Following Nara Umeka was quite easy; she arranged everything.
Tracking the camel train went very smoothly; the camel train didn't notice Yōkō and the others.
Nara Umeka kept looking down, her expression growing increasingly grave.
"This direction... it's towards Saba Port."
Yōkō asked: "Saba Port? Wasn't Saba Port destroyed? What are they sending puppet materials to Saba Port for?"
After thinking, Nara Umeka said:
"We just scored a major victory at Saba Port. I heard the Land of Wind's Daimyō was furious that the Suna-nin failed to protect his over twenty large ships.
With Saba Port destroyed, the Konoha side will inevitably lower their guard in that direction.
If the Suna-nin set sail from the direction of Saba Port and go upstream through the rivers of the Land of Rivers...
This is a route with an extremely high chance of success for a surprise attack.
If the Suna-nin delay on the front while elite forces attack from behind, Konoha could very well suffer a devastating defeat.
Right now, it's all speculation. We need to follow for at least one more day; we must see concrete intelligence."
One night later, Yōkō saw a long procession in the distance through his telescope.
The line was long and messy. Most people carried long objects wrapped in white cloth.
Inside the mummy-like white cloth were puppets.
Some puppet masters had three or five walking puppets beside them.
Those puppets had special joints, human-like but not human, giving off an uncanny valley effect similar to corpse procession.
Somehow, she managed to count. After observing several hundred dark figures, Nara Umeka said:
"Approximately 200 puppet masters are advancing towards Saba Port!
Leading them at the front is the son of Sunagakure's Elder Chiyo, Elite Jonin Toci!"
Chiyo's son, Sasori's parents. Yōkō thought to himself, it seems Sasori's parents are about to die.
Yōkō considered; the full moon was almost here. Should he die at the hands of Sasori's parents?
He had absolutely no need for puppet techniques.
Yōkō said: "Retreat. The intelligence is sufficient."
The group quickly left.
After putting distance between themselves and the Suna-nin puppet masters, Yōkō looked up at the moon.
The moon was already very bright; the full moon was just a day or two away.
Walking on the sand, Yōkō asked: "Umeka Jonin, it seems you are very knowledgeable about puppet techniques."
"Before entering the Land of Rivers battlefield, I deliberately paid attention to intelligence about puppet techniques."
"Then, Umeka Jonin, have you heard of Shadow Puppetry Technique?"
Hatake Sakumo wouldn't let Arata's victimisation go easily. Yōkō asked as if casually, carefully watching Nara Umeka's expression.
Nara Umeka didn't stop walking. Her eyes flickered slightly, then she said, "I haven't heard of it. Perhaps it's new intelligence the Anbu has gathered about Suna-nin puppet techniques."
Nara Umeka wanted to turn her head but suddenly found she couldn't move.
The cursed seals had already silently crept up from the ground, covering her entire body.
Yōkō stood still, signaled to White Goat to have him and the squad stay on guard at a distance and not approach him and Nara Umeka.
White Goat and the others body-flickered backward, retreating to a distance.
White Goat thought to himself, so the Anbu really did have a mission to execute Nara Umeka.
The Anbu is an assassination special forces unit; coming to rescue someone didn't seem right.
White Goat felt that coming to execute Nara Umeka made more sense.
But what was that secret technique the Captain used? He had never seen it before.
Yōkō planned to die once for the lottery draw, so he didn't care about exposing the Self-Cursing Body Binding Seal. He held a kunai and walked up to Nara Umeka.
"Recently, there have been some unexpected shinobi deaths on the front lines.
In the end, only one person from the squad escaped, and very coincidentally, the ones who escaped were always the Nara shinobi in the squad.
Umeka Jonin, as an elite of the Nara clan, and being so skilled at gathering and analyzing intelligence, I think you must know more than I do.
I sent my squad members away. It's just the two of us here. I hope you can speak openly and honestly with me."
He observed Nara Umeka. There was no cold sweat on her forehead, her eyes were calm, and she wasn't even exerting force to resist Yōkō's Self-Cursing Body Binding Seal.
Her eyes moved slightly, and instead she asked:
"Is the Anbu investigating certain abnormal death incidents involving Nara shinobi?
But why do you master such an exquisite sealing technique?
