Shinku Yuhi's Interrogation

"Qian Yun? You're Qian Yun?" Shinku Yuhi cried out from the crowd.

Qian Yun smiled and nodded.

The unit commander, Mimura Yomaki, asked in confusion, "Shinku, you know this boy?"

Shinku Yuhi gave a bitter smile. "Yomaki, have you forgotten what the Hokage asked you to investigate?

He's that child—the one Hidden Sand abducted from the southern coastline battlefield!

But this is far too shocking. Last time he came back, he'd grown a foot taller. This time, he's grown a full two feet!

He's almost as tall as an adult!"

Mimura Yomaki's mouth twitched, and he promptly discussed the interrogation with Shinku Yuhi.

The commotion in the desert had been enormous, with total ninja casualties reaching twenty thousand.

And the name Qian Yun had remained a hot topic among all the major ninja villages.

Once they arrived at the Konoha camp, Shinku Yuhi got straight to the point.

"Qian Yun, you should have heard that, by convention, any ninja who has been missing outside for too long must recount their experiences in detail."

Kushina smiled. "Don't worry, I had to do it too. It's fine!"

Qian Yun nodded and began with the first time he escaped Pakura.

Getting lost in the desert, being poisoned, searching for water, searching for food, battling the Scorpion King in the desert, and later getting caught up in a series of disputes.

He had been running for his life the entire time, narrowly escaping death time and again.

As time passed, more and more camp ninjas came over to listen to the story.

Although Qian Yun had added quite a few little tales he made up himself, no one suspected a thing.

Once the story was over, Shinku Yuhi drove away the onlooking ninjas. Even Kushina was sent away.

"Qian Yun, according to intelligence jointly provided by ANBU and Root, you went to the Land of Waves before returning to the unit for the first time, correct?"

Qian Yun nodded.

Shinku Yuhi continued, "At that time, a large batch of supplies disappeared from the Gato Ship passenger vessel, and Root lost three members!

Judging by the timeline, even if you weren't aboard the Gato Ship, you should have been at sea!

If you know anything, or noticed anything unusual at sea, no matter how minor, please recount it in detail!"

Shinku Yuhi finished speaking and prepared to write it down, but Qian Yun gave a bitter smile.

"The supplies are with me!"

Shinku Yuhi's mouth fell open in shock. He could hardly believe his ears.

The supplies that every major ninja village had been searching for across the world had been presumed taken by some powerful figure.

Yet they had ended up in the hands of a special genin like Qian Yun, who did not even have a ninja registration number. How could he not be shocked?

After composing himself, he glanced outside the tent, then set up three layers of soundproofing barriers around them.

Rubbing his brow, Shinku Yuhi finally asked in a low voice, "Why didn't you mention something this big last time?

And those supplies should have been handed over. Why did you keep them on you?

It's fine to keep some for yourself, but you can't claim all of them!"

Qian Yun put on a blank look. "Captain, didn't you tell me on the way to the eastern coast last time that solo-kill spoils belonged to the individual?"

Uh...

Shinku Yuhi was awkward beyond words. It turned out Qian Yun still did not understand many ninja rules.

It made sense. Altogether, he had not even spent ten days in a ninja unit.

There were all sorts of complicated rules, and it was impossible to learn them all within ten days.

This had to be reported, or even he would be blamed.

Qian Yun took out eighteen small supply scrolls. He had planned to slowly cough up Kado's money too if they pressed him hard enough.

Yet, to Qian Yun's surprise, Shinku Yuhi did not ask. He did not even ask how many supplies Qian Yun had kept.

The small scrolls were sent back to Konoha Village by ninja hawk, and Shinku Yuhi let out a long sigh of relief.

Recently, the Third Hokage had constantly questioned him about Qian Yun, asking whether the supplies had been handed over to him.

Shinku Yuhi had explained it many times, but the Third Hokage seemed to have gone mad, asking again every other day.

It felt as though the Third Hokage had developed dementia. Shinku Yuhi's poor heart truly could not take it.

The next day, at noon.

Qian Yun was learning how to identify directions in the wild from Kushina when a travel-worn Konoha ANBU squad arrived.

They had come to deliver supplies, and to deliver Qian Yun's reward.

Qian Yun had thought that a reward for ten billion worth of supplies would amount to at least several million, no matter how stingy it was.

But he had thought too much.

Looking at the twenty thousand bills on the table, Qian Yun was utterly dumbfounded.

The Konoha ANBU squad hurriedly left upon seeing this. They seemed to know some inside information.

Mimura Yomaki's mouth twitched as well, and he immediately slipped out of the command tent.

Shinku Yuhi wanted to leave too, but after thinking about it, he awkwardly sat down instead.

"Ahem! Qian Yun, you know that everyone in Konoha Village is having a hard time right now, not to mention the two ninja units!

