Konoha: You're letting me build up my bonds, but you're offending the entire ninja world.

Uzuki Yugao fell silent as well.

She also felt that Hijiri's condition was quite strange.

"Why think so much?" Shimura Gengetsu stroked his smooth chin. "We'll find out by following him tomorrow."

“Following the teacher…isn’t that a bit inappropriate?” Kurenai Yuhi hesitated. “How about this, Gengetsu, you go. My stealth ability isn’t as good as yours.”

"You're just trying to shift the blame." Shimura Gengetsu gave her a disdainful look, but still agreed.

...

The next day, the three of them went out as usual. After they left, Shimura Gengetsu's figure slowly blended into the shadows, moving back and forth between the shadows of different people, and finally hiding in Hyuga Hizashi's shadow.

During the day, Hyuga Hizashi behaved normally. In the morning, he found a place where local elderly people gathered to play shogi and naturally blended in. While playing shogi with the people, he also tried to extract information.

In the afternoon, they would hide and secretly observe the suspected target.

But when night falls and the sky becomes completely dark, Hyuga Hizashi's style changes.

Standing in front of a shop with a flashing neon sign, he wore a broad smile, rubbed his hands excitedly, and went inside.

A madam in her forties or fifties, her face covered in powder like armor, immediately greeted him with a beaming smile, playfully scolding him as they walked:

"Uncle Hitsashi, you're late today. Kiku has been waiting for you for a long time."

"Something came up and I was held up." Hyuga Hizashi skillfully stuffed a few banknotes into the madam's arms and eagerly slipped into a private room.

Genzuki Shimura: "......"

Well, well, I never expected that Hyuga Hizashi, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, would be this kind of person.

His practiced movements and the madam's words indicated that he had become a regular customer in just a few days.

He spent his days so bored in his room that he practiced ninjutsu, while Hizashi indulged in a life of pleasure and debauchery.

You're having two women on your arms?! And playing games with them?!

"Hahaha, Miko, you lost, it's your turn to drink!"

"Hey, Xiaoju, drinking together is more exciting, come on."

If he mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, Shimura Gengetsu really wanted to go back to the village and bring Hyuga Hiashi over to see how his younger brother was disgracing the Hyuga clan.

Unfortunately, he hasn't yet gathered all the spatial talents needed to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Ok?

Just as Shimura Gengetsu was contemplating how to betray Shimura Gengetsu, he inadvertently saw Kiku's face and noticed something was amiss.

Shimura Gengetsu jumped out of the shadows, startling Hyuga Hizashi, who was playing a game with two Yikun!

"Xuan! Xuan Yue! What brings you here!"

[The host's bond with Hyuga Hizashi has reached the second stage, rewarding the user with Yang-attribute chakra (excellent).]

Good grief, it scared the bond rewards out of me!

"Hishashi-sensei, you're really quite dashing," Shimura Gengetsu said with a forced smile. At the same time, he instantly knocked out the girl named Miko, Yikun, and then took out a rope to tie up Kiku.

Hyuga Hizashi was completely dumbfounded. "Xuan Yue, what are you doing?"

"Haven't you realized yet? This person is the Kirigakure spy we're looking for."

"How is this possible!" Hizashi exclaimed in surprise.

Shimura Gengetsu crossed his arms and sneered, "I heard your conversation just now. They've been suspicious of your identity for a long time, asking you a lot of questions about business, just to confirm whether you're a real merchant."

A flicker of panic flashed in Kiku's eyes, which Hyuga Hizashi didn't notice, but he was startled and his drunkenness subsided considerably.

"Is that all? But I've investigated, and Kiku has been in this town for half a year." Hyuga Hizashi was still not quite convinced.

“Of course… there’s also the most crucial point…” Shimura Gengetsu pressed his nose, regretting that he hadn’t brought his glasses with him on this trip.

He pointed at Xiaoju, who was still feigning pitifulness and crying with tears streaming down her face:

"A girl of this quality would be top-notch even in the best brothels in Konoha and Tanabata. How could she possibly stay in a small place like Wildfire Town!"

Just kidding. With his extensive experience in the business world from his previous life, he could tell at a glance what kind of princess a certain quality was in what kind of establishment.

Upon hearing this astonishing reason, Hyuga Hizashi's mouth slowly opened wide, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

I'm completely speechless.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Punishment, Information on Sunagakure

"Hizashi-sensei, you wouldn't want the Hyuga clan head to know about your glorious past, would you..."

"I'm sorry, I was wrong, please don't tell him."

