CH_7.28 (246)

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It had been seventeen hours since the team had abducted the two Hidden Frost shinobi. Takuma sat in an empty room of an unoccupied Kumi family property. There he sat, alone, having a sad pre-packaged lunch. Anko had returned to Chinatsu's house to prepare for when the Hidden Frost shinobi came looking for their two missing comrades.

He would be alone with the two prisoners for the next few days with no contact with the team or anyone from the outside. They had to act to keep their cover in case they were being watched, which was highly likely since the Aranai and Ryoya's last known location was with Chinatsu.

The abduction had succeeded without a hitch. The two shinobi were abducted stealthily, and had set them up to make it look like they had run away after poisoning their own allies. By painting them in a negative light, Aranai's character would be questioned. He had been selling drugs to his comrades, and even though the jonin were turning their eyes away, it was still an illegal act. Takuma was sure some questions would arise stemming from his drug dealing. Had Aranai gotten greedy and accepted an offer to poison his comrades in exchange for money? If so, then who had paid him off?

Was it the weak resistance groups in Yu? Were they able to pay Aranai enough to betray his village? Or was it the Hidden Steam who had managed to turn Aranai traitor? Seeing that Takuma's face was plastered around the city, he would be the one of the prime suspects as Aranai's accomplice.

The moment they entertained that possibility, the Hidden Leaf would enter the picture. They would have to speculate on the Hidden Leaf or the Hidden Steam's presence in Yu. They would have to think if Aranai and Ryoya were alone, or were there more among their ranks. The coefficient of trust in the Hidden Frost army in Yu would plummet as anyone remotely suspicious would be looked at critically. Anyone who'd ever been punished would be within the pool of suspects.

This was the first step of spreading chaos in the Yu.

Next, was re-establishing order. The Kumi family's forces had been whispering the truth of the situation and negative speech against the Hidden Frost to the city folk. They were taking full advantage of small groups meetings and word of mouth to spread the message. It didn't have any visible effects as civilians couldn't do much against shinobi, but it was vital as they needed people on their side when the time to seize power came.

And having the support of locals like Wada's wife to frame the two shinobi had proved that local support was beneficial.

'This is just the start. There's so much more to do,' thought Takuma as he heated up the mixed curry and rice—but he was snapped out of his musings when he heard footsteps. He silently got up and snuck out of the room with a kunai in his hand. No one—no one—was supposed to be at the location other than him and the two captive shinobi. He silently climbed up the building to get a higher vantage point for a stealth kill to end the intruder in one strike.

"It's just me, you don't have to go all killer."

Takuma flinched and turned to look at Anko standing a few metres away from him on the roof. She had a smirk on her face which suited her but he didn't like it in serious situations. He observed her intently for any signs of the Transformation Jutsu.

"Why're you here?" he asked, putting his kunai down after confirming it was truly her.

"Let's go down. I've got a message from the camp," she said with a sombre look coming over her face. Once they were in the room where he was having his lunch, she continued. "I don't know how to say this so I'll be direct... The base sent the report regarding the organisation you recognised back home and they identified it. The blacksmith's touch mark you found belongs to ROOT."

Takuma doubted his ears for a moment. "I'm sorry... did you just say ROOT? Hidden Leaf's ROOT?"

"Oh, you know them?" said Anko, sounding surprised. "You know that name..."

"... Yes, I know them," said Takuma, realising his mistake.

ROOT was a top-secret department, completely unknown to the public; only people in the right circles or possessed the required clearance level knew of their existence. After Shimura Danzo was declared a rogue shinobi and a criminal, information about ROOT was released to the Leaf's general shinobi forces.

When the clans had joined together to demand actions against Danzo, ROOT wasn't mentioned once as everyone understood it wouldn't be wise to reveal state secrets for the world to see. However, when Danzo was officially declared a criminal, information about ROOT had been released. They weren't named as such and were only identified as an ANBU "team" under Danzo's command—the truth was much worse.

Despite that, even if Takuma had received the news from the village, he shouldn't have known ROOT by their name as it was never declassified.

Anko probably knew about ROOT from Orochimaru.

"I can't tell you who told me," Takuma said when he saw the look on her face.

"Okay... I guess it saves me an explanation," she shrugged, but the look of doubtful intrigue lingered for a moment. "The confirmation comes directly from ANBU and we have additional orders. They want us to capture the ROOT agents for information, but in case that's not possible, we have kill orders."

Takuma wanted to capture the people from the organisation to get some answers as well, but now that he knew they were ROOT, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to get into that mess.

"They're not going to send someone in?" he asked, assuming that ANBU would like to handle ROOT matters.

"Doesn't look like it."

"Then things are going to be tough..."

