There's no need to ask any further.
Let's talk about other topics instead.
after all...
During Araki's so-called interrogation, there were many things that caught Minato's eye.
"What is that Red Spirit?" Minato asked again.
"A specially made poison," Araki explained patiently. After all, he could sense that Minato already considered him a comrade, so he wanted to understand him more deeply.
"Do medical-nin also make poisons?" Minato asked again, but he wasn't doubting Araki; he was simply very curious about the medical-nin system. He wasn't particularly clear about it.
"To create an antidote, you must first understand poisons. Once you understand the toxicological properties of a poison, it may be possible to develop an antidote that counteracts it," Araki explained earnestly.
"And this Red Spirit..." Minato's azure pupils narrowed slightly as he spoke, because he had just witnessed the tragic state of the five Kumogakure ninjas and knew that the poison called Red Spirit was extremely cruel in such matters, so he couldn't help but ask another question.
"That's a poison developed by Sunagakure, a ninja from Chiyo. It was used on the ninjas of Konoha during the Second Shinobi World War. My teacher, Tsunade, eventually developed an antidote, which alleviated the damage caused by this extremely torturous poison and prevented it from causing particularly severe harm to Konoha," Araki said.
"I see!" Minato nodded, then said, "No wonder you had both poison and antidote on you. I thought you had prepared them beforehand and were planning to use them during interrogation."
Actually, I don't have the antidote!
Araki's words immediately stunned Minato and Kushina, who stared at him wide-eyed, completely dumbfounded.
"What did you say?"
Minato stared wide-eyed at Araki, asking incredulously, "You said there's no antidote, then what were they fed?"
"Another kind of poison." Araki didn't shy away from the topic at all, and then calmly explained, "Before leaving, I only developed the Red Spirit poison, but I didn't have time to develop the antidote. The main reason I insisted on bringing the Red Spirit with me was that I felt I should only use it against enemies when I could, so even without the antidote, it wouldn't be a big problem. What I gave those five people was another kind of poison. These two poisons have an antagonistic effect in the short term, which can offset some of the symptoms and restore them to their original state. But in reality, both poisons are deeply embedded in their internal organs, and after a period of time, the poisoning effect will still erupt, ultimately taking their lives!"
Araki's explanation is very clear.
In other words, the original poison would have been a death sentence for these people, but after taking another type of poison, the death sentence was commuted to a suspended death sentence.
They may not die in the present moment, but that doesn't mean they are completely immune to death.
"This..."
Upon hearing this, Minato froze in place once again.
His eyes remained fixed on Araki, staring intently at Araki. Suddenly, he felt that the person in front of him had become even more unfamiliar, and there were many things about him that he knew nothing about.
"Actually, you don't need to worry too much. After all, these people may have died before the poison took effect. The Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force is not a place that everyone can endure," Araki said calmly.
"When will they take effect from the poison?" Minato asked again.
"Based on the dosage they've taken, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it shouldn't exceed three days. However, during these three days, they won't experience any symptoms, can still be interrogated, and will reveal any information they might be willing to disclose," Araki explained.
"Is there no cure?" Minato's brows furrowed slightly. He suddenly felt that what he was doing was not quite right. He still cared about the village and hoped that such matters should be decided by the village, rather than being changed arbitrarily by them.
"It should be possible to find Tsunade-sensei, but not anyone else." Araki gave a brief reply, but such a reply was tantamount to sentencing these people to death. After all, how could Tsunade, with her status, possibly treat the Kumogakure ninjas lying in ambush outside Konoha?
" Araki, are you out of your mind? If you do this, you'll kill eleven out of these twelve Kumogakure ninjas. This could trigger a series of chain reactions, leading to an adversarial relationship between Kumogakure and Konoha!" Minato said, shaking his head.
"Aren't we already in a state of conflict?" Araki said with a slight smile.
"At least for now, this relationship isn't out in the open!" Minato and Araki had a slight disagreement, which was related to their different educations. Minato had always been an excellent student in the Ninja Academy, and his education was based on the Will of Fire. He was already able to think like Hokage. Araki, on the other hand, was someone who hadn't been brainwashed and had socialist core values.
"The ninjas from Kumogakure are already lying in ambush at the gates of Konoha. Do you think that's not openly displaying their power?" After saying this, Araki's smile turned into a mocking curve as he continued, "The ninjas from Kumogakure have already invaded Konoha. Doesn't that count as openly displaying their power? Then what exactly constitutes openly displaying their power, directly declaring war?"
"That should be a matter for the village's higher-ups to consider, a matter for the Lord Hokage to consider, not for us. Now, we have privately killed eleven of the twelve Kumogakure ninjas, which will have a very bad impact on Konoha, and many things you can't imagine may happen!" Minato's emotions also became slightly agitated.
"If I don't do these things, will the village eventually let these people go back? Whatever their ultimate goal is, it's just because they are ninjas from Kumogakure!" Araki said with a cold laugh.
"Wait..." Minato suddenly realized a very serious problem. He subconsciously looked closely at Araki, his azure eyes fixed on Araki for a while before he slowly spoke, "You didn't plan to kill them all from the very beginning, did you?"
Minato had his reasons for asking that question.
They initially faced nine ninjas, but six of them had already been violently killed by Araki.
Later, Araki used torture as a pretext to interrogate the remaining six ninjas, forcing five of them to take a lethal poison.
In this way, only one lucky survivor will remain out of the twelve ninjas.
