Chapter 72: The Tentacled Monster

Baimu hurriedly worked on his manuscript, striving to ensure that his article would be on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s desk in Konoha at the same time the grim news arrived.

#Shimura Danzo Orders Onoki to Steal the Tower#

The hotel’s wine cellar had been hastily converted into a dungeon, where a group of Konoha prisoners were locked up.

“Boss, they refuse to eat. Should we break their teeth and force it down their throats?” a villainous-looking rogue ninja said, holding a bucket of medicinal soup.

This was a concoction that suppressed chakra production; once ingested, there would be no way to generate chakra for a whole day.

“I think we could mix it with their food and trick them into eating it,” Afei suggested with a crafty grin.

“I think if you poured it into the sea, it’d poison half the ocean,” Baimu said, watching the green fumes curling up from the bucket, the stench so strong it made his eyes water.

It was incomprehensible what sort of talent Yakushi Ryo had to be able to turn every potion into something resembling swamp sludge.

Baimu squatted before Yugao Uzuki, holding a bowl of the foul-smelling concoction, and used the gentlest tone he could muster: “Don’t worry, it’s just a chakra-suppressant. If you obediently take your medicine, I promise you’ll all return to Konoha safe and sound.”

Yugao Uzuki simply stared at Baimu in silence.

“Why are you looking at me like that…” Baimu felt uneasy under her gaze.

She kept staring.

“Ahem… Well, if you don’t want to drink it, forget it. One person can’t stir up much trouble.” Baimu slunk over to where Hayate Gekkou lay. “Come on, Hayate, time for your medicine.”

Hayate Gekkou’s face was deathly pale, and he couldn’t even speak. It looked as if he could die at any moment.

“Get him a couple more blankets, and have Yakushi Ryo come take a look—see if he’s still treatable. A bloodline limit like his is worth a few million at least.” Baimu felt Gekkou’s temperature; indeed, the cellar was a bit too cold.

He glanced at the others—each quietly sat cross-legged, eyes closed. Who knew if they were plotting an escape? “So, none of you want to drink?”

Baimu yanked over the meanest, ugliest brute among the prisoners, then dragged the youngest Hyuga over as well. He slammed a bloodstained butcher’s knife into the brute’s hand and threatened, “If anyone refuses to drink, you lose a finger. When the fingers are gone, we move to toes, and so on, until there’s not a single cylindrical part left on your body!”

The young Hyuga bit his lip, trying to look brave, but his trembling body betrayed his fear.

“Boss… leader… maybe pick someone else? I know I look ugly and fierce, but I’m really timid. I can’t even kill a chicken! Look, I knitted you a scarf?” The brute looked at Baimu with a face ready for a funeral, sheepishly holding out half a red scarf.

“??? How did you ever defect from Mu Shen Town?” Baimu looked the two-meter-tall muscle mountain up and down. The rogue ninja’s forehead protector bore the mark of defection from the Hidden Cloud.

“In the Hidden Cloud, everyone loves to challenge the biggest guy to prove their strength. I am big, but that’s just because I eat a lot… I can’t even fight! They mocked me, bullied me, and forced me into fights… My hands shook so badly from the beatings, I could barely knit scarves anymore. How could they bear to hit the one who brought them autumn gifts… I couldn’t take it, so I ran away and became a rogue ninja.” The brute wiped his tears, sobbing on Baimu’s shoulder.

“Alright, alright, big guy, don’t cry. Your scarf is beautiful.” Baimu patted his enormous head to comfort him.

Even the Konoha prisoners couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“No laughing! I’ll show you what real cruelty is!” Baimu put on his fiercest face.

“Time is money. If you can’t handle a simple task, stop dawdling.” Kakuzu strode into the cellar, filling the space with a sinister, chilling chakra.

Every Hyuga in the cell could exude chakra from every pore; ropes could not restrain them. The only reason they didn’t resist was this terrifying man. Through the Byakugan, they saw his body writhing with twisted tendrils and five violently beating hearts.

