Chapitre 248: CH_7.30 (248)

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———

A Hidden Frost genin entered the backyard of a house and stopped when he saw Ebi standing in the middle of the backyard. He couldn't put the feeling in words, but he stood silent and still even though he had an urgent report to give to the jonin.

Ebi was in a basic stance with his arms up in guard. The backyard had a healthy growth of grass in need of trimming, but the spot where Ebi stood was bare with the dirt beneath clearly visible. There were multiple lines of missing grass outside the circle, making something like a sun pattern as though someone had uprooted all the grass to make the pattern.

The genin almost missed it when Ebi kicked the air, creating a vicious sound of his foot cutting through the air. He also noticed that the gust created from the kick pushed against the grass, ripping a few blades, thus answering the question of the strange grass pattern on the floor.

"What is it?"

"Huh? Y-Yes, our informant came through with information, sir. We have a location for Chunin Aranai and Genin Ryoya."

Ebi relaxed his stance and walked to a table in the corner to wipe his sweat with a towel.

"Which informant?"

"The one inside the Kumi Family."

"Did he confirm the other thing?"

"No, sir. He only provided an address."

Ebi hummed.

"Tell the squad to be ready and do the preliminary recon—we hit the location in two hours. I'll be personally leading the team."

———

Two hours later, a squad of Hidden Frost shinobi had surrounded the abandoned house. They had been observing the place since their arrival and hadn't hadn't revealed their presence by doing their reconnaissance under stealth so they could ambush the abductors.

The street in front of the house was empty and quiet but two streets away the shinobi prepared for the rescue mission. The squad was of three chunin-led teams of three genin, who all worked directly under Ebi.

"Sir!"

A chunin stood in attention as Ebi arrived decked in full combat gear for the operation.

"Are the preparations complete?"

"We have set a perimeter and blocked entry into the area. The residents have been warned to stay in the area. The squad is ready to breach at your command!"

"Any movement to and from the property?"

"No, sir. No one has entered or exited the property. The windows are boarded, blocking any view from the inside," said the chunin.

The entire squad gathered around a rough exterior map of the property built through reconnaissance.

"Two teams will lead the breach," said one of the chunin as he drew lines on the map. "Team A will approach from the front. Team B will go in from the back. Team C will stay out and surround the property to intercept the abductors in case they manage to slip past us."

"Sounds good," said Ebi, "but I'll be the first one in through the door. Team A will follow after me."

No one objected. They had no problems with the plan; with a jonin in lead, they practically weren't needed and all but had their safety secured.

Ten minutes later, the squad was in front of the property, hiding behind the walled-fence.

Ebi casually walked into the property and stepped up to the door. He touched the old lock on the old door and frowned at the amount of dust sticking to everything. He pushed the door lightly—light for a jonin—and snapped the door in half after it came off the hinges. He waited for a moment to see if anything would pop up like explosive seals or an attack coming from his throat, but there was not a squeak in response other than the gust of hot wind that hit him in the face.

He clicked his tongue.

He looked back at the squad. Team A was behind him while Team B proceeded behind the house.

"What is it, sir?" the Team A chunin whispered.

"There's probably no one in the house," he sighed, "there never was..."

There were no clean patterns on the door knob, no shoe prints in front, no preventative measures, and the rush of hot air meant that the house hadn't been ventilated for a while.

Regardless, Ebi walked into the house to do his due diligence, and as expected, there was no one and nothing inside the house. Team B breached in from the back and Team A from the front. Both teams converged to the middle as they checked the house, finding nothing—not even lizards or rats scurrying around.

———

A short and thin snake slithered through streets, keeping himself to the corners to stay under the shadows. He was careful not to be spotted by the humans who spelled trouble, and cautiously made his way to his destination. He relied on his innate sense of smell to follow the unique scent his mistress had laid on the path there.

He raised his head to look at the abandoned house that was the source of the scent—it was the scent of blood. It made him reluctant to enter despite his mistress' request, but after mulling over it for a moment, he entered the property. He approached a barred window and coiled his body to jump to one of the bars.

