CH_6.3 (174)

CH_6.3 (174)

Four genin were in charge of managing the camp with more than four hundred people. Three of them were Hidden Steam shinobi, while the fourth shinobi was a Hidden Leaf shinobi helping out until Hidden Steam could replace him with one of their own. The four shinobi had hired people from the camp itself to manage the sheer number of people.

Yeri was a Hidden Steam shinobi managing the camp. She was one of the two shinobi present on the camp during the incursion, the second being Takashi of the Hidden Leaf. The other two were out visiting the town for food and drinks.

The camp was significantly distant from the conflict. There was no reason for enemy shinobi to be this deep in the Land of Hot Waters. This was why only four genin were assigned to the camp—shinobi weren’t needed to manage the camp; civilians could’ve done it on their own, showcased by the fact that the Hidden Steam was taking such a long time to replace the Hidden Leaf shinobi loaned out to them. The four shinobi weren’t expecting an attack and were thus lax on security and focusing more on ensuring the refugees were adequately managed.

The incursion happened very quickly.

By the time Yeri got out of her tent, two rows of tents were already on intense fire. The first thing she saw was a Great Fireball rolling through tents in the distance. She and Takashi sprinted to the different parts of the camp and found black-clad shinobi causing destruction, mindlessly killing civilians—women, children, elderly—no one was spared.

She understood that they were outnumbered when she found the first enemy. If she and Takashi were occupied by an enemy each, the rest could continue to wreak havoc on civilians powerless to stop shinobi. The remaining two shinobi needed to return quickly—which they thankfully did. The violent fires were big enough to be seen from the nearby town.

Yeri finished off her first intruder in exchange of suffering some injuries. The next intruder wasn’t difficult and surrendered with little effort when she was joined by the other two Hidden Steam shinobi. From the looks of it, Takashi had taken out an intruder... before he died at the hands of another.

And there was the other guy.

Takashi had told them that a Hidden Leaf shinobi was using the camp as a rest point on his travels to a border camp. They had no problems because of how little the shinobi had asked for such a short time.

So when Yeri saw a teenager fighting an intruder, she realized it was the Hidden Leaf shinobi. Yeri was grateful to him, but she didn’t appreciate him ignoring her ask to capture the intruder instead of killing him. In cases like this, it was better for them to interrogate captives for information rather than kill them. They already had one captive, but it was always better to have at least two in case one of them didn’t have complete facts or used two people to verify each other’s information.

But things didn’t stop there.

She glanced at the Hidden Leaf shinobi, who had introduced himself as Takuma, sitting in the corner of the tent. His breathing was labored, he was sweating a lot, and he was clutching a cane in his hands, but other than that, there was not even a single scratch on him.

‘Just how much chakra does he have?’ she thought.

The man had single-handedly put almost all the fires in the camp with his Water Release jutsu. It prevented a lot of loss because of the quick action. She was eternally grateful for that.

And yet, the camp was ruined; people had lost lives, and those who lived had lost their belongings. The war refugees who had been uprooted from their homes had lost their place of stay for the second time...

Yeri clenched her jaw. She could still hear the screams; the smell of smoke made her feel nauseous.

She was charged to keep the refugees safe, but she wasn’t able to do a thing. She had failed miserably. Everywhere she looked, her failure was thrown back at her— the people who had lost their partners, the parents who had lost their children, the children who were now orphans—everything was her fault.

“Is the prisoner ready?” asked Takuma.

Yeri turned to see that Takuma now looked better than before.

“The other two are interrogating him,” she replied.

He stood up, and his cane clicked as he walked to the other tent.

Yeri followed after him. “What are you going to do?”

“I would like to ask some questions as well,” he said.

As they entered the tent with the prisoner, Yeri stepped in front of Takuma. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.” She was grateful to Takuma for the help he had provided, but she knew nothing about him. And this was the Land of Hot Water’s matter, and she, as a Hidden Steam shinobi, couldn’t let an outsider interfere.

“Miss, one of our brave shinobi died during this incursion. The Hidden Leaf will be more appreciative of our allies if they were... cooperative in this matter,” said Takuma.

Yeri narrowed her eyes. Hidden Leaf? Was this Takuma some bigshot? Was that why Takashi had let him stay without asking them?

“We lost a third of the civilians in the camp—more than a hundred people died. We can’t just let you do anything to the prisoner,” she said.

“I simply wish to know the reason behind the attack so I can report it to my superiors, miss, so they will know why a shinobi so far from the battlefield is now dead, so they have something to tell to Genin Takashi’s family. I’m not asking you to release him in my custody—he will remain Hidden Steam’s prisoner of war until both of our superiors decide otherwise,” he said.

Yeri bit the inside of her cheeks. She didn’t trust him. He had killed two intruders already. And with Takashi dead, he might kill the last one in revenge as well.

If she had to be honest, Yeri didn’t care if the prisoner died. The bastard was the reason why her countrymen were dead. She wished that he would die a horrifying death, and at the moment, she wanted nothing but to be the one to kill him—but she knew they needed him alive for his information.

“You can’t kill him,” she said.

“I simply wish to have some questions answered, miss.”

Yeri stared at him, thinking about her decision one last, before stepping aside and letting him proceed.

Inside the tent, the last living intruder lay on the floor with only his underwear on his body, his hands and feet bound with thick iron chains. His face was swollen beyond recognition, and blue-black bruises covered his body. The two Hidden Steam shinobi had done a number on him.

Takuma didn’t go to the prisoner and instead turned to the table with the shinobi’s belongings.

“What are you doing?” asked Yeri.

