"Did you kill them all?"
Yega, dazed, looked up at the smoking Konoha ninja leading the group.
The man had a thick beard, rugged features, and a weathered appearance. A certain amusement flickered in his eyes.
How could he not recognize those forehead protectors? He had risked his life to retrieve them from the battlefield and handed them to nearby refugees to deter mountain bandits.
Asuma took a drag from his cigarette, exhaled smoke with a smile, and said, "Oh, just a few rogue ninjas."
Yega muttered, "They weren't rogues..."
Asuma grinned, leaned his face close to the frail man, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said word by word, "Where's your forehead protector?"
Yega's pupils dilated, his face turned pale.
With veins bulging on his forehead, a Hyuga branch family jonin activated his Byakugan, scanning the wooden house through his black-and-white vision.
During his inspection, the Hyuga branch family jonin sneered:
"As refugees, whether you have rogue ninja forehead protectors or not doesn't matter. Killing you is justified.
The Land of Fire doesn't need refugees.
If we say you're rogues, then you are rogues!
In the ninja world, no matter which country's border you're in, you're all homeless ants.
Used as cannon fodder by major ninja villages.
Used by ninjas as rogues to earn rewards—hasn't that always been your fate?"
His words carried the pride of the Hyuga clan, even though he was from the branch family.
Yega stared blankly at the ceiling.
"It was the war that turned them into refugees. After escaping here, they didn't rob or commit evil deeds; they lived by hunting."
Nono stood up and said coldly.
She drew a kunai from the table and gently sliced the ropes binding Yega and Doctor Nak.
Nono gazed at the Konoha forehead protectors on the four men's heads, suddenly feeling it was a great shame to come from the same ninja village as those who trampled on human lives so casually.
Yega remained seated on the chair.
Doctor Nak, however, ran behind Nono. Being a shrewd man, he naturally saw that this woman had no intention of killing them, while the four newly arrived Konoha ninjas were pure killers.
The Hyuga jonin raised an eyebrow, ignored Nono, and walked straight to the kitchen.
Asuma scanned the wooden floor, finally focusing his gaze on Nono.
She looked familiar, but he couldn't recall who she was, so he asked with a smile:
"Didn't expect to meet a ninja here. Which village are you from?"
Although Nono was well-known, even within the Root organization, few had seen the true face of the Wandering Shrine Maiden—this was the basic conduct of an intelligence operative.
As for her identity as the director of Konoha's orphanage, who cared? Konoha's ninjas wouldn't idle away their time visiting the orphanage daily.
"I'm Yakushi Nono, a former member of Konoha's Root organization, out on a mission.
How did you find this place?
What's your purpose?"
Nonoyu took out her Konoha forehead protector and a Root mission scroll from her pocket, dropped them on the table with a thud, and met Asuma's gaze.
Asuma glanced at the headband and mission scroll, his eyes suddenly lit up as he remembered something, and he said calmly:
"So you're the head of Konoha's orphanage!
We have no obligation to disclose the details of our mission to you."
Upon hearing Nono's name, Asuma did recall something. He and his colleagues had once discussed the figures of Konoha's beautiful female ninjas.
One colleague praised Nono as one of the top in both looks and figure among Konoha's female ninjas.
At this moment, a ninja from the Inuzuka clan, forcibly holding his snow-white dog, smiled and said:
"Of course, Snowmaru and I followed the scent of blood all the way here. But this place is really remote; it took us quite a while to find it!"
Their five-man team had waited by the waterway outside Kikyo City until late at night without seeing the Uchiha defector squad. So, after waiting for reinforcements, they dispersed to search Mount Kikyo.
The ninja dog had smelled the scent of human blood.
They speculated that the Uchiha defector squad had engaged in battle on the mountain.
Thus, their pursuit team gathered at this mountain village.
Nono's eyes showed a hint of guilt, and her body trembled slightly. It turned out her unintentional act of hunting real rogue ninjas and mountain bandits had brought disaster to this refugee village.
She also realized that this seemingly well-equipped Konoha ninja team was pursuing the fleeing squad from earlier.
Nono glanced at Yeager, her heart filled with mixed emotions. Since she had made a mistake, she had to find a way to make amends. At the very least, she couldn't let this family of three die at the hands of Konoha's ninjas.
The Hyuga jonin brought out a set of used teacups from the kitchen and placed them on the table—a total of twelve.
Asuma, the Inuzuka clan's jonin, and the Akimichi clan's jonin examined the teacups.
Yega also sensed something, his pupils trembling as he regained his composure.
"Woof woof!" Snowmaru barked twice at the teacups, hiding nervously beside his owner's leg.
"Snowmaru is indicating that twelve people used these teacups."
The Inuzuka clan's jōnin explained with a smile.
Asuma pushed one teacup in front of Yeager and said, "One for the host, leaving eleven. It seems our intelligence was off; this rogue ninja squad has eleven members, not just ten."
The Hyuga clan's jōnin, with his Byakugan activated, observed Yega's facial expressions and asked coldly:
"Which direction did those eleven people flee?"
Yega's mind raced. Without much thought, he raised his hand and pointed south, replying:
"They went that way!"
Although he wasn't sure of the situation, he knew that if Captain Yu had escaped from Konoha, he absolutely couldn't point east, where Konoha was located.
The Hyuga clan's jōnin frowned and delivered a heavy kick to Yega's abdomen, sending him and his chair flying against the wall.
Yega gritted his teeth, clutching his abdomen, supporting himself against the wall, sweat streaming down his forehead.
Yega's wife cried out in alarm, wanting to protect her husband. But before she could act, a kunai was placed against her neck, and another aimed at the baby in her arms.
The Hyuga clan's jōnin appeared behind her, holding two kunai steadily in the air, and said "Move and you'll all die."
Nono's pupils contracted as she clenched her fists, silently waiting for the optimal moment to act.
Nak was already crouched in a corner, trembling with fear.
From the movements and techniques of these ninjas, it was evident that they were formidable, even by Konoha's standards.
"Four Konoha jōnin..."
Nono's expression grew solemn as she stared intently at the four individuals, feeling an overwhelming sense of pressure.
She pondered internally,
Asuma remained indifferent to the scene.
"Don't play tricks. I can discern lies through facial expressions. I won't waste words. There are four directions; eliminate the southern one."
The Hyuga jōnin said coldly:
"Three directions remain, but only one is correct. If you lie, I'll kill someone!
You have only two chances!
If you use them up, you die."
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