"Big sister… Is this Konoha?"
"Mm."
Samui nodded lightly.
Atsui looked around, surprise flickering across his face as he lowered his voice. "It feels… different from before."
"Before?" Samui frowned and shot her foolish little brother a look. "You've been to Konoha before?"
"No, but I heard seniors talk about it," Atsui said quietly. "They said Konoha's Military Police Force was gone. But what I'm seeing now doesn't match that at all."
Samui froze for a moment, then subconsciously looked to both sides of the road.
Indeed.
Before they had even fully entered, two squads had already flanked them from front and back, forming a loose encirclement.
"…Forget it," someone said calmly. "Yagyū Souma, you didn't come to see me just to talk about this, did you?"
Souma already had an idea forming.
"Calm down."
"You really brought back a huge gift this time."
Then Samui heard Tsunade add another sentence.
Yamanaka Inoichi coughed lightly, trying to hide his embarrassment.
All S-rank rogue ninja?
Merchant caravans moved endlessly through the streets. Nobles in fine attire could even be seen strolling openly, chatting and shopping—it looked more like another capital city than a ninja village.
"Konoha wasn't like this before," Samui said slowly. "But because of the Fire Daimyō and your Hokage's policies, nobles have been coming here lately—to spend money, to learn."
If someone had a body like that…
A malicious thought flashed through her mind.
Souma smoothly met with Yamanaka Inoichi.
"Even I don't understand it," Inoichi said, unable to help complaining. "Why does he still have so much energy after getting his head chopped off?"
Souma suppressed a laugh.
Whether it was Hidan or Kakuzu, both easily qualified as S-rank rogue ninja—arguably even beyond that.
"There's nothing we can do," Souma said. "That邪神 cult is probably full of lunatics. Talking to lunatics is never easy."
"That's one of the Three Sannin…" Samui thought. "And with terrifying survivability. Even if the Eight-Tails went berserk, Orochimaru might still have been behind it…"
"干柿鬼鲛?" Tsunade repeated.
She then shared everything she knew.
Samui's heart skipped.
She had heard of them from Jiraiya, but she hadn't realized the entire organization was composed of S-rank rogue ninja.
"Yes. The attacker was a young man, skilled with blades, and he carried Eight-Tails chakra with him. That's why the Raikage sent me to ask whether Konoha had any information."
Orochimaru is dead?
Samui maintained a polite smile as she answered.
Though shocked by Konoha's current defenses, she forced herself to stay cautious.
According to the intelligence she had reviewed before coming, Konoha had suffered heavy losses across multiple wars. Their manpower should have been badly depleted.
Yet—
"The person I was waiting for has arrived in Konoha," Souma said quietly.
"邪神教?" Tsunade echoed.
"The general situation is like this."
In the end, Tsunade could only shake her head helplessly. "We don't know their full purpose either, but so many S-rank rogue ninja gathering together can't possibly be for odd jobs."
Samui's strength, even in the original canon, rivaled Tsunade's—proof enough of how terrifying she was.
Tsunade looked at Samui. "Since your village has sent envoys, it's better we clarify things properly to avoid misunderstandings."
Samui nodded and followed.
A pale young girl was being supported as she walked out—Yakumo Kurama.
Her complexion was poor, but her condition was clearly better than before.
Samui stated her purpose.
Tsunade rested her chin on her hand. "Your letter said your Eight-Tails jinchūriki was attacked?"
Samui believed about half of it.
"It's not that serious," Tsunade continued. "At most, it was a business transaction. If it works, it works. If not, no need to force it."
Samui inclined her head.
"Well… his chakra is very特殊. I—cough. Anyway, we don't have anything conclusive yet."
Then Tsunade added casually:
"By the way, one of the Akatsuki members who clashed with your village had long been tracked by our ANBU captain. When your ninja fell into danger, he intervened out of inter-village goodwill and cut one of them down."
Samui's pupils shrank slightly.
So that's how it is…
No wonder the timing had been so precise.
Atsui tried to speak, but Samui grabbed him firmly and shut him down.
At this point, she was almost certain—
Konoha had prepared everything in advance.
Every line of questioning had already been sealed off. With Konoha's current strength, even if the Cloud Village wanted to start a war, there was no guarantee they could win.
"How did Konoha obtain this intelligence?" Samui couldn't help asking. "Do you have agents outside?"
"If we didn't," Tsunade replied calmly, "we wouldn't know that Akatsuki stole tailed-beast chakra and then attacked the Eight-Tails again."
Samui fell silent.
The gap was too large.
Most likely… it was true.
As Souma used Body Flicker to head toward ANBU, he pondered what could be extracted from these two Cloud ninja.
Tsunade said solemnly, "I believe your village should take this seriously."
Thinking back to that day—to how those two rogue ninja fought the Cloud shinobi—Samui now believed it even more.
"About that ninja…" Tsunade began.
Then she continued, "Orochimaru used to be part of this organization. Later he left for personal reasons. We extracted these memories using Yamanaka clan techniques."
Samui's heart trembled.
She still didn't fully understand Konoha's internal structure, but she knew that after the Uchiha clan's destruction, the Military Police Force had effectively been dissolved.
Yet now—
Ninja patrols were everywhere.
Konoha was far deeper than she had imagined.
Meanwhile, Souma moved swiftly through the village, his thoughts clear.
Hot-blooded ninja meeting hot-blooded ninja…
That would definitely spark something interesting.
All he needed—
Was to give fate a little push.
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