Yakushi Nonō asked Fox when he planned to kill Ki.
Yōkō countered her question: "What, do you also want Ki dead?"
Yakushi Nonō hesitated, then nodded, saying, "Ki is responsible for liaising with the orphanage. If he doesn't die, none of the orphans at the orphanage are safe."
"Good, it seems we have a common enemy now." Yōkō said:
"The old-timers in Root are the most loyal to Danzo."
"The newcomers in Root are all puppets and mission machines controlled by the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal."
"Killing newcomers isn't very meaningful; killing Ki is a greater loss for Danzo."
"No need to hide it from you, I plan to follow Battalion Commander Yellow Dog's instructions and conduct some experiments on Ki to crack Danzo's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal."
"The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal is troublesome. Once under its effect, one cannot leak mission details, allowing Danzo to assign tasks without restraint."
"Among the Root old-timers, Hei stays by Danzo's side and doesn't carry out missions outside the village."
"Ki is the most suitable test subject."
"If I crack the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, the children taken by Root from your orphanage might also have a chance to leave Root."
"Th... thank you."
Yakushi Nonō's eyes were excited, she couldn't even control her expression.
Yōkō saw Yakushi Nonō's apple muscles slide downwards, looking somewhat terrifying.
Seeing Fox point at his own face, Yakushi Nonō realized her Disguise Secret Technique had failed.
She turned around and removed the damaged disguise.
When she turned back, Yōkō saw a gentle face.
Just like in the original story, Yakushi Nonō's features were gentle and kind.
"Sorry, you saw me lose my composure."
Yōkō didn't expect that his statement about cracking the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal would make Yakushi Nonō so emotional.
"Fox, out of the seven children who entered Root, three have already died." Yakushi Nonō said:
"This month, Root took another three children from the orphanage."
"I don't know how much longer the orphanage can hold on. I don't know if I'll break first, or if the orphanage will disappear first."
"Root's training is too cruel. They only care about strength, completely disregarding the children's bodies."
"It's too cruel... One child, to practice gentle fist... when he died, his small body was twisted into a ball..."
She couldn't go on, couldn't think about it anymore.
No wonder Yakushi Nonō reacted so strongly; it turned out Danzo had gone to the orphanage to pick people again.
Yōkō really wanted to advise Yakushi Nonō to just close the orphanage.
But on second thought, things like hopes, anchors, and bonds cannot be easily severed.
People have emotions; even murderous ninja have feelings.
Yōkō didn't know when it started, but his feelings towards the Uzumaki remnants had become increasingly different.
Perhaps it started from the Uzumaki laboratory in the Land of Whirlpools.
Uzumaki Yuka's father had greatly affected Yōkō.
Putting aside the Uzumaki clan, it was simply a father's last sincere feelings for his daughter.
Yōkō said: "Don't be fooled by my fierce reputation in the ANBU, but I also have people I cherish. I understand you."
"We are ninja. For ninja to achieve their goals, using any means necessary is the norm, but there should be a lower limit to those means."
"Capturing a child branded with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal is much easier than capturing Ki, but I am unwilling to experiment on a child."
"My moral bottom line is just a little higher than Danzo's."
"I can promise you, I will never capture a child from your orphanage for experiments."
Countless times walking the dangerous edge to gather intelligence, no intimidation could ever make this Shrine Maiden lose her composure, but now she was silently shedding tears.
Yōkō looked at the faint starlight outside the cave, sympathizing with Yakushi Nonō and those orphans in his heart.
She cried for over a minute, showing no sign of stopping.
Yōkō stepped forward and embraced Yakushi Nonō, who had buried her face in her hands.
"Don't despair. We still have a chance."
Yakushi Nonō's body clearly trembled for a moment.
Her forehead was pressed against his shoulder by Fox.
This scene was very familiar to Yōkō; Yuka often leaned on his shoulder like this.
Yōkō held Yakushi Nonō's back with one hand and gently patted her head with the other.
"When I first met you, your superb deception skills scared me; I didn't know when you might betray me."
"It's different now."
"I hope you pull yourself together. For the orphanage, for yourself, don't give up."
"If I ever become the ANBU Commander, I will never touch any orphan."
"Mmm..."
Yakushi Nonō's mood improved a bit.
Yōkō felt something slippery on his neck. The hand on Yakushi Nonō's back lifted, scratched his neck, and picked up some strange clay.
Yakushi Nonō turned her head slightly and quickly said, "Sorry, this is the bionic clay I use for disguise."
She hurriedly cleaned the clay near her ears and neck.
"To alter my body shape, the clay is one piece, so it's a bit troublesome..."
Yakushi Nonō pulled at the clay, accidentally pulling out a large piece from her collar, changing the shape of her shoulder.
The clay even had the curved shape of breast protrusions. Yōkō was greatly surprised.
Yakushi Nonō saw Fox looking at the clay, then at her chest, his expression incredulous.
She simply boldly demonstrated her Disguise Secret Technique to Yōkō.
Shedding the one-piece clay, Yakushi Nonō's clothes were disheveled.
Yōkō stepped forward and lightly touched Yakushi Nonō's skin with his finger: "With the clay covering it, your skin is so good? Is it the effect of medical ninjutsu maintenance?"
Yakushi Nonō's heartbeat quickened.
Having used countless false identities in front of countless people, now facing Fox with her real face made her feel strange.
She looked at Fox and tried to remove his mask.
Fox didn't refuse. Under the mask was a face wearing a face cover.
Half an hour later.
"In my Disguise Secret Technique, the Hip-Narrowing Secret Technique can change one's figure. Do you want to try it?"
"Huh? So tight..."
Yōkō tried and failed, ultimately defeated.
After Yakushi Nonō recovered for a long time, she used the clay to reshape her body.
Yōkō cupped Yakushi Nonō's face and said, "It's really strange. I feel all my distrust towards you has vanished."
"Hmph." Yakushi Nonō deliberately made a dangerous expression: "You better be careful I give you false intelligence, careful I deceive you!"
Yakushi Nonō used her disguise technique to completely transform into another person. She took out two scrolls, with the characters 'Left' and 'Right' written on them respectively.
"These are the scrolls I use to pass intelligence with my contacts. Each pair is individually made." Yakushi Nonō said:
"We used to use codes or the orphanage blackboard to pass intelligence, it was too inefficient."
"You take the Right scroll, I'll take the Left scroll."
"If I have intelligence, I'll seal it into the Left scroll. Your Right scroll can unseal and retrieve my scroll."
As expected of the Wandering Shrine Maiden, she indeed had efficient means of intelligence transfer.
In terms of solely passing intelligence scrolls, this was even faster than Yōkō and Yuka's Stone Panda reverse summoning.
"Good, I understand." Yōkō said: "Help me find information on the Kumo-nin camp. I need it."
Yōkō planned to end the conflict with Kumogakure next month.
Over these past two months, Hatake Sakumo had already completed the ninjutsu assessment rewards for the frontline Chūnin and Genin, and his prestige had been sufficiently boosted.
If the Kumo-nin aren't dealt with soon, it would make Hatake Sakumo seem incompetent.
Watching Yakushi Nonō's retreating figure, Yōkō suddenly felt like he might have been played by this woman.
He sacrificed his... and still had to work for her, helping her deal with Ki.
Yakushi Nonō was indeed a master deceiver, but... tight was really tight. Fine, sacrifice is sacrifice.
***
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(End of Chapter)