Kapitel 363: Ch363. Kidnapping?

The second part of the Chunin Exam started a half-hour ago and Rei was currently crouched on a branch high in a tree deep within the Forest of Death, contemplating the weird feelings within him.

"How strange. I can't even remember when I last had a kidnapping mission." Rei chuckled in nostalgia. It was a long time since he had any kind of mission. That's why his current situation seemed so funny to him.

He sensed his target running deeper and deeper into the forest and mused how nice it must be, being so woefully ignorant. If he wanted, he could kill almost everyone in these Chunin Exams the same way the Otsutsuki clan could decimate the Elemental Nation upon their descent.

These kids, just like the Elemental Nations, never even dreamed of the possibility of someone so much stronger than them suddenly appearing out of nowhere and attacking them.

Ignorance really was bliss...

Fortunately for the world, he was here and he would be damned if the planet on which he lived was destroyed by some rabbit bastards-

'Oi!' A voice in his head protested which he promptly ignored...

The Elemental Nations should be really happy to have him. His efforts would prevent a war with an alien race. If someone told Rei in his past life he would find himself in this kind of position, he would have laughed at him, and yet, here he was.

"I will definitely have to brag about my exploits once I am done with the shielding seal barrier for the planet. Since I am putting in the effort, I should be appropriately praised for it, don't you think?" Rei spoke to the wind.

'Not really.' Kaguya dryly butted in, 'Shouldn't the knowledge that your people are safe be a reward in itself for you?'

"Hmm... you know what? You are probably righ- HELL NAH!" Rei mock-pompously exclaimed and promptly got an impression of amusement from his mental tenant. "If I do something nice for someone and that someone has no idea about it, how could he or she revere me for it? Do I look like an idio-, ahem, a saint to you?"

The amusement simply intensified at that, joined by a small echo of, 'Shameless', in the back of his mind but Rei decided to believe it was just his imagination.

As they say, talking to a voice in your mind is not something a sane person would do, so ignoring it anytime it doesn't say something nice about you should surely be the correct approach in this situation.

'I heard that...'

"Mhm. Time for my mission." Rei firmly nodded to himself and went back to sensing his target.

'Oi, are you ignoring me?'

Getting the position of his target, he bent his knees and jumped, starting to move along the treeline silently and stealthily, easily, just like a gentle breeze.

'He is totally ignoring me. Sigh.'

It didn't take him long to reach his mark. In a clearing in front of him, Orochimaru and the three sound genins gathered while Rei observed their meeting, hidden in the thick bushes around as he masked his chakra signature and presence.

'Just you wait. Once I am out of my seal, I will relegate you to the couch guard duty! Not immediately, momma needs her milk, after all... But one day, when you will least expect it, IT. WILL. HAPPEN! HMPH!'

For some reason, Rei shuddered but decided that today his imagination was exceptionally wild. No need for concern... He will just have to remember to get rid of his couch. No biggie.

He mentally received an impression of astonished bewilderment and knew his solution was the correct one.

No matter... Rei seemed to be quite lucky as the meeting in the clearing was already concluding and Orochimaru jumped into the foliage, leaving the three genins to their own devices. Rei followed Orochimaru with his senses for a good while and when he deemed he was far enough... his attention shifted to the three unsuspecting kiddies in the clearing again.

They were so... unconcerned.

'They probably think Orochimaru is the biggest and baddest lad around these parts. Poor delusional fools.' Rei thought with a mock exasperated sigh. 'Just look at how they move. Such ease in every movement. They clearly believe in their superiority over anything that is in this forest and isn't Orochimaru.'

It was surreal, really. Watching genins that have no idea about the wide world. They were like frogs on the bottom of the well, unknowingly stalked by a hungry rabbit-

'Rabbits don't eat frogs...'

- that wanted to prey on them...

Rei rolled his eyes. It didn't matter what rabbits did or did not eat. In this world, there was this Rabbit Goddess-

'Here we go again...'

- that could destroy planets, create dimensions on a whim, and loved to eat every single cookie in his secret stash... how she found his secret stash is anyone's guess. Nevertheless, that was not nice. Not nice at all-

'And I already said I am sorry!'

- but no amount of apologies could make up for that fact. It saddened Rei greatly that such a heinous deed was performed by his favorite pet rabbit-

'I will bite you... !'

- and even though he knew the rabbit loved him deeply, he couldn't just let it go. There had to be retribution, no?

'No.'

