Sandayu opened his mouth, glanced at Shuofang Si's face, which looked nothing like Arasaka Si's, then at Kakashi's exhausted expression. In the end, he could only swallow all his questions.
He ran back to the carriage and helped Kazahana Koyuki, who had been watching from there, out.
Kazahana Koyuki held up the hem of her kimono with one hand. Her face was deathly pale, and cold sweat still clung to her forehead.
She had hidden in the carriage and watched every flash of lightning and explosion on the distant battlefield through its window.
That surprised Shuofang Si a little. Well, look at that. You're not idiots after all. You were already ready to run.
Naruto and Tenten had woken up too. The four young Konoha ninja supported one another as they shuffled into the Life Curry House's dining hall, then collapsed onto the tatami like four wrung-out dishcloths.
Just then, a hand caught hold of the doorframe.
Everyone turned to look. A filthy young man stood in the doorway, his face covered in bruises and his clothes torn by branches. It was Keshi, who had left in the middle of the night to join the Kurosuki clan.
Keshi knelt in the doorway, his eyes red and swollen. His lips quivered, and his whole body shook.
When he saw the Konoha ninja sitting inside, he lunged into the room like a drowning man finally finding something to cling to. His voice was so hoarse he could barely speak.
"Please, save Ranmaru!"
"Who's Ranmaru? Sounds a lot like the name of Kiba's dog."
Naruto, who was still feeling lost over the truth of his parentage, scratched the back of his head and blurted that out without thinking.
The other young Konoha ninja all rolled their eyes at him. This was hardly the time to crack jokes.
Kneeling on the floor, Keshi haltingly explained what had happened.
Before Raiga Kurosuki went to fight Shuofang Si, he had unstrapped Ranmaru and handed him over to Keshi, telling him to take Ranmaru into hiding.
While they were hiding, Ranmaru had told him a great deal.
Ranmaru had told him about his past. He had been born with the Red Eye Kekkei Genkai, and his village had treated him like a monster. Everyone had shunned him. Only Raiga had taken him in, even killing all the villagers who refused to bring him food.
As Keshi listened, he began to cry. At that moment, he felt that Ranmaru was just a boy who longed for acceptance, exactly like him.
But just as he saw the enormous lightning strike fall in the distance and tried to take Ranmaru somewhere safer-
A stern-looking, black-haired ninja approached. Before Keshi could even make out his movements, two punches knocked him to the ground.
When he woke up, Ranmaru was gone.
"That black-haired ninja... his eyes were red, with tomoe in them," Keshi said.
Kakashi and the others' expressions changed almost simultaneously. They exchanged glances, all reading the same name in one another's eyes.
"Sasuke?" Sakura was the first to blurt it out, her voice full of disbelief.
"Damn it! What was Sasuke thinking, doing something like that?"
Naruto spoke indignantly, slamming his fist onto the tatami. The floor gave a dull thud.
He had only just learned the truth about his parentage, and now came news of Sasuke. It felt as though he had been thrown into a blender. His mind was a complete mess.
"Hahahahaha! Are you Konoha people all just playing ninja?"
Everyone turned toward the voice. Shuofang Si leaned against a pillar with his arms folded, his expression dripping with mockery.
Then he suddenly moved.
A kick sent Keshi tumbling through the air several times. He smashed through the door and rolled outside.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Naruto sprang up from the floor. Between the restorative power of the Nine-Tails chakra and the constitution granted by his Uzumaki bloodline, he had already recovered a good deal of strength.
Furious, he raised his fist and charged at Shuofang Si. This time, things would be different.
But Shuofang Si merely turned slightly and let the punch land on his shoulder.
A ripple spread through the pale golden light over his skin. It felt like punching an iron plate, and the impact left Naruto's own wrist numb.
He grabbed the top of Naruto's head and lifted him like a chick.
Naruto grimaced in pain, his arms and legs flailing in midair.
With a casual flick, Shuofang Si tossed him aside. Naruto's back struck the wall, and he slid to the floor, unable to get up for a long while.
"Shuofang Si, what exactly do you think you're doing?" Kakashi's voice turned cold as he rose from the table.
Though his chakra was exhausted, he had just made up his mind, and he would not let Shuofang Si bully Naruto like this.
Sakura and Tenten also stepped forward. Neji propped himself up on his uninjured shoulder and activated his Byakugan again, fixing his gaze on Shuofang Si.
"I already told you. You're playing ninja."
Shuofang Si strolled over to Keshi and planted a foot on the back of his head, pressing half his face into the floor.
With dirt and saliva filling his mouth, Keshi let out muffled whimpers.
"This bastard sold information about us to the Kurosuki clan. I take it none of you have looked outside the window of my room yet?"
"There are still two rogue ninja corpses lying out there. If I didn't have some skills, I'd already be dead."
He ground the toe of his shoe against the back of Keshi's head, his tone chilling.
"He sold them everything about us just to join the Kurosuki family. And you still want to help him?"
Kakashi and the others stood frozen, suddenly unable to say a word.
"But Sasuke did this! I have to stop him! How could he treat Ranmaru like that?" Naruto struggled to his feet, still arguing.
"Heh. Have you lost your mind?" Shuofang Si turned to look at him, his eyes full of contempt.
"How many people did Ranmaru help that bloodthirsty Raiga Kurosuki slaughter? How many innocent people did they hold funerals for, burying them alive? You want to save him just because his story moved you? What about the people buried alive in those coffins? Who went to save them?"
Naruto opened his mouth, trying to say something, but not a single word came out.
Cold sweat slid down from his forehead and dripped off his chin onto the floor.
By now, Kazahana Koyuki had realized that Shuofang Si was Arasaka Si.
She was deeply irritated by the way he swaggered around, and blurted out, "But Ranmaru is just a child! Don't you have any compassion?"
Sandayu's face instantly turned green.
He whipped his head toward his princess, his mouth opening wide enough to fit an entire rice ball. His eyes practically screamed, You're the boss, but please, I'm begging you, stop talking.
Shuofang Si was amused.
He turned toward Kazahana Koyuki with an extremely friendly smile, his tone as warm as an old friend exchanging pleasantries.
"Sorry. I was so busy beating him, I forgot to beat you."
Kazahana Koyuki's last conscious memory was of him appearing beside the counter in a flash and picking up a glass bottle.
When Kazahana Koyuki opened her eyes again, it was noon.
Dazzling sunlight streamed straight through a gap in the carriage's canvas cover and fell across her face, making her instinctively close her eyes again.
A dull ache radiated from her forehead, her temples throbbed, and her mouth felt dry and bitter.
She lay stunned for a few seconds, feeling as though she had seen this scene somewhere before.
Then she abruptly sat up and touched the red mark on her forehead, which hurt at the slightest contact.
Gritting her teeth, she summoned every ounce of strength and let out a scream of utter fury.
"Arasaka! No, Shuofang Si!"
Before you continue