Seeing the other contestants come closer, Naraku had a satisfied smile on his face. He turned around and sat on his seat, gently waving his hand. The maids walked over with a low table full of melons, fruits, and wine, and put it down in front of him.
He picked up the wine glass from the table and placed it in front of his mouth, leisurely saying, “Begin.” Naraku sipped on his wine and as it entered his throat, his eyes suddenly narrowed. At this moment, a guardian ninja beside him bowed his head and whispered, “Your Majesty, it’s over.”
Naraku put down the wine glass with a displeased look. In the arena, the four contestants had fallen around Tonan, as he was sheathing the Kusanagi Sword. Naraku tapped on the table with his fingers and signaled the maid beside him to pour the wine. “Disappointing, truly disappointing.”
The guardian ninja beside him whispered, “Your Majesty, how about…” Naraku raised his hand to interrupt the guardian ninja, and said, “Take it easy, I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. Don’t let the joy end too soon.”
After speaking, he took a deep breath and sat straight. He raised his hand and pointed at Tonan, loudly saying, “Uchiha Tonan, you are good, very good… Bestow him a seat. I want to drink together with the champion of the competition.”
Soon, about a dozen, six to seven years old children came over, carrying a table and a chair. They placed them in front of Tonan and he calmly sat down. At this moment, several children among them frantically winked at him and whispered in a pleasantly surprised tone, “Tonan-san, it’s us.” “Tonan-san, we miss you so much.”
Tonan glanced at them and nodded slightly without leaving a trace. He lowered his eyes and watched a child pour wine into his glass. However, while pouring the wine, the child whispered with a worried look, “Tonan-san, don’t drink it.”
The wine was pure amber in color, but when it was poured into the glass, it produced aquamarine foam. Anyone could see that the wine was meddled with. At this moment, Naraku lifted his glass with a meaningful smile, “Tonan, do you remember these children? They are the ones you adopted. I thought you missed them very much so I let them pour you a drink.”
Tonan looked down and instead of looking at Naraku, he bowed and said, “Thank you very much, Your Majesty.”
“I, this orphan, toast to you.” Naraku raised his head and emptied the glass in one gulp. Then without putting down the glass, he stared at Tonan. Even after a few seconds, Tonan didn’t raise his glass.
Naraku seemed to suddenly realize something and intimately said, “I forgot… ninjas are not allowed to drink wine. If you don’t want to drink, I won’t force you.”
Just after he spoke, Uekawa Ozora shouted, “Drink.”
Immediately afterward, the soldiers around the area also shouted in unison…
“Drink.”
“Drink.”
“Drink.”
Naraku’s smile grew wider. Tonan seemed to be in a difficult position. His face looked very ugly and his body was also shaking slightly. It was unknown whether it was because of anger or fear. After a long time, he took a deep breath and picked up the wine glass. He closed his eyes and emptied all in one shot.
Seeing that Tonan had drunk the wine, the soldiers stopped shouting. Naraku’s face instantly became cold. After a long time, Tonan opened his eyes. He stretched out his hands and touched his body in surprise as if he was surprised that he was not poisoned.
Immediately he sighed in relief and bowed with a pleasantly surprised look, “Thank you for the win, Your Majesty.”
Naraku snorted and threw the wine glass to the ground. Shatter… The moment the glass shattered, the children around Tonan attacked at the same time. The child who poured the wine condensed an ice pick on his hand and stabbed at Tonan’s heart.
The child who was a little closer took out a kunai hidden in his sleeve and attacked him. A few who were farther away threw shuriken. It all happened in an instant.
Ding, ding, ding… Metal colliding sounds filled up the arena. Everything ended in an instant and they saw Tonan was still sitting on the seat but he was slowly sheathing his sword. There was no change in his expression at all.
In the next moment, the children, regardless of how far or near they were, fell to the ground, grabbing their necks. Naraku suddenly got up and said, “You are truly Abe Seimei.”
Hearing his words, the hint of anger on Tonan’s face immediately turned into confusion. He said, “I don’t understand what Your Majesty is saying.”
The corners of Naraku’s mouth rose slightly, turning into a sinister smile. He slowly sat down and said, “I’ve read your information. You are born in the Uchiha clan. Your parents were ordinary chunin but you showed great talent after your parents died. In just a few years, your power rivaled the sannin.”
Tonan nodded and said, “This is a result of my efforts.”
Naraku sneered as if he heard a joke, “Efforts? A person only has so much energy. I found several top doctors and after researching for a long time, they were able to mix ten types of poisons into one. These poisons restrain each other. As a result, if someone drinks it, he’ll not be poisoned. I ordered people to put this drug in your wine. Anyone who has eyes could see this wine was poisonous.”
“If you’re not proficient in medicine, who would dare to drink it? And medicine is not something you can learn overnight. The only person I can think of is my sensei — Abe Seimei. Don’t say that you, a person born and raised in Konoha, have implicit faith in me. Of course, if you insist on saying that, then I’ll order you to commit suicide on the spot to prove it.”
Tonan remained silent for a while after hearing his words and then sighed, “I used to study under Master Seimei for some time. He taught me a lot including medicine. Your Majesty, you must be aware ninjas carry out assassination missions often. In terms of medical knowledge, I’ve put a lot of effort into it. Moreover, even though I’m a ninja, in intellect, my learning talent is very high. From childhood, I was always number one.”
Naraku didn’t believe him and said, “I consider you extraordinarily talented. Guards, show the evidence.”
At this moment, a maid walked into the arena with a neatly folded cloth. She placed it on Tonan’s table and left. Tonan reached out and touched the clothes, his eyes narrowing slightly. He raised his head and looked at Naraku with a puzzled expression, “This is…”
Naraku leaned forward slightly and looked down at Tonan. He said in a deep voice, “This was discovered when I sent people to dig the former site of Seimei-sensei. A piece of an ordinary robe.”
Tonan shook his head and said, “I don’t understand what Your Majesty means.”
A hint of playfulness flashed in Naraku’s eyes. He reached out and stroked his chin, “In the excavated site, everything seemed plausible. The clothes were all neatly stacked in the wardrobe. But only this robe was not in the wardrobe but was in the mud.”