Alas... Rei had his mind set. Since his cookies were under heavy assault from his pet rabbit whenever he made a new battalion of them, Rei simply decided to... stop making them. It was a simple solution, really.

'Oh, you will deeply regret that. Maybe not today, maybe not even a week later, but one day... surely.'

Rei could only imagine the deep regret in his beloved rabbit's eyes as she realized the cause of her deeds. The sheer sadness coursing through these lovely lavender orbs where one could lose himself in their beauty. Her juicy desirable red lips must be set in a small cute frown by now, and her rosy cheeks are most likely adorably puffed out-

'You have a mission, don't you? Get on with it!'

As an impression of embarrassed outrage entered Rei's mind, he victoriously nodded in satisfaction and decided to, for once, listen to the imaginary voice in his head.

Sneakily jumping down into the clearing, Rei appeared straight in the middle of the three genins. He had to give them credit where credit was due. The two boys instantly went rigid for a moment before abruptly turning around, prepared to fight for their lives while the girl was much sneakier about her intentions but that probably came with being a genjutsu practitioner.

Rei didn't give the kiddies a chance. He kicked a small stone into Zaku's gut, making him bend over and slightly fly backward from the sheer force behind the propelled stone as the air was driven out of his lungs. The boy was out of commission for the next ten seconds at the very least.

Dosu was fairly close to Rei so it was no surprise that during the three seconds it took him to deal with Zaku, the boy was upon him. He swung his melody arm at Rei... and then his eyes went wide in disbelief when Rei just caught the punch with his palm all the while negating the sound waves generated by the device. It was a clever but incredibly inferior and melee version of what Tayuya could do. Unfortunately for the boy, Rei had already seen that one once.

Dosu didn't get the chance to realize where his attack failed as he promptly felt a sharp pain all around his body before finding himself engulfed by darkness and going out cold.

Rei calmly observed as the electrocuted body of the boy impacted the ground with a thud, shaking his head, "This is why having a special attack relying on melee combat is bad when you are not an impressive melee fighter yourself." He said, not really bothered by the fact his advice would fall on deaf, or rather, in this case, unconscious ears.

Rei nonchalantly turned towards the still wheezing Zaku who was kneeling on the ground and glared at him in deep hatred...

Oh, yeah, the Kin-girly was flinging senbons at Rei all the time but he was simply using the wind release to bend the air currents around him, making all senbons miss their mark. Alas, the girl was a sound-based genjutsu fighter but after seeing Tayuya's proficiency in this new approach towards genjutsu, Kin was simply shit at it.

The sound was just the vibration of molecules in the air.

IN. THE. AIR.

It really had no chance against someone who mastered Wind Release and knew how to counter it with it. That's why Rei insisted on Tayuya learning how to create shockwaves through a bastardized version of her sound manipulation. That could not be countered so easily when playing with the big boys.

Zaku weakly tried to defend himself and raised his shaking arm towards Rei, releasing a wave of pressurized air at him... only for it to divide towards left and right on some kind of invisible shield in front of Rei, destroying everything around but evading the real target.

"Your airwaves are powerful. Against genins and some low-level chunins. Unfortunately for you, there is no real potential for development in them since they are a result of a shoddy body modification experiment. I'd rate it 2 out of five." Rei answered Zaku's silent bewilderment, causing it to turn into anger...

But Zaku couldn't act on this newfound anger since his head abruptly felt as if it was spinning for a second before the world went black.

Rei subtly used pressurized air, filling Zaku's ears with it which affected his third ear in the brain and caused him to get a nasty case of motion sickness which knocked him out.

Rei was simply showing the boy why exactly the scientific way is not better in some cases. Sure, the boy could use pressurized airwaves to a devastating effect thanks to these tubes in his arms, bypassing years if not decades of wind manipulation training, but he could never hope to use subtle applications of them. Zaku could at best brute force it and hope for the best, sending one airwave of pressurized air after another.

Alas, that did not always work...

Rei slowly turned towards the last member of Team Dosu, who watched him with fear-filled eyes while shaking like a leaf in a whirlwind as the despair and hopelessness of the situation seeped into her mind... and pleasantly smiled at her.

