After the shopkeeper brought Asuka to the room, he carefully checked the corridor to ensure no one else was nearby. He then turned around, knelt on one knee, and spoke respectfully.
"This subordinate belongs to the Anbu's Hidden Mist Unit, code-named Swordfish. May I ask which lord has arrived?"
The Hidden Mist Unit was a special branch under the Anbu, primarily responsible for long-term infiltration into other nations. Normally, they did not actively gather intelligence. Instead, they provided assistance to infiltrating agents through the network of connections they had built during their years of undercover work.
The conversation with the shopkeeper earlier had been a covert method of transmitting a secret code. The key phrases in that code were the bathtub, ice water, a cold bath, and the extended pinky finger.
Asuka looked at the kneeling shopkeeper and said calmly, "Rise. You don't need to know who I am. This is a secret order from the Mizukage."
Swordfish accepted the secret order from Asuka. After reading it carefully, he respectfully handed it back and said, "My lord, if you require any cooperation within Kumogakure, please give your command at any time."
Asuka waved his hand. "Understood. I'm a bit tired. You may leave now."
After Swordfish left the room, Asuka sat at the table and poured himself a cup of tea. While sipping it slowly, he began considering his next move.
"After all the misdirection created by my clones, the Cloud Ninja probably believe I've already left the Land of Lightning. The intensity of their search has clearly decreased."
"The next problem is how to obtain intelligence about the Cloud Ninja's upcoming war."
Before he realized it, night had already fallen.
Looking out at the bustling village streets, Asuka decided to go out for a walk.
After leaving the hotel, he followed the crowd toward the busiest street in Kumogakure. The place was incredibly lively. People came and went, and many passersby still wore relaxed smiles, as if news of the war had not yet reached them.
Perhaps because of the region's harsh terrain, the people of the Land of Lightning seemed particularly tough and spirited.
Asuka chose the most crowded izakaya and walked inside.
The moment he entered, he saw burly men raising cups of sake and laughing loudly. Asuka found an empty seat and casually ordered several small dishes along with two flasks of sake.
While waiting for the food, he quietly circulated his chakra to sharpen his hearing, filtering through the surrounding conversations in search of useful information.
Soon, a discussion between two men caught his attention.
One of them said,
"Ah, refreshing! It's been a long time since I've had a drink like this."
"Yeah," the other replied. "We've been working overtime forging iron every day lately. Finally got a day off."
"Hey, I heard another batch of new iron ore arrived today. Good thing we're off duty. Otherwise we'd definitely be stuck doing miserable overtime again, haha."
"Now that you mention it, that's true. Sigh… I really don't know what's going on lately, forging weapons day and night—"
Before he could finish, his companion kicked him under the table.
The man quickly looked around nervously and lowered his voice.
"Do you want to die? Don't you know this work is confidential? I think you've really had too much to drink. If you want to die, don't drag me down with you!"
Realizing his mistake, the first man laughed awkwardly.
"Right, right… look at my brain. I forgot. Come on, let's just keep drinking."
After that, the two changed the topic completely.
Not far away, Asuka continued eating and drinking quietly, having heard every word of their conversation.
He knew exactly where the iron ore they mentioned had come from. It was the same shipment that the caravan he infiltrated had been transporting.
From their conversation, those men were clearly blacksmiths. Recently, they had been working nonstop to forge weapons.
Considering the situation on Kumogakure's front with the Land of Wind, there was no reason to increase weapon production so drastically.
This could only mean one thing.
The Cloud Ninja were preparing to launch another war.
Asuka quickly finished the dishes in front of him. Before leaving, he ordered the shop to send a flask of sake to every table free of charge.
The entire tavern erupted in cheers.
Such extravagant behavior perfectly matched his current identity as a nouveau riche.
After leaving the izakaya, Asuka staggered down the street, deliberately pretending to be drunk.
However, once he returned to his room, he immediately stood upright.
He removed his flashy clothing and changed into discreet night gear. Then he opened the window and leaped outside.
Asuka dashed across the rooftops, fully releasing his sensory abilities. While carefully avoiding Kumogakure patrols, he searched for the location where the weapons were being manufactured.
Eventually, he noticed firelight in a remote area of Kumogakure.
The number of Cloud Ninja patrols near that area was significantly higher than elsewhere.
Asuka immediately realized he had likely found the place.
Suppressing his presence, he slowly approached the source of the firelight. After evading patrol after patrol, he finally saw the scene clearly.
Bare-chested blacksmiths swung their hammers continuously, the clanging sounds echoing through the night.
Batch after batch of ninja tools took shape under their hands.
Nearby, piles of newly forged weapons had already formed small mountains. Several ninjas were sealing them into storage scrolls one after another.
Asuka silently observed the entire operation throughout the night, leaving only when dawn was about to break.
From this investigation alone, he could roughly estimate the number of weapons being produced each night.
After a quick mental calculation, the conclusion became clear.
Such a massive scale of weapon production was far beyond what was needed for the Land of Wind battlefield.
Kumogakure was almost certainly preparing for war with Iwagakure.
However, that was not the information Asuka wanted most.
Based on knowledge from his previous life, he knew that while Kumogakure fought against Iwagakure, they would also declare war on Konoha.
His main objective during this infiltration was to discover clues about Kumogakure's planned attack on Konoha.
Over the following days, Asuka frequently appeared in entertainment venues throughout Kumogakure, acting like a genuine nouveau riche.
His extravagant spending quickly drew the attention of certain people.
One evening, Asuka left an izakaya and staggered toward the hotel as usual.
After returning to his room, he extended his perception to confirm that no Cloud Ninja were nearby.
Then he opened the window and jumped outside.
After several days of investigation, Asuka had already selected a target.
Under the cover of night, he arrived at the man's residence.
This person was one of the targets provided by the Hidden Mist Unit, and Asuka had already learned his routine over the past few days.
With a light jump, Asuka entered the man's room and saw him sleeping soundly.
The target was a member of Kumogakure's Intelligence Department. Although he didn't hold a high rank, he was a veteran who had access to a considerable amount of useful information.
Asuka walked to the bedside and covered the man's mouth.
The moment the man jolted awake, Asuka struck him unconscious with a swift motion. Then he placed his hand on the man's head.
He activated the Hidden Mist Anbu's secret interrogation technique, invading the man's brain with spiritual energy.
Under Asuka's perception, the man's memories unfolded before him like a slowly unrolling scroll.
He sifted through the memories, searching for useful information.
However, some of the man's important memories appeared completely blacked out, as if covered with ink.
This was clearly a special sealing technique used by the Kumogakure Intelligence Department to protect critical information.
Although Asuka couldn't directly access the sealed memories, he still managed to piece together useful clues from fragments and surrounding details.
Within those memories, he found a scene where the man was reporting logistics operations.
It showed Kumogakure recently stockpiling massive amounts of supplies and transporting large quantities of weapons toward the Land of Earth.
After obtaining the information he needed, Asuka casually erased the man's memory of the night and quietly left the room.
Although he hadn't found evidence that Kumogakure was preparing to attack Konoha, the intelligence he had gathered was already sufficient.
Based on his memories from his previous life, the war between Kumogakure and Konoha happened during Kumogakure's conflict with Iwagakure.
It was possible that Kumogakure had not yet finalized their plan to attack Konoha.
With that in mind, Asuka decided not to pursue the matter further.
He planned to stop here and return to the Hidden Mist Village.