Early the next morning, after spending a peaceful first night in Kumo, Kei, wearing the face of an older man, leisurely strolled to the mission center. Upon submitting the C-rank mission completed by the original owner of this face, he bought a few calla lilies from a flower shop and made his way to the Kumo Cemetery.
Ninjas who constantly walk the edge of life and death generally have an instinctive aversion to it. Aside from memorial days for important figures, few people willingly visit the graveyard.
Placing a calla lily in front of the tombstone where he had agreed to meet with Nonō, he then searched his borrowed memories, identifying a fallen comrade who had once been a close friend. He walked to the tombstone and stood before it.
According to the scroll's instructions, after leaving the calla lily as confirmation that the mission was complete, he should have left immediately. He was supposed to wait for the next contact, receive another meeting time and place, and then collect intel on his next assassination target.
But wasn't this too troublesome?
With that time, he could be spending it with... Cough cough—spending it with like-minded friends, reliving the joys of childhood. Wasn't that much better?
After spending more than half an hour solemnly remembering his "friend," Nonō finally arrived, carrying a bouquet of chrysanthemums. From a distance, she spotted the flower placed in front of the agreed tombstone, and her heart eased slightly.
Last night, upon learning that Rai had been assassinated by a ninja using the Hydrification Technique, she had briefly suspected that Kiri might actually be responsible.
If that were the case, the plan she had carefully devised in advance would likely face serious complications. Seeing the calla lily reassured her.
…Wait?
Not far away, a figure stood silently in front of the tombstone, lost in mourning.
Oily, sleazy, unkempt, and weak…
Okay, no mistake—it was definitely him.
Good morning~ A voice suddenly rang in her mind, making the unprepared Nonō shudder.
Feigning innocence, she glanced around before confirming that the voice had undoubtedly come from Kei.
She calmly placed the chrysanthemums in front of the tombstone of her "friend" before pausing for more than ten seconds and responding mentally. What do you want?
Just give me the entire mission at once. This back-and-forth exchange is too much of a hassle.
I'll consider it. Nonō fell silent, weighing the pros and cons.
Handing over all assassination targets at once was a privilege reserved for only the most senior captains of Root—it wasn't standard procedure.
Additionally, assassinating targets one by one would maintain psychological pressure on the Kumo higher-ups, pushing them to shift their focus away from Konoha.
Lastly, delivering intel in stages ensured maximum security. But of course, there were drawbacks.
Kiri assassins, trained in the infamous Bloody Mist era, rarely acted—but when they did, it was swift and brutal. If the kill orders had truly come from Kiri, there was no way assassinations would be happening every few days across such a vast distance.
If multiple assassinations occurred at such short intervals, Kumo would likely launch a massive internal spy hunt, drastically increasing their exposure risk.
Last night, Kei's attack was flawless, firmly pinning the blame on Kiri. No amount of denial would change that. But Kumo's leadership was now on high alert. They were also well aware of the operational style of Kiri's ninjas. If they acted too soon, the danger level of the assassination missions would increase by several degrees.
If he were captured alive and couldn't withstand torture, exposing her...
You being worried about the assassination mission becoming more dangerous makes me happy. But your last concern—I don't like it.
...Why can you still hear my thoughts? Nonō frowned deeply.
As a spy, suppressing stray thoughts, hiding emotions, and even resisting genjutsu inducement were all essential skills. She was certain she had just reined in her scattered thoughts, and by logic, the Mind Body Transmission Technique didn't include memory-reading abilities. So why could this guy still hear her inner voice?
Let's just say we have a special connection... Alright, fine. You actually guessed right. To better communicate with my summoning beast, I incorporated a bit of memory-reading technique into my Mind Body Transmission Technique.
Seeing that Nonō was about to turn and leave, Kei quickly stopped his teasing.
Latsuo, 14 years old, jonin, specializes in Lightning Release and taijutsu, trains at Training Ground 22 every afternoon... Nonō rapidly relayed information on nine mid-to-high-ranking Kumo officials.
Some were to be eliminated as cleanly as Rai, while others were to have their assassinations staged as failures. Some even required that Water Release not be used—only Earth or Wind Release would do. After delivering all the intelligence, she immediately started recalling useless memories to clutter her mind and turned away, leaving the graveyard in haste.
Her hurried footsteps made it seem like she was fleeing from something filthy.
Wow~ Someone from Kumo is after you?
While Kei marveled at the information, Nonō was already fleeing. Watching her disappear into the cemetery, he chuckled. Not wanting to push her into a nervous breakdown, he finally released the Mind Transmission Jutsu.
To be fair, he hadn't initially intended to pry into her thoughts.
It was just that, on his long journey to the Land of Lightning, he had gotten used to communicating with his falcon and crow summons. It had become second nature to add a bit of memory-reading technique when using his jutsu.
After all, when dealing with a summoning beast that only screeched "Kii kii kii," one had to get creative.
He just hadn't expected... That this trick would work so well on humans too? Even a professional spy like Nonō couldn't handle it properly on the first try, having to forcibly recall irrelevant memories to disrupt it.
And that was after he had openly told her about the technique's effect. If he hadn't said anything... With just a few more probing questions, he probably could have even tricked her into revealing what color underwear she was wearing this week.
Flawless technique~!
Kei lingered in the cemetery for another half an hour, carefully considering assassination methods, timing, and target order.
By the time it was close to 10 AM, he lazily made his way home.
The original owner of this body had been a minor member of the unit under Toroi's command. He had barely any presence in the village.
Unless Toroi assigned him a mission, he could stay in Kumo without raising any suspicion—especially now, with every village suffering from a severe shortage of mission resources. Getting assigned two missions in three months was already considered lucky.
Having just turned in a C-rank mission, he had a legitimate excuse to remain in Kumo for quite some time. As for the village's higher-ups in the coming days…
"Keh keh keh~"
Leisurely, Kei strolled back to his doorstep.
There, he spotted a lone figure sitting curled up against the base of a rock pillar, hugging her knees.
He stepped forward and asked,
"Juice or milk? Have you had breakfast?"
"J-Juice... not yet..."