Chapitre 113: CH_4.13 (113)

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———

Arisu stared at the man slumped against the wall with no life in his eyes. The numerous gashes and bruises, the kunai handle sticking out of the chest, and the blood on and around the body told a story of a struggle better than any amount of words could. It was a horrifying sight, but Arisu continued to stare in an effort to find the chain of events that had led to this.

Turning away from the man, she looked to the middle of the building's ground-floor lobby, where another body lay with a sword sticking out gut, surrounded by a pool of blood staining the dirty gray floor.

Two dead men on the ground floor of the apartment complex didn't come as a surprise to her. She had seen many similar situations, especially in the type of neighborhood they were called to. And the blade tracks and shuriken in the walls, sole prints on the ceiling, and light jutsu damage around the scene made it evident they were dealing with shinobi.

'What a waste,' she sighed to herself.

Arisu saw Kano enter the building and walked to the second man to join Takuma.

"Is everything tagged?" asked Kano.

"Yes, ma'am," Arisu replied.

Takuma, who was observing the second man, pointed over at the dead body with a pen as he spoke, "Brutal… A lot of bruising on the front of the neck, from the lower leg I can tell that the other guy was really trying to hobble this one by striking the calf and knee… and look at this," Takuma pointed at the man's left eye, "he even tried to poke the eye out— that other guy was trying to impair him to get in the murder strike. Straight for the liver." Takuma touched the sword blade with his pen, making a ting against the metal.

"Same for that one," Arisu pointed at the man against the wall.

"Any signs of a third party?" asked Kano.

Arisu shook her head. "No, from the looks of it, only these two were involved." The wounds and state of the violence around the scene were congruent to a scene created by two people fighting each other. "We will have to look deeper after tagging everything to know for sure."

Kano squatted by the dead body and observed in silence for a minute before sighing,

"Well, haven't we seen this before," she sighed.

Takuma titled his head.

"Any identification?" Kano asked.

"We got one of them," Arisu held up the shinobi registration card she got from the dead shinobi.

Takuma held up the same for the second guy.

"Good. Yup, this checks out. Let's wrap this up," Kano took the registration cards from them.

"What was that about?" Arisu asked as Kano walked away to the other body.

Takuma stared at Kano. From the looks of it, he also found her behavior strange, but he shrugged.

"She will tell us later. Come on, I want to get out of here," he said.

Arisu frowned. It was Kano who had told them to come to the crime scene to inspect it. And she knew that the Homicide wasn't swamped and that they had to shift case load to other departments. It wasn't that Organized Crime didn't handle killings— in fact, they handled more killings than Homicide due to the fact that there were a lot of deaths connected to organized crime.

The fact that Kano had ordered them meant she knew the connection.

'Why not tell us right away,' she thought.

———

"We got confirmation on the identity from the two we found in the Rabani building," Kano said to Arisu and Takuma after calling them into her office.

Arisu furrowed her brows a smidge. They already knew the two men from their shinobi registration, and they had already gone to their houses and talked to their neighbors about them. She was confused as to what confirmation Kano was talking about.

"I see you're confused," Kano said to Arisu, surprising her.

"… Yes. What's this about, ma'am?"

"Close the door," Kano said to Takuma, who stood up and closed the office door. "I will preface what I'm about to tell you by saying that you are not allowed to discuss what I'm about to tell you with anyone outside the Force. Don't gossip about it with others if it's unrelated to a case— and if you have any questions, come to me, and I'll tell you what you need to know…."

Arisu was even more confused but stood up straighter as she was about to get some answers. In the couple days of the investigation, the case seemed to be an open and shut case, with the two shinobi killing each other over some conflict. The friends of one man didn't know the other, and neither did their close mission team members and peers— which did raise questions about the reason behind the fight.

They hadn't found the signs of a third party on the crime scene— but that didn't mean there wasn't one involved indirectly.

The crime scene was called the Rabani building, a cheap apartment building in one of the downtrodden and low-income districts of the Hidden Leaf. Neither men's home were anywhere near the Rabani building, and after some digging around, they found that one of the men was 'seeing' a woman who lived in the building. After they interrogated her, the woman admitted that she knew one of the men but refused to knowing the other one. From the looks of it, she wasn't lying. So, they eliminated the theory of a love triangle gone wrong.

One of the theories they were considering was of an assassination. One of the shinobi was asked to kill another one. It was illegal, and the punishments were severe for the person issuing the hit and the assassin— but it still happened here and there in a village full of shinobi. Arisu was following that theory and had asked for their bank records to see if she could find something there; they were supposed to be delivered tomorrow afternoon.

