Hearing the approach of footsteps, Yugito Nii didn't even lift her head. She remained kneeling silently in the corner, her eyes fixed on the floor as if the rest of the world had ceased to exist.
Hiruko's voice echoed through the cell, laced with impatience. "Still haven't made up your mind?"
Yugito remained as still as a lifeless statue, offering no reaction to his words.
Soon, Rin Nohara entered the damp, dim cell, leading two girls behind her.
One girl had striking, mid-length blonde hair. Her once-neat bangs had grown shaggy after months without a trim, hanging messily over her forehead. Though her clothes were worn and tattered, they couldn't hide her cool, detached aura—like a wild lily standing stubborn against a storm.
The other girl had a deeper complexion, with silver-gray hair flowing down her back like a waterfall. She looked timid and frail, her eyes wide with terror and unease, like a startled fawn caught in a nightmare.
Hiruko waved his hand dismissively, gesturing for his subordinates to unlock the iron gate. Then, like discarding unwanted packages, he shoved the two girls roughly into the cell.
"Lady Yugito!" Mabui, the blonde girl, cried out. The moment she spotted Yugito in the corner, the light returned to her dull eyes. Her voice trembled with surprise and hope as she called out.
Hearing the voice of her comrade, Yugito finally looked up. A glimmer of life returned to her hollow eyes.
She focused her gaze and cried out in disbelief, "Mabui? Samui? It's you!"
Mabui could no longer suppress the months of accumulated grievance. She rushed forward and threw her arms around Yugito, sobbing uncontrollably.
For these girls, barely in their teens, every second of their captivity had been an ordeal. Being taken alive on the battlefield meant living under the constant shadow of unknown fear, wondering every moment if they would be brutally executed. Their spirits had been on the verge of collapse.
Mabui's grief was contagious. Though Samui didn't wail, her eyes turned red as tears pooled and spilled over.
Yugito gently patted Mabui's back, trying to soothe her, then asked with concern, "Mabui, did they... did they do anything to you?"
Mabui looked up, her face streaked with tears, her lips trembling, but the words caught in her throat. Samui merely wept in silence beside them. They all knew that as captives of an enemy nation, interrogation and torture were inevitable. The enemy had only one goal: to pry valuable intelligence from their mouths.
However, with a lecher like Hiruko around, he hadn't let anyone else touch these two beauties.
Mabui took a deep breath, trying to steady her voice. "Yugito... they captured my father... Uncle Moloi, he..." Her voice broke again into heavy sobs.
Yugito's heart sank. She instantly understood Hiruko's sinister intent in bringing Samui and Mabui here. She snapped her head toward Hiruko, her eyes blazing with a fire that seemed ready to incinerate him.
"You animal!" she hissed, her voice a raw scream. "Even if it costs me my life, I will kill you!"
In a fit of desperation, she lunged toward the cell bars, gripping them so hard her knuckles turned white, trying to tear her way through to get to him.
Hiruko remained unmoved, a faint, cold smirk playing on his lips as he stepped closer to the bars. When Yugito reached out to grab him, the special collar around her neck suddenly unleashed a powerful surge of electricity.
The current felt like thousands of jagged steel needles piercing her body simultaneously. Yugito's frame convulsed violently; she collapsed to the floor, curling into a ball of sheer agony.
Hiruko crouched down, meeting Yugito's pained gaze through the bars. His tone was slow and threatening. "Yugito Nii, you wouldn't want to watch your friends die right in front of you, would you?"
"I've stated the conditions many times. Give me the method to control the Tailed Beast and become a Perfect Jinchuriki, and I guarantee they will remain unharmed."
"As the Two-Tails Jinchuriki and an expert from Kumogakure—a village that prides itself on Tailed Beast research—I assume you'll speak up for the sake of your comrades."
The secret was locked in Yugito's mind. Hiruko couldn't bring himself to kill her, so he had to find a way to make her speak voluntarily.
"I've exhausted every other method, and I must say, you're tougher than I expected. No matter the torment, you wouldn't break."
Hiruko stood up, brushing the dust from his clothes. He looked down at Yugito's contorted face and continued, "I'll give the three of you an hour to talk privately. I'll be back then."
"Consider it carefully: save your lives and the lives of your friends, or cling to that secret and let them be buried with you."
With that, he turned and left, leaving only a cold, echoing chuckle behind.
Under Rin Nohara's arrangement, Yugito, Samui, and Mabui were taken to change into clean clothes.
Along the way, Mabui looked at Yugito with profound guilt. "Lady Yugito, it's all my fault... I dragged you into this. If we hadn't been caught, that bastard Hiruko wouldn't be able to threaten you..."
"Enough. It's not your fault," Yugito said, her expression surprisingly calm.
If there was anyone to blame, it was herself for her reckless solo action. Had she stayed and fought alongside the Raikage and Lord Killer Bee, Konoha might not have won the war, and they wouldn't be suffering like this.
Rin led them to a lounge at the back of the base. She handed over a blank notebook. "Lord Hiruko says you can write whatever you wish to share in this book."
"I understand," Yugito replied.
Rin left the three of them alone. Hiruko didn't seem worried about them doing anything reckless. Though they weren't guarded in this room, they had eaten very little and couldn't mold a single spark of chakra. The room was, of course, monitored, and while the chains had been removed, they were effectively trapped.
Hiruko had held back on the harsher interrogations for Yugito, fearing she might actually die or lose her mind—he quite liked this proud woman.
Mabui and Samui's experiences, however, had been different. Mabui had been the first to break under the pressure and choose cooperation. Now, Hiruko was using her to persuade Yugito. The memory of Hiruko's methods made Mabui shiver; she couldn't help but wonder if this was the inevitable fate of those who fell into enemy hands.
