Makoto was silently thinking, while Tsunade and Uchiha Hikari simply watched him.
Warden Mui quickly realized that among the three intruders, the one who could truly make decisions wasn't the famous Fifth Hokage.
'Could this young man before me possess greater strength or status than the Hokage?' Mui wondered.
Mui had been holed up on this isolated island for years with limited personnel, relying entirely on intelligence passed from the Hidden Grass Village headquarters.
And the Hidden Grass was just a minor ninja village—how much useful, up-to-date intelligence could they possibly gather?
Opening the Box of Ultimate Bliss required Tailed Beast-level chakra.
As Mui's initial primary target, naturally, it wouldn't be one of the Five Great Ninja Villages' heavily guarded Tailed Beasts, but rather the Seven-Tails from the neighboring Hidden Waterfall Village.
However, according to the latest intelligence, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki from the Waterfall had recently been abducted by an unknown party.
Mui knew the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki was just a young girl.
Obtaining such a target would arguably be the easiest heist among all Tailed Beasts.
But precisely because it was the easiest, someone had beaten him to it.
It was only because he had no other options that Mui had to turn his attention to the militant Hidden Cloud Village, who had approached him on their own initiative.
"Honored guests," Mui began, plastering on a diplomatic smile. "According to the schedule, the diplomatic representatives from the Hidden Cloud Village should arrive tomorrow. Why not rest for now, wait for them to arrive tomorrow, and then we can visit the Box of Ultimate Bliss together to formally discuss its... ownership. How does that sound?"
After Mui made this suggestion, the jailers and guards behind him grew tense.
They had previously lowered their weapons on Mui's orders, but now they were secretly gripping their swords and kunai again.
Among the three intruders, only Tsunade was famous, but her reputation alone was enough to put them on high alert.
Hikari dismissed these guards' subtle actions with utter contempt, keeping her attention entirely focused on Makoto's response.
If Makoto gave the word, she would deal with these ungrateful, smelly prison guards immediately!
(What happened to the inherently kind Hikari?)
"Fine. Then we'll wait one day," Makoto finally spoke.
With Makoto's words, everyone in the courtyard breathed a sigh of relief.
Mui also began to form some strategic judgments.
'The other party still fears the military might of the Hidden Cloud Village and the Raikage.'
'It seems that with clever political balancing on my part, there is still a chance to profit in the end.'
Mui was clearly being presumptuous, and his guess was completely wrong.
The only reason Makoto was willing to wait a day was actually just to have an "exchange" with the Hidden Cloud Village representatives.
Their last exchange had been during a chaotic battlefield.
(The time he assisted Kurotsuchi to the front lines and incidentally took Fuu away).
The Hidden Cloud Village had no shortage of valuable items.
Such as the Six Paths Treasures.
It is said that after the Gold and Silver Brothers died, the Cloud only recovered the Amber Purifying Pot, while the other items were lost along with the two brothers.
However, based on the fact that during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the reincarnated brothers whipped out several divine tools and started spamming them, it's clear that the items still existed somewhere.
After all, people can be revived through Edo Tensei, but how can inanimate items be reincarnated?
The items must have been collected from their graves by the grave-robbing expert, Yakushi Kabuto.
'Hmm.'
'We can exchange information with Orochimaru later.'
As for the matter of the Box of Ultimate Bliss? Could they just take it now? Sure.
But waiting until tomorrow for the Cloud Village to arrive meant they could use the Box as a "cultural activity" and a bridge for communication.
Without the Box of Ultimate Bliss as bait, the Cloud ninja wouldn't show up.
...
Mui led the three to their respective, high-security guest rooms to rest.
But as soon as the doors closed, Uchiha Hikari immediately ran next door to Makoto's room.
"That Warden has a gloomy face and doesn't seem like a good person. I'm worried he might try to attack us at night. It's too dangerous for me alone."
Without waiting for permission, Uchiha Hikari slipped under the covers of Makoto's bed, peeking out with half her head like a wary cat.
Tsunade, who was at the door about to enter to discuss strategy, turned grim upon hearing this excuse!
'Too dangerous for her alone?! Who exactly is the dangerous one here?! Are you afraid of being attacked in the middle of the night, only to accidentally manifest a Susanoo and stab the entire prison staff to death in your sleep?!'
"I excel at stabbing people in my sleep," Hikari added helpfully, as if reading Tsunade's mind.
"Ahem." Tsunade coughed loudly twice and pushed the door open to enter.
"See? She's scared too. That's why she came over," Uchiha Hikari said, taking the opportunity to justify the slumber party.
