izakaya had few customers.

Kyouko sat dejectedly behind the counter, idly fiddling with the ledger in front of her.

Where has he been these past few days? Why hasn't he come to find me?

Remembering how his movements had become faster and faster over the last few nights, her pretty face suddenly flushed.

She had witnessed his growth, both in ninja strength and in his virility.

Perhaps he took on a mission and left the village.

Two merchants entered the izakaya.

"Proprietress, a bottle of sake."

Kyouko heard the voice first, and her heart suddenly tightened.

This voice...

She slowly looked up and saw a girl, a girl younger than her.

My sister?

A flash of shock crossed her eyes.

Kyouko was a spy for the village, and her more talented sister was a ninja in Iwagakure.

All the rewards and compensation the village gave Kyouko were directly handed over to her sister, Mei.

Why is my sister here?

Could she be the contact person? Here in Konoha as a contact?

Why would the village do this? Haven't I done so much for them already?

Kyouko had just received extremely important intelligence: Uzumaki Mito's funeral would be held in five days.

When the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, was alive, he had not hidden the identity of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

With Hashirama Senju's strength, the Nine-Tails was nothing, so there was no need to keep it as the village's top secret.

The fact that Uzumaki Mito was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was public knowledge.

Kyouko knew the village would attach great importance to this intelligence, but she hadn't expected them to send Mei to find her.

With Mei's appearance, Kyouko had no choice but to go all out and risk her life to confirm the truth of the intelligence.

This was the village's final order to its spies.

Either the intelligence is successfully gathered, and the spy is recalled to the village to become a ninja in the light.

Or the intelligence gathering fails, and they die, along with everything the spy cherished, disappearing together.

Mei had disguised herself as a merchant coming to Konohagakure to take on a mission, making her identity easily exposed.

"Coming right up! We have mid-grade, high-grade, and premium grades of sake. What price range are you looking for?"

"Premium! Let us taste the sake of a great village like Konoha!"

The code phrase matched.

Kyouko's last shred of hope was extinguished. Mei hadn't come to Konoha by chance.

Selecting a bottle of sake, Kyouko handed it to Mei.

Mei was also very excited; she hadn't seen her sister in three years.

It was a pity they couldn't acknowledge each other and had to pretend not to know one another.

Mei picked up the sake cup and examined it carefully, finding the special mark.

Two days later, this sake bottle would appear in a nearby trash can, containing the final confirmed intelligence from Kyouko.

The village needed to know the most accurate information about Uzumaki Mito.

Kyouko walked into the backyard and into his room.

She took out all her money, preparing to act within these two days to confirm the intelligence.

While tidying the room, Kyouko saw a razor.

This is his razor.

I wonder if he's found some other little vixen.

A little over half of the funds for her final mission had been provided by him.

Every time he came, he ordered a lot of expensive beef and drank the purest sake.

If she were truly a villager of Konoha, she might have found a way to be with him.

After knowing each other for so long, he had told her a name, but Kyouko knew it was a fake name.

He said his name was Mike, which was too perfunctory; it was just an ingredient name on a sake bottle.

His temperament was stable, which was a huge advantage among ninjas.

Many ninjas suffered from mental illnesses; they looked like normal people, but when they went mad, they were particularly terrifying.

Some ninjas were drinking at an izakaya when they suddenly remembered things from a past mission, going on a rampage and smashing things.

They might have killed the wrong person, or killed too many people, or been tortured by enemies, or been suspected by their village.

Fortunately, they were close to the Uchiha Security Force, so Uchiha ninjas would come to deal with the berserk ninjas.

Kyouko arrived at Konoha's largest sake dealership.

"Boss, my izakaya's performance has been declining recently. I'm planning a promotion for tomorrow. How much of your premium sake do you have left?"

"How much premium sake can one store take?"

"At least 20 cases of premium sake per day, for five consecutive days."

As Kyouko chatted with the boss, she gestured to a salesperson.

The salesperson understood Kyouko's intention and quickly stepped forward, using the excuse of an important client's arrival to take the boss away.

The boss told Kyouko to wait in his office and that he'd be back shortly.

That salesperson was someone she had developed into a subordinate; they hadn't been very useful until now, but were finally proving their worth.

Kyouko went to the boss's office, closed the door, and took out a key.

This was a key she had secretly made long ago.

Carefully opening the safe, Kyouko saw the boss's ledger.

The Senju Clan had paused their alcohol purchases?

Kyouko checked the date. Starting yesterday, the Senju Clan had stopped ordering alcohol.

She continued reading and found a piece of news that excited her the most.

The Uchiha Clan had placed orders for many more cases of alcohol!

The Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan had an extremely bad relationship and had always been the village's biggest rivals.

Especially after Kagami Uchiha's death, the Uchiha Clan had lost its bridge for external communication.

The Senju Clan halting their alcohol orders proved they knew something bad might happen to their clan.

The Uchiha Clan, however, ordering many more cases of alcohol proved they believed something good was about to happen.

With these two pieces of information corroborating each other, Kyouko believed the intelligence her spy teammate had given her was true: something terrible was indeed about to happen to the Senju Clan.

This event could only be the death of the long-lived Uzumaki Mito.

After leaving the sake dealership, Kyouko headed to her next location to find more evidence.

Within Konoha, Stone Ninja spies were scurrying about, secretly investigating.

Meanwhile, on the border of the Land of Grass, a middle-aged man was suspended in the air.

Third Tsuchikage Onoki gazed in the direction of Konoha.

Behind him were 5 Stone Ninja brigades.

Five-Tails Jinchuriki Steam Ninja Han arrived beside Onoki.

"Tsuchikage-sama, the troops are assembled."

Han looked at the Tsuchikage and noticed his undulations in the air were quite significant, indicating that the Tsuchikage was also feeling some unease.

The plan was to launch a surprise attack on Konoha with elite forces, taking advantage of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's change, and the death of Uzumaki Mito, to strike Konoha hard, thereby giving Iwagakure an advantage in the ninja wars.

This was a gamble; the rewards were immense if successful, but if it failed, these more than 300 elites might all die.

Onoki said:

"The more critical the period, the less we can afford to be impatient.

We are like vast, hard rocks. We either don't move, or we move like a mudslide, destroying everything in our path down the mountain.

Once the spies confirm the intelligence, we will launch a thousand-mile surprise attack on Konoha!"

This was the most precious opportunity heaven had given Iwagakure.

The legendary Nine-Tails was known for its violent temper, an embodiment of hatred. After being sealed by Uzumaki Mito for so many years, it must have hated Uzumaki Mito and Konoha intensely.

With the Nine-Tails, Konoha could surely be severely damaged.

In a Konoha alley.

Mei picked up a wine bottle from a trash can.

The bottle had several etched lines, which were the code for the Stone Ninja spies.

The intelligence was true!

After confirming the information, Mei quickly left.

She disguised herself as a merchant, completed her task, and was about to leave Konoha.

Glancing one last time in the direction of Kyouko's izakaya, Mei thought that her sister could finally return to the village, and they wouldn't have to be separated anymore.

In the Land of Grass, Onoki, having received the intelligence, waved his hand in mid-air.

He would personally lead the team to launch a surprise attack on Konoha and cripple it!