"That's everything that has happened during this period. Is there anything else you need me to add?"
Sitting upright in a private compartment of a tea shop, Amane talked to herself, recounting everything from her journey to the Hidden Mist Village to the events of last night after "slightly packaging" the details.
For instance, she claimed Ding's death was due to Ao's timely return. Ding had supposedly exhausted himself too much confronting the Masked Man; the moment he made his move, he was first stopped by that Jonin, and though he was about to succeed with Amane's assistance, Ao arrived on the scene.
Then, Ding allegedly gave the order to destroy his corpse and told Amane to release her Shadow Clone to seize the opportunity to break out from inside the base and deliver the information.
Amane wasn't afraid of Danzo becoming suspicious of this explanation.
Currently, her Cursed Seal was sealed rather than broken, and having been raised in Root since she was an infant made her "politically reliable" and deeply rooted in their system.
And most importantly, there was the true nature of this mission.
Although she hadn't thought much about it at first, after so much time had passed, Amane had guessed that perhaps the purpose of sending her here was to hide her away.
This would explain why the initial mission objectives were so easy.
So, when faced with such a crisis, wouldn't it be perfectly reasonable for Ding to order Amane to leave? Rather than demanding she eradicate the Hidden Mist's hope at all costs, even if it meant death?
Regarding the intelligence itself, Amane revealed all the information she had on Obito and Zetsu.
There was no need to hide this, and more importantly, providing this intelligence would make Danzo trust Amane even more.
She remembered that in the original work, during the Uchiha Clan Downfall, Danzo and Obito met and became wary of each other.
She still recalled that when Obito and Sasuke intercepted Danzo to begin their revenge battle, both clearly admitted to having met during the Uchiha incident.
Sending Itachi as an undercover agent was likely because of Obito. Now that Amane was offering up combat data on Obito, Danzo would surely be quite pleased.
As for the Hidden Mist sealing scroll... after some thought, Amane decided to keep it hidden.
Things that cannot bear the light should remain in the dark forever.
"I understand. Your intelligence is very detailed; we will deliver it to Lord Danzo as soon as possible. It is not advisable for you to move about during this time. Stand by here and wait for further instructions."
After the voice finished, Amane felt that Chakra gradually move away from the area.
Knock, knock, knock... "Come in."
It was still that woman dressed in Yamato Nadeshiko style. Just like before, she said nothing upon entering, simply set down the items in her hands and left.
Last time it was a Suppressant, but this time it was a full set of professional "cosmetics."
A short while later, Amane restored her red hair, changed her hairstyle, and applied a bit of makeup. Aside from Ringo Yuriko, she was confident that no one who knew her before could possibly recognize her at a glance.
[Hmm, changing the hairstyle is basically like becoming a different person, no problem there.]
Setting aside that classic anime meme, even in reality, if you have long hair and change the color and style, eighty to ninety percent of people won't recognize you instantly.
Looking at the beautiful little girl in the mirror, Amane was very satisfied with her makeup skills and couldn't help but wonder what she would look like in the future.
[Alright, I'll probably have to wait a day or two. I should get some rest.]
A day or two was the time it took to travel to and from the nearby facilities established specifically for sending intelligence. After all, the Ninja World was quite large; if one truly had to travel from here to Konoha in the Land of Fire, it would take at least several months.
After setting up her defenses and alerts, Amane sat cross-legged on the tatami and began to meditate. This was both a form of relaxation and a type of focus training.
[Sigh... it's become a habit. But that's fine; it's not like there are cell phones to play with in this era. No matter what, I must live until the boruto era!]
With another small resolution made in her heart, Amane concentrated on her meditation.
When she got tired, she would start studying the Ninjutsu from the Hidden Mist sealing scroll. Although she couldn't make too much noise in the room, it didn't stop her from reading and understanding the techniques.
Food was delivered on schedule, and she went to sleep on time.
These past few days were the most leisurely Amane had ever experienced in this life.
A few days later in the early morning, Danzo's response arrived faster than she had anticipated.
"Lord Danzo's instructions have arrived. First, you have done excellently, Jiu. You and your team completed the mission well, but now is not the time to recall you."
Not the time to recall her?
Amane couldn't help but sneer inwardly upon hearing this.
He's probably struggling to protect himself. After all, Danzo was removed from his post after the Uchiha massacre and became a retired old man. It wasn't until shippuden that Danzo resurfaced.
However, this suited Amane's wishes perfectly.
Was now a good time to return to Konoha? Absolutely not.
His saying that Amane couldn't return meant that if she did, she would likely undergo a full memory scan. A Danzo who had lost power wouldn't be able to prevent that.
After all, Amane was a member of Root. To avoid potential danger, Amane felt that doing so would be appropriate if she were in their shoes.
But as the person involved, she didn't dare hand her brain over to the Yamanaka Clan—at least not now, when she had no means to counter them.
Even though her Shadow Clones didn't have memories of her past life, Amane really didn't dare to gamble.
[The Cursed Seal issue is resolved, so now I need to start solving the brain issue. I still know too little about this field.]
The ideal scenario would be to avoid it entirely or have a way to deceive them.
Or there was an even simpler and more direct way: return only after becoming a Kage-level expert. By then, as long as Amane showed a bit of resistance, the higher-ups could at most try to pressure her using morality or old ties.
But doing that would cause the high-level social network to label her as untrustworthy and use their power to invisibly suppress her in society.
If she became an Beyond Kage-level expert, she could just conquer Konoha directly.
"Now that the turmoil in the Land of Water has subsided, it will gradually become unsuitable for conducting missions. Evacuate immediately to the contact point in the Land of Hot Springs and settle down there. Remember, do not neglect your training."
After speaking, the masked person handed Amane a stack of money. A conservative estimate was that it might be tens of millions of Ryo, definitely enough to live very comfortably for many years.
[I'm sorry, Lord Danzo, but right now I'd even call you 'godfather' if you asked.]
Amane calmly pocketed the money as if it were just an ordinary mission item.
[Later, I'll split it into three parts: one to keep on me, and two to be sealed in sealing scrolls. One of the scrolls will be nested inside another seal and kept on my person.]
Having silently made her decision, Amane continued to wait for the messenger to finish.
"Jiu, you and I will set out immediately. You can call me Uno Kosuke; my codename is Guang."
So they're still sending someone to keep an eye on me.
Amane smiled inwardly. In her perception, this person's Chakra volume was much lower than Ding's. Although this didn't truly represent combat strength, it served as a useful reference.
For example, if someone didn't even have enough Chakra to normally use A-rank or B-rank Ninjutsu, their upper limit couldn't be that high.
After both of them removed their masks and destroyed them, they left the tea house together.
They were silent along the way, focusing entirely on traveling. Ding had been like this before, and now Guang was the same; this was the characteristic of Ninjas trained by Root.
To be honest, Amane always felt this was a mistake. Didn't they realize that being so different from normal people was also a way of standing out?
Granted, because both of them were skilled, they chose routes through dense forests or swamps that ordinary people wouldn't take. But didn't that also make it easier for someone with ill intentions to launch an ambush?
If it were Amane, she would have done what she did when she first came to the Land of Water: walk openly among the crowds as a father and daughter or as siblings.
Sure enough, when the branch Guang stepped on turned into a snake and bit his neck in the blink of an eye...
There was no sympathy in Amane's eyes, only a natural calmness.
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