"We will be closing the investigation," Kano's words snapped Arisu out of her thoughts. "The two killed each other; that's it."

"What! Why?!" Arisu stood up from her chair.

"Sit down; I'm not done yet," Kano said.

Arisu reluctantly sat down and stared hard at Kano, her eyes demanding an answer.

Kano sighed, "… Those two were part of something called The Ring. Do you know what that is?"

Ring? Arisu shook her head. "No, what is it?"

"It's an underground gladiator arena where shinobi fight each other in front of an audience for money," Kano's words shocked Arisu. "Those two were fighters in the Ring, and one of our contacts in the Ring tells us that they had a fight a week back. The loss didn't sit well with Kimoto, and well… he decided to have a rematch. The contact tells us that Kimoto was very dissatisfied with the fight and wanted to reschedule one, but the Ring refused to do any time soon, which might have led him to find Mihara at his sidepiece's home.

Now you have the motive, and from the crime scene, we don't see a third-party involvement. A clear close-and-shut case. Process it as such."

Arisu was shocked and turned to look at Takuma, who looked to be taking in the information.

"How… is that still going on?" Arisu asked. She knew for a fact that shinobi weren't allowed to fight each other as a sport. Any sort of underground combat was prohibited.

And from Kano's words, she clearly knew about it; the Police Force knew about it. If they knew about it, why had they let something like that exist?

"It's an open secret of sorts. We know about it, but we don't do anything about it because we are told to do so," Kano explained. "It's used as a tool to train Hidden Leaf shinobi's combat preparedness. The fighters that fight each other get better due to the exposure to the combat and earn while doing it, allowing them further to grow stronger if they wish to do so.

Helps a lot of clanless shinobi develop…."

Arisu once again glanced at Takuma beside her. He must've noticed him looking at her because he looked back. He didn't have much expression on his face, but that was him most of the time.

Takuma turned back to Kano. He asked, "You identified them instantly when you arrived at the scene. Did you know one of them or both from before and that they were from the Ring?"

"I didn't know them."

"Then how?"

"It doesn't happen often, but we do see cases like this. I've seen a few of them in the last few years. The Ring fighters all fight a certain way, influenced by each other, it keeps changing year by year, but some things are carried over… I have formed an eye for the injuries which Ring fighters usually inflict— it's not anything unique and there are other unrelated cases with similar injuries, so we usually confirm with our contact inside the Ring. But this time, we were given the information by our contact beforehand that an incident had happened."

Arisu was still reeling from the discovery of an apparent underground gladiator. She had lived her entire life in the Hidden Leaf, and to suddenly find out that there was something so big was jarring when her first exposure to it was through a double murder.

"How big is it?" she asked.

"Bigger than you might think," said Kano. "It has been here in the village for a long time. You'll find people older than me and people as young as you in the Ring."

"Fuck me," Arisu cursed.

Takuma asked, "This Ring…. What is our relationship with them?"

"Not much. We know to ignore their operations, and they make sure not to come to the surface. When cases like this and some others do arise, they provide us with anything we want to make them go away because that's good for both of us."

"Do we have a list of the Ring fighters on file?" Takuma asked.

Kano shook her head.

Takuma leaned against the chair. He was done asking questions.

Arisu asked a few questions before they left Kano's office.

"You don't seem too surprised by the Ring," Arisu said to Takuma— not anywhere close to as she was.

Takuma sat down at his desk. "I've heard about something like that existed. Didn't think it was real, but can't say I'm that surprised to know now it's real, you know." He looked at her. "You get to hear a lot of things when you live in a place where I do."

Arisu knew where Takuma lived. It was in the opposite direction from where she lived. She had never been to the area where Takuma had lived but had seen areas like that while on cases. It wasn't a good place to live— and she didn't know why someone like him would continue to live there. She couldn't imagine living in a place like that.

"Would you have joined the Ring?" Arisu asked. "Kano said that it helps a lot of clanless shinobi— help them develop."

Takuma laughed. He looked up at her and pointed at his arm where the red Police Force armband sat. "I'm part of the Leaf Military Police Force— an officer of the esteemed Organized Crime division— do you think I can be in any better place to develop as a shinobi?"

Arisu couldn't deny his words. Except under a jonin teacher, the Police Force was perhaps the place to be.

As she looked at Takuma, Arisu couldn't help but remember the Takuma of the past when they were in the academy. Dead last. Someone who couldn't hit a target, win a spar, cast a jutsu, if his life depended on it. Someone who had failed the academy graduation test twice before passing at the last chance. Takuma hadn't even been given a chance to try out for a jonin and was directly put into the Genin Corp.