“Drink the medicine yourselves, or I’ll force it into your mouths with my tendrils.” Kakuzu’s wrists sprouted long, thin tentacles that wrapped around a Konoha ninja. Two tendrils slid up into his nostrils, reaching deep into his lungs. Unable to breathe, the ninja was forced to open his mouth wide.

“I’ll drink… I’ll drink…” The Konoha ninja’s will crumbled as he felt those worm-like tendrils invade his body.

Gulp, gulp… cough, cough…

The prisoners immediately gave in, choking and coughing on the vile, viscous potion. No matter how disgusting it was, it was better than having something burrow into their bodies.

“Tsk tsk, those tendrils are really handy,” Baimu muttered enviously.

“Sea Beast Priestess Illaoi, queued up for you,” the system chimed in live.

“Hey, hey, hey! I was joking!” Baimu yelped. If he got Illaoi’s passive and sprouted a tendril every twenty seconds, how could he live? Might as well set up a stall selling grilled octopus legs.

The system went silent. Maybe it had really queued it up.

“…” Baimu was speechless.

Within minutes, the bucket of medicine was empty, and the prisoners’ chakra had dissipated—unlikely to recover within a day.

“One bowl a day. Keep a close watch. If any of them escape, I’ll chop off your heads for the bounty,” Baimu warned the guards.

“Yes, Boss! We wouldn’t let them escape even if we lost our own mothers!”

“Baimu, why not send them to our Iwagakure prison? Security there is much tighter,” Huangtu suggested.

“Heh, Brother Huangtu, it’s not that I don’t trust you. I just worry about that old man above you. We’ll feel safer guarding our own spoils.” Baimu smiled.

“…Fine. But the old man wants to see you.” Huangtu didn’t press the matter.

“Wait, I have one more important thing to do. I’ll come right after.” Baimu beckoned Maruboshi Kosuke over.

“No! What do you want to do to sensei?!” Yugao Uzuki shot to her feet.

The other ninja glared at Baimu. Maruboshi Kosuke was a legendary elder; many had heard his tales or owed him a debt. “We demand humane treatment of prisoners and refuse torture!”

“It’s just a simple, special treatment. Don’t overthink it,” Baimu reassured them.

“Enough, in all my years I’ve weathered every storm. Even when captured and tortured, even when they gouged out my eye, I never uttered a word. I’ll go with you,” Maruboshi Kosuke said, patting Yugao Uzuki’s hand and rising to join Baimu.

“Baimu!” Yugao Uzuki glared at him.

“Relax, it’s not a big deal. I’ll return him soon.” Baimu waved dismissively and led Maruboshi Kosuke to his room.

Strange noises soon echoed from inside, making passersby stop and listen.

“What… I’m already an old man, and you want me to do this?!”

“Never! I’d rather die than be humiliated!”

“Hehehe… If you refuse, I’ll make every one of those prisoners…”

“Devil! You’re a devil!”

“Doesn’t Konoha revere the Will of Fire? Elders burn themselves to light the path for the next generation. Come now… a man with a name.”

“To think, after a lifetime of honor…”

Then came the rustling of clothes being removed.

Outside, a group of team members whispered, “Could it be… the boss likes men?!”

“And old men at that?!”

“No wonder he never touches Xiangji, despite how pretty he is.”

“You idiots, old garlic has more bite!”

A few minutes later.

“Hahaha, thank you, Master Maruboshi. I’ll keep this a secret for you. Here, this is your reward.” Baimu tossed a book onto the bed and opened the door, only to find a group of people eavesdropping outside.

“Boss… already done?” The group jumped, feigning innocence.

“What do you mean, ‘already done’? Don’t you have anything better to do? If you’re free, go brush your teeth!” Baimu retorted, baffled.

“Yes, sir!” The group peeked into the room where Maruboshi Kosuke sat on the bed, tears streaming down his face as he dressed, a package with an orange cover—the “red envelope”—gleaming beside him. They clamped their hands over their mouths and scattered.

“??? Bunch of lunatics.” Baimu looked at the 100 gold coins he’d just earned, his heart full of secret satisfaction as he stepped deeper into this abyss of no return.