Chapter 188
2-in-1-chapter
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Kakashi moved aside slightly, allowing Nonō to step forward and face Jiraiya directly.
"That's right. For Kabuto… I never thought that bastard Danzō would go so far. I will save him—no matter what it takes."
"This mess really was Danzō's doing."
Jiraiya had never been able to criticize his own teacher, Sarutobi Hiruzen, but when it came to Danzō, he had no such restraint. He had disliked the man's cold, shadowed presence for years. In his view, even Orochimaru's eventual defection had Danzō's influence behind it. Orochimaru might have always been obsessive, but after entangling himself with Danzō, that obsession had grown into madness.
He drew himself back from his wandering thoughts and looked again at Nonō's determined face. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. This situation was a tangled one indeed.
Back then, Danzō had threatened Nonō with the children of the orphanage—particularly one boy named Yakushi Kabuto. He told her that if she refused to continue serving as a spy for the village, he would take Kabuto away and raise him as a new operative. Trapped by the threat, Nonō had no choice but to agree.
What she had overestimated was Danzō's sense of honor. The man had none. The moment Nonō departed for her mission, Danzō had taken Kabuto from the orphanage and trained him as a spy himself. That alone was appalling enough.
But it did not stop there.
After Kabuto completed his training, Danzō began assigning him espionage missions. To be fair, Danzō's eye for talent was sharp—Kabuto's aptitude in intelligence work was no less than that of his adoptive mother, Nonō. Moving between Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and even the perilous Kirigakure, Kabuto gathered intelligence with remarkable skill.
The most shameless act of all was that Danzō had told Nonō he would send her Kabuto's progress photos, yet the pictures he sent were of other children who only resembled Kabuto slightly. When the details were later uncovered in Root's classified files, everyone who read them was stunned.
It was utterly disgraceful.
The depths of Danzō's deceit were beyond contempt.
Yakushi Nonō, who had risked her life serving as an undercover agent across several great nations, was undeniably a hero of Konoha. Yet this very hero had been manipulated and betrayed so thoroughly. At the end of the files, there was even a plan to use Kabuto to eliminate Nonō herself—a "cleanup" mission that fortunately had never been carried out.
Still, regardless of the details, the instigator of all this trouble—Shimura Danzō—was already dead. The wreckage he left behind had become a headache for the Fifth Hokage.
Akimichi Torifu, seasoned by years of battle and not the type to be lenient by nature, found he could not bring himself to continue Danzō's inhumane schemes. He believed that Yakushi Nonō did not deserve such an ending.
Even so, there was no clear solution. In the end, Torifu decided they would rescue Kabuto first and deal with the aftermath later. Before Kakashi's team set out, he had explained the situation briefly to both Kakashi and Juri. Since Juri already knew most of it, Torifu instructed Kakashi that if Nonō asked about Kabuto, he should not hide the truth—he was to tell her everything.
And now, the result was before them.
After hearing the full account from Kakashi, Yakushi Nonō remained silent for a long time. Her fingernails dug into her palms until her hands bled. In her mind, she had already dismembered Danzō a thousand times over. Once her strength had fully returned, she told Kakashi that she would not go back to the village for now—she intended to meet Jiraiya in person.
According to Kakashi, Yakushi Kabuto had been sent by Shimura Danzō to operate in Iwagakure earlier that year.
Perhaps they had crossed paths there more than once. Yet because Kabuto's photograph had been altered, she had not recognized him. The thought tormented Yakushi Nonō. Remembering Iwagakure's large-scale campaign to capture enemy spies filled her with fear and guilt, leaving her unable to take even one step back toward Konoha.
She had to save Kabuto—no matter the cost, she would rescue her child.
"Discussing Danzō's deeds now is meaningless. In truth, you should understand Iwagakure's situation better than we do. Because of the recent chaos there, a great deal of intelligence was leaked, and many of our agents suffered heavy losses. The same situation occurred not only in Iwagakure but also in Kumogakure and Sunagakure."