Seeing that guy in the same place as her after two years honestly made her feel… insecure. She couldn't help but compare her to him and couldn't help but wonder if her effort was lacking in comparison to Takuma.

"I want to finish the damn paperwork as soon as possible," said Takuma as he tidied up his desk.

Arisu shook her head and got herself back together. There was no use thinking about those things. If she felt she was lacking, then all she had to do was up the work she was putting in.

"Yeah, let's do this."

———

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Chapitre 114: CH_4.14 (114)

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———

Inside a locker room in the underground expanse of the Ring, two men prepared for their upcoming fight in silence. As dictated by the tradition and rules, they wore simple clothing: a pair of shorts, the two-mask set that hid their identity, and a pair of arm and shin guards allowed in the weapons category.

"How do you feel?" asked Smoking Tiger.

"My dear is feeling happy today," replied the other man, Razor, as he stroked his unsheathed sword with gentle caresses.

Smoking Tiger sighed. He and Razor belonged to the same Ring team, and he had longed gotten used to the eccentric man's behavior. He wondered if it was the age difference; he could no longer understand today's youth and their antics.

"Did you go look at the fight I asked you to?" asked Smoking Tiger as he sat before Razor.

Razor nodded.

"And?"

"It ended quickly," said Razor, his eyes still admiring his sword.

The fight had indeed ended far too quickly. Smoking Tiger was there as well and wished it had lasted longer to learn more— but it was what they got, and they had to work with what they got.

"… but," Razor looked up, "I think he's easy to cut."

Smoking Tiger glanced down at Razor's sword. The blade was spotless; not even a speck of dust was allowed to mar the blade's gleam. Razor treated and maintained his sword better than anything in his life, perhaps even better than his own being itself. But all of that ended the moment Razor entered the arena. At that moment, the sword stopped being treated as an ornament and assumed the role for which it was forged— a tool of killing.

"My dear is thirsty today; I hope she'll be able to quench her thirst today," Razor's toothy smile looked horrid on his angular face.

Smoking Tiger shook his head. He turned his head to the locker room's door just a second before there was a knock on it.

Smoking Tiger grabbed his sword and stood up. It was time for the fight.

As they walked to the arena, Smoking Tiger spoke to Razor, "I hope you remember the plan."

"I take care of everything while you stand back?" said Razor.

Smoking Tiger sighed again. The actual plan was for Razor to be on the frontal offense while Smoking Tiger looked for opportune moments and lapses in concentration to get in critical strikes. It put Smoking Tiger out of the spotlight, but he didn't mind it— he got paid the same, being on the back foot reduced the risk of injuries, and while there were advantages of being in the spotlight, as long as his peers and Ring administration knew his value, he had enough bargaining power during contract negotiations.

They walked out into the tunnel and entered the caged arena amidst the cheers of the crowd there to see their fight.

"I can't get used to this," Smoking Tiger sighed as he looked at the crowd. 2v1 crowds were larger than the normal 1v1 fights. He usually only saw half of the people in the crowd, and they weren't as rowdy as they were now. The draw of 2v1 battles was crazier than anything in the Ring, even reaching the level of fights in the ninjutsu category.

"Really? I see no difference," Razor replied in a merry voice as he waved to the crowd. "Come on, old man; show the people some love. Let's get them heated up as much as we are."

Smoking Tiger wasn't heated, but a little waving wouldn't do any harm. But as he raised his arm to wave, his instincts spiked, and he looked to the other side of the arena a moment before the announcer's voice blared through the microphone.

"… SCARS!"

A man– no, a child– entered the arena. It was their opponent for the day. The fighter wore the mask with a green leaf, but whose name came from the numerous scars that riddled the boy's body. Scaring was nothing new for a shinobi, and especially not for a Ring fighter who fought in the weapons category as most people had blades as their weapon of choice, but something was odd about the scarring— a mix of battle scars and what seemed like surgical scarring— it created strange imagery.

According to the rumors and gossip floating around the Ring, he was less than fifteen years old, making him a little older than half of Razor's age and quite younger than Smoking Tiger, who had ten years over Razor.

Smoking Tiger didn't believe that Scars was fifteen even though the physique matched the claim. The reason behind it was quite simple. Why would someone as young as a fifteen-year-old who was allowed to participate and had won 2v1 fights be in the Ring in the first place? If someone could be the single fighter battling a duo at such a young age, they wouldn't be dragging themselves in the Ring.

Someone as talented as that would either be from a clan, who didn't allow their children down in the Ring— and if he wasn't from a clan, he would've been scouted by a chunin or perhaps even be part of a jonin team— those type of young genin lived a different type of life than the genin who fought in the Ring. They didn't belong in the same world.