Anko nodded before standing up. "Let's discuss this later. I'm not prioritising the new orders so our original ones still stand; if we figure out something, we'll try it out, but the focus remains on the main mission. I'm only here because I wanted you to know this, so I'll head back before the Hidden Frost comes knocking."

Takuma nodded and saw Anko off before returning to his lunch. He slowly ate his half-hearted curry rice as the new revelations filled his thoughts. He had been targeted by ROOT—by Danzo. He'd always assumed that some drug lord was trying to kill him for his work in the Narcotics Taskforce, which could still be true—but what kind of drug lord hired ROOT to assassinate somebody?

Even though he knew ROOT existed, he didn't exactly know what they did. They were similar to ANBU and handled national security on the external front. Danzo was always pulling strings in the shadows to ensure Hidden Leaf dominance—but how did he, a mere genin, fit into the scenario.

Had he somehow reveal something he shouldn't have? Not once had the higher-ups at the Police Force given him any pushback about the cases he was handling or the people he was targeting. If he was touching someone or something he wasn't supposed to, there would've been some kind of warning from his higher-ups first; straight-up assassination was a big jump.

He brought the spoon to his mouth but stopped halfway through as the memories flooded in. Memories of the night he was ambushed in his own home and then the narrow escape from the second ambush at the police station arson. He tried to shake the thoughts as he ate, but the silence was unbearable and made the food hard to chew.

Not to mention the curry was bland, becoming more unappetising with each bite. The table started to shake from how hard he was tapping his foot against the ground. He stopped and stared at his shaking thighs for a moment before leaving the room, his lunch barely touched.

Takuma entered Aranai's room, startling the man. He said nothing and paced near the door for fifteen seconds. The memories of his time in the hospital—relearning how to stand and walk—overwhelmed him. His body had been wrecked by the attempted assassination; it robbed his sense of security and safety and he had lost a job he had worked so hard at—a job he had loved.

Worst of all, he was forced to join a war to advance his career—and there was only one party responsible for all that misery.

He pulled up a folding chair and sat right in front of Aranai, eerily calm despite the terror that reigned over him minutes prior.

"W-What?" asked Aranai,

"Who's helping the Hidden Frost in Yu?" asked Takuma.

Aranai relaxed and let his body slump against the wall. "The Goharu family and a group of city elites who promised support in return for being spared. It worked well for us because we wanted to convert the city and them helping only made our goals that much easier. We're also buying the produce from farmers outside the city—"

"I'm talking about the shinobi support."

Aranai furrowed his brow. "Are you asking about the Hidden Cloud? They're helping us like you're helping the Hidden Steam; that shouldn't be a surprise."

"Anyone else?" asked Takuma.

Whatever Aranai thought he was pulling off, Takuma was well-aware that the man was trying to buy time through semi-cooperation until the Hidden Frost shinobi found him. He knew it because he had seen such behaviour before in interrogations all the time during his time in the Police Force. People tried to share information which would barely satisfy the interrogators in an attempt to not give out anything critical.

Takuma wanted to go hard from the start, but as his superior, Anko wanted to get the non-critical level information and allow Aranai to feel safe before extracting the critical information through advanced interrogation techniques.

"There's no one else," said Aranai.

'Lie,' thought Takuma. "Who orchestrated the police station arson?" he asked. The police force arson trying to impersonate the team had claimed lives of three police officers who were well-liked in the city even after the police force went through changes after the invasion..

The Kumi family had to discredit the dead police officers, dragging their reputation through the mud to ensure that the resistance wasn't looked on negatively. It was necessary, but left a bad taste in his mouth. Takuma had done many things people from his previous life would call evil, but nothing as callous as what happened to those officers.

"It was us."

"Who specifically planned it? Give me a name."

"Eh? Ah... I don't have a name. I wasn't involved with it, so I don't have the information."

That was bullshit. People talked and news naturally spread. The smaller the group, the freer the flow of information. For a group like the Hidden Frost army stationed in Yu, any and all information would spread like wildfire. Moreover, Aranai was a chunin—and a notable one because of his drug dealing—there was no way he didn't know the masterminds behind the police station arson.

"I think you're hiding things from me, Aranai," said Takuma with a flat smile. "Who gave you the information about me on the poster?"

"...I-It was someone from the Hidden Cloud."

"Four shinobi ambushed me at the police station. Were they from the Hidden Cloud?"

"Yes."

"Their names."

Aranai went silent for a moment. His face genuinely looked like he was trying to recall the names, but his body betrayed him. He sat up straighter, his arms moved closer to his body as his body language shrunk. Still, he gave a few names which Takuma noted down so without saying a word, Takuma got up and walked out of the room.

"H-Hey, can I get some water," Aranai said but got ignored.

