Chapter 33: What Does the Original Host's Birth Have to Do with Me, Uchiha Gin?

After Uchiha Ryoka finished understanding the situation, he left without staying too long.

Confused, Uchiha Gin could not piece together any useful truth from these fragmented clues.

After weighing his options, he decided to focus on the work at hand first.

Since he had figured out that the archives were categorized by color, organizing them was twice as efficient; in no time, he had sorted the messy scrolls into categories.

Looking at the three piles of differently colored scrolls before him, Uchiha Gin began the next stage of classification.

The archival scrolls needed to be categorized not only by dungeon but also had to have each prisoner's file clearly labeled and indexed for precise reference.

After some thought, he decided to start organizing the cyan scrolls.

"Shinji Shimura: Shimura Clan. Poisoned the water source of the Uchiha territory, causing twenty-three Uchiha clansmen to die from the toxin. Proficient in Wind Style and poisons."

*Too despicable. This must go in the top tier.*

"Takinosuke Sarutobi: Sarutobi Clan. Ambushed an Uchiha supply unit, causing twelve deaths and five permanent disabilities. Proficient in Fire Style, Earth Style, and Summoning Jutsu."

*Too brutal. This also goes in the top tier.*

"Kazuo Yamanaka: Yamanaka Clan..."

As he flipped through many cyan scrolls, Uchiha Gin discovered that most of these criminals came from clans that would become famous in the future.

It seemed that even in the Warring States Period, the growth of civilian ninjas was still an uphill battle; the outstanding ones were mostly clan ninjas.

There weren't many cyan scrolls; those captured and sent to Dungeon No. 1 were all heavy criminals.

This type of criminal was generally quite powerful and difficult to capture easily, which was why there were only about a dozen of them.

He quickly finished organizing the cyan scrolls. During the process, Uchiha Gin also checked the capture records; most were captured prior to six years ago, and none were suspicious targets.

Scratching his curly hair, Uchiha Gin turned his gaze to the blue scrolls and continued organizing, hoping to find a valuable clue.

Unfortunately, halfway through, he still hadn't found any suspicious individuals.

Most of the criminals in the blue scrolls were from small clans or were rogue ninjas. They weren't particularly strong, and their crimes mostly involved intelligence gathering or ambushing lone Uchiha clansmen.

After scanning through them, Kaguya Josuke's crimes were actually the most severe among the blue scrolls, but because of his mental issues and inability to communicate effectively, he had been relegated to Dungeon No. 2.

There were significantly more scrolls in Dungeon No. 2 than in Dungeon No. 1. After looking through barely half, Uchiha Gin felt his eyes aching and his head throbbing—it felt exactly like the symptoms of not wanting to go to work in his previous life.

*One must balance work with rest,* Uchiha Gin comforted himself. He set aside his work, closed his eyes, and began to slack off.

Just as he was resting his eyes, a cautious knocking sounded at the door.

"Come in."

Hearing the knock, Uchiha Gin immediately opened his eyes and casually picked up a scroll to pretend he was "working."

Uchiha Ryoka, whom he had seen yesterday, pushed the door open. He looked cautiously around the room to see if anyone else was present, and upon finding only Uchiha Gin, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lord Gin's dedication to his work is truly a model for us all."

Seeing Uchiha Gin flipping through a scroll with a serious expression, Uchiha Ryoka immediately launched into a bout of excessive flattery.

"Not at all, I am merely doing my duty."

Uchiha Gin waved his hand modestly.

"I wonder what brings you here, Brother Ryoka?"

"Lord Gin, you flatter me too much. Just call me Ryoka."

"No matter. Brother Ryoka, do you have some advice for me?"

Seeing that no one was around, Uchiha Ryoka stepped forward a few paces and whispered to Uchiha Gin, "Lord Gin, I have found some leads regarding the matter you assigned me."

After accepting the task from Uchiha Gin yesterday, Uchiha Ryoka had acted immediately, inquiring at the three dungeons one by one. Finally, heaven rewarded his efforts, allowing him to extract information from an elderly jailer.

