Given the level of hostility toward him—and the fact that the party involved couldn't openly act against him—there was actually no need for hard evidence. With a bit of reasoning, the identity of the one who placed the bounty on Hagoromo was already obvious.
Who blew up whose home base?
Who made peace with whom?
These were questions that answered themselves the moment one thought about them.
Yamashiro Aoba's mental probe continued. His "vision" followed the three mercenary ninja to a hidden bounty exchange.
Sound, images, perspective—everything fed back through the jutsu as if Aoba himself had been there.
The three Fūma clan ninja accepted a contract to infiltrate the Land of Fire and assassinate Konoha shinobi.
After that, the exchange's handler deliberately handed another bounty notice to the masked ninja. After reading it, the masked man passed the notice to the subordinate who was now Hagoromo's captive.
Through the captive's memories, Aoba saw the contents of the bounty notice clearly—and began reciting it aloud.
Name: White Fang of the Night (Shiroyasha), Kamishiro Hagoromo (suspected)
Affiliation: Konoha, Land of Fire
Age: 12–15
Sex:Suspected male
Appearance: White hair, mask; height approx. 150–155 cm
Ninjutsu Traits: High-level Lightning Release without hand seals; Summoning jutsu
Estimated Strength: Tokubetsu Jōnin or higher
Bounty:
– Kill confirmed: 5 million ryō
– Body recovered: 10 million ryō
After that, the captive's memories only covered their movement to the Fire–Rain border. There was nothing else of note.
Aoba withdrew his hand, ending the mentally exhausting jutsu.
"There was also a portrait," he added. "No face—but every other feature matches you almost perfectly."
The intelligence wasn't extremely detailed—there was no facial likeness, after all. Anyone taking the bounty would have to rely on traits to identify the target.
But it wasn't vague either. Name, age range, height, ninjutsu traits—all accurate.
Some of those traits weren't unique, making identification difficult.
But instant, seal-less high-level Lightning Release?
How many ninja in the entire shinobi world could do that?
How many of those were that young?
And narrowing it down to Konoha?
Hagoromo's identity was practically spelled out.
It was also clear that the source of the information was Sunagakure—likely compiled from Hagoromo's performance on the Sand front. Detailed enough to be dangerous, incomplete enough to hide the full truth.
Hagoromo now understood how the Fūma ninja had identified "Shiroyasha"—his Chidori Nagashi–style Lightning Release had given him away.
He had to admit it: he'd been careless. Seal-less ninjutsu was rare enough to be a dead giveaway. Even Minato Namikaze had been surprised the first time he saw it.
As for the bounty itself—five million for a confirmed kill, ten million for the body—it made sense.
Many prodigies didn't gain strength naturally. To surpass physical limits, ninja often relied on secret drugs, stimulants, or experimental enhancements.
Some went even further, modifying their bodies outright.
A corpse could reveal all of that.
From the perspective of whoever posted the bounty, a twelve-to-fifteen-year-old ninja with that level of strength had to be hiding something. Especially seal-less Lightning Release—if that secret could be extracted from a body, the value would be immense.
Hence, the corpse was worth more.
All of that was logically consistent.
The real problem was something else.
"Hold on," Hagoromo said, his voice twitching dangerously. "I don't even care about the bounty amount right now—but what the hell does 'suspected male' mean?"
Kurenai and Aoba said nothing.
They just looked at Hagoromo's overly pale face with eerily similar expressions.
Their eyes clearly said:
Well… you kind of are "suspected male," aren't you?
This is skin. This is a buff, okay?!
Do you think I asked for this?!
No refunds, got it?!
Unfortunately, Hagoromo couldn't say that out loud.
But Asuma—being the Hokage's son and a true inheritor of the Will of Fire—was brave enough to speak the truth.
With the air of a man who'd smoked for thirty years, married, divorced, remarried, divorced again, and seen the full cruelty of life—most importantly, with a voice that sounded inexplicably trustworthy—he said:
"What does 'suspected male' mean?"
"It's actually pretty clear."
"'Suspected male'… means suspected female."
...
The logic was flawless.
Hagoromo had no rebuttal.
There were no logical fallacies. None.
He decided it was best to redirect his attention to something meaningful.
Truth be told, Hagoromo didn't care much about the bounty. In the context of the Fourth Great Ninja War, it was like adding ten points of danger to an environment already rated ten thousand.
At most, those ten points were specifically aimed at him.
If anything, his impression was that Sunagakure—or the Fourth Kazekage—was being petty.
What? I just blew up your village once. Is that really worth holding a grudge over? Even put out a bounty?
Of course, that was the definition of talking big while standing safely upright. After all, no one in this world could blow up Hagoromo's home village.
"Ahem. This bounty issue is on me," Hagoromo said, clearing his throat. "You don't need to worry about it. Let's focus on the mission."
Once the discussion returned to business, the three young Konoha ninja immediately grew serious again.
The reconnaissance mission would continue.
According to Hagoromo's plan, the squad would remain hidden here for several hours—resting, treating injuries, and restoring chakra. Then, under cover of night, they would cautiously resume their infiltration into the Land of Rain.
Rain. Darkness. Light reduced to almost nothing—just like the danger of the mission itself.
As for the captive's fate…
Well, the four Konoha ninja still had a conscience. They didn't do anything inhumane like turning him into emergency rations.
They simply cut his throat, mercifully.
The captive died silently, painlessly, within genjutsu.
If one had to describe it:
Did it begin?
No.
It was already over.
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