Hidden Leaf Village.
Interrogation Room.
"What organization do you belong to? Who is your leader? What's his purpose in stirring up war?"
Kurenai Yuhi pressed her right hand against the 'Upper Moon Five's' forehead, questioning slowly.
"Ughhh…"
Bound tightly, the 'Upper Moon Five' was clearly in an abnormal state, seemingly under a genjutsu. Yet, despite this, it didn't utter a single coherent word, only groaning incoherently.
Kurenai frowned slightly and tried again. "Who are you, exactly? Where are you from?"
Suddenly, the 'Upper Moon Five' snapped back to clarity, glaring viciously at Kurenai and roaring, "I'm going to eat you!"
Kurenai stepped back helplessly, shaking her head at Ibiki Morino, who stood guard nearby. "It's no use. My genjutsu isn't strong enough to extract any useful information!"
Ibiki furrowed his brow.
Kurenai was the village's top genjutsu-specialized jonin. If even she couldn't succeed, others would have an even harder time.
Kurenai glanced at the 'Upper Moon Five.' "Maybe we should let Uchiha Sasuke try."
Her genjutsu wasn't entirely ineffective—it just didn't last long enough. The 'Upper Moon' demons' overwhelming vitality created a powerful biological magnetic field.
In a battlefield encounter, Kurenai's genjutsu would last long enough to deal with the 'Upper Moon Five,' but for interrogation, the duration was too short.
Ibiki sighed. "We've already submitted a report to the village suggesting Uchiha Sasuke try, but there's been no response from above."
"It seems the Hokage still has some reservations." Pausing, Kurenai added, "Let me discuss it with Yakumo. Maybe we can come up with a new approach."
Ibiki nodded. "That's all we can do for now."
Suddenly, an interrogation team shinobi rushed into the room and reported to Ibiki, "The Root is here again!"
Ibiki and Kurenai's expressions darkened.
Though many openly despised the 'Upper Moons' for their brutality, privately, countless coveted their terrifying regenerative abilities.
Danzo was undoubtedly one of them!
After the village captured the 'Upper Moon Five,' Danzo, leveraging his authority as an advisory elder, had sent Root members to interrogate it multiple times.
Calling it interrogation was generous—it was more like experimentation. Each time the Root left, the interrogation room was left in disarray, and the 'Upper Moon Five' was missing chunks of tissue, clearly harvested.
Moments later, three masked Root shinobi arrived at the interrogation room.
Ibiki glared at them. "The 'Upper Moon Five' is our only lead to understanding the 'Upper Moons.' I'm warning you—don't overstep!"
The lead Root shinobi replied coldly, "We're just following orders. If you have complaints, take them to the advisory council!"
"You—"
Ibiki was momentarily speechless.
Kurenai tugged at Ibiki, shaking her head.
Even as jonin, challenging the advisory council was unwise. So, Ibiki and Kurenai said no more and left the interrogation room.
In the interrogation team's break room, they discussed the next steps for the interrogation.
Cracking the 'Upper Moon Five' would significantly advance the interrogation team's techniques, making this both a test and a training opportunity.
Beep, beep, beep.
Suddenly, a shrill alarm blared.
Ibiki and Kurenai rushed out of the break room, finding several Root shinobi and a crowd of interrogation team members hurrying toward the 'Upper Moon Five's' interrogation room.
Ibiki stopped them. "What's going on?"
A Root shinobi explained, "Our people were attacked. One of the three who went to interrogate the 'Upper Moon Five' was an impostor!"
"What!?"
Ibiki and Kurenai were stunned.
They rushed to the interrogation room, but upon opening the door, the scene left them dumbfounded.
Of the three Root shinobi who had entered, only two remained, slumped on the floor, their status unknown. The third was missing. The 'Upper Moon Five,' previously restrained in the containment device, was gone, leaving only a small pile of ash on the ground!
The group exchanged shocked glances.
Soon, the incident in the interrogation room alerted the village's higher-ups. Not only the advisory council but also the Third Hokage himself arrived at the scene.
Summoning Tsunade, the village's foremost demon expert, the Third said grimly, "Check the situation."
Tsunade approached the containment device, crouching to examine the remaining ash. "This should be the residue left after the 'Upper Moon Five's' death. If I'm not mistaken, it was killed by the intruder."
Danzo's face turned ashen. "With the 'Upper Moon Five's' size, how could it leave just this much ash after dying!?"
Tsunade didn't bother arguing with Danzo.
It was no secret that demons turned to ash upon death—she'd noted it in her reports, and with Danzo's status, he couldn't be unaware. His questioning now was clearly an attempt to deflect responsibility.
Koharu Utatane turned to Ibiki. "How long was the intruder here?"
Ibiki thought for a moment. "Eight or nine minutes, ten at most."
Koharu then asked Tsunade, "Who could kill the 'Upper Moon Five' in ten minutes?"
"It's hard to say. With the Type-3 Aging Potion, I could take it down in ten minutes, though it'd be messier." Pausing, Tsunade explained, "To facilitate containment, we've severely weakened the 'Upper Moon Five.' Killing it in that state isn't as hard as you think."
Grasping the situation, the Third said sternly, "Tsunade, interrogate the two Root shinobi who came with the intruder. Ibiki, investigate the interrogation team. The intruder's precision suggests they had intelligence support!"
"Yes!"
Tsunade and Ibiki responded.
"We must root out the intruder!" the Third added, glancing at Danzo. "Come with me. We need to talk."
In a secluded grove in the village.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
As the Root mask and uniform burned to ash in the flames, Shinji's lips curved slightly.
No doubt, the intruder was none other than Shinji himself.
Since Yakumo had been involved in the 'Upper Moon Five's' interrogation, Shinji knew the interrogation room's setup intimately. If he wanted, he had countless ways to eliminate the 'Upper Moon Five.'
He'd posed as a Root shinobi partly to cause trouble for Danzo and partly because any incident tied to Danzo would slow the village's investigation significantly.
"The next target is…"
As Shinji pondered his next extermination target, a sudden feeling stirred in his heart. He looked excitedly toward Karin's apartment.