Uchiha Yato's sudden move naturally ended in success.
Jiraiya came out at this point and saw the scene before him, not knowing what to say.
He had witnessed Uchiha Yato's playful side. He had deliberately turned into a frail little boy just to win those bandits' sympathy.
"So why did you turn into a little boy and ask that chicken those questions? What exactly were you trying to accomplish?"
Having returned to his original appearance, Uchiha Yato smiled when he heard Jiraiya's question and explained.
"Turning into a child was simply to see whether these people still had any empathy—or any humanity at all."
"I've seen places where, when people were starving or living in complete lawlessness, they would outright kill children."
As he said this, Uchiha Yato's expression grew somewhat despondent, as though he had recalled something.
"As for that chicken, it was purely to test the bandit in front of us for intelligence."
"If he had neither empathy nor much intelligence, he wouldn't merely be unconscious right now. He would be dead."
When conducting this test, Uchiha Yato simply did not want to take an innocent life upon himself. He wanted to see whether this man had been forced into becoming a bandit or truly wanted to be one.
Judging from Uchiha Yato's test, he was likely the former. That was relatively fortunate.
"I'll leave the matter of extracting intelligence to Lord Jiraiya. I'm sure you have a way to obtain every answer you want in some hidden little dark room."
After saying that, Uchiha Yato immediately slipped away and returned to the inn they had rented earlier to rest.
Jiraiya realized then that Uchiha Yato's slippery nature gave him no chance to relax, nor any opportunity to investigate his strength further.
With that in mind, and with