Kushina curiously peered into the bathroom, wanting to see what had become of the three people Araki had taken in. As her gaze shifted, an inexplicable doubt flickered in her eyes. To her surprise, there was no one inside the bathroom. There wasn't even a trace of blood. It was more than just clean – even the once slightly stained floor was gone, making it look completely new.
"Where are those three people?"
Unable to help herself, Kushina took a deep breath. She increasingly felt that Araki was like a book filled with fascinating content. Every time she flipped through its pages, she discovered something peculiar, constantly overturning her understanding while heightening her sense of anticipation.
"They've been dissolved by the corpse-dissolving liquid."
Araki responded calmly. On this matter, he didn't hide anything from Kushina. Having experienced what happened with Hyuga Sora, he understood the importance of the corpse-dissolving liquid. He had even "casually" asked Tsunade about it during a class, and in the end, he successfully obtained a bottle of it.
It was his only bottle.
Once it was used, there would be no more.
From the information Araki had gathered, the control over this substance was quite strict. Only those who handled bodies within the ANBU had it readily available. Apart from the ANBU captains, only high-ranking ninja like jounin had access to it. It wasn't available for sale in the market at all.
Of course...
There's another way.
To solve this problem at its root.
That is, to prepare the corpse-dissolving liquid oneself.
Currently, in the entire Konoha village, only one person can do this – the inventor of the corpse-dissolving liquid, one of the Legendary Three Ninja of Konoha, Orochimaru.
"Araki, did you even clean the floor?"
Kushina looked at the bathroom floor, which seemed as if it had just been newly laid. Her head spun for a moment – could the floor be cleaned so quickly and thoroughly?
Living here, she had also tried to clean the bathroom floor, but the wooden boards embedded many stains deep into their crevices, making it quite challenging to handle.
To achieve the level of newness that Araki had managed was truly astonishing to her, and she found herself impressed with him once again, raising her opinion of him. She felt that Araki was someone who cherished cleanliness.
"Yes."
Araki nodded, adding silently in his mind, or perhaps even newer.
After dealing with the bodies, there were corrosive traces left on the floor's surface, almost as if it had turned dark. This was the result of a series of chemical reactions caused by the proteins, something that couldn't be completely eliminated. The floor had to be replaced to get rid of it.
In the wild countryside, you'd only need to turn over the earth to solve it.
For others, changing the floor might be troublesome, but for Araki, who was skilled in Wood Release jutsu, it was a walk in the park. That's why he had closed the bathroom door.
"These two bloodstains are hard to completely clean. I'll remove the floor first, and later I'll redo it. The floor in the house has been used for so long; it's about time for some repairs."
Araki muttered to himself, seemingly talking to himself but actually addressing Kushina.
With that said, he took a kunai and inserted it into the gaps between the floorboards.
Suddenly, he exerted force.
"Kacha!"
"Kacha!"
Accompanied by two crisp sounds, two pieces of flooring shattered directly. The two pools of not yet fully coagulated blood were still viscous on the wood, slightly wriggling as they were moved.
Kushina's mouth twitched immediately.
Araki actually tore the floorboards apart directly.
Too... too exaggerated!
"Here, take this."
Araki reached into his ninja tool pouch and took out a wooden sphere, about the size of a ping-pong ball. It didn't appear to be anything special from its outward appearance.
"?"
Kushina received the small ball with a puzzled expression, a big question mark forming in her head. Before she could ask, Araki started explaining.
"This is an inhalable medical anesthetic. You just need to squeeze this little ball, and everyone around you will be paralyzed."
Araki started spouting nonsense in all seriousness, handing a green pill to Kushina as he spoke.
"This is... a potent recovery pill!"
"If you encounter danger, first swallow this green pill, then calmly wait for the enemies to appear."
"As soon as they've all come out, squeeze the ball to paralyze them all."
"You'll be briefly unconscious for a moment too, don't worry. Within thirty seconds, you'll wake up."
"At that moment, your task is to pick up the kunai and finish off the enemies who are already unconscious one by one. Don't let them sleep, because if they all wake up, everything will be in vain."
"Have you understood what I'm saying?"
Araki gave a succession of instructions, his gaze fixed on Kushina's eyes, trying to convey the strategy for handling crises as clearly as possible.
"Understood."
Feeling the pressure of Araki's demeanor, Kushina hastily nodded and then blurted out a question, "Are you going to leave me alone?"
"The Hidden Cloud Village ninja here are just a vanguard. There are likely others outside. If we don't deal with them, they'll keep their eyes on you, making it hard for you to rest easy." Araki said coldly.
"I see..."
A sweet feeling welled up in Kushina's heart, a sense of being protected that she had never experienced before.
Araki, so low-profile, hardly ever exposing his true strength, was actually willing to take risks for her.
Under this stark contrast, her heart was filled with even more gratitude. Her gaze towards Araki became gentle as water.
"Yes!"
Araki nodded. If those people weren't dealt with, they would have to change the floor again, which was too troublesome.
Most importantly...
If they accidentally exposed themselves this time, the losses would outweigh the gains.
It's better to solve the problem at its root.
Of course.
Araki understood that the Hidden Cloud Village ninjas who had come here were just following orders. They weren't the real source of the problem. The source was within the Hidden Cloud Village. But for now, he didn't have enough strength to tackle the root cause, so he had to first deal with the invading Hidden Cloud Village ninjas.
Deliver one punch, evade a hundred!
This was a principle Araki had learned from great figures in China before his time-travel. Only by making the Hidden Cloud Village's ninjas feel the pain now would they behave more obediently in the time to come.
Time was the most precious thing for Araki!
"Kushina, stay at home and don't go anywhere. If you encounter enemies, follow my instructions and crush the small ball..."
Araki held two bloodstained wooden boards and walked step by step to the door of the house. At the moment he opened the door, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He slightly turned his face, his gaze fixed on Kushina.
"I'll be back soon!"