Under the Surface

Lu Zeming hurried back to the village. As soon as he arrived, a staff member led him to a small hill five li outside it.

Kumi Uzumaki, Ting Yulong, and the others were all there, their faces grave and their eyes dark.

As Lu Zeming approached, he saw two bodies lying in front of them.

Both had died with their throats slit from behind. The blood on their chests had not yet dried.

"What happened?" Lu Zeming asked grimly.

Listening Yulong answered, "This spot overlooks the main road, so we set up a Hidden Sentry post here. The two men didn't return when their shift ended this morning. That was when we found them dead. There are no signs of a struggle. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. I can't think of anyone but Ninja. More importantly..."

"Go on."

"There are no signs they were interrogated. That usually means one of two things: either the enemy already knows our strength and doesn't need intelligence, or they don't think our intelligence is worth gathering because they believe they can crush us outright."

Lu Zeming turned to Listening Yuka.

"What do you think?"

Listening Yuka answered confidently, "I've met everyone in the village. No one can hide from my mind-reading ability. I lean toward the second possibility."

Lu Zeming fell into thought.

Who was behind this? Who hated the newly founded Flower Village so much?

Orochimaru?

Probably not. This wasn't his style. If he wanted to come after Lu Zeming, he would leave his distinctive mark to fill him with fear.

Then he would slowly tighten his coils and strangle his prey.

Konoha?

After all, by selling Super Soldier Pills on a large scale, Lu Zeming had cut off one of Konoha's sources of income.

It was possible, but