If I'm not mistaken, this is the annihilated Uzumaki clan's secret technique, the Self-Cursing Body Binding Seal.
In the entire Konoha, only elites of the Senju clan and Princess Uzumaki Kushina can use this technique.
How do you explain this? Who exactly are you working for?"
Yōkō knew Nara Umeka was difficult to deal with, but he didn't expect her to directly hit his weak spot. He said:
"You needn't worry about my affairs. Let's talk about you first. You were forced into the Land of Wind, yet chose to stay in a decent inn.
If I use some interrogation methods next, it won't be so decent anymore."
Nara Umeka's gaze turned unfriendly:
"You wouldn't hesitate to use interrogation methods on a fellow village Jonin. This level of intensity is absolutely not appropriate for merely investigating the unexpected deaths of a few Konoha shinobi. What is your real purpose?"
Yōkō scratched his head. Dealing with a smart woman was really troublesome. Who was interrogating whom here?
"Nara Umeka, my patience is limited. You are smart; you should be able to tell I'm not joking with you." Yōkō said:
"The shadow manipulation secret technique is your Nara clan's signature ability.
The stronger the ability, the easier it is to lose control.
The Anbu discovered that a small number of people within the Nara clan actually take advantage of their teammates' inattention, using their shadows to treat their teammates as human puppets, controlling them to fight enemies.
Every shinobi wants to maximize the use of their abilities, but they must not go to extremes.
Where is the conscience? Where is the morality? Where is the Will of Fire?
Since I've found you, it proves I already have sufficient evidence in hand.
Nara Umeka, I'll give you five more seconds to think.
Will you join me in cutting out the rotten flesh within the Nara clan, becoming an example of the Nara clan admitting and correcting its mistakes, or will you resist to the end?"
Nara Umeka's expression grew increasingly downcast. She said:
"If you Anbu have found out, how could our Nara clan not know?
I was already in charge of this matter, but it hasn't been announced yet, fearing a scandal.
If the Anbu investigation has reached me, it means your investigation is already very deep.
I am willing to hand over some intelligence to the Anbu. Come closer, I'll tell you quietly. Don't let too many people know."
Yōkō walked over and stood beside her.
Nara Umeka said:
"According to my investigation, there is a small group within the Nara clan, about five people.
These five people believe that for the sake of success, whether mission success or personal success, one should stop at nothing.
They delved into the shadow secret technique and developed the vicious application of using the secret technique to manipulate teammates."
Yōkō asked: "Who are those five people?"
Nara Umeka gave five names.
Yōkō heard Nara Kaya's name and knew Nara Umeka wasn't hiding anything.
Nara Umeka said: "I have an investigation scroll. I can show it to you."
Yōkō thought to himself, no wonder Nara Rokaku asked the Anbu to rescue Nara Umeka; he knew there was already a preliminary investigation report scroll and feared the scandal would be exposed.
"Where is the scroll? I'll find it myself. I can't release the seal on you for now."
"The scroll isn't in the tool pouch. It's on the inner side of the left thigh, under the skirt."
Yōkō suddenly remembered Uzumaki Yuka; she also hid the Adamantine Sealing Chains scroll on her inner thigh.
Do women all like to hide things there? Do they think it's very secretive?
Yōkō lifted Nara Umeka's skirt and reached his hand under it, indeed feeling a scroll.
However, his hand couldn't pull out.
The shadow under the skirt had restrained Yōkō's hand! Finally, it bound Yōkō's entire body!
Nara Umeka hid the scroll under her skirt because there were shadows under the skirt, with a special secret technique trap!
Yōkō, like Nara Umeka, couldn't move a muscle.
Nara Umeka's eyes were full of apology:
"I cannot betray my family, nor am I willing to betray the village.
I'll die with you. No one will know the Nara clan's scandal, and I will use my life to atone for my actions..."
The shadow climbed up Yōkō's throat and pierced through it.
Yōkō thought to himself, he had gotten quite a bit of intelligence out of her; it was worth it.
Just then, two puppets suddenly emerged from the ground.
The Suna-nin puppet masters had caught up!
The puppets also pierced through Nara Umeka's chest.
Both of them fell.
[Detected host death. Mochizuki's Arc system starting up...]
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(Chapter End)