In Sunagakure, explosions thundered through the air as wild winds and sand battered the rammed-earth walls.
The lights in the Japanese-style room flickered several times.
At last, Granny Chiyo recovered from her shock.
She stared in astonishment at the young man before her, at that harmless-looking face.
"You said... Hanzo is dead?"
Nagato replied calmly, "That's right."
"Who killed him?" Granny Chiyo pressed.
Nagato answered calmly, "I did."
"You killed Hanzo!?" Granny Chiyo rose to her feet, her wide eyes filled with disbelief.
"Yes." Nagato calmly replied. Picking up the teapot, he poured tea into his empty cup, then glanced at Granny Chiyo's cup, which had remained untouched from beginning to end.
"Granny, your tea has gone cold. Let me replace it for you."
Without waiting for Granny Chiyo's response, he took Chiyo's cup, poured the tea into the waste bucket beside them, and refilled it.
Setting down the teapot, Nagato pushed the cup toward Chiyo. He gently swirled his own cup, sipping his tea unhurriedly as he patiently waited for Granny Chiyo to recover from the shocking truth.
"..." At last, Granny Chiyo sat back down on her cushion.
At any other time, in any other place, Chiyo would have scoffed at such words.
But this young man wearing the forehead protector of an Amegakure rogue ninja had bypassed Sunagakure's defenses, sat before her, and spoken with calm composure while drinking tea.
Words could be feigned, but presence could not.
Granny Chiyo had seen countless people in her life and was confident in her ability to judge them.
She raised her eyes and examined Nagato anew.
So that was it. I thought the red hair was merely a coincidence. It seems he has deep ties to the Uzumaki Clan.
And... those eyes of his, so unlike any ordinary person's.