"Looks like you are not being honest, Mister Amado."
"Lord Izuna… I…" Before Amado could still speak further, Izuna shakes his head.
"Your insurance of planting countless paper bombs around the important place and perimeter of Konoha is useless against me." Izuna shakes his head.
"What?"
Kushina's and Ayaka's eyes narrow after hearing these words.
"Izuna, did he really? Then why did the CPS system…" Kushina asks in surprise.
Mm…
"His paper bombs are special. They don't need chakra to operate. Instead, they use gunpowder and other explosive material to function. They are a product of science rather than chakra. So, the CPS system wasn't able to pick up their traces." Izuna shakes his head.
"Alright! I will show them to you."
Shiing…
A gleam flashes across Izuna's eyes. The next second, ripples appear in space in front of them. Multiple explosives drop to the ground.
"Here!"
Izuna opens his palm to reveal a remote control.
"What?"
Amado quickly inspects his cloth for the detonator.
"So, these are the explosives around Konoha." Kushina and Ayaka stare at the hill of explosives in front of them.
"Yes, they possess enough power to raze half of Konoha to ashes," Izuna explains.
"Look…"
Izuna presses the large red button on the detonator, much to Amado's horror.
BOOM…
The explosive detonates, and a fireball leaps out of the explosion. The explosion rapidly expands outward and nearly touches the group.
Amado closes his eyes to accept his fate.
Ah…
However, the next second, he opens his eyes in surprise since he feels some tingling heat on his front, but there is no burn on his body. Amado opens his eyes and is surprised to see the explosion confined in a small space in front of him.
"This is quite amazing!" Kushina curiously glances at the space in front of her.
"It's a space-time ninjutsu." She remarks after sensing the strange behavior of the space in front of her.
"It's spatial confinement, Kushina Nee-san. I will teach you later." Izuna chuckles slightly and waves his hand. The explosion disappears in a small black hole.
The trio turns towards Amado with a questioning gaze.
"Looks like I can't fool you." Amado helplessly raises his hands in surrender.
"I was indeed sent here by Jigen as a spy. He recovered slightly after a year ago and then later enquired about your whereabouts. However, your whereabouts were unknown and the cause of your disappearance was too mysterious. So, Jigen sent me to Konoha to investigate it." Amado explains his plan to Izuna.
"So, you made those all those contributions in order to win our trust and join our organization." Kushina eye's turn red in anger and her hair slowly stands from her massive chakra influx.
"It's alright, Kushina Nee-san." Izuna calms her down.
"After all, Konoha did benefit from him. Both from his knowledge, his intel network, and his contributions to the improvement of science and technology." Izuna adds.
"So, what should we do with him? He even made a terrible excuse for his sick daughter to win our trust." Kushina clenches her fist.
"No, his daughter's sickness is genuine." Izuna shakes his head and turns to Amado.
"Why don't you explain a bit?"
"Sigh… alright!"
The group enters Amado's living quarter in the In-Yō. Amado walks towards a room and gently opens the door.
The trio follows him.
"Woah!"
Ayaka opens her mouth in surprise as she stares at the pink wall. Various girly decorations, dolls, and other toys spread across the room. Their eyes scan the entire room and notice a frail, little grille sleeping on a bed in a corner of the room.
Amado takes a deep breath and gently caresses his daughter's head.
The little girl on the bed seems to nine-year-old. She has long, curly, blonde hair. Amado lifts her eyelids to reveal her light purple eyes with yellow eye-shadow. The sclera of her eyes is cloudy, and she has a blank expression on her face.
"Poor girl!" Ayaka feels pity for the girl.
"My dear Akebi!"
Amado sighs and covers her body with a blanket. He turns towards Izuna and continues.
"There are a few reasons I accepted Jigen's request to infiltrate the village. First, I wanted to free my daughter from the clutches of Jigen so that he wouldn't be able to use my daughter as a hostage to blackmail me. But that bastard, he…"
"Oh, are you talking about this?"
Izuna points towards a curse seal mark on his fingertips. The curse seal is similar to a karma seal but with a hollow shell and several veins-like black markings protruding out from its corner.
"That's the…" Amado gasps in surprise as Izuna incinerates the curse seal.