Inside, he saw a completely naked bloody human male hanging from the ceiling.

"Fuck you!" yelled the male with the swollen eyes and face.

"Don't blame me for your incompetence. If I wanted to, I could've killed more than a dozen of your shinobi because you got greedy. Man, I could've killed you when you were buck naked on the bed because you couldn't keep your small dick in check. You're definitely the stupid type who dies quickly."

He looked at the second human male sitting on a stool, who was laughing as he taunted the first male. The second male turned to look at the window, gazing right into his eyes. He was startled and tensed up, but got himself ready for either fight or flight. The second male didn't say anything and pointed with his chin to the door before exiting the room.

He jumped down from the window and slithered to find the second male coming out from another room with a small pot of water that he set down in front of him.

"Drink if you're thirsty," said the human. "Anko sent a message?"

He looked at the pot of water with suspicion before looking up at the human and spitting out a battery sized capsule from his body.

"That's as gnarly as always," the human chuckled as he retrieved the roll of paper from the capsule.

As he drank water from the pot, he looked up at the human whose smile slipped off his face as he read whatever his mistress had written to him.

"Are you going to take a message back?"

He shook his head. His mistress had only asked him to make a one-way trip and then return back home.

"Alright... have your fill before leaving," the human said as he walked away.

The human had a grave severe expression on his face. It seemed that his mistress' message hadn't been a good one.

———

Hoshiguro sat in his private office in the Kumi family's main residence, looking over the ledger of salaries paid out to his men. The family's business had slowed down by half since the shinobi had taken over. They had been able to pay their people, but with the decreased business, that was becoming difficult without actively reaching into their emergency funds—which Hoshiguro did not want to do.

'Perhaps it's time to start holding back the salaries,' he thought.

The sliding door to his office opened and someone stepped in, but Hoshiguro didn't look up from his work.

"What is it?" he asked—but then he recognised the footsteps and looked up to see Takuma standing before him. "You..." He was surprised, but calmed himself down, and thought why would Takuma be in his office like this. "You managed to sneak in unnoticed. Impressive."

"It wasn't difficult."

"Sit down."

"No thank you," Takuma shook his head. "The Hidden Frost raided one of the properties today."

"What?" Hoshiguro's stomach dropped and he almost leapt out of his chair. "Which one?"

It was a secret within the family only known by a few people, but the Kumi family had helped Takuma abduct two Hidden Frost shinobi, who were being held at a property procured through the Kumi family connection.

However, Takuma had requested something very specific from Hoshiguro: he wanted to keep the location a secret by giving people fake addresses—everyone who knew was given a unique address and strictly asked to not discuss it with anyone else.

The intention was quite clear: to identify a leak in the Kumi family if one existed.

It was highly offensive to suggest that his family had a traitor in it, but Takuma convinced Hoshiguro to go on with the plan despite his reservations. It was purely a preventative measure and he didn't think anyone from his family would betray their own.

"Who?" asked Hoshiguro.

"Your son," said Takuma, bluntly. "It looks like dear Gyon holds a grudge for the beating you had me give him."

Hoshiguro couldn't believe it—he didn't want to believe it. His own son had leaked information to the enemy who had taken their home hostage. He didn't know what exactly had Gyon leaked, but depending on what was said, the Kumi family was at a great risk. When he had made Takuma fight Gyon, he wanted his son to understand how low they stood on the ladder and if they offended the wrong people, it could spell their end.

It was supposed to be a humbling experience, but Gyon had learned all the wrong lessons.

"What are you going to do?" Hoshiguro asked Takuma.

Gyon had made a mistake, but he was still his son—he would do anything to save his son from the dangerous shinobi who he clearly knew wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he became a problem. Hoshiguro couldn't allow that to happen even if it meant putting his life on the line because it was a father's duty to protect his family.