"Most of our spies have already lost contact. Before I left the village, those severed lines of communication had not been restored. We don't know whether they were captured or if contact was only temporarily lost. Under these circumstances, rescuing anyone is nearly impossible."
"I understand."
Yakushi Nonō's voice was calm.
"It is precisely because I understand better than anyone that I must stay. To learn what is happening in Iwagakure, I have to start with the Iwa-nin themselves. If necessary, I can infiltrate the village again." Her words flowed naturally; she had clearly already decided on this course before meeting Jiraiya.
Convincing her to return to Konoha would not be easy.
Jiraiya, truthfully, had no desire to use authority to force her back. After all, the things Danzō had done were so vile that he could not bring himself to impose such an order.
"By the way… may I ask, what does the village plan to do about the captured spies?"
Yakushi Nonō looked at the silent Jiraiya and asked again.
Jiraiya froze for a moment.
He opened his mouth, wanting to respond, but no words came. What plan could there be for captured spies? According to long-standing practice across the shinobi world, spies were usually executed after every bit of useful information had been extracted. Those with lingering value might be imprisoned indefinitely.
That was how Konoha handled captured spies, and he had never once heard of anyone being rescued.
"Abandoned, then?"
From Jiraiya's silence, Yakushi Nonō understood the unspoken answer.
She showed no surprise. Her composure suggested she had already anticipated it. For spies like her, every village treated them the same—used as tools, discarded once they had outlived their usefulness.
"Jiraiya-sama, there might still be a way to save them."
The one who spoke was Nara Suzaku, who had remained silent until now.
"Suzaku, explain."
Jiraiya turned sharply toward him.
"According to our current plan, if things go well, we may have a chance to negotiate an exchange with Iwagakure. Just as they captured our people, Konoha recently uncovered and detained several spies from other villages. If those captives are still alive by then, we could use them for trade."
Suzaku outlined his idea.
It was not an elaborate strategy—merely a mutual exchange of captives. Similar precedents existed during the great wars, though those exchanges had involved prisoners of war, not spies. The risk was that no one could be sure whether those spies still held secrets their captors had not yet extracted.
"This won't be easy."
Jiraiya frowned.
"It's worth trying. It isn't impossible."
Suzaku spoke with quiet confidence, clearly having thought the idea through and believing it was not beyond reach.
Jiraiya looked at him for a moment, then turned back to Yakushi Nonō. "If you want to stay, stay for now. But I'll report this to the Hokage. Your future actions will depend on his decision. Until we receive his orders, don't act on your own."
"I understand. Jiraiya-sama, thank you for your leniency."
Yakushi Nonō did not overstep her bounds. She bowed respectfully in thanks.
"Go get some rest."
Jiraiya waved his hand dismissively.
He did not feel he deserved gratitude. Compared with what Yakushi Nonō had given to the village, Konoha had repaid her with far too little. The thought left him heavy-hearted. Things should never have turned out this way.
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Land of Hot Water.
Unlike the tense, war-shadowed atmosphere of the Land of Grass, the Land of Hot Water was solemn but not panicked. The war between Konoha and Kumogakure had already burned across its territory for some time. The Hot Water shinobi had gone from initial fear to numbness, and now to hope—hope that Konoha's forces would drive the Cloud-nin away and restore the peace and indolence they once knew.
At first, Konoha's forces had suffered defeat after defeat under the Cloud's assault. Many of the Hot Water shinobi had lost hope, believing the country was doomed and that Konoha could never stand against Kumogakure. Some radicals even plotted to defect and align with the Cloud's camp.
Fortunately, their leader, Shiotsu, was a capable man. He swiftly stamped out dissent within his ranks, using decisive force to suppress the agitators. Later, with the timely arrival of reinforcements led by Uchiha Shisui and others, Konoha's retreat was halted, and the balance of battle shifted away from Kumogakure's favor. That stabilization also allowed Shiotsu to maintain control over his village.