The three of them had been vibrant young girls with bright futures, but in the blink of an eye, they were prisoners. The psychological drop was almost too much to bear.
Yugito sat at the table, staring at the paper and pen for a long time without moving. Samui sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling. Mabui curled up on the opposite sofa, silent. The room was so quiet they could hear each other's breathing.
An hour later, the door creaked open, and Hiruko walked in. The tension in the room spiked immediately. Ignoring Mabui and Samui, he walked straight to Yugito and picked up the notebook.
The first entry caught his eye: Communicating with the Tailed Beast.
Hiruko thought of the Nine-Tails. He knew very well that making the Nine-Tails behave was almost impossible. In his view, the only one who could truly "reform" a Tailed Beast was Naruto Uzumaki, thanks to his unique protagonist aura and "Talk-no-Jutsu." Hiruko didn't have that skill; trying to persuade a Tailed Beast was a fairy tale.
However, Rin Nohara had the potential to become a Perfect Jinchuriki. For a village, a Perfect Jinchuriki was of immense strategic value. Even if the Two-Tails, Matatabi, was technically "weaker" than the Eight or Nine-Tails, a Perfect Jinchuriki's output would still be devastating.
Hiruko scanned the room. His gaze lingered on Samui for an extra second. All three were young, their bodies not yet fully developed. Mabui lacked the elegant, intellectual aura she had in the original story, appearing more soft and timid. Yugito seemed a bit erratic. But Samui... even now, her physique was undeniably striking.
Hiruko's residence was starting to get crowded with these girls.
"I have always been a man who balances rewards and punishments," Hiruko said slowly. "As long as you perform well, you have a chance to survive."
"As for returning to Kumogakure... think about it. If you hand over the secret to controlling your village's Tailed Beast to Konoha, you are selling out your home. Do you really think there would be a place for you back there?"
"Just stay with me."
The three girls fell silent. They knew their situation was impossible; if they did what he asked, they were traitors.
Hiruko eventually led them to his personal quarters. This time, he didn't lock them in a cell. He simply gave them the special "dog necklaces" he had designed. Aside from that, there were no direct physical restraints.
Furthermore, he provided them with top-tier food. In Hiruko's world, people of value deserved the best treatment. When the girls first tasted fried chicken and ice-cold cola, their eyes lit up with shock and delight. This happened only when Hiruko wasn't in the room; they hadn't had a decent meal in so long that they couldn't help themselves.
Mabui broke first, taking a bite of a piece of fried chicken. Yugito frowned. "Aren't you afraid it's poisoned?"
"If Hiruko wanted us dead, it would be easy. Why go through all this trouble?" Samui said, her voice exhausted but pragmatic. "Probably because that Konoha pervert has his eye on us."
"I'm starving. After we were captured, those ANBU ninjas didn't exactly treat us like guests." The standard treatment for captives—even girls—was just enough food pills to keep them from starving. The taste was abysmal.
Yugito, having been tormented for days, was also starving. Eventually, all three girls abandoned their pride and began devouring the fried chicken, fries, and chips, gulping down cola.
As she ate, Mabui suddenly burst into tears. She thought of her friends and her father, still suffering in a dungeon. She knew she would likely never see the Hidden Cloud again.
"Shut up!" Yugito snapped. The crying irritated her. She was already angry at her own compromise. Mabui had begged her, saying Hiruko would torture her father to death if she didn't agree. In Yugito's mind, Mabui's father was a mediocre man—didn't he have the resolve to die for his village? She doubted Hiruko would let a Cloud ninja live anyway. But Mabui's pleading face had made her heart soften.
Yugito hated the Leaf ninjas with every fiber of her being, especially Hiruko. She wanted to tear him to pieces. But she knew she had to endure, waiting for a chance at revenge.
She looked around the massive, open room. Besides them, there was Pakura from the Sand. Pakura was also eating well, thanks to the care of her disciple Maki. Having a fellow outsider to talk to had improved her mental state significantly.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office.
"How is Jiraiya doing lately?" Hiruko asked casually.
"Master Jiraiya has received the word and is returning to Konoha," Minato replied.
"And what's the situation in the Hidden Rain?"
Minato picked up a notebook and pulled out several photos. Many were aerial shots of the Hidden Rain. Though the lighting was poor, the silhouette of the village was clear.
These were obviously taken by Jiraiya. Even though the Rain was perpetually shrouded in downpour, since Nagato took over, it wasn't raining all the time.
Konoha's intelligence capabilities had improved drastically thanks to the technology Hiruko had "leaked." They were now proficient in using high-definition digital cameras and micro-drones. Hiruko hadn't taught them directly; he wanted the village to develop its own technological sparks. These devices were the result of Konoha's own research, inspired by Hiruko's hints that broke their existing technical bottlenecks.
In the original timeline, even during the graduation of Minato's team, they were using old-fashioned cameras that required manual film processing. Now, things were different. Electronics were becoming the norm.
In the original story, even in the Boruto era, laptops only became common under Kakashi's reign. Now, because of Hiruko, they were already being popularized.
Minato mentioned that the village researchers treated Hiruko like a god. Even his discarded notes and "stupid" childhood theories were being studied. Recently, Hiruko had even proposed launching a rocket to place a satellite in orbit to explore the universe.
Some "chuunibyou" teenagers in the Uchiha clan, after sneakily reading the textbooks Hiruko gave Itachi, were now running around the village shouting about "conquering the sea of stars."
Hiruko sat in his chair, marveling at his own influence on this world. But then he thought of how capital was beginning to expand and exploit the common folk of Konoha, and he frowned.
"Sigh!"
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