He believed that Scars simply looked young for his age and was, at the very least, a couple years older than the rumor told him to be, and that was a soft assumption.

Smoking Tiger looked at Razor. Due to being on the same team, they knew each other's real identity, and because of that, he knew Razor was part of a chunin team and was doing quite well for himself. He was a talented young man with some unfortunate quirks that led him to enjoy fighting. If Razor dedicated his time elsewhere, Smoking Tiger believed that he would be able to advance his career. It was truly unfortunate that Razor continued to fight in the Ring.

As for an old man like himself, Smoking Tiger didn't want to risk injury in every fight. But his missus was pregnant with their fourth child, and raising children was expensive, and raising three with another on the way was more than difficult on a genin's income. He fought so that he could bring in more money to the household, give his children a good upbringing, and secure a retirement for himself and his wife— and his contract was set up in a way that he got more ryo than mission points.

"Are you ready?" asked Smoking Tiger.

"Absolutely," replied Razor, his voice tinged with a wild hoarseness as he stared at Scars.

Smoking Tiger sighed. He wanted to go back home and spend time with his children. But it was time for work.

———

"So, this is the Ring."

Arisu took in the other world that existed under the village.

"Uh-huh, enjoy it," Kano muttered as she got comfortable in the comfy chairs in the VIP booths that overlooked the arena. Unlike Arisu, she seemed used to it. So much so that she had gone ahead and placed a small bet on the fight they were going to watch.

It all started when Arisu couldn't get the Ring out of her mind and ended up asking Kano to show it to her. Kano agreed, and they planned to spectate an evening fight after work. They had entered through a back-alley bar that acted as an entrance to underground passages and caves that housed arenas and betting booths used by civilians and shinobi alike to watch fights and gamble on them.

"Who made these tunnels?" asked Arisu. She wondered how long it would've taken to dig out the underground

Kano shrugged. "Never bothered to look it up, and it doesn't matter." She glanced at Arisu, "You shouldn't be surprised by this. We live in a shinobi village; there are probably a hundred hidden underground structures like this of various sizes littered around the village."

Arisu couldn't deny that. She hadn't visited them, but she knew there were a couple of hidden passages on the clan grounds. If her clan had one, probably others had one, ANBU definitely had a few of their own, and so did many of the departments for their own use.

"So, who're we watching today?" Arisu asked Kano.

"Well, I asked the teller about the most interesting fight today. He told me about the 2v1 fight they're having today," said Kano, looking down as the announcer entered the arena. "It seems they don't have many 2v1 fights on the regular, so I thought we might as well watch that. It's between, uhm, Scars versus Smoking Tiger and Razor… Huh, weird names."

"Who did you bet on?" asked Arisu.

"On Scars."

"Really, why?"

"I don't know. Two versus one doesn't seem that difficult, and the odds were better if I bet on the single guy." Kano looked at Arisu, "You should've placed some money."

"Not for me," said Arisu.

"Well, your choice," said Kano. "Say, why didn't Takuma come?"

"I don't know, actually. He said something about hanging out backstage at the Kibuchi Theater and observing how the actors get ready… He does a lot of strange things," said Arisu.

A few weeks back, they were talking, and the topic of the weekend came up. Everyone was talking about what they were doing that weekend, and Takuma said he was going to open a stall at the monthly flea market and see if he could make some profit from "goods" he had collected last month— something about learning and polishing sales skills.

"Ah, that's smart," said Kano.

Arisu turned to Kano. "What do you mean?"

"Transformation Jutsu is good enough for civilians, but any shinobi who's paying attention can tell signs. That's why shinobi specializing in spy work and infiltration learn how to disguise themselves by using physical means like prosthetics and makeup. And who better to start learning from than from the people who help actors with their makeup and costumes," explained Kano.

"But you can't learn to disguise in one day, can you?" asked Arisu.

"Of course, not. Learning how to do a believable disguise takes time. But him going there and meeting the people creates connections. He gets to know people who he can go back to later when he wants to learn," said Kano.

Arisu once again felt Takuma's effort coming through from another place. It was like a race where she could feel someone breathing down her neck while trying to pass her.

"Oh, look, they're starting up," Kano said, pointing at the arena below.

Arisu looked down and saw three people in the arena. Two were standing together while another one was standing on the opposite end of the arena.

"Now, that's young," Kano commented with a frown.

Arisu looked at the fighter standing alone. That must be Scars, she thought. And as Kano pointed out, the Scars fellow was way younger than the other two fighters. He looked closer to her age.

———

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