"Quick! Hand over the Gelel Stone!"
Temujin's face was urgent, and he reached out, trying to push Takumi, who was blocking his way, aside.
Slap!
The crisp sound of the slap instantly silenced the scene.
Temujin held his cheek, his face stunned.
How long had it been since he was last slapped?
Probably since his parents were killed by bandits, right?
At this moment, he actually felt a faint sense of familiarity.
"Focus your attention, kid."
Takumi said coldly. "Did you understand what we said?"
"Hmph!"
Temujin snorted coldly. "You are my enemies. Why would I believe the words of my enemies?"
"Is that so?"
Takumi snorted coldly in return. "Then let facts speak."
"Among your companions, there must be others like you who use the power of the Gelel Stone, right?"
"Haven't you noticed the difference between you and them?"
His words puzzled Temujin.
"Difference?"
He frowned and asked, "What difference?"
"When they try to use their abilities, does their bodies undergo any change?"
Takumi further said. "But you are different. You use the power of the Gelel Stone easily and freely without any physical change, whereas all your companions change their appearance."
"Let me guess, they probably turn into various animal forms."
His words were like an arrow piercing Temujin's heart, causing his expression to constantly change drastically.
"How do you know?"
Temujin was truly shocked.
As far as he knew, Kamira and the other two shouldn't have had any contact with Takumi and his group yet. How did Takumi seem to know everything?
"Why do you always focus on the wrong thing?"
Takumi was a bit helpless, 'Was this kid an idiot? He completely couldn't grasp the point of what I was saying.'
But thinking about it carefully, this kid really was an idiot.
Not only was he used by his enemy, but he also dragged his companions into it.
And he was fooled by the enemy's grandiose lies, even willing to sacrifice his life for them.
Truly stupid enough.
"After all this, you should understand your true identity by now, right?"
Takumi said. "You are the orphaned survivor of that ancient empire's royal family. That's why you can use the power of the Gelel Stone normally, and that's why you gained Nerugui's affection."
"As long as you think normally for a bit, you should realize that everything I said is the truth."
"Because there's no need for me to deceive you. Your strength is simply too weak compared to me, utterly insignificant."
These final words were like a fatal blow, dealing considerable genuine damage to Temujin's ego.
It was just too real.
"No, impossible!"
Temujin didn't believe it, or rather, didn't want to believe it.
If he was a member of the royal family, and his family had long possessed the power of the Gelel Stone, why was his town attacked by bandits?
How could his parents have died so easily?
He instinctively didn't want to believe any of this.
But the ironclad evidence before him was overwhelming.
He had no choice but to believe.
And as Takumi had finally pointed out,
Takumi had no reason to deceive him.
If he really intended to use him to find the Haido behind him,
He could have done so through torture and interrogation.
Instead of wasting his breath saying so much nonsense.
"I don't believe it."
Temujin clutched his head, his face contorted from overthinking. "How could I possibly be royalty?"
"If we already mastered the power of the Gelel Stone, why were we attacked by thieves?"
"All of this is fake! You're lying!"
He screamed wildly at Takumi, then turned and ran.
"Ah!"
Temari exclaimed in surprise, instinctively reaching out to stop him.
But this time, Gaara stopped her.
"Let him go. Our target is the person behind him."
Gaara was extremely calm at this moment.
He had secretly placed some sand on Temujin. With this sand, he could track the enemy's main base at any time.
"Hey, is it okay to just let him run like that?"
Naruto, holding the back of his head, came to Takumi. "He seems pretty important, right?"
"It doesn't matter to us."
Takumi shook his head. "Don't forget what our mission is."
He turned to look at Shino. "How is it?"
"The bugs have been placed."
Shino said quietly.
"Whoa?"
Naruto was instantly surprised.
"Naruto, it seems you really need to learn more."
Seeing his reaction, Takumi helplessly covered his forehead. "This is the basics of basics."
"Hehehe..."
Hearing Takumi say this, Naruto scratched his head and smiled sheepishly.
"I wasn't praising you."
Takumi said helplessly, then turned to Kahiko. "We plan to stay here temporarily for the night. If we need to pay a fee..."
"No, of course not."
Kahiko quickly waved his hand. "This isn't our territory. How could I charge a fee?"
"Alright then. We'll be nearby. If anything happens, feel free to come to us."
Takumi said with a smile.
"..."
Kahiko said helplessly, "Little Nerugui followed him. What should we do now?"
"Don't worry. That little guy doesn't seem short-lived. He'll probably outlive us all."
Takumi comforted the elder, then led the others to set up tents nearby to prepare for rest.
He insisted on staying here because he was worried they might be attacked.
He and Kahiko had just revealed information about the Gelel Stone.
If Temujin told this information to the greedy Haido, given his personality, he would definitely send people to attack tonight.
If they weren't here, this caravan would likely suffer heavy losses.
They were, after all, their client. If they were killed before the mission was completed, it would be a negative evaluation for Konoha.
"The filming went smoothly again this time."
Seeing everyone preparing to rest, the director turned off the camera and had the cameraman check the material.
He himself came to Takumi's side. "I didn't expect that boy to escape in the end. It caught me off guard."
"But is what you said true? About him being the descendant of some fallen kingdom's royalty?"
The director was also curious about this.
If it were true, it would be a huge boost for promoting the movie later.
A mysterious descendant of an ancient, fallen empire's royal family.
It sounded intriguing just hearing it.
"Of course it's true."
Takumi said. "I accidentally learned about it once. I didn't expect to actually encounter a descendant of that clan."
"To be honest, I was also surprised."
"That Temujin guy is definitely being used by someone else."
His confident tone surprised the director.
"Why are you so sure?"
He asked curiously. "His behavior indeed doesn't seem like someone who knows about this, but wouldn't the person behind him know about it?"
"This involves the Gelel Stone and a book called the Book of Gelel."
Takumi said. "I can't go into details. The ancient texts I read didn't record specifics either, just that it's a book on how to use the Gelel Stone."
"Someone must have obtained that book from his parents, or acquired it through other means. After all, it's been a long time, and it happened on another distant continent."
"We certainly can't know the exact details of what happened."
"But making some reasonable guesses is still very simple."
Takumi's words left the director thoughtful.
"So, you just made some logical deductions based on the information you have?"
The director asked curiously. "But is he really the royal orphan?"
"Definitely."
Kahiko interjected from the side. "Otherwise, little Nerugui wouldn't be so affectionate with a stranger."
"But it's just a ferret."
The director expressed doubt.
"Its lifespan is several times, even dozens of times longer than yours."
Takumi said calmly. "It's not an ordinary ferret."
"Uh..."
The director fell silent.
Having sent off the director and Kahiko, and arranged the night watch personnel, Takumi lay down in his tent.
Beside him, Koyuki lay resting with her eyes closed.
Originally, Sakura and the others had also wanted to come in, but Koyuki stopped them outside.
"I still have a lot to discuss with Takumi-kun regarding the script and scenes. We might talk until very late."
Koyuki said with an apologetic expression, but she firmly blocked the path of Sakura and Temari.
Takumi didn't mind either.
He was thinking about other things.
Koyuki simply hadn't seen Takumi for a long time and wanted to spend some time with him properly.
With so many people and eyes around, she didn't dare do much here.