"..."
'Scared my ass.' Tsunade was speechless.
"Is something wrong?" Makoto asked, sitting at the table.
"You two are staying in one room. It wouldn't be appropriate for me not to come over either as the chaperone."
As soon as Tsunade finished speaking, she wanted to slap herself.
What kind of nonsense excuse was that? Where's the logic in that?
"Ahem. Well," Tsunade quickly changed the subject to business. "She just said the Warden doesn't seem like a good person. But according to the Hidden Grass intel, isn't the Warden just trying to reunite with his dead son? Everything he's done is to bring his son back to life."
"What does reviving his son have to do with anything?" Uchiha Hikari curled her lips in disdain from under the blanket.
"If he dares to revive his son using that creepy box, does that give him the right to act recklessly and sacrifice others? When the time comes, we'll just stab both him and his son to death and see who revives them next time."
"Uh... you..." Tsunade rubbed her temples.
She finally understood exactly why her granduncle was so chronically wary of the Uchiha Clan's extreme thought processes.
"What Hikari said may be blunt, but it's not wrong. There's no issue with her logic," Makoto casually affirmed Hikari's perspective, sipping a cup of water.
"What?!" Tsunade looked at Makoto, bewildered. "Are you serious?"
"Even if he's 'unhappy' and 'thoughtless,' how can we let him bully others just because he's sad?" Makoto shrugged.
"Does having a tragic anime backstory automatically justify doing evil deeds, sacrificing innocent people, and then getting instantly redeemed by Talk-no-Jutsu at the end? Is this some kind of cartoon?"
"..."
Makoto's blunt words actually made things startlingly clear to Tsunade.
Why should having a tragic backstory excuse wrongdoing and earn immediate forgiveness?
She had been emotionally depressed and traumatized for decades herself after losing Nawaki and Dan.
If she were to do something horrific to Makoto right now out of grief, would that count as having a "tragic backstory"?
Would Uchiha Hikari forgive her?
Absolutely not.
Hikari would set her on fire since it makes no sense at all.
So-called "tragic circumstances" are often nothing more than an excuse for sacrificing others to serve one's own selfish interests.
"You're right," Tsunade nodded slowly, conceding the philosophical point. "It's just that Hozuki Castle is a massive prison holding thousands of vicious, Kage-level criminals. We can't let them escape into the world."
"If Warden Mui dies, the Fire Style: Celestial Prison seals branded on all the prisoners will instantly dissipate. We need to find a successor to replace him first to maintain the seals."
(During the Boruto era, the new warden of Hozuki Castle also had the surname "Mui" and even improved the original Celestial Prison formula so it wouldn't become ineffective upon contact with water. Finding a successor from his clan shouldn't be a problem).
"If the prisoners dare to escape, can't we just kill them?" Uchiha Hikari tilted her head, genuinely confused by the bureaucracy.
"Didn't you just say they're all vicious criminals? Then they deserve to die, right?"
"Keeping them imprisoned is clearly just to protect their lives from being ended by the law, giving them a chance to absolve their sins. If they still try to escape, doesn't that mean they're actively seeking death?"
"...That may be true in theory," Tsunade sighed, feeling a headache coming on.
"But with thousands of people fleeing in all directions at once, you can't possibly kill them all efficiently. Without the Celestial Prison suppressing their chakra, they can all use ninjutsu. Escaping Hozuki Castle amidst the giant waves wouldn't be too difficult for them."
Tsunade felt she was almost being assimilated by Hikari's terrifyingly simple, violent logic.
"?"
Uchiha Hikari looked at Tsunade as if the Hokage were a complete idiot.
How could she forget so quickly? If it really came to a prison riot, Hikari could just step outside, activate her Complete Body Susanoo, and literally cleave the entire island into the ocean!
Then she could have Kurotsuchi help recreate a new island later.
Wouldn't that solve everything efficiently?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A soft knock at the door interrupted their debate on mass execution.
"Who is it? Come in."
A maid entered the room, carrying a tray with a steaming pot of hot tea and a plate of local snacks.
After setting down the items on the table, the maid bowed respectfully and turned to leave.
"Hmm? Stop right there."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You're not from Hozuki Castle, are you?"
Tsunade immediately sensed something wildly amiss.
They were three people assigned to three separate rooms.
Why did this supposed servant only bring one set of tea and snacks directly to Makoto's room?
Could they foresee the future and know in advance that both she and Hikari would abandon their rooms to come to Makoto's?
Or was this a targeted assassination attempt on the boy?