Chapter 93: Call More People to Bear Witness
After they finished cleaning the battlefield and returned to camp, when no one else was around, Hiruko relayed Orochimaru's warning to Ritsu, asking for his opinion.
"Teacher, your mindset hasn't shifted yet!"
Ritsu said with a smile.
"What do you mean?"
Hiruko didn't immediately understand.
"Lord Orochimaru thinks you only seized the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai, but in fact you now possess four Kekkei Genkai. You're no longer just one member among many ordinary jonin. Teacher, when fighting at full strength, you're already one of the shinobi world's top experts."
"Now you don't need to worry about anyone coming to make trouble for you—rather, others need to worry whether you'll make trouble for them!"
Ritsu's words awakened the dreamer.
Hiruko's face showed sudden realization, then revealed a self-mocking smile. He reached out and lightly patted his head. "Habitual thinking is truly terrifying. If you hadn't said so, I wouldn't have realized the current me is no longer the old me!"
A child carrying gold through a marketplace gets robbed because he's a child without self-protection ability. But if a fully armed military convoy transports gold through the marketplace, would anyone still try to rob it?
Hiruko had subconsciously still thought of himself as the child who couldn't protect the "gold" in his hands. But in reality, he was now a humanoid beast armed to the teeth, fully capable of protecting himself and the "gold" in his hands.
"However, Ritsu, you're exaggerating. I'm still quite far from the shinobi world's peak. Though I've mastered four Kekkei Genkai, my control over them is far too low. I still need considerable time to research and study them!"
Hiruko sighed.
Simply put, he now possessed tremendous power but lacked the means to effectively utilize that power. When dealing with Mangetsu Hozuki earlier, he'd relied entirely on brute force to drive Ice Style—achieving twice the effort for half the result.
Otherwise—
Mangetsu Hozuki absolutely couldn't have escaped!
"We can take that slowly. We now barely have self-preservation power, don't we?"
Ritsu said with a smile.
Then he continued: "Teacher, keep all the Mist ninja corpses. You can search their brains for usage methods regarding Boil Style and Ice Style. For Shikotsumyaku, I can share my research insights. As for Wood Style... I actually comprehended several Wood Style techniques through self-study, but beyond that, we can search for the First Hokage's inheritance in the future."
"You're right. Step by step, there will eventually be a day of great success."
Hiruko nodded, agreeing with Ritsu's words.
After the teacher and student chatted idly for a few more sentences, they each went to rest. They'd traveled all night last night, then fought a great battle this morning—both were somewhat tired. After simple washing up, they collapsed into sleep.
Then—
The next day.
While Ritsu was eating breakfast, someone brought Orochimaru's message saying Uchiha Shisui had returned and they could bring Suikazan Fuguki over for interrogation. He hastily finished his rice balls in a few bites, grimaced while drinking the scalding miso soup, then had someone drag out Suikazan Fuguki.
As a prisoner, Suikazan Fuguki had lived very uncomfortably these past few days. His originally fat frame had been forcibly starved considerably thinner, but his will to survive remained quite tenacious—he showed no intention of suicide.
"Teacher, want to come watch the excitement together?"
Ritsu asked.
"Planning to start interrogation? Then let's go watch together."
Hiruko agreed.
Teacher and student set out together, with clan members dragging Suikazan Fuguki, heading straight to Orochimaru's spacious tent that could accommodate a hundred people.
Orochimaru was still eating breakfast.
"Ritsu-kun, you came so quickly!"
Orochimaru held his bowl, slowly sipping soup.
"No choice, Lord Orochimaru. Thinking about how someone was willing to sell my intelligence to the Mist ninja to kill me, I now have to sleep with one eye open. If this continues, I'll be crushed by this pressure. What I might do then, even I can't say!"
Ritsu spoke freely, vigorously emphasizing the tremendous psychological damage this matter had caused him.
Hearing this, Orochimaru smiled and ordered: "Someone, go call Uchiha Shisui here."
Immediately someone accepted the order and left.
"Lord Orochimaru, only calling Shisui?"
Ritsu asked.
"What? You think Shisui alone can't handle it? Need others to help?"
"No, I mean for such a major matter, we could call more people to bear witness together, lest someone later say we're all in cahoots, birds of a feather, and refuse to accept our interrogation results."
Ritsu made a small suggestion.
Orochimaru looked deeply at Ritsu, his face wearing an inscrutable smile. He spoke in praise: "Ritsu-kun, you're still the thorough one. Indeed, we must guard against certain people refusing to acknowledge the results or even turning the tables on us... Let me think!"
He pondered for two seconds before issuing another order: "Someone, go invite Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Akimichi Choza, Aburame Shibi, Uchiha Izumo, Uchiha Teyaki, Inuzuka Kō... summon all these jonin."
He recited a long string of names in one breath.
Without exception, these were all jonin. More critically, they weren't ordinary jonin—behind each name stood a family, and among them were even several ninja family clan heads.
Ninja awaiting Orochimaru's orders all mobilized together. Sending just one person to contact so many would take half a day to gather everyone.
"How about it, Ritsu-kun? Is this acceptable?"
Orochimaru looked at Ritsu, asking with a smile.
"Lord Orochimaru's decisions naturally have no problems whatsoever!"
Ritsu also responded with a grin.
"Good. Then sit and wait for a while!"
Orochimaru instructed. Someone brought over two chairs. Ritsu and Hiruko sat down to wait. The clan member who'd come along dumped Suikazan Fuguki on the ground, then withdrew outside the tent to await the clan head's summons at any time.
Before long—
Uchiha Shisui rushed over.
"Lord Orochimaru, what are your orders?"
"Shisui, wait a moment. We'll talk when everyone's gathered." Orochimaru clearly didn't plan to waste breath explaining causes and effects—he'd wait until everyone arrived to explain everything at once.
"Yes."
Uchiha Shisui had no objections and honestly agreed, then walked toward Ritsu and Hiruko, asking quietly: "Hiruko-senpai, Ritsu-senpai, long time no see!"
"Shisui, sit down and rest a bit. We'll need to trouble you shortly!"
Ritsu said with a smile.
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