Inside the Fire Temple.
Naruto and the others temporarily split into two groups. Naruto and Shikamaru went to investigate the rest of the Fire Temple, while Kakashi and Asuma moved their captives and questioned Kitashita and the samurai squad.
The latter claimed to have been sent by the Daimyo. Normally, even if a conflict broke out between the two sides, they would have avoided giving them too much trouble out of respect for the Daimyo. They certainly would not have questioned them as criminals. Instead, they would have dutifully escorted them back to the Land of Fire, then dealt with the matter through their contact there.
But times had changed. They had already offended the other party, whose attitude had not been particularly friendly anyway, so Kakashi dispensed with the formalities.
Asuma had been somewhat conflicted at first, but when he saw how deftly Kakashi moved the captives, he followed suit.
After all, they were veteran Ninja, and they were in front of their former subordinate. Kakashi and Asuma were perfectly capable of that much flexibility.
Besides, compared with outdated rules and red tape, the fact that Kitashita, a Guardian Ninja who had died long ago, had suddenly appeared as the samurai leader supposedly sent by the new Daimyo was suspicious in itself and far more deserving of investigation.
As for Naruto, he had already made a quick sensory sweep of the entire Fire Temple when he stepped inside.
And, as expected, there was not a single living person left in the temple.
Still, Naruto patiently created a crowd of Shadow Clones to search every inch of the place, inside and out. Countless Narutos bounded up and down, enthusiastically destroying the evidence.
So Shikamaru soon put a stop to this.
It was not that there was anything wrong with Naruto