That missing-nin with the severed arm lay on the ground, staring at Roy as he approached step by step, his eyes filled with nothing but terror.
"D-Don't come any closer…"
He tried to scramble backward, but the excruciating pain from his wound left him unable to move.
Roy crouched down in front of him.
He didn't speak.
He simply extended his left hand and placed it before the missing-nin's eyes.
Then, right in front of that man.
His left hand, from fingertip to wrist, turned black, inch by inch.
Armament Haki hardening.
It was a power that didn't belong to this world, one brimming with an overwhelming sense of absolute oppression.
The missing-nin's breath stopped instantly.
The fear in his eyes transformed into utter despair.
"I'll talk…"
His psychological defenses had completely crumbled.
"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"
Roy's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"Who sent you?"
He asked.
"I really don't know who the real boss is!" the missing-nin stammered. "Guys like me, bottom-feeders, we don't get to meet the big shots. We… we got the job through an intermediary."
"An intermediary?"
"Right! In the neighboring town, 'Shukuba-machi.' There's an information broker there named 'Black Crow.' He gives out all the jobs!"
Roy's gaze flickered slightly.
Shukuba-machi was a notoriously lawless area.
"What was the mission objective?"
"Just… just to harass Konoha's border patrols, especially the newly graduated genin teams. Test their strength and reactions."
"Test genin?"
Roy felt something was off about this.
Spending money to hire missing-nin, risking being killed by Konoha, all just to test a few genin?
The cost and the gain were completely disproportionate.
"Were there any other requirements for the mission?" Roy pressed.
"Other requirements…" The missing-nin strained to remember, then seemed to recall something, his body trembling.
"Th-That intermediary specifically emphasized."
"He said we could attack any team we wanted."
"But absolutely, absolutely not to lay a hand on any kid with the Uchiha clan crest."
Uchiha.
Roy's heart sank sharply.
This was even stranger.
If it were enemy shinobi, from Iwagakure or Kumogakure for instance, wouldn't their primary target be the Uchiha with their Sharingan?
Why deliberately avoid them?
It didn't make any sense.
Unless…
An ice-cold thought surfaced in Roy's mind, one that even he found a bit chilling.
Unless the person giving this order wasn't an external enemy.
But rather…
"That's all I know…" the missing-nin pleaded. "Please, let me go… I won't dare do it again…"
Roy stood up.
He drew Raiga.
A flash of pitch-black blade light.
The missing-nin's voice was cut short.
Roy silently sheathed the sword.
He didn't like leaving survivors.
Especially those who might compromise the source of his information.
When Teacher Minato returned with Tokuma and Yakumo, Roy had already cleaned up the battlefield.
He reported the information obtained from the missing-nin to Minato without omission.
When he heard the strange command about "avoiding the Uchiha,"
Minato's usually gentle face turned cold for the first time.
He was silent for a long while.
"Teacher?" Tokuma couldn't help asking.
"This is more complicated than we thought," Minato said in a low voice.
"Tokuma, Yakumo." He gave the order. "You two return to the village immediately. Hand over the captive and the mission report to the Hokage. Tell him the mission is complete."
"Yes, sir!"
"What about you and Roy?" Tokuma asked.
Minato glanced at the disciple beside him, who was also lost in thought.
He noticed that his disciple showed no surprise upon hearing this information.
Only a kind of… calmness, as if he had expected it.
"Roy and I are going to Shukuba-machi."
Minato said.
"Our mission isn't over yet."
Shukuba-machi.
This place was even more chaotic than the maps suggested.
The streets were filled with rogue samurai with shifty eyes, drunken gamblers, and all sorts of suspicious-looking individuals.
There was no law here, only fists.
"What's our move, Teacher?" Tokuma asked quietly.
The four of them, now dressed in ordinary traveler's clothes, blended into the crowd.
"We split up," Minato said. "Roy and I will find this information broker called 'Black Crow.' Tokuma, Yakumo, you two go to the town's inns and gather any public information regarding the missing merchant caravans. Remember, only listen, only watch, don't ask questions."
"Meet back here in two hours."
With that, Minato led Roy into an even darker alleyway.
"Teacher, why are we splitting up?" Roy asked.
"Because the place we're going next isn't suitable for them," Minato replied. "Besides, your 'Mantra' is more useful in a place like this than Tokuma's Byakugan."
Roy nodded.
The Byakugan could see chakra.
He, on the other hand, could hear killing intent.
Black Crow's information house was located in the deepest part of an underground tavern.
Two burly men with muscular builds guarded the entrance.
Minato didn't force his way in.
He simply walked up and flashed a forehead protector disguised to mark him as an "agent of Jiraiya."
The two burly men exchanged a glance and then stepped aside without hesitation.
It seemed Teacher Jiraiya's reputation was more effective in these parts than the Hokage's.
Inside, the tavern was thick with smoke and foul air.
A scantily clad woman swayed her hips and led them to a private room.
Inside the room sat a gaunt man.
He wore a black feathered coat and a crow mask.
This was Black Crow.
"What can I get for you two?" Black Crow's voice was raspy, like a crow's caw.
Minato smiled and sat down.
"We're not here to buy," he said. "We're here to sell."
He took out a scroll from his robes.
"Interested in the latest movements of the Raikage of Kumogakure?"
The eyes behind Black Crow's mask lit up.
"Let's hear it."
"Payment first," Minato said.
"That's not how things work here," Black Crow sneered.
"Then let's change the rules."
Minato placed the scroll on the table.
His hand remained on it.
He was still smiling.
But Black Crow suddenly felt a chill.
He had an instinct.
If he said no, his head might be rolling off his shoulders in the next moment.
"Fine," he conceded readily. "What do you want?"
"I don't want money," Minato said. "I just want a piece of information."
"A while back, did you send a group of missing-nin to harass Konoha's border?"
Black Crow fell silent.
"Yes," he admitted.
"Who hired you to do it?"
"That… I can't say." Black Crow shook his head. "It's the rule. If I talked, I'd be out of business."
"Is that so." Minato's smile grew brighter.
"Then what if I traded the cause of the Third Raikage's death for this information?"
Black Crow's body jolted violently.
He stared intently at Minato.
"You know?"
"I know much more than you imagine."
Black Crow was torn by internal conflict.
Finally, as if making a decision.
"Alright," he said. "I can tell you."
"But I don't know the person's name or identity."
"I only know he's a terrifying individual."
"His chakra had a smell to it, like old scrolls and disinfectant. Cold and stale."
"Also, one of his arms was always wrapped in thick bandages."
"When he came to see me, he was always accompanied by two guards wearing white masks."
Roy stood behind Minato.
As he heard these descriptions.
His heart sank to the bottom of an abyss.
Testing genin.
Avoiding the Uchiha.
Guards with white masks.
An arm wrapped in bandages.
So it was…
Him.