Inside the living room, Hyuga Hizashi knelt before Shimura Gengetsu in a standard dogeza posture, prostrating himself completely. Beside Gengetsu were Yuhi Kurenai and Uzuki Yugao, their faces grim, as if they were about to put Hizashi on trial.

They had already learned what had happened from Xuan Yue and were furious.

Although he accidentally caught a spy, this was not Hyuga Hizashi's intention at all; he had simply fallen into a trap of intimacy.

If Shimura Gengetsu hadn't been so clever, he probably wouldn't have thought about the important matter until he had spent all his money.

“Hizashi-sensei, this is a bit difficult.” Shimura Gengetsu shook his head, feigning difficulty. “A mere verbal apology isn’t very sincere.”

The Japanese officer, understanding the implied meaning, wisely said, "Let's have a barbecue, eat as much as we want."

Gengetsu Shimura held up three fingers on her small hand. "You wasted so much of our time, so if it's compensation, it should be three meals."

"Hiss..." Hyuga Hizashi gasped.

Three meals... Given Shimura Gengetsu's appetite last time, he'll be spending all the money he earned from this mission and any extra cash he made.

Considering the money I spent at brothels these past few days... damn it, I have to pay out of pocket to do this job?

"Does Master Hizashi not want to?" Xuan Yue said dismissively when he saw that he was not speaking. "Then we won't force him. I'll have Grandpa visit the Hyuga clan leader when we get back."

Please, please don't!

Hiashi was once again completely prostrating himself, "It's all my fault, the three meals of barbecue Q were absolutely no problem!"

"Very good! Very energetic!"

A smile appeared on her small face, and Shimura Gengetsu praised, "Then thank you in advance, Hizashi-sensei."

"Of course, of course." Hyuga Hizashi forced a smile, making up an excuse for himself, "I'll go and apply pressure to Kiku's acupoints again to prevent her from escaping."

After saying that, he ran out of the room in a disheveled state.

"Pfft!"

Kurenai and Yugao, who had been silent until now, exchanged a glance and then laughed.

Kurenai clapped her hands. "Gengetsu, you're really resourceful. You extorted three meals of barbecue from Teacher Hizashi again. He's come all this way for nothing. If you had eaten more, you might have even had to pay him extra."

Gengetsu Shimura grinned mischievously. "Then let's eat less at noon one day, and then have Mr. Hizashi eat more in the evening."

"You're so mean."

Yuhi Kurenai laughed so hard she almost fell over. She understood what Xuan Yue meant: if a person is too hungry, they can't eat much, but if they didn't eat enough at noon and stay slightly hungry, they can eat a lot at night.

...

Because the spy Xiaoju was an ordinary person, there was no need to be too strict in watching her. After Richai confirmed that she had lost her ability to move by striking her acupoints, he told everyone to go to sleep, and he was responsible for keeping watch by himself.

However, Shimura Gengetsu stepped forward and said that he had slept enough during the day and that he could keep watch at night.

Risha didn't press the matter and handed the task over to Xuan Yue.

In the dead of night, after confirming that the other three were asleep, Xuan Yue, who had been guarding the door where Xiao Ju was imprisoned, suddenly opened her eyes.

"Seiji, Ryo, come out."

With his soft call, Ryo Aburame and Seiji Yamanaka emerged from the shadows.

Since leaving Konoha, the two have stayed close to Shimura Gengetsu, ready to give orders at any time, or rush in to buy him time to escape if danger arises.

Thanks to the Root's concealment techniques, even Hyuga Hizashi, who possesses the Byakugan, cannot detect their existence unless he deliberately searches for them.

"Young Master," Yamanaka Ryo said in a low voice.

Shimura Gengetsu closed his eyes again. "Go and extract all the information, then take it back to my grandfather."

"Yes."

Yamanaka Ryo gently pushed open the wooden door without making a sound.

.......

The intelligence analysis department of Konoha Village has always been managed by the Yamanaka family. The so-called analysis refers to obtaining intelligence from the minds of spies or prisoners by relying on the Yamanaka family's secret techniques.

The strongest among them, Yamanaka Inoichi, can even extract information from a corpse, but the corpse cannot be dead for too long.

Yamanaka Ryo was certainly not as skilled as Yamanaka Inoichi, but dealing with an ordinary spy would be a piece of cake for him.

Hyuga Hizashi didn't interrogate her because it wasn't his task, and it would be troublesome if he learned some information he shouldn't know.

So after confirming Xiaoju's identity and finding no other accomplices nearby, they decisively locked her up without any communication.

But Gengetsu Shimura had no such concerns.

It's not that he doesn't intend to hand the person over to Hiruzen Sarutobi; he just wants to keep a backup at Root.