"You… you are ninjas from Iwagakure?"
Bound and dragged into a corner, the once arrogant Grass ninja, now seeing the light again, trembled as he looked at the few tanned Iwagakure ninjas standing in front of him.
"Hmph! That lord didn't just commission you Grass Village. He also issued a commission to our Iwagakure," The tanned, burly man in the lead snorted coldly. The powerful muscles stretching his clothes rippled slightly with that snort.
"So that's how it is. We're all on the same side then. Could you maybe untie me first? This is really uncomfortable," The arrogant Grass ninja was no longer arrogant at all, his face full of ingratiating smiles as he tried to cozy up to them.
Before, he dared to be arrogant because he believed no one in the Land of Snow could harm them. Now that he was tied up, of course he chickened out.
But the tanned strong man kept a cold expression and clearly had no intention of loosening his bonds.
"After you answer our questions, you'll naturally be untied. I hope you tell the truth. Our commission is different from yours. Once the mission is completed, your payment won't be any less," Though still bound, the Grass ninja was visibly relieved.
What he feared most was that if the other side completed the commission first, wouldn't their commission fee go straight down the drain?
"My lord, please ask. I will tell you everything I know."
The tanned strong man nodded in satisfaction, "Very good. Then tell us everything you learned after entering that palace just now, all the way through."
"No problem! No problem!"
After a brief hesitation, the Grass ninja shuddered and hurriedly began to recount everything.
Only then did the tanned strong man withdraw his blade.
When he finished speaking, the Grass ninja could not help licking his dry lips and chuckled awkwardly, "We're all on the same side. I've told you everything. So these ropes…"
He believed his own strength was not weak. As long as he was untied, at the very least he could escape.
However, the tanned strong man ignored him and instead looked toward a ninja at the side who had been closing his eyes and forming hand seals to sense things the whole time, "Did he hide anything just now?"
That man shook his head, "From his emotions and chakra, he shouldn't be lying."
With time pressing, they could only use such a simple method to test for lies.
"Very good. Then it's time for us to act as well."
Hearing this, the tanned strong man turned and left first, issuing the execution order for the Grass ninja without even looking back.
"Make it look like it was done by ninjas of the Land of Snow."
"Wait, didn't you say? Mmph!"
How could the Grass ninja not understand their intention? But before he could finish speaking, someone covered his mouth, and then a kunai was thrust into his heart.
These Iwa ninjas also put back on their white robes. After all, walking through snow with their original appearance was far too conspicuous.
———
On the other side—
When the trio from the Grass Village left the Snow Country palace, Aoba sensed the Flying Thunder God mark on Kazahana Koyuki and appeared beside her.
The guards stationed around the hall immediately became alert when they noticed someone appear.
But upon seeing who it was, they all lowered their heads and retreated. No one dared to look up at him directly.
As palace guards, they naturally understood the relationship between this man and their queen.
"Aoba!", Seeing Aoba appear, Kazahana Koyuki also stood up excitedly.
She wanted to rush over and hug him, but quickly remembered that there were many guards nearby.
So she immediately restrained herself. After a light cough, the excitement on her face calmed down, "You're here."
"Haha!"
Seeing Kazahana Koyuki's performance that could be called master level face changing, Aoba could not help being amused and laughed out loud.
Hearing his laughter, which clearly carried a teasing tone, Kazahana Koyuki felt her cheeks heat up slightly and coquettishly complained like she was pouting, "Don't laugh!"
Seeing that she was starting to get a bit embarrassed and annoyed, Aoba stopped laughing and returned to business.
"You've already met the people from the Grass Village, right? What's the situation?"
It looked like there had been no fight between the two sides. Otherwise, the ocular jutsu he left on Kazahana Koyuki using the transcription seal would have triggered long ago.
Seeing that Aoba really was not mocking her anymore, Kazahana Koyuki's lips curled up in satisfaction.
Then she recounted everything exactly as it happened, including the threats that arrogant Grass ninja made toward her earlier.
After listening, Aoba could not help frowning slightly.
He knew very well how much weight the Grass Village actually had. Back when he infiltrated the Grass Village, the money in the Grass Village leader's hands was not even more than Uchiha Itachi's.
From that, one could infer the whole. Where would the Land of Grass get the funds to support the Land of Snow? Even if they had the money, why would they support a remote and impoverished place like the Land of Snow?
With the nature of that group who lacked any ninja ethics, all they would think about was enjoying themselves while they could.
"It seems we still need to capture them and interrogate them first," With an idea in mind, Aoba did not hesitate any further and directly used Kagura's Mind Eye to search for the chakra of those three Grass ninjas.
But this search ended up bringing a new surprise.
He sensed several powerful and violent streams of chakra cautiously approaching the Snow Country daimyo's palace.
This was clearly not chakra that Grass Village ninjas could possess.
The two chakra signatures wandering around within the Land of Snow, which were not much stronger than chunin, should be the Grass Village ninjas.
Only, the actions of these people were somewhat strange. They looked like they were infiltrating, yet they kept heading toward areas with heavier guard presence. And every time they encountered guards, they would suddenly hide.
'Did they not investigate the intelligence beforehand and just infiltrate directly?'
'Even Konoha's dogs are more professional than them."
"It should be resolved soon. You stay here and don't move around," After saying that, Aoba was about to go deal with those few ninjas who were openly infiltrating, but Kazahana Koyuki, standing beside him, suddenly tugged at the corner of his clothes.
"What's wrong?", Aoba looked at her in confusion.
"I told them I'd give them an answer tomorrow," At this moment, Kazahana Koyuki's face was slightly flushed. She spoke hesitantly, "If it's not urgent, we could first take a walk around the Land of Snow…"
Although Aoba came to see her every night…
Of course, those special nighttime dates were very enjoyable, but occasionally she still wanted to go out with him during the day.
Aoba understood what she meant and smiled helplessly.
He told Shizune he would be back in the afternoon, so taking a brief stroll first was still possible.
"Let's deal with this first, then go. It won't take much time. After all, they've already come knocking at the door."
"Huh?", Kazahana Koyuki did not quite understand, but Aoba's figure had already disappeared.
———
On the other side—
The three tanned "Iwa ninjas" who had finally infiltrated the palace were hiding in the shadows using their skin tone advantage. Looking at the tightly packed patrol squads not far away, their mental state was already somewhat numb.
Out of a team of eight, only the three of them had infiltrated. The others were responsible for support outside.
After getting inside, they searched for Kazahana Koyuki according to the intelligence that Grass ninja had provided earlier. The route that should have been unobstructed according to the intelligence was instead filled with large numbers of patrolling guards.
This was already the third group they had encountered.
Even an idiot would know by now that most of the intelligence that Grass ninja gave them earlier was fake.
The tanned strong man in the lead could not help glancing at the ninja who had earlier claimed the Grass ninja was not lying.
But that person also could not help sighing, and in the darkness, two rows of white teeth appeared.
"Captain, when that Grass ninja was explaining the intelligence, whether it was his emotions or his chakra, there were no abnormal fluctuations at all…"
"Maybe… maybe the people of the Grass Village no longer have any reaction at all when passing on false intelligence."
"…"
For a moment, the tanned strong man was at a loss for words. They did not have much contact with the Grass Village, but they had heard some of their reputation.
He just did not expect that they could spout false intelligence without changing expression at all.
Given the current situation, infiltration was no longer possible. After a moment of silence, the tanned strong man could only say helplessly, "Since the route can't be trusted, then just grab someone and force them to talk, then take them away by force."
"Remember, do not use Lightning Release ninjutsu!"
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