These days, people don't even have explosive tags to use. They don't even have shuriken or swords!

Look at those newly arrived genin over there. We have no equipment to issue them, so they can only gather branches and sharpen them into spears themselves!

They say the four major ninja villages are joining forces to attack Konoha. Those people across the line are merely here to probe us. The allied army behind them is already on the way!

The Konoha higher-ups have no choice, and the few of us have been so anxious that we can't sleep night after night!

This time, if the Konoha ninja forces lose, Konoha Village will cease to exist!"

After saying this, Shinku Yuhi lowered his head awkwardly. This did not seem like a valid reason to break the rules.

He hoped Qian Yun would not be too rigid about it.

If word got out, many Konoha ninjas would likely complain as well. After that, no one would turn in any large spoils of war.

Suddenly, Qian Yun took out a scroll.

"These are shuriken I collected in the desert, along with some ninja tool pouches!"

No one knew that Qian Yun had calculated that the Konoha higher-ups would embezzle the supplies.

Taking out this second batch of supplies now was meant to tell the ninja forces that the Konoha higher-ups could embezzle, and so could they.

This was the first step.

Once word of the Konoha higher-ups' embezzlement spread, the ninja forces would feel justified in withholding the second batch of supplies. After that, things would surely spiral out of control.

Look, a group of chunin were already watching from nearby. The ninja forces could not keep such a matter hidden.

From then on, as long as the Konoha higher-ups investigated any ninja's spoils, someone would spread word of their embezzlement.

Before long, perhaps before the war even ended, public opinion in Konoha would shift.

By then, Qian Yun believed that all it would take was the tiniest spark for all of Konoha Village to condemn those four old ghosts.

For revenge—especially against that old bitch Sarutobi Biwako—Qian Yun felt he had to dig up the roots.

Whoever backed her would be dealt with too.

Within a year at most, she would be utterly disgraced.

Shinku Yuhi had wanted to say that Qian Yun did not need to hand over a small amount of supplies, but the moment he sent in a wisp of chakra, his mouth fell open in shock.

It was too outrageous. Ninja tool pouches were piled up like mountains, and there were at least over a hundred thousand shuriken.

Gulp!

He swallowed hard, then asked in a lowered voice, "Um, you haven't told anyone else about this, right?"

Qian Yun understood immediately. Shinku Yuhi wanted to keep this batch of supplies within the ninja forces as communal property.

He was indeed upright and knew how to handle people. He had considered things quite thoroughly.

After all, if these were sent back to Konoha Village, at least seventy percent would be kept there.

Then, if the enemy launched another large-scale attack, the Valley of the End defensive line might not be able to hold.

Their opponents were the allied forces of the four major ninja villages. Their earlier attack had merely been a vanguard probing attack.

And Shinku Yuhi still did not know that the enemy vanguard had already been wiped out.

Qian Yun shook his head, and Shinku Yuhi sighed in relief.

He carried the scroll out, but after some thought, Shinku Yuhi turned back and gave a solemn bow.

"Thank you so much, Qian Yun. Your generous gift will greatly increase our chances of winning this war! Thank you!"

After saying that, Shinku Yuhi went to find Mimura Yomaki. Soon after, a group of jonin rapidly sorted the supplies into categories.

Half the combat supplies were sent to Minato Namikaze's side—the group who had followed the clay jar into the Land of Fire last time. There were still some miscellaneous ninjas roaming within the country.

As for the ninjutsu scrolls among the spoils, Shinku Yuhi argued his case forcefully and had them all returned to Qian Yun.

The reason was simple: if there were a next time, would Qian Yun still hand supplies over to the ninja forces?

Just as expected, the matter quietly spread.

Whenever the ninjas had free time, they whispered among themselves about the higher-ups' embezzlement.

Qian Yun smiled.

The following day.

After dividing up the supplies, Shinku Yuhi and Mimura Yomaki came to speak with Qian Yun together. This time, both of them were all smiles.

They asked Qian Yun what dreams he had, or what help he needed.

Qian Yun thought for a moment before answering, "I grew up scavenging through trash cans. Last year, I did odd jobs at Konoha Hospital and at least had food to eat. This year, I was laid off and had to go back to digging through trash for food!

I want to be like other children my age—not have to worry about food, and be able to attend the ninja academy every day!

If the two of you can be my recommenders, I will remember your kindness for the rest of my life!"

After Qian Yun finished, the two of them were stunned for a full ten seconds, tears welling in their eyes.

They finally understood why Qian Yun had still been in the mood to pick up ninja tool pouches everywhere in that bloody desert slaughter.

Even the vast majority of wandering ninjas would not do such a thing.

Thinking about it now, using his supplies in battle made their hearts ache without them realizing it.