Chapter 26: Owl in the night

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The first 30 were easy, I simply ignored them, focusing on my objective. But after that, the blood started becoming… a lot.

In the end, there were 289 bandits in that camp, all of whose lives I reaped with ease. It was… a lot. It wasn't just about caring about human lives or focusing on my objective, killing so many people in a row, just because they could possibly be in my way…

I felt sick, but I forced whatever I felt down where it came from, turning into a cold, ruthless machine.

Done with everyone above the ground, I easily found the entrance to the real base, so I slipped in the darkness. For some reason, as I desensitized myself from all the killing, I felt my mastery of the Stealth technique from the Owls advance more than with my hours of training.

As I arrived inside the base, I moved in the shadows as I saw my first targets quickly. Chunins, going by their uniforms. They were guarding an entrance, talking to one another.

"...Harun was pissed."

The other shrugged and said, "Wouldn't you be if a child slipped through your hands? She even killed…"

I crawled above them, and without them noticing anything was amiss, I arrived behind them. I did not kill them, because I wasn't confident I could instantly kill two. If the target was alone though…

Moving deeper into the base, I stopped in a corner, gluing myself into the upper corner of a room like a spider as I saw two ninjas appear, walking together to where I came from.

"That girl's probably going to die in the summon world, or stay in there for months anyway, you're really unlucky to have been chosen to go there."

The other sighed and said, "Well, someone has to go anyway… and it won't be as boring as waiting for the interrogation team to take care of these guys."

The other laughed, and they separated, one heading back in deeper, while the other headed for outside.

However, I couldn't let him, so the moment the two of us were left alone, I crawled above him, and keeping myself attached to the ceiling with my feet, I slung a rubbery wire around his neck, before suddenly pulling.

He didn't have time to react as he was suddenly pulled into the air, getting strangled. His survival instincts had him pull his hands to his neck, trying to untie himself, but I was pulling with all my strength.

I may be weaker than him, but pulling his body up and strangling him was in my means. I didn't aim to incapacitate him either, so I pulled as hard as possible, and he stopped struggling soon.

I still strangled him for a few more seconds, and when his body stopped twitching, I broke his neck with a swift move, before attaching his body to the ceiling with wires I found in his pouch. I myself only had a set of rubbery