"Your face betrays your thoughts," said Takuma impassively. "You've been of great help, and I don't want to damage this working relationship we have—so I'm not going to do what I want to do, and suggest that you lock him up and find out what he blabbed to the Frost shinobi. That said, I don't want him leaving the house so he can create more troubles for us; have him spend time with his family and children to understand what's really important... because if I find out that he did something else, it'll end badly for not just him, but you as well."

Hoshiguro studied Takuma's face and eyes to peer at some of his thoughts, but the young shinobi didn't give anything away—yet one thing was clear: if the Kumi family betrayed him again, he would get them back one way or another. Hoshiguro knew Takuma had allies he had kept away from them. Even if they managed to somehow sink Takuma, those shinobi would seek revenge, and there would be no stopping them.

"I will make sure he doesn't cause any more trouble."

"Good."

Takuma turned around to leave but stopped to say one last thing, "The Hidden Frost shinobi might come after you. It might be wise to go into hiding or make some preparations..."

Hoshiguro nodded. "Thank you."

If the Hidden Frost shinobi heard whispers about the Kumi family's involvement, they would stop at nothing to find their missing men. He put himself in their shoes, and if he had that much power, he would go after every possible party who was even slightly suspicious.

If Gyon really had told them that the Kumi family was involved, then the shinobi would come looking for them—he would do the same and he had done the same.

Takuma opened the door and exited.

Hoshiguro waited to see if someone spotted him, but ten minutes later, no one came to him with the news of a break in. But if one shinobi could reach him so easily, he had no idea what preparations he could make to stop an army of shinobi.

———

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Chapitre 249: CH_7.31 (249)

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———

Hoshiguro's family ate dinner together every day. Him, his wife, their son, their daughter-in-law, and the twin grandchildren. It was a family tradition and no one was allowed to skip the meal under any circumstance with very few exceptions.

As usual, the family was together around the table table. Gyon's wife was trying to feed her twins, who seemed to want nothing more than to run around. Hoshiguro's wife ate as she watched the twins with an imperceptible smile and her husband and son sat opposite to each other and ate their meals in silence.

Hoshiguro glanced at his son and noticed that he had barely touched his food.

"Not hungry, son?"

Gyon looked like he snapped out of some deep thought and looked up at his father before looking down at his food. Everyone on the table looked at him as well, and he felt their gazes.

"I don't seem to have an appetite today," said Gyon and when he saw a look of worry over his mother's face, he added, "I'm alright, I just don't feel like eating today."

"Any stress?" Hoshiguro asked.

"...I'm just worried about the shinobi's movements these last few days," said Gyon, putting his chopsticks down. "They've been aggressively patrolling the city—all of them, something they haven't done since their first couple months in the city. Four of our guys have been busted but they only returned two of them all bruised up. Their two missing shinobi have set them on an edge."

"That is indeed worrying," Hoshiguro commented as he ate, "That must've be why you tried to fix things with them."

Gyon looked confused. "Father?"

"They did it quietly, so the news didn't spread, but did you really think I wouldn't know?" Hoshiguro looked up at his son.

The look from his father was enough for Gyon to understand what Hoshiguro meant. His face stiffened before he regained his composure and tried to look like he didn't understand.

"Father, I don't understand—"

"I gave everyone different addresses," Hoshiguro didn't beat around the bush, "and the address I gave you—and only you—was raided today. They didn't find anyone there, so no harm was done, but... harm was done, wasn't it, son."

Gyon first looked dumbfounded, but with every word, he started to get more and more horrified.

"I don't really care that you put him in danger, but to think you'd break my trust and put the Kumi in danger? Is that how I raised you?" Hoshiguro's voice turned grave, deeper, and his face went from red to a deep purple.

"Father, I—"

"SHUT UP!"

The entire room went silent. Even the young twins, who loved to run around and create a ruckus, stuck to their mother, looking between their father and grandfather in worried silence.