"Please, Brother Ryoka, speak."

Hearing this, Uchiha Gin raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that this guy's efficiency was quite good—finding a clue in just one day.

"According to an old jailer here, this dungeon did not have its current layout in the past."

As he spoke, Uchiha Ryoka pointed to the dungeon map hanging on the wall, indicating the space between Dungeon No. 1 and Dungeon No. 2, and continued, "There used to be four dungeons here. However, about six years ago, Elder En abandoned one of them, leaving only the current three."

Uchiha Ryoka drew a large imaginary circle in the empty space between Dungeons No. 1 and No. 2, indicating that another dungeon had once existed there.

"Since it was abandoned, does that mean it is no longer in use?" Uchiha Gin asked, thinking logically.

"I don't know if it's being used, but that old jailer said that before that dungeon was abandoned six years ago, someone was once held there in secret," Uchiha Ryoka said mysteriously.

"Since it was a secret, how did he know?"

Although the news of a secret imprisonment was tempting, this old jailer seemed to know a bit too much.

"Ah, I didn't ask that."

Uchiha Ryoka was momentarily speechless by this sudden, off-topic question.

He truly hadn't considered why the man would so easily share such secret information with a stranger; was it simply because he had mentioned being a confidant of the new Clan Leader's nephew?

"Forget it, continue. What else did that old jailer tell you?"

This suddenly appearing mysterious old jailer gave him a vague sense of unease; the timing of the man's appearance was just too perfect.

"He told me that after that person was locked inside, they never came out again. Shortly after, Elder En announced that the dungeon was being abandoned due to disrepair."

Uchiha Ryoka swallowed hard to soothe his dry throat.

"What kind of people were being held there?"

Those captured six years ago—could they be the group that attacked the Uchiha territory?

"I asked the old jailer, but after he said those things, he ignored me completely," Uchiha Ryoka said somewhat awkwardly.

"Where is that old jailer now?"

Having finally obtained a few clues, Uchiha Gin did not want to give up.

"He is in Dungeon No. 3. Due to personal reasons, he is working as a cleaner," Uchiha Ryoka said, somewhat sheepishly.

"Why?"

"That old jailer... is blind."

Uchiha Ryoka's eyes darted around guiltily.

???

The eyewitness to these events was actually blind? Then the accuracy of this information was highly questionable.

No wonder Uchiha Ryoka found the information so quickly; it turned out he didn't even pass up a blind man.

"Thank you, Brother Ryoka. If you hear anything else, please let me know as soon as possible."

Knowing the source was an elderly blind man, it seemed this information likely contained elements of fabrication. After all, how could a low-ranking jailer know about something as secretive as a clandestine prisoner transfer?

"I wouldn't dare. It is my honor to serve you, Lord Gin," Uchiha Ryoka said, looking terrified.

Frowning, Uchiha Gin recalled the memories of the original owner of this body.

From his memories, although the original owner had a strange temperament and sometimes used his status as the Clan Leader's nephew to bully or provoke clansmen, he did not act excessively against those who held no ill will toward him. So why did the general clansmen fear him so much?

"Brother Ryoka, how do the clansmen usually view me?" Uchiha Gin asked.

Asked a life-threatening question, Uchiha Ryoka's eyes wandered, and he didn't know how to put it into words.

Although his interactions with Uchiha Gin over the past two days made him feel that the man wasn't as despicable as the rumors suggested, he couldn't be sure if the man was "fishing" for a confession.

"Brother Ryoka, given our current relationship, feel free to speak your mind."

Uchiha Gin gave a friendly smile and patted Uchiha Ryoka on the shoulder, signaling that he was now an ally and there was no need for hesitation.

"Then I shall speak."

As if making a grim resolution, Uchiha Ryoka bit his lip and looked up, his eyes reflecting a sense of martyrdom.

After composing his words, Uchiha Ryoka squeezed out a sentence

"As far as I know, Uchiha Gin is just a pure-bred piece of trash."