Several of them immediately gathered around him.
He was the man Gua had kicked away earlier and then ignored.
After taking that kick, the man had realized things were going badly and played dead. Now, however, the Anbu had discovered him.
He had wanted to keep playing dead,
but then,
the Anbu surrounded him.
He finally could not keep up the act.
He slowly raised his head.
He was badly injured too. Knowing he could not possibly escape these Anbu, he abandoned any resistance.
"We of Iwagakure will never bow to you in Konoha!!"
"You Konoha dogs!!"
"Kill me if you have the guts!!"
The man was exceptionally defiant.
He seemed utterly unafraid of death.
The Anbu were all dumbfounded.
Often, the louder someone shouted things like that, the more likely it was to be a sham.
They remembered that something just like this had happened a few days earlier, where the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire clashed along their borders.
Konoha shinobi had assassinated Iwagakure shinobi, then shouted, "Long live Konoha! Long live Konoha!!" after being captured.
Was that really not someone trying to stir up trouble under a false identity?
The Anbu were not idiots. Who infiltrated another country while still wearing their own village's forehead protector? On top of that, they even shouted things like, "I work for so-and-so!"
Either they were morons, or someone was framing somebody else.
"Tell us the truth. Where are you really from? What did you come here for?"
One Anbu leaned closer and threatened him.
"You know, if you don't talk, we have a hundred ways to make you."
"You underestimate us Iwagakure shinobi!!"
A mocking smile curled at the shinobi's lips. Then he abruptly bit through his tongue.
Several Anbu flinched almost simultaneously.
They hurriedly pried open