Hoshiguro's wife motioned for the servants to leave the room to give the family some room and privacy. "Please settle down," she tried to calm her husband, worried about his health

"What was it?" Hoshiguro ignored his wife. "Did you feel you were less of a man because you lost to a child? That child is a shinobi, you idiot! Or did you do it because you wanted to be the head? Did they promise you control of the Kumi family if you became their lackey? Who do you think I built all of this for? Did you think this would go to anyone else?"

Gyon tried to interject, fearing for his health, "F-Father, I—"

"THIS IS ALL FOR YOU" he yelled. "...But you got greedy, and sold your own father's trust!"

He stopped to take a breath and everyone turned to Gyon as the realisation that he had helped out the Hidden Frost dawned on everyone. It was a shock for the adults to say the least. They looked at Gyon, hoping he would put down the accusations by defending himself.

A dark look appeared on Gyon's face as he said, "This is all your fault. If you had just..." He trailed off when Hoshiguro, who was previously vibrating with rage, swayed from side-to-side before collapsing.

"Dear!" Hoshiguro's wife immediately rushed to her collapsed husband and called out to the servants and guards.

On the other side of the table, Gyon stared at the figure of his father without moving. For all he knew, he had killed his father with his betrayal and the mere thought left him feeling utterly shell-shocked.

———

Takuma sat on the floor in front of Ryoya, who looked deathly pale, had a deep dark circle under his eyes, sweat stuck to his skin—all in all, he didn't seem to be feeling very good in captivity. Anko and Takuma were partially to blame because of their interrogation; however, he hadn't been touched recently as Anko was absent and Takuma was focusing on Aranai.

His current condition was more because of stress than any torture they'd inflicted on him.

"So, Jonin Ebi's the one in charge?" asked Takuma.

"He's officially in charge; though the other jonin don't seem to think so," Ryoya responded in a feeble voice. He was slumped against the wall and was staring outside the barred window with a faraway look. "But he's the one who's actively managing the chunin and the genin. He handles the defence of city walls, the export and import of the city with the Land of Frost, the majority of communication with natives who took our side when we took over the city—he was the one to first meet and talk to them..."

Takuma noted the name on a pocket notepad. Ryoya had been quite forthcoming with him because he was a mentally weak person who had crumbled fairly easily.

At long last, Takuma had found something that interested him. Jonin Ebi seemed to be the only jonin doing his job leading the troops while the other jonin were treating their time in Yu as a vacation, consorting with the city's rich and elite, and having the time of their lives.

'It would be a very significant blow to the enemy if we are somehow able to take down Ebi,' thought Takuma as he circled Ebi's name multiple times.

"Is there anything you can tell me about Kon's group?" asked Takuma.

Ryoya shook his head. "I just know where they live, nothing else. They don't mingle with us."

Takuma pursed his lips. The location Ryoya knew was most likely a red herring. He hadn't been able to find anything of significance about the ROOT squad that would give any useful insight into the group.

"Will you let me go?" asked Ryoya.

Takuma didn't answer immediately. "...If you don't try to escape and be honest with me, I'll eventually trade you to the Land of Frost. You have more value to me alive than dead," said Takuma.

In truth, he didn't have the authority for his claims. Once Camp Banana invaded Yu and the jonin arrived, they would decide what to do with a prisoner of war, not him.

"Can I trust you?"

Takuma smiled wryly. "Would it really matter if I said yes?"

Ryoya stared at Takuma with dead eyes before letting his head go limp. Takuma knew it was his time to leave him alone when he started sobbing. He left him in a locked room to tire himself out from crying and then entered Aranai's room, who was in a much worse condition than Ryoya.

Unlike his subordinate, he had yet to say a word since Takuma had started torturing him. Aranai was chained to the wall and looked up at him with defiant eyes; it had been four days since they'd started the abduction operation. Day-1 was the abduction; Day-2 was the initial interrogation; Day-3 was when the Hidden Frost visited the Chinatsu house; and Day-4 was the raid at the fake address.

Takuma knew that Aranai thought he would be found by now, which would've been true if he hadn't put the safety measure in place with the Kumi family through Hoshiguro.