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Kapitel 364: Ch364. As planned... Easy interrogation

"Honey! I am home and I am also bringing presents!" Rei shouted as he entered the living room of Tsunade's house in the Senju Compound where Tsunade currently ate her lunch. She lifted her gaze from some documents strewn on the table in front of her only for a small headache to impact her as her eyes landed on the tied-up Sound kunoichi slung over Rei's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Please don't tell me you kidnapped one of the participants of the Chunin Exams." She stated in a dry tone in the hope that her eyes are lying to her. She even inwardly flared her chakra in case this was some kind of intricate advanced genjutsu she couldn't sense but... no such luck.

"Relax. Nobody will know." Rei rolled his eyes as he put the unconscious girl on the ground and sat down behind the table opposite Tsunade, "Besides, you know how hard it is for me to say no to Konan."

"Hmph. Simp..." Tsunade goodnaturedly snarked with a small smug smile, causing a good atmosphere between them for a moment before it fell alongside her smile and she got serious, "And her teammates?"

Rei shrugged, showing how little he cared about them. "Dead. I have discreetly sent my clones to deal with them during my trek here and make it appear as if the beasts got them. The girl was frightened enough as it was. No reason to give her the impression we would kill her anyway. It would simply make the whole interrogation that much harder."

"And just like that, when their bodies are discovered, Kin Tsuchi will be presumed dead, eaten by a wild animal." Tsunade nodded. It wasn't a bad way to deal with the possible repercussions from the Sound Village. "So, are we?" She asked, causing Rei to furrow his forehead in confusion. Seeing that, Tsunade decided to elaborate, "Going to kill her. I reckon she won't be very useful anyway so..."

"Nah." Rei casually said and shook his head, "Her sound Jutsus are valuable and not many can counter it as of yet. The way she was trained in Sound Village is simply shit. That's why she is so weak."

"So you wish to recruit her for our village." Tsunade understood what he planned.

"Yup. Unlike the boys of her team whose strength came from a device that can be easily taken or a failure of a body modification experiment, the girl, or rather, her Jutsus have the potential for development. No need to waste it by killing her." Rei said.

Well, Tsunade had to agree that it wasn't a bad idea. The girl was still just a kid. Unlike Tayuya who changed her loyalties because of selfish reasons and would stay loyal as long as it gave her benefits, this girl, Kin, could still be molded to be 'truly' loyal to the village.

Of course, Tsunade did not mean to blatantly manipulate her. It was also why she was wholly fine with Tayuya's reasons for loyalty. Making people see it is in their best interest to stay loyal to the village was simply much, much better than making them into some kind of semi-mindless drones that could only spout Will of Fire without really even knowing what it actually meant.

Since everything was explained, Rei decided it was time to move on. He took the unconscious Kin and put her on a nearby chair before tying her up to it with a ninja wire and plastering a partial paralyzation seal on her chest.

"There. Now she will be unable to move but still able to talk." Rei spoke, happy with his work and while Tsunade seemed quite unimpressed with his solution, he decided to pay it no mind. It wasn't as if the girl was some kind of magical ninja turtle. Even if she managed to get out of her bindings, there was no way of escaping with him and Tsunade present.

"Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead." Rei said as he sent a weak current of lightning chakra into Kin, abruptly shocking her into painful wakefulness.

The girl's body violently flinched, straightening her like a rod before she let out a loud gasp and started to frantically look around, "W-Wha...?" Only then did her eyes land on Rei, causing them to widen as her memories returned with full force and Kin tried to back off away from him. Unfortunately for her, her current state prevented it.

Rei encouragingly smiled at the frightened genin, "Hello, I am sure you probably already have some kind of idea what is happening," He paused, lifting his eyebrow at the girl who after a moment meekly nodded much to his satisfaction. She understood the game! Good! "so, let me just tell you, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. For your sake, I hope you chose the easy way because I have a sudden itch to prove that Orochimaru is just a schoolyard bully compared to me." He pleasantly explained just how fucked she was while activating a storage paper tag on the table, poofing various torture instruments into existence.

They even had dried blood on them... as expected from Anko's tools.

Kin gave Rei an uneasy look before her eyes shifted towards Tsunade... but whatever hope the girl could have gained from her presence, Tsunade quickly shot down.

"Don't look at me. I won't help you." She rolled her eyes before returning to her paperwork. This would not be the first torture interrogation she experienced and it won't be the last. Honestly, Tsunade didn't see what was the big deal. She was in both Rei's and Kin's positions many times so this was not phasing her one bit.

"Why? Why me? I am just a genin! I know nothing important!" Kin desperately half-shouted, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. She saw how utterly he crushed her teammates and didn't have any illusions about their continued existence. Seeing all the bloodied instruments...

