Chapter 291: The Whereabouts of Hyuga Remain a Mystery
A glimmer of hope rose in Ichikawa Ao's heart.
He opened his mouth, trying to communicate with the person in front of him, but all that came out were hoarse grunts and indistinct sounds. It quickly became clear that a goblin's vocal structure was fundamentally different from a human's, making normal speech impossible.
Even so, Ichikawa Ao still had a way to communicate.
He deliberately threw his bow, arrows, and javelin to the ground, then slowly raised both hands to show that he meant no harm. Although he did not understand why Uchiha Itachi had not attacked again, he was determined to seize this opportunity.
No matter what world this was, survival came first.
He knew very well that in front of Uchiha Itachi, escape was impossible. His only chance was to act while the other party remained still.
After clearly signaling his lack of hostility, Ichikawa Ao did not wait for any response. He cautiously squatted down and began writing on the dirt with his finger.
He chose to write in Japanese.
If nothing unexpected had occurred, the people of the Naruto world should also be using Japanese. After all, Naruto itself originated from Japan.
Uchiha Itachi's Shadow Clone was mildly surprised. This goblin clearly possessed a high level of intelligence—at the very least, it was far smarter than the goblins he had eliminated the previous night.
The goblin had discarded its weapon, raised its hands, and now squatted on the ground. What was it trying to do?
The Shadow Clone did not make a move. Even without sufficient chakra to use ninjutsu, he was more than capable of subduing this goblin with taijutsu alone. The earlier sneak attack had merely been an attempt to make things easier and capture the target alive.
His objective was clear: capture the goblin and extract information about Hyuga Castle's whereabouts.
Even though the ambush had failed, he had no concern about losing in a direct confrontation.
Arms crossed, Uchiha Itachi's Shadow Clone stood calmly and observed, waiting to see what the goblin intended to do.
Ichikawa Ao finished writing with his heart pounding. He had feared an attack at any moment, but his gamble paid off—Uchiha Itachi did not move.
He slowly stood up, kept his hands raised, retreated several steps, and tilted his head toward the writing on the ground to draw attention to it.
Curiosity stirred. Uchiha Itachi stepped forward and looked down.
A trace of surprise flickered through the Shadow Clone's mind.
A goblin… could understand human language?
Unconcerned about being attacked, he walked closer and examined the words carefully.
Written in the dirt were the words:
I haven't killed anyone. Please spare my life.
Uchiha Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly. He had long been puzzled by one issue—these goblins possessed no chakra whatsoever. Logically speaking, intelligent summoned creatures should possess at least a minimal ability to manipulate chakra.
Yet his inspections the previous night had revealed nothing.
Not a single trace of chakra.
In hindsight, he should have left a few alive for further observation.
When he encountered this goblin earlier, his intention had been twofold: learn about Hyuga Castle, and possibly bring the creature back for Orochimaru to study. Now that it could communicate, things might become much simpler.
"You understand what I'm saying?" Uchiha Itachi asked after a brief pause.
Ichikawa Ao let out a silent sigh of relief. The language was unmistakably Japanese.
He nodded vigorously.
"Very well," Uchiha Itachi said calmly. "Then answer a few questions. Can you do that?"
Ichikawa Ao nodded again.
"You are called goblins, correct?"
Hearing his identity spoken aloud, Ichikawa Ao felt a sense of resignation. So goblins truly existed in this world. Otherwise, Uchiha Itachi would not have known the name.
Seeing the nod of confirmation, Uchiha Itachi also nodded. It seemed Hyuga Castle had not lied. These green-skinned creatures were indeed called goblins.
"Where is Hyuga Castle?" Uchiha Itachi asked directly.
Ichikawa Ao froze.
Who was Hyuga Castle?
Why was this man asking him that?
A sudden thought crossed his mind. Had someone named Hyuga Castle been captured by goblins? If so, that would be an unimaginably grim fate.
He shook his head vigorously to indicate ignorance.
Uchiha Itachi frowned. "Are you refusing to answer, or do you truly not know? If you understand human language, why don't you speak?"
Ichikawa Ao shook his head again, then squatted down without any guard and wrote:
I don't know. I can't speak.
There was no point in resistance. He could neither defeat Uchiha Itachi nor escape from him. Cooperation was the only rational choice.
Uchiha Itachi's expression eased slightly. He now clearly understood—the goblin was physically incapable of speech. Still, the ability to write was unexpected.
This further suggested that Hyuga Castle was not allied with the goblins, as he had previously suspected.
If that was the case… then how had Hyuga Castle disappeared?
This goblin clearly didn't know.
The likelihood that Hyuga Castle had been abducted directly from under their noses was low—but not impossible. After all, Hyuga Castle's strength was indeed quite weak. In Uchiha Itachi's assessment, he was far inferior even to Sasuke or Naruto.
That left two possibilities:
Either Hyuga Castle had truly been taken by goblins…
Or this goblin was lying.
If Hyuga Castle was not working with them, then his disappearance could only be explained by abduction. Otherwise, there was no reason for him to vanish without a word.
They had arrived together as partners.
Uchiha Itachi pondered silently.
It seemed the only solution was to wait for the main body to arrive and use Sharingan genjutsu to interrogate the goblin. Tests from the previous night had already confirmed that Sharingan genjutsu was effective on goblins.
Unfortunately, the chakra reserves of this Shadow Clone were insufficient to activate the Sharingan. Otherwise, there would be no need to wait at all.
But another problem remained.
He had no way to directly notify the main body.
Taking the goblin back to town himself would leave the cave unguarded. What if more goblins were hidden inside? For now, there appeared to be no secret passages—the goblin had clearly entered and exited from outside—but caution was still necessary.
What was the correct course of action?
Uchiha Itachi's Shadow Clone fell into deep thought.
Seeing Uchiha Itachi remain silent, Ichikawa Ao felt his spirits lift.
There was hope.
If this truly was the Naruto world, wouldn't pledging allegiance to Uchiha Itachi be the safest choice?
The man before him seemed to regard goblins as a form of summoned creature. And while Uchiha Itachi already had crows as his summons, one more wouldn't hurt… right?
If he could attach himself to Uchiha Itachi and reach Konoha, his future might finally stabilize.
Once in the village, he could even ask to learn ninjutsu.
With his talent for learning, mastering chakra techniques would only be a matter of time.
A dangerous world… but perhaps also one filled with opportunity.
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