By the time Zaraki Kita started uncovering clues, snow was falling. Her summer scarf had been replaced with a thick, plush one. Konan's handiwork was impressive; the fluffy scarf kept her warm. Her yukata remained the same style, though the pattern had changed. For a ninja, warm clothing wasn't all that necessary—after all, chakra could do most of the work. The scarf was probably just for appearances, so others wouldn't think she was cold.
Zaraki Kita painstakingly dug into the Uchiha's situation in Konoha while Shisui was still alive, reviewing it from every angle. She then reorganized all intelligence regarding Uchiha Madara and the Sharingan, only to reach an unpleasant conclusion.
The Uchiha were mischievous—so mischievous that it made Konoha uncomfortable.
Was it worth bringing an entire country to ruin just because of some discomfort?
Most would say no, unless the Uchiha's mischief threatened Konoha itself. Zaraki Kita set these tentative, unconfirmed conclusions aside for now, leaving questions about how much Madara truly hated the Uchiha clan or how far Itachi could go to act against his own parents for objective reasons. She focused instead on whether she herself had been manipulated.
Here's what had happened: just as she discovered that the Uchiha family and Konoha were superficially cooperative but secretly at odds, an organization named "An" suddenly appeared. Same uniforms, same rogue ninja nature—but their strength was so low that taking them out took mere seconds.
If the first appearance had been an accident, then the subsequent rise of groups like the "Heaven and Earth Society" and the "Thundercloud Brigade," each unimpressive in skill, made Zaraki Kita feel like someone was manipulating events behind the scenes. After all, her duties as an external member were roughly equivalent to those of a disciplinary officer—overseeing others, especially certain members who needed extra attention.
After a month of running around, Zaraki Kita had dismantled three of these once-notorious groups. When taking out the first, she had time to mock them: such weaklings serving as mercenaries was almost pitiful. After the second, she thought that the weak should stay in line. By the third, she had a growing sense that something was about to happen.
So, when the fourth "heavenly" group began to stir, Zaraki Kita chose a different method to figure out why so many mercenaries had suddenly appeared. Time was short, so her actions were inevitably a bit rough.
The "base" was barely worthy of the name—a makeshift cave, holding one bound to a pillar and nine sprawled on the ground.
After handling them, Zaraki Kita pulled a small notebook from her chest and wrote carefully.
—Why was "Naru" created? What is your objective?
The one bound to the pillar was the leader, now trembling and barely able to speak. Zaraki Kita dismissed him as insignificant. His abilities were just above Chunin level, and the remaining nine were only Genin-level. Training a few days and imagining world conquest? Ridiculous. If he dared to mention world domination, she would end him immediately.
"No… I don't know."
The leader trembled, not looking manly at all. Zaraki Kita detected the smell of urine—he had wet himself. Silently, she stepped back, deciding to make her writing larger.
—Aren't you their leader? The day you founded the organization, you should have been prepared to die.
"No… no, it was two men. They… they gave me money to start Naru. I… I stopped being a ninja long ago."
—What country are they from?
"The… Land of Earth."
Zaraki Kita pressed her palm against her forehead. As expected, she had been manipulated.
—What did those men tell you?
"They said to gather a few capable people. Do nothing else. In two months, I would get 200,000 ryo."
—So cheap, Zaraki Kita thought.
—What did the men look like? Any distinctive features?
"It was dark… I couldn't see clearly. One of them had a huge head."
—How big?
"Half… half his body, maybe."
—The other man?
"I only saw one. Did not see the other."
—One body, two voices?
Zaraki Kita sketched a rough silhouette of the person.
"Yes, yes, exactly like that."
Understood. Zaraki Kita reached for her knife. The next moment, a gust of wind rose, forcing her to retreat quickly. Then a voice rang out.
"Miss, interrogating someone and not letting them go afterward is a bit excessive, isn't it?"
Red and white hair. A gigantic toad. The damn person blocked everything, and by the feel of it, he was alive. Zaraki Kita chuckled, slowly sheathed her knife, and in the split second before it was fully in its scabbard, she struck with force.
"SLAP!"
The gust of wind rose, sand and stones flying within several meters, the ground crumbling. Zaraki Kita clearly saw a black summoning crow vanish into nothingness.
The newcomer's face darkened. Without looking back, he knew the man behind him was already dead.
"Truly unfriendly… non-human, aren't you?"
Interesting. Outside Amegakure, very few knew she was non-human. She didn't wear a collar, she was decently dressed, and yet one of the legendary Three Ninja, the Toad Sage, somehow knew.
"Even if the world is unfair, your methods are excessively cruel."
Compared to Ibiki, she was indeed merciful. At least her interrogations were clean and efficient.
A slight bow, a small sign of respect—mostly out of regard for Konan. Fighting Jiraiya would have been pointless. Victory was uncertain, and it served no purpose. What was more pressing now was fixing Zetsu, not tangling with Konoha.
Clearly, Jiraiya thought the same. He did not pursue her retreat aggressively. But one thing was undeniable: a very powerful non-human had appeared in this world. The strike had precisely bypassed him and hit the person behind, far from a trivial sword technique.
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