"Now we're only missing the Hidden Mist Village."
"I have someone near the Hidden Mist Village. I'll ask."
After Uchiha Kamito finished speaking, he crushed a communication bug and contacted Uchiha Shisui.
A few minutes later, Uchiha Kamito received a reply.
He opened it.
Oh right, I'm blind. How's a blind man supposed to read anything?
Without hesitation, he handed the note to the person beside him.
What he didn't know was that Uchiha Shisui, currently on his way back to the village, had the exact same thought.
"Has Sensei started acting dumb again? He even told me to reply as quickly as possible. Even if I send it back, can you even read it?"
Beside Kamito, Inuzuka Ryoha opened the note and scanned through it rapidly.
"Shisui was attacked by Mist ninja in the Land of Waves. According to the intel he extracted through genjutsu, the Mist ninja were acting under orders from the Mizukage—to eliminate every Hidden Leaf Village ninja."
"So it's obvious now. The four great hidden villages have joined forces again. Which brings us to the question... which idiot exposed our objective?"
Aburame Shiken swept a scrutinizing gaze across everyone present.
The first person he locked onto was Hyūga Hiyasu.
Hyūga Hiyasu hurriedly explained himself.
"Shiken, you know me. Aside from Sasori's lizard-tail escape trick, have you ever seen me screw anything up?"
Reasonable.
Shiken immediately turned toward Senju Hideki.
Hideki quickly defended himself as well.
"Shiken, you don't need to worry about me. When I killed Kakuzu, who dared get close? You know how destructive my ninjutsu is. The weak die without needing attention. And anyone strong enough to survive the aftermath of my attacks—don't tell me you think I wouldn't notice them."
"Besides, anyone standing on the earth itself can't escape my perception."
Reasonable.
Shiken then looked toward Inuzuka Ryoha.
Ryoha responded with a bloodthirsty grin.
"Shiken, don't you know me by now? I handle village extermination missions. Forget people—even ant nests get flooded with boiling water. Eggs get shaken until the yolks scatter. You think I'd let someone discover me?"
Reasonable. That one was even less likely.
Which meant...
Aburame Shiken slowly shifted his final gaze toward Uchiha Kamito.
Kamito knew it was his turn, but he wasn't in a hurry.
He simply smiled faintly.
"I'm Uchiha Kamito. If a blind man can't even detect when he's being watched, how could I survive in the ninja world?"
Mm. Also extremely reasonable.
So where exactly had the problem occurred?
"Cough cough."
A sudden cough snapped Shiken out of his thoughts.
When he looked up, he realized all four of them had surrounded him.
"What are you all trying to do?"
"You interrogated all of us, so what about yourself?"
"Exactly. Since none of us have issues, and only the five of us knew the plan..."
"You're going to need to provide a reasonable explanation too."
"At this point, you look the most suspicious."
Aburame Shiken instantly exploded in anger.
Four knife-hand strikes lashed out mercilessly.
"Who exactly are you insulting?! You think I'd make mistakes you idiots wouldn't?!"
Do you people not realize that I, Aburame Shiken, make a living with my brain?!
You say I leaked the plan?
I barely even leave Konoha! I don't even go on missions!
Even if I wanted to leak information, I'd need the opportunity first!
"Ow?!"
"Shiken, what the hell did you hit me with? Even Ryoha's claws can't break my defense. How did you manage that?"
Senju Hideki asked in confusion.
He'd worked desperately hard training his defenses, endlessly stacking armor, all so nobody could hurt him.
But now a single chop from Shiken hurt this much?
Then what was the point of all that training?!
"Yeah! Me too! How did you manage to hurt me?"
Inuzuka Ryoha gritted his teeth and demanded an explanation.
Fine, his overall defense wasn't as good as Hideki's.
But recently he'd been training beastification Secret Techniques and had already achieved decent results.
At the very least, he'd developed a copper head and iron back.
Yet Shiken broke through his defenses with a single hit.
Had he trained the wrong thing this whole time?!
Faced with their confusion, Shiken generously gave them an answer.
He raised the left hand he'd used to strike them.
Along the edge of his palm, drops of green liquid slowly dripped down.
When they hit the ground, white smoke immediately rose into the air.
"Sulfuric acid?!"
"Holy shit—you hit us with that?!"
Ryoha and Hideki stared at each other in disbelief.
We treated you like a brother, and you're using sulfuric acid on your brothers?!
"Insect acid. I only slightly enhanced the corrosiveness. Besides, if I didn't do that, would either of you even feel pain? One of you is harder than a turtle shell, and the other heals ridiculously fast. If you two were like Kamito or Hiyasu, would I need to go through this much trouble?"
Ryoha and Hideki fell silent.
Now it's somehow our fault?!
...Wait a second.
Why were we getting beaten up again?
Meanwhile, Uchiha Kamito and Hyūga Hiyasu both quietly took a step backward.
They let out several relieved breaths.
Thank god.
Thank god they were still human.
Otherwise that insect acid—more sulfuric than actual sulfuric acid—would've been dumped onto their heads too.
After the farce ended—
(Inuzuka Ryoha & Senju Hideki: You call this a farce?! We almost died! Can't you people control Shiken?! Is that stuff something you're supposed to use on teammates?! Today it's insect acid—what's tomorrow?! Team unity is the most important thing in a squad! Do something about him!)
"Alright. Back to business."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
"Right now, it's clear. The four great ninja villages have united once again. We still don't know the exact reason, but the situation is obvious—the Fourth Great Ninja War is right around the corner, and our enemies are once again those same four villages."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
Aburame Shiken: I'll endure.
"And we also can't rule out someone manipulating things from the shadows. Around this point in time, Madara-sama should already be gone. But now there's Obito and the Akatsuki. At the moment, the Akatsuki should stably consist of Nagato, Konan, and Zetsu. Sasori's status is still unclear."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
"Mhm."
Aburame Shiken: I'll endure again.
"As for our side's Kage-level fighters: the five of us, Orochimaru-sensei, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Minato, and Sakumo-san—that's ten people. Elite jonin-level fighters include Shikaku, Inoichi, Chōza, Shibi, Shikuro, Hiashi, Hizashi, Shinku, Shishō, Gan, and others—fifty-seven in total. We have over three hundred jonin, more than ten thousand chunin, and fifteen thousand genin. Plus retired, disabled, and bedridden personnel who can all become immediate combat power with a single order. It's fair to say our forces are strong and flourishing."
"Mm..."
Aburame Shiken finally snapped.
Once is fine. Twice is tolerable. But not a third and fourth time.
"If anyone says 'mhm' one more time, I'm dragging them into a deathmatch immediately."
Hearing the threat, the four of them instantly swallowed the "mhm" that was about to come out.
What a joke.
In an unexpected encounter battle, there was still a tiny chance to survive.
But agreeing to a duel with Shiken?
"Now then," Shiken said coldly, "every single one of you will tell me your thoughts."