He grinned as he pulled up a chair in front of him."In a couple hours, you'll be with me for three days." The moment he said that, the defiant look in Aranai's eyes wavered. "You shouldn't keep up hope, you know. They aren't coming to get you—I mean, how would they find you when we aren't even in Yu?"

Not once during the entire torture and investigation had Takuma mentioned their location. Aranai had to assume that they were in the city because that was his only hope of getting rescued. The view out of the window didn't have any markers that would give their location away.

When Aranai looked up at him, Takuma put on a devilish smile—and it worked because something cracked inside the mentally and physically exhausted Aranai. It was only for a split second, but the horror on the prisoner's face was unmistakable, even when he cut all the emotion off from reaching his face immediately after.

"You're lying," he said.

Seeing him respond was good for Takuma. He had kept him speaking, even though it was curses and abuse up until now, but he had finally managed to find a chink in that armour.

"You can take solace in that thought," Takuma smiled, "but I wonder what you'll think when they don't come tomorrow... the day after that... and after that, and after that, after that—and after that." He then stood and stroked Aranai's hair. "Perhaps if you pray enough, it'll come true and your people will burst through the door tomorrow."

He stressed the word tomorrow to plant it inside Aranai's mind so he would think about it, hope for it, and pray for it—but when this thing didn't happen, all that hope and expectation would shatter and it would break him from the inside. After that happened, he would finally open up and let the information flow.

Being rescued was the only thing that kept Aranai quiet. He withstood the torture that he and Anko had put him through because he believed that his people would find him in no time. Without it, he had nothing left; no reason to continue to sit through the agonising torture.

"Until then, you're stuck with me, I'm afraid… I'll see you in a few hours for our next session."

———

Inside Chinatsu house, the team gathered together in the living room after dinner to have a discussion.

"I've spotted four people," said Daiki as he sat beside the small Rikku. "They have twelve hour shifts and the guard detail switches at around nine in the morning." As the resident ranger, he had sneaked around to see the team that was observing them. "Whenever we go out, they place two people on our tail while the remaining two observe whoever's left in the house."

He looked at Anko and she nodded.

"My snakes also confirmed four people," she sighed.

She had used her snake contract too much during her time in Yu and the costs were beginning to pile up. Every summoning contract had different terms and the snake contract had to be paid in flesh and blood—and lots of it.

Depending on who she summoned, the length of the summon, and the task, she had to pay up the summoned snakes with animal meat of their choice—humans-included. Given that she was in Yu, she had to defer her payments due to her cover—but a lot of snakes didn't care about any of it and wanted the payment quickly, which limited her options.

Even then, the mission's two month period was too long for the snakes who were willing to take payment later. Soon, the snakes would stop responding to the call of her chakra. If she tried to push it, there was a chance that she would lose her contract all together.

"My suggestion is that we sneak Iori out two hours before the shift change," said Daiki.

"I agree," Gaku chimed in. "That's the time frame where the possibility of a surprise is the lowest. As long as we get her back thirty minutes before the shift changes, we're golden."

The reason for all of this back and forth was because of their two Hidden Frost prisoners—more specifically, the prisoner seals. They needed to be refreshed regularly and that time had come. Iori, the fuin-nin, was the only one capable of drawing prisoner seals, so she needed to get to the location to do so.

Those prisoner seals were the ONLY reason why the team was so comfortable with leaving Takuma alone with the prisoners.

"So, who's going on the outing?" asked Gaku.

Everyone turned to Anko for the answer, who took a moment before giving her answer.

"Gaku and Daiki will take Iori."

She breathed a deep sigh.

They were in the final stage of their mission. Camp Banana, along with additional forces, were set to arrive at a pre-scheduled time regardless of how their mission went and Team-9 was yet to send any solid information to the base. Camp Banana would arrive in ten days no matter what, but Takuma needed to acquire the information within the next three days so she could send a report that they actually made some use of it.

With only three days left until the deadline, Anko was beginning to grow nervous.

"Let's give him all the help he needs."

Ten days remained until the main forces arrived at Yu.

———

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