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Hideki didn't argue much with the Patriarch as he knew that no one would let go of a spy once they get their hands on them.
The Patriarch looked at Enko and said "Enko take the three of them to the proper rooms and seal their chakra points. Keep them together if they want."
Enko bowed at the Patriarch and while taking the twins on the left and Hideki on the right, he started exiting from the side entrance of the Mansion. Hideki and the twins thanked the Patriarch for not treating them like usual prisoners and spies or else they wouldn't receive such humane treatment and would have been taken to an underground prison to be tortured and interrogated. Like the hidden leaf, the hidden mist had no way of reading minds.
The Patriarch nodded and watched them leave the mansion. The crowd had also started dispersing as they would need to prepare in case the problem in Kozu village blows up and ends up becoming a full-blown conflict.
The Patriarch stood up from his chair and walked near the hall as he was thinking something. AO and Elder Wu found this to be a little strange so they walked up to him. The first one to ask was elder Wu.
"What's the matter? The Patriarch seems to be lost in thought."
The Patriarch waved his hand and said "It's probably nothing Elder Wu...I just find something strange."
"What is that you are talking about?" AO was the one who asked this time. The Patriarch glanced at AO and said "AO did Hideki look like someone who was worried about his nephew? He accepted my decision of not letting him go very easily.
"Do you think his nephew Yuta is also a spy?" AO asked.
The Patriarch shook his head and said "No...if he was he wouldn't get on the same boat as Elder Wu and the others. Even the twins didn't show any change in expression after Hideki said that Yuta was alone."
AO nodded and sighed as he said "Looks like Hideki and the other two don't care about Yuta."
Elder Wu also felt a little bad when he heard this and he also agreed with AO's conclusion. Unfortunately, even though most of the people had left, Toru and Nana were still standing there. As they heard the conclusion AO got to, they were a little pissed.
"What do you mean Uncle AO?" Toru asked. This was the first time he was speaking to AO as he had stayed in the land of forests for most of his life. But this time he didn't have the patience to follow proper etiquette so he directly butted into the elder's conversation.
Toru quickly realized what he had done and he saw the Patriarch's gaze on him so he quickly looked down and apologized "I am sorry Lord Patriarch for eavesdropping on your conversation." Nana who was standing behind Toru also followed his action and looked down. She didn't want to stare into those eyes of the patriarch.
The Patriarch's gaze softened as he said "Both of you...look at me. Don't ever apologize what something you don't think is a mistake." The siblings quickly looked up seeing that they weren't being scolded.
Elder Wu patted Toru's head and said "Toru, Nana the world is crueler than you think. The spies can use whatever tactics they want to save themselves."
Nana closed her wide-open mouth as she heard this and then said "Are you saying that they will even sacrifice Yuta's life if it saves their own? Why doesn't he care about his own nephew?"
"Because he is thinking of ways to save his own life." AO said in a cold tone. He didn't like doing this to kids but it would be good if they accept this sooner than later or they might face betrayal one day and die in regret.
Toru grit his teeth and said "At first when he came forward and revealed his identity, I thought it was because he cared about them. Was that also a lie?"
Elder Wu shrugged and said "Maybe...It could also be that he thought his identity might be easily revealed now that his students were caught. By coming clean himself he might be trying to trick us into having a favorable impression of him like you had."
"Now let's just stop jumping to conclusions and focus on the current situation. AO make sure that the spies are properly secured and not treated as prisoners as they could become our potential allies in the future. Elder Wu, I have realized that Kana cares about the boy so I hope you can stop her if she tries to jump into danger."
Elder Wu nodded and said "Don't worry Lord Patriarch, I will make sure the kids stay in line. Luckily Kana listens to everything Young Miss Mei says and sees her as her idol. I am sure Miss Mei won't let her do anything reckless."
The Patriarch nodded at that and soon after that everyone went back in different directions. They were all waiting for the report that comes from the Kozu village. Whether this will be nothing and just a failed assassination attempt or a full-blown conflict now everything depended on the report.
____________________
Outskirts of Kozu Village.
Mei along with the others just reached the outskirts of Kozu village. They had expected the entire area to be covered in thick fog like the patrol guards had reported but to their surprise, the fog had become very thin.
"You call this thick fog?" Kana frowned as she looked at the injured guard who had given them the report.
The guard hurriedly shook his head and said "No no...miss Kana, believe me when I say that the fog was really thick when we left."
Mei held her hand up in front of Kana signaling her not to speak "Kana the fog is thinning out. It means the Anbu group has already left. Now you along with Santo go and find our men who were in patrol."
"We need to know who came and what they did in the thick fog." Mei said as she rushed inside the village.