Takuma didn’t answer and ruffled through the belongings. Yeri didn’t see the point; they had already searched their belongings for clues, but they didn’t carry anything else but weapons, rations, and other shinobi equipment.

“You wouldn’t find anything,” she said. “They were clearly here for a covert mission. I don’t think they would carry anything that would connect back.”

Takuma held up a kunai. “This is a kunai design used by the Hidden Frost. It’s a very successful design, used by more than a third of the Hidden Frost shinobi.”

Takuma replied that it was not time yet.

That day, Takuma held four sessions of one hour each. They had begun a few hours before sunrise, and by the time they had ended the fourth session, it was already ten hours, and the day had already reached the early afternoon.

Takuma told them to rest for a few hours before announcing they would start another cycle of four waterboarding sessions. In the middle of the evening, they began again. The same table, the rag, and the source of water. The questions were repeated. But there was no reprieve as long as the prisoner refused to answer their questions.

This time, though, Takuma went through phases of chatting with the prisoner mixed in with periods of silence where no questions were asked; no matter how much the prisoner begged to stop, no one said anything to him.

Yeri held no pity for the prisoner, but this was her first time seeing someone tortured for information, and the sight of Takuma standing beside the chained prisoner whom her Hidden Steam companions were pinning down was something that instilled fear in her.

At one point, the prisoner thrashed so much when he was having water forced down into his body that he broke a bone in his arm, which scared Yeri if Takuma was going too far. When she asked her two companions, they seemed to lack any nervousness she felt.

Takuma remained indifferent through the entire process. He would be animated in the tent with the prisoner, but during the break, he would sit near the tent’s entrance, keeping an eye on the prisoner in silence. While the Hidden Steam shinobi used the breaks to help the town civilians clean up the destroyed camp, and smooth out the temporary establishment for the remaining refugees, Takuma seemed to be cut off from the rest of the world.

Eventually, the last session of the second cycle arrived. The sun had already set, and everyone was tired.

“It’s time,” Takuma said as one the final break of the day came to an end.

“What?” asked Yeri.

Takuma stood up and walked into the tent. The moment they entered the tent, the shivering prisoner began to struggle against his restraints. His breathing became labored, and there was fear in his bloodshot eyes as he squirmed on the floor.

“Are you ready to answer the questions?” asked Takuma.

The prisoner started begging to spare him, and his pleading became louder as the Hidden Steam shinobi placed him atop the raised table.

The prisoner was waterboarded once before Takuma stopped and spoke to the prisoner.

“This is the last session. Tomorrow, they will take you to the Hidden Steam. You’re one tough man, my friend... Which is why a Yamanaka of the Hidden Leaf will be waiting for you there. If you don’t know, Yamanaka have special ninjutsu, which allows them to mind-read. They will pull all the information out of your mind. I don’t know if it will be painful or not.”

The prisoner looked horrified, but at the same time, he looked peaceful. Perhaps now that he knew his suffering was only for a little more, he relaxed.

But then Takuma pulled out the photograph and held it before the prisoner’s face.

“I’m going to give this picture of you and your family to them. The Hidden Steam wants revenge for the people you murdered. After they find the identities of your companions, they will send a team to all your homes who will kill your families—your family will be included, of course.”

Yeri stared at the prisoner whose trembling eyes were glued to the photo..

“...But if you promise me to answer our questions here and now, there will be no need for the Hidden Steam to pay for the Yamanaka. They’re at war, and Yamanaka’s services are costly. You can save your family by answering the questions.... That’s the best I can do for you, my friend.”

The prisoner looked at Takuma, who urged him to talk.

“... S-Spare my family,” said the prisoner.

The prisoner had broken down.

In the next hour, the prisoner told them everything he knew.

His team was tasked to infiltrate the Land of Hot Steams and set a camp on fire with the objective of killing as many as possible. Their motive was to cause chaos and crush the morale of the Hidden Steam shinobi and the entire Land of Hot Waters by causing a tragedy— while also stressing the forces on the border to stretch themselves thin to cover a greater area to plug potential routes.

They had chosen the camp because they had gotten the information that it was the nearest camp of substantial size from the border with very low security. Their team of five people, which included one chunin, was deemed enough to complete the objective.

According to the prisoner, they were to report a handler waiting for them in a major city in the Land of Hot Waters where they would get further instructions. The prisoner didn’t know who the handler was, but he gave up his handler’s location. He also gave up the route he took to breach the border and who else was involved.

After Yeri ensured the prisoner was properly secured, she headed to the other tent, where she noticed Takuma staring at a doll in his hands. He must’ve noticed her as he put the doll into his backpack.

“Do you need something, miss?” he asked without looking at her.

“A chunin will be arriving tomorrow to assess the situation,” she said.

“I will leave by sunrise,” he replied. “I had given myself one day of leeway, which I ended up using here. I hope you will ensure that Genin Takashi’s personal belongings and his ashes will find their way to his family.”

The first thing Takuma had done after putting out the fires was to give Takashi a shinobi’s funeral. They had offered to help, but he had refused and completed all the preparations and rites by himself.

Yeri nodded.

“Did you torture him for two days for revenge when you had that photograph from the start?” she asked.

Takuma turned to face her. “He wouldn’t have believed me if I had threatened his family from the start. It’s completely illogical for the Hidden Steam to target a genin’s family deep within the Land of Frost as revenge. I needed to break down his mental state to the point where he would have believed the threat as something possible.”

She noticed Takuma hadn’t refused her query.

“Please let me see you off tomorrow,” she said.

But the next day, when she and her companions woke up, Takuma had already left.

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