Once the audience and staff had been chased out, the dome was left a deserted shell. Boruto finally rejoined Sarada and Mitsuki in the green room. Lily had been made to sit on a folding chair in the center of the room, ankles tied to its legs with rope.
The fact that Sasuke had arrested Lily meant she was a suspect in some crime.
“What is this even about?! I don’t get it! I wanna call my lawyer!”
The sight of Lily screaming and thrashing dumbfounded Boruto. “Lily… You’re like a totally different person.”
“You’re holding me illegally! Am I supposed to be on my best behavior now?!” Lily shook the chair in anger.
“That’s the same tone you had when we met before.” Sasuke looked down on her like a scholar observing an animal. “Is this the real you then?”
“Old Man Sasuke,” Boruto said, hesitantly. “You know Lily?”
“Mm.” Sasuke continued to stare at the idol, who had turned her face away, sulking. “We met once before. In the Thunder Train when the explosion happened.”
“Huh?” Sarada furrowed her brow, doubtfully. “So then…she just happened to be on the train?”
“No. It’s quite likely this woman is the ringleader’s ally.” Sasuke grabbed Lily’s golden hair and pulled hard. Boruto gaped, jaw nearly hitting the floor when her entire head was yanked off and fell to the ground. Only upon closer inspection did he realize it had only been a wig that Sasuke had yanked off.
The real hair hidden beneath the long golden tresses was short and reddish brown.
“You can’t talk your way out of this.” Sasuke tugged hard on Lily’s earlobe, where five pierced holes were neatly lined up.
“That’s the same as the crew that attacked the train,” Sarada muttered in surprise.
Lily bit her lip and said nothing.
“Five piercings. This is proof of Shigetsukyodan membership,” Sasuke said.
“Shigetsukyodan?” Boruto raised a curious eyebrow. He’d never heard the word before.
“There’s an outlying island in the western part of Shigetsu, the Land of Water. The community there has a tremendous amount of power,” Sasuke explained dispassionately. “This midsize island, with a population of three thousand people, has long despised the Mizukage’s rule and maintained a semi-isolation. Ten percent of the islanders on Shigetsu belong to the Shigetsukyodan. Their dogma controls large parts of everyday life there.”
“Dogma?” Sarada asked.
“The worship of nature. What animates them is not the Mizukage but Mother Nature. They do not obey the Mizukage. Or rather, that’s been their stance for many years, but recently, the Mizukage’s reconciliation policies have met with success, and diplomatic relations have gradually been warming up. Last year, the island was officially recognized by all as part of the Land of Water. But some very devout Shigetsukyodan members remain strongly opposed to the policy of opening the country up.”
“So that faction turned to extremist attacks?” Mitsuki quickly realized the flaw in his theory. “But that doesn’t make sense. Why would they target the Land of Fire and not the Land of Water?”
“Because the Hokage’s efforts to develop Konoha are a large part of the reason the island is opening up. The desire to live in a wealthy society is what brought the island of Shigetsu out of isolation. This group of extremists is resentful of this, without any actual justification. The annoying part of all this is the fact that the leader of the Shigetsukyodan, their so-called ‘holy master,’ is personally giving the extremists orders. And…”
Sasuke looked down on Lily once again. “You’re the holy master’s only daughter, yes?”
“Lily’s what?!” Boruto let out a wild cry as Sarada and Mitsuki looked at each other.
“There’s no mistake,” Sasuke declared. “I went to Shigetsu to confirm it. I never imagined you three would accept a mission from her, though… At any rate, the piercings in this ear are incontrovertible proof that this girl is a member of Shigetsukyodan.”
“So what?” Lily snapped in a hard voice. She glared up at Sasuke. “I am indeed a member of Shigetsukyodan. And I also acknowledge that my father is the leader known as the holy master. But that’s got nothing to do with me. I hate that close-minded, rural island. I fled to the Land of Fire because I wanted to be an idol in the city!”
Sasuke narrowed his eyes coldly. “So you’re saying you didn’t slip into the Land of Fire with the intention of spying?”
“I didn’t! I hate my dad and all his friends, obsessed with that old way of thinking. I just wanted to be an idol.”
“It’s true.” Boruto stepped in between Lily and Sasuke. “There’s no way Lily’s a bad guy.”
Sasuke glanced wordlessly at Boruto and then turned back to Lily. “We’ll go with a warning for now. I’ve already obtained a fair bit of information on you, so I’ll know if you lie to me. You’re going to answer some questions now.”
“There’s no reason for you to arrest me, you know!” Lily snarled. “You’re the ones who’ll be in trouble if you hurt me, like, okay? I’ve got a ton of lovely soul mates and all these memorial memories we’ve built up together. Don’t underestimate our love connection!”
It was plain from the look on Sasuke’s face that he had no idea what she was talking about.
“The lovely soul mates are her fans,” Boruto quietly explained. “And the memorial memories are the times she’s shared with her fans. The love connection is the bond they have with her.”
Sasuke took a moment to digest this. “At any rate. You’ll be under shinobi monitoring from now on.”
“Uh? You mean arrest, right? I’m innocent,” Lily said. “My fans won’t just stand by quietly, you know. They’ll come after you hard!”
“Do you think I care about that?”
“You might not, but what about the Hokage?”
The look on Sasuke’s face changed at the mention of the Hokage.
Lily smiled. “The way the Hokage works, everyone’s always watching him. A shinobi under the orders of the Hokage illegally restraining an innocent idol—you don’t think that’d cause a scandal? I have tons of people watching my back, you know.” Her tone was challenging.