"Hmm… when we first met, you offered me a spot in Kara and when I rejected your request, you asked my help to destroy the Otsutsuki clan. I wonder why you want to get rid of the Otsutsukis?" Izuna asks him.
Amado regains his composure and opens his mouth.
"I am sure you already know that the entire history of this world is nothing more than a chess game in the eyes of those powerful beings as we are their pawns. These Otsutsuki pulled the string from shadows and manipulates the world as they see fit. Even the current war is their doing." Amado grits his teeth.
'Oh, he is more gullible than I expected. Perhaps due to my presence and interference, Kara recruited him much earlier than in the original plot. If I remember correctly, he only joined Kara after his daughter's death and lost all hopes of cloning his daughter's personality. Perhaps those misfortunate events turned his heart cold and somehow steeled his resolve.' Izuna ponders.
"Do you mean the black Zetsu and Kaguya?" Izuna asks in surprise and then shakes his head.
'Of course, he knows about it. It must be Jigen who told him about it. Perhaps Jigen also wants to benefit from this war.'
"Huh? What?" Kushina's surprised shriek pulls their attention.
"Izuna-kun, this war! D-do you mean this war is a scheme of someone and all involved shinobis and nations are their pawn even including Madara Uchiha?"
"Yes!" Izuna's simple answer shocks Kushina to her core.
"Who would be so gutsy?"
"Other than the Otsutsukis, who else can pull something of such a scale?" Amado chuckles.
"So, you plan to jump the ship by revealing this to us or direct someone else hostility towards us?" Izuna understands the meaning in between Amado's words.
"Hehe… so what if I am doing it? Sooner or later, you will find it on your own, and, as for the hostility, I presume you are already on their get-rid list." Amado nonchalantly shakes his head.
"I spent five years under Jigen in hopes of searching for a cure for my daughter, but that bastard never made a move to help me. He even planted a curse seal on her to control me. So, I don't have a shred of loyalty to him."
'He is indeed a master of manipulation and likes to use bluffs and gifts.' Izuna chuckles to himself.
It will be wrong to say if he admits that he isn't willing to recruit Amado to his organization. Amado's vast knowledge, skills, resourcefulness, and intellectual make him a suitable asset for any organization. However, his character is questionable and his motives are unknown. So, despite his power, Izuna is hesitating to recruit him to his team.
'Well, I can only make a gamble. I haven't lost a gamble yet, so I might as well try my luck once more.'
"Alright!"
While Amado was waiting for Izuna to ask him more questions in exchange for favors, Izuna suddenly walks towards his daughter.
Izuna ignores Amado's slightly panicked expression and places his hand on top of Akebi's forehead.
Shiing…
Suddenly, Izuna's right eye glows with a bright purple hue and a kaleidoscopic pattern appears in his eyes.
"What's this Dojutsu?"
Amado's eyes narrow at Izuna's strange Dojutsu.
'There are no records of such a Dojutsu in my database.' He mumbles to himself.
"I see! So, that's the problem."
Shua…
Soon, Izuna pulls out an invisible tapeworm like a parasitic life from Akebi's head.
Izuna's hands glow with purple energy and the tapeworm becomes visible to the rest.
"This… this… what is this?" Kushina, Ayaka, and even Amado stare at the strange creature in horror.
"I pulled it out of your daughter's body." Izuna calmly answers him.
"WHAT?" Amado glances at the strange creature in surprise.
"Izuna, what type of creature is this?" Kushina asks in surprise as this is the first time she has seen something like this.
"Well, this creature is called a Soul-devouring parasite. It infests into the body of newborns and latches onto their souls. It gradually grows up with its host and slowly devours their soul and consciousness. Once it grows to adulthood, it will completely devour the soul of their host and escape. Later, it will lay its eggs into another fetus and continue the process. It takes twelve years for a soul-devouring parasite to reach adulthood. For seven years, it will stay in a dormant state while devouring the soul of its host. It will gain consciousness after seven years and the process of soul-devouring will accelerate." Izuna turns towards Amado while explaining a few more symptoms.
"I am sure your daughter went into a coma when she was seven years old." He adds.
"That's right!" Amado takes a deep breath, withholding his excitement. Izuna's description matches Akebi's current state.
"So, does that mean my daughter only has three more years to live?"