Takuma walked to the other side of the house and entered the room where Ryoya was being held. They had offered the same offer of cooperation to him, but he had outright refused it, choosing to keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, that made him the subject of Anko's torture techniques. He had managed to keep his mouth shut, but after receiving her tender mercies, Takuma was sure that wouldn't be the case.

"P-Please, no more. P-Please, I can't take anymore," Ryoya cried the moment he saw Takuma enter the room. He was chained to the wall, was bruised all over, and his entire body looked pale and was shaking. Takuma sat in front of him and tipped an uncapped water canteen to let the water flow. Ryoya floundered and pulled his entire boy forward to put his mouth below the canteen.

Takuma allowed him to drink ample before pulling the canteen back. "Do you want to talk now?"

Ryoya stared at Takuma with overwhelming fear in his eyes.

"Who was behind the police station arson?"

"S-Someone named Kon and his group."

"This Kon isn't from the Hidden Frost or the Hidden Cloud is he."

"N-No, how do you know that?"

"Were they also the one who provided the information about me?"

"Did Aranai tell you about that?"

Takuma smiled. "He accepted our proposition the moment we offered it... and we didn't have to touch a hair on his head."

Anger flashed through Ryoya's tired eyes. Takuma smiled internally when he saw the look; it was the sign of a breakthrough, and they achieved it in less than a day.

"I... I don't know who they are... no one knows who they are!" Ryoya quickly added. "They're a five man group including their leader, Kon—four after one of them was killed. They've been with us since before we invaded Yu. I don't know much but no one likes them because they don't participate in any of the regular duties."

'Kon...'

He didn't care whether it was real or an alias; he finally had a name.

Takuma considered Ryoya's words. It didn't look like he was lying, but to be completely sure, he had to confirm it somehow. Seeing that they had two hostages, confirming the information from one with the words of the other was the standard way of doing things but since Aranai wasn't going to surrender information willingly, he could only force it out of him.

"Where do they live?" Takuma continued to ask him more questions about the ROOT group. Ryoya didn't seem to be aware that the group was ROOT, but he was only a genin. Aranai could potentially would have more information—information that Takuma wanted at all cost.

He fed the rest of the canteen to Ryoya, who was just as eager as before to lap it up.

"Continue to cooperate with me and I'll bring you food later. Who knows, maybe the torture will stop," said Takuma with a smile before locking Ryoya in the room. He picked up a thick rag and a bucket and headed to Aranai's room.

"Hey, can I get some water," Aranai said upon Takuma.

Takuma filled up a canteen, followed by the bucket, and soaked the rag in the water. He then went and unlocked Aranai's shackle, freeing him from the wall. Aranai shuffled forward, frowning at him from across the room. Takuma smiled and kicked him so hard in the face that a tooth flew out of his mouth.

"Wait! W-What are you—"

He followed up with a sucker punch that knocked Aranai to the floor. The room had been prepared for interrogation. There was a hook for chains in the ceiling. Takuma looped chains through the hook in the ceiling to hang Aranai from it, who tried to make a run for the door, but Takuma tripped him and then kicked him in the back with an augmented kick, ending all resistance.

As long as Aranai had a prisoner seal on him, he was no match for Takuma, so hanging him upside from the ceiling was child's play.

"W-Why are you doing this?" Aranai eked out.

"Because I think you're lying," said Takuma calmly.

"No, I'm not!"

"Ryoya refuses to open his mouth," Takuma lied, "but you did tell me a lot which means you'll only say more if I apply a little pressure. I want to know everything about the group that tried to kill me, Aranai. This is personal and we'll be alone for a good few days... What I'm trying to say is that if you don't answer me truthfully, I might just end up killing you. Obviously, you don't want that, so let's be honest with each other."

Takuma stepped away and weaved hand seals for Eight Tentacles Jutsu. The water from the bucket rose up and collected behind him before spreading out into tentacles.

"No, wait, please stop!" Aranai screamed as he hung from the ceiling.

"Let's get started. Tell me about the people who provided the information about me."

The water tentacles moved and enveloped Aranai's head, completely surrounding his nose and mouth with water, simulating the experience of drowning. Aranai held his breath and stared at Takuma with hatred and fear. Takuma returned a smile before forcing the water into Aranai's nose until he really was drowning, and held it there for a few seconds as Aranai's hanging body shook and his eyes begged for release. Only then did he pull the tentacles away and let Aranai cough away the water in his lungs.

"Tell me about the people who provided the information about me."

"I said I don't know!"

"Lie. You said it was someone from the Hidden Cloud."

Takuma ordered his tentacles to once again drown Aranai, who held his breath. Takuma laughed and punched him in the gut as hard as possible without using augmentations, which made him swallow water and start drowning once again.

"Let's try this again," said Takuma, pulling the tentacles away. "Who gave your people the information about me?"

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The link is in the synopsis!