"You killed them all?"
Jaeger's expression was dazed as he looked up at the smoking leader of the Konoha shinobi.
The man had a scruffy beard, a rugged face, and a weathered appearance, with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
Jaeger stood there in a stupor.
How could he not recognize those headbands? He had risked his life on the battlefield to retrieve them and handed them to nearby refugees to intimidate the mountain bandits.
Asuma took a puff of his cigarette, smiling as he exhaled the smoke. "Oh, just a few rogue ninjas."
Jaeger muttered, lost in thought, "They weren't rogue ninjas…"
"Oh, they weren't?"
Asuma, still smiling, leaned his face closer to the frail man's side, blowing out a thick cloud of smoke. He spoke slowly and deliberately, "Where's your headband?"
Jaeger's pupils widened, his face drained of color.
Clang—
The veins bulged on the forehead of a Hyūga branch family jōnin as he activated his Byakugan, scanning the wooden house through his black-and-white vision.
During the search.
The Hyūga branch family jōnin scoffed, "Whether or not you refugees have rogue ninja headbands doesn't matter. Dead is dead.
The Land of Fire doesn't need refugees.
We say you're rogue ninjas, and just like that, you're rogue ninjas!
In the shinobi world, no matter which nation's border you cross, you're nothing but homeless ants.
You're used as cannon fodder by the great shinobi villages.
Isn't it your fate to be hunted as rogue ninjas, traded for bounty by other shinobi?"
His words were laced with the pride of the Hyūga clan, even though he was from the branch family.
Jaeger stared blankly at the ceiling.
"War turned them into refugees. When they fled here, they didn't plunder or harm anyone. They survived by hunting."
Nonō stood up, her voice cold.
She pulled out a kunai from the table and lightly flicked it, cutting the ropes binding Jaeger and Dr. Nake.
Nonō glanced at the Konoha headbands worn by the four shinobi and suddenly felt a deep sense of shame in being from the same village as those who so casually trampled on human life.
Jaeger remained seated in the chair.
Dr. Nake, on the other hand, quickly ran behind Nonō. Being a perceptive man, he could tell this woman wasn't intent on killing them, unlike the four Konoha shinobi who were pure killers.
"Who cares?"
The Hyūga jōnin raised an eyebrow, ignoring Nonō as he walked straight toward the kitchen.
Asuma glanced around the wooden floor and finally focused on Nonō.
She looked familiar, but he couldn't place her, so he smiled and asked, "I didn't expect to find a ninja here. Which village are you from?"
Though Nonō had a reputation, few had seen the true face of the Wandering Priestess, even within the Root organization. It was a fundamental rule of intelligence work.
As for her identity as the head of the Konoha orphanage, who cared? Konoha shinobi didn't have time to be running to the orphanage every day.
"My name is Nonō Yakushi, a former member of Konoha's Root organization, currently on a mission.
How did you find this place?
What's your objective?"
Nonō pulled out her Konoha headband and a mission scroll from Root, tossing them onto the table with a snap as she locked eyes with Asuma.
Asuma glanced at the headband and mission scroll, and suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head. He smiled and said, "Ah, so you're the head of the Konoha orphanage!
Heh.
Apologies.
We're not obligated to reveal the details of our mission to you."
Hearing Nonō's name jogged Asuma's memory. He recalled a conversation with a colleague about the top beauties among Konoha's kunoichi.
That colleague had praised Nonō as one of the most attractive kunoichi in Konoha, known for both her looks and figure.
At this moment, the Inuzuka clan shinobi, holding onto his snow-white dog, chuckled and said, "Of course, we tracked you down using me and Yukimaru's sense of smell. We picked up the scent of blood and followed it all the way here. But, man, this place is really remote! It took us forever to find it!"
The five of them had been waiting by the water route outside the Kikyo Castle until late at night, but the Uchiha defector squad never showed. After reinforcements arrived, they split up and began searching the Kikyo Mountains.
The ninja hounds had caught the scent of human blood.
They suspected that the Uchiha squad had fought in the mountains.
And so, this pursuit team had gathered at this mountain refuge.
"The scent of blood…"
Nonō's eyes filled with regret, and her body trembled. It dawned on her that by killing the rogue ninjas and mountain bandits, she had inadvertently brought this disaster upon the refugee camp.
She also realized that this seemingly well-equipped Konoha squad was here to hunt down the fleeing group.
Nonō glanced at Jaeger, feeling a mix of emotions. Since she had made a mistake, she needed to find a way to fix it. At the very least, she couldn't let this family of three die at the hands of the Konoha shinobi.
Bang—
The Hyūga jōnin came out of the kitchen carrying a set of used teacups, placing them on the table—twelve in total.
Asuma, the Inuzuka jōnin, and the Akimichi jōnin inspected the cups.
Jaeger sensed something as well, his pupils trembling as he snapped back to reality.
"Woof! Woof!" Yukimaru barked twice at the teacup, hiding nervously by its owner's leg.
"Yukimaru is signaling that twelve people have used the teacup," explained the Inuzuka clan's jonin with a smile.
Asuma pushed a teacup toward Jaeger and said, "One cup belongs to the host, which leaves eleven. It seems our intel was wrong—there are eleven members in this rogue ninja squad, not just ten."
"I'll ask, you answer!"
The Hyuga clan's jonin activated his Byakugan, observing Jaeger's facial expression as he coldly asked, "Which direction did those eleven people flee?"
Jaeger's mind raced, and without much thought, he raised his hand, pointing south, replying, "They went that way!"
Although he didn't know the full situation, he was aware that if Captain Kuroki had escaped from Konoha, he definitely couldn't point to the east, where Konoha was located.
The Hyuga jonin furrowed his brows and delivered a heavy kick to Jaeger's stomach, sending both him and his chair flying into the wall, crashing to the ground.
Jaeger gritted his teeth, clutching his abdomen as he leaned against the wall, sweat pouring from his forehead.
"Ah..." Jaeger's wife let out a gasp, wanting to protect her husband. But in a flash, a kunai was pressed against her neck, with another pointed at the baby she was holding.
The Hyuga jonin appeared behind her, holding the kunai in both hands, hovering steadily in the air as he softly whispered, "Don't move. If you do, all of you die."
Nono's pupils contracted as she clenched her fists, waiting patiently for the best moment to act.
Nake was already huddled in the corner, trembling in fear.
Judging by these ninja's techniques and abilities, they would be strong even by Konoha's standards.
"Four Konoha jonin..." Nono's expression was grim as she stared intently at the four of them, feeling immense pressure. In her mind, she wondered who the people who stole her bathtub were, to warrant such a high-level Konoha pursuit team.
Asuma ignored the scene before him. The Hyuga jonin he had brought along had once worked in the interrogation unit.
He was fired by Morino Ibiki for his overly cruel interrogation methods.
"Don't try any tricks. I can read your facial expressions and tell if you're lying. I won't waste words. Four directions—eliminate the south."
The Hyuga jonin said coldly, "Of the remaining three directions, only one is correct. If you lie, I'll kill someone on the spot.
You have two chances. If you use them up, you die."
(End of chapter)