"Oh, we know you won't be able to tell us Orochimaru's plans from A to Z. We just need a rough idea from you. If I was in your place, I would start thinking really hard about whatever details you heard and probably deemed unimportant because it just might save your life, ya know? I don't want to hurt you." Rei gently said and cupped Kin's chin and raised her head so she would look him in the eyes. "Do you want me to hurt you?"

Kin fearfully gulped and shook her head before slowly starting to speak everything she knew.

Rei actually marveled at how easily she succumbed to his subpar acting. 'I guess Tayuya was completely right in this case. Zaku would have been too hot-headed and Dosu too stubborn for his own good. They would definitely not crack without torture if only because of their pride.'

Tayuya told Rei everything she knew about Orochimaru and his plans, his hideouts and stuff... but it was not enough. Surprisingly enough, Orochimaru did not keep even his four bodyguards in the loop for the most part.

Nevertheless, since there was a chance to capture some of his subordinates in these Chunin Exams, Rei asked Tayuya about her recommendations and she told him Kin would be an easy target that will sing like a canary without a need of some heavy petting. Though, she did say she seriously doubted the girl will have any kind of useful information.

That didn't matter though. Spying on Orochimaru was pointless. The Sound Village was a deceptive term. No such place existed. The Sound Village was a collective term for all Orochimaru's hideouts. Hideouts that ceased to exist and popped into existence so fast that Konan was getting really frustrated with her attempts to pinpoint Orochimaru's location and get some useful intel about him.

The problem was... the Kages of the ninja villages and Daimyos had fixed places where they could be found. Konan simply had to bug their offices, the council chambers, the ANBU bases and she would get her intel. With Orochimaru, this approach didn't work.

Frankly, it was getting increasingly obvious how the man could stay out of Akatsuki's radar for so long despite them having Zetsu. Orochimaru never stayed in one place long enough. He could state he is going to one hideout only to change his mind mid-way and suddenly order to go to another. He destroyed his bases seemingly at a whim. He loved to do complete sweeps of his bases, throwing away and replacing everything that was not vital for his research. At the first suspicion of an information leak, he would just pack up and disappear, only to pop up again in a different part of the Elemental Nations.

Orochimaru was freaking unpredictable and always on the move to a paranoid degree.

Rei didn't need Kin to tell him what the man planned because whatever it was, there was no guarantee he would not simply change his plans at the last moment as a last fuck you to anyone who got wind of them.

Rather, Rei wanted to hear about her experiences and meetings with the man. Even if Orochimaru never told Kin his plans, his actions and details she noticed would give Rei some necessary puzzle pieces.

Such as when she admitted she briefly noticed a ninja from Kumo meeting with Orochimaru. Kin deemed it unimportant as it was not unheard of for ninjas from different nations to work together occasionally but... Rei had a much better picture of things going on in the world.

For example, the sudden increase in expenses for both Kumo and Iwa. The two villages were gearing up for something. Oh, they were subtle about it, stretching their purchases over many different companies and over a long period of time. Without context, it would not prove as a reason for concern.

But Tayuya's information gave these actions a bit of context and now Kin's interrogation only deepened some of Rei's suspicions.

Hearing all Kin had to say, Rei sent another dose of his lightning chakra into her body, knocking her unconscious before she could start asking annoying questions about what will happen to her.

Tsunade looked at the sleeping form of the girl with her lips pursed into a thin line, "So... he will attack during the last part of the Chunin Exams, huh?" She rhetorically asked, unhappy with the conclusion she reached. "If it's not one thing it is another."

While Rei's canon knowledge told him there would be an attack from Orochimaru, he had to admit he changed quite a bit in the world. For all he knew, Orochimaru might decide it is not worth his time to attack since Hiruzen was no longer the acting Hokage or because Konoha was marginally stronger than in canon or for whatever other reason.

Rei, however, doubted Orochimaru would not upgrade his plans if he decided to attack. After all, Konoha WAS stronger than it should have been. The man was no idiot. He would not attack head-first without a plan that had a high chance for success.

Knowing that there is no way of preventing what is going to happen, Tsunade sighed and decided to focus on something else, "And the kids? How are they faring in the Chunin Exams?"

Rei suddenly blinked, getting out of his thoughts at her sudden question. "Hm? Ah! Don't worry. Last I sensed, they were about to engage Orochimaru." He nonchalantly waved his hand around.

Tsunade facepalmed at that...

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