Minato suddenly felt that Araki had never intended to let these Kumogakure ninjas go from the very beginning. This thought made his hair stand on end, and he vaguely realized that Araki was not as simple as he appeared on the surface.
"That's right!"
Araki nodded without any hesitation, then added, "However, I spared their lives!"
"Hiss..."
After hearing this, Minato suddenly understood what Araki meant when he said he had spared someone's life.
Gradually.
This made him realize...
Araki didn't care what the purpose of these Kumogakure ninjas' arrival was; from the very beginning, he intended to kill them all.
" Araki, as a comrade, I'm telling you seriously, if you don't change what you're doing, it could harm the village in the future," Minato said earnestly.
"Understood."
Araki nodded outwardly, to maintain the relationship between his comrades and to avoid arguing too much with Minato on such a topic. However, from a practical point of view, he had never cared about the interests of the village; he only cared about himself and the interests of those he cared about.
Even he himself can't explain it now. He deeply dislikes the ninjas of Kumogakure, who have come to Konoha to capture Kushina time and time again. This ambush just happened to take place while they were out on a mission. Although he doesn't know the specific reason yet, he just feels that it might be related to Kushina.
This is just never going to end!
Araki had never seen such a shameless village!
certainly...
Although he disagreed with it, he knew that Minato's advice was right. In the future, when doing such things, he should be more discreet and not leave any evidence against him.
This time it was done right in front of Jiraiya and the other two. Next time, it should be done secretly so that no one finds out, and then there won't be any trouble.
Whoosh!
Suddenly.
Another figure appeared.
It was Jiraiya who sent those six people to the village and then returned.
Let's keep going!
Jiraiya wore a faint smile. He was unaware of the conversation between Minato and Araki, still basking in the joy of seeing the Kumogakure ninjas' relationship disrupted by this divisive tactic. His mood was exceptionally good.
"Yes!"
The three people, including Araki, responded in unison. Jiraiya's arrival successfully interrupted their conversation and prevented it from continuing.
but...
Judging from the Minato's actions and expressions...
It seems there's been a slight disagreement with Araki.
Just like when classmates or friends have some unpleasantness, they show a state of ignoring it, as if Araki is not in their sight.
Chapter 27 A Feeling of Déjà Vu
Araki's lips curled up slightly, seemingly unconcerned about Minato's emotions. These things were unimportant to him; for the ninjas of Kumogakure, this was what he wanted to do most.
certainly...
This doesn't mean he's no longer keeping a low profile.
Araki remained incredibly cautious, but his caution was relative to his actual strength. He didn't pretend to be the weakest, but rather reserved some trump cards so that his opponents were never clear about his true power. That was enough.
" Araki, you did a good job on this!"
However, at that moment, Jiraiya's voice rang out, clearly reaching the ears of the three people present. This sudden praise startled Minato, who was completely taken aback and had not yet reacted.
Kushina smiled with her lips pursed. She hadn't said a word when the incident happened, just silently staring at Araki and watching what was going on. After all, as the person who knew Araki best in the ninja world, she knew very well what Kumogakure meant.
The ninjas from Kumogakure wanted to capture her, which is why Araki intervened. It was then that she witnessed Araki's strength.
Or rather, it's Araki's approach...
During that period, Araki's actions were ruthless, leaving no survivors.
The fact that they managed to keep one alive is already a great relief to the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force. Thinking about Araki's actions, I couldn't help but feel a warm glow in my heart.
At least...
She understood.
The reason why Araki treated the ninjas of Kumogakure in this way was largely due to her; it was tantamount to saying that Araki was targeting the ninjas of Kumogakure for her sake.
Kushina was a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, in the midst of a confused adolescence. She was deeply moved by Araki's actions in her imagination.
at the same time.
After hearing Kushina praise Araki, Kushina felt a little smug. After all, she had seen Minato and Araki arguing, and Jiraiya she didn't say anything, she was on Araki's side.
As for the Minato...
Kushina thought he was a bit childish!
"Thank you Jiraiya-sensei."
Araki nodded lightly, accepting the praise without any other unusual reaction in his heart.
He didn't care at all what kind of information the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force could extract, and even if he did, those things wouldn't be reported to him, and he had no right to know.
Regardless of why these Kumogakure ninjas came to Konoha, whether it was about Kushina or something else, it was all a reminder to him that he could not easily forget the existence of Kumogakure.
In a sense...
Araki didn't have a good impression of Kumogakure, but he had an even worse impression of the higher-ups in Konoha!
Especially the Third Hokage!
Araki felt that if he hadn't killed those few Kumogakure, the final result would likely have been that the Third would have released them, allowing them to return to Kumogakure unharmed.
After all, if any conflict or disagreement were to arise with Kumogakure at this critical juncture, it could very well lead Kumogakure to launch an attack on Konoha. Konoha, having just experienced the Second Shinobi World War, is not suited to continue participating in battles in the short term.
"However, I must say this: you went too far just now. They were lying in ambush at the entrance of Konoha, and with me here, we could have captured them all alive," Jiraiya said again, giving Araki a warning.
"They appeared so suddenly, I was a little scared, so I didn't act with restraint. I'll be more careful next time," Araki nodded.
"Hmm." Jiraiya looked at Araki, then his gaze fell on Minato and Kushina. He smiled and said, "Overall, I'm very satisfied with your performance just now. You're stronger than I expected. Now we're heading to the front lines. We'll likely encounter many more ambushes like this along the way. I hope you can stay alert to deal with all sorts of things that might happen."