The Shopkeeper of Konoha

"What?"

"Kid, are you serious? Do you even know who I am?"

"Aoto."

All three of them, including the brought-in prisoner, shouted out in astonishment. He felt both fear and rage. This kid, who didn't even wear a headband, had the nerve to order a shinobi to amputate his limb.

He was a jonin.

"Aoto, are you sure you understand what you're saying?" Hiruzen enquired. Not because he harbored any sympathy for the man they had apprehended. After all special jonins were sent after him as part of a S class mission, the culprit was apprehended. Following the Kyubi invasion, Kakashi recently finished one of his assignments.

The Hidden Cloud village wanted him dead because he held crucial information about their village, while the S class goal was to capture him alive since he had defected from their village and because, as a jonin, he might hold critical information about their village.

Although it was difficult, Kakashi had led the crew, including Shisui and Guy, to capture him. The ripple effects of Aoto's engagement had already begun, and this was only one of them. Hiruzen was upset because he believed he was heading in the direction of Orochimaru. He was opposed to that.

And Kakashi was a little surprised and that was all. He was aware that Aoto has handled several dead bodies, so cutting off a limb shouldn't be too terrifying for him.

"Hokage-sama, believe me, it's for the best." Aoto said to Hiruzen. Hokage gave Aoto a thoughtful look before nodding. The prisoner was trembling in his knees as Kakashi came behind him and released some of the seals that had been put on the prisoner.

Of course the prisoner was under some seals so that he didn't escape and the chains on his hand and feet were just for show for a large part. One of the prisoner's hands that had been stiff the entire time was able to move a little after Kakashi made some hand gestures that nearly made Aoto dizzy, but it didn't move for very long because Kakashi didn't even allow the prisoner time to talk.

He pulled out a little sword and struck him on the shoulder.

"Ahhhh...."

The prisoner screamed in agony, but for some reason the sound did not pass through the roof. His shoulder erupted in blood as the severed arm crashed to the ground. His face quickly became pale as the blood began to drain since he was losing blood quickly.

He was likewise enraged, but he did not express a need for healing or salvation. He appeared to be a difficult case to solve.

Aoto didn't waste a more second and went to make this prisoner drink the potion from the vial. The inmate wanted to vomit it. However, Kakashi threw him a backhand smack to the chin to prevent him from doing so, forcing him to gulp down the vial.

He initially believed the potion to be some sort of poison and held his neck with one hand as he nearly suffocated. Even though his other hand was still bleeding, he appeared to have overcome the pain and was now more focused on the "poison" he had just consumed.

Aoto was still taken aback by it. A typical person would have either passed out or cried out in agony for a longer period of time. These shinobis are actually more pain-tolerant. No wonder Obito was alive for such a long time. Compared to a typical human, these folks experience pain much less. On it, he could wager.

It was already too late for the man to cough it out. But then a miracle happened. A speed that could be seen with the unaided eye was apparent in the lost hand that had been bleeding out of thin air.

The regrowth was evident even during the night when there was only the light from the streets and the moon high in the sky. Even the Hidden cloud ninja had trouble believing what he was seeing, let alone Hiruzen and Kakashi.

Due to their devoted department and use of various techniques to induce covert vomiting, Konoha acquired a reputation for adopting bizarre torture techniques. He therefore believed that this was a fresh and inventive approach to torture him when he was transported to Aoto for the experiment.

But after seeing his hand grow once more, he no longer believed it. He mistook it for genjutsu.

"Hahahaa.. Nice genjutsu kid.. If I was out of the seal I would have shown how genjutsus like these could be avoided." The man spoke, but his words sounded irrational and were accompanied by maniacal laughing. Naturally, Hiruzen and Kakashi were more focused on what had happened to his hand than they were on what he had to say.

This was unheard of. They had never witnessed anything like it.

"Aoto, do you have any more of those?" Hiruzen abruptly questioned. When he asked, there was a tiny tremor in his voice.

"Yes, but not many." Added Aoto. Then, unexpectedly, Hiruzen did something that Aoto and Kakashi didn't anticipate. Hiruzen pulled out his shuriken, affixed wind release chakra to it, and tossed it at the man who was now laughing maniacally. He didn't even notice that the Hokage had thrown a shuriken.

The prisoner's legs were quickly severed by the shuriken which had grown bigger in size as it flew and it moved quickly. In the next instant, the laughing man changed into a "no standing" man as he stumbled and landed on his own pool of blood that he had lost when he lost his arm.

He screamed in agony.

"Hokage-sama!!" Kakashi wasn't even able to process that the man had just grown back an arm that had been lost, and now he was seeing the man lose his legs. Aoto was astounded by Hiruzen's behavior as he turned to face the Hokage as well.

"Hokage-sama. This vial is costly." Reminding him that the vial would be expensive, Aoto said.

"Konoha is ready to pay any price. Just administer the medication."

Upon hearing this, Aoto sighed. It was understandable why Konoha was sought after in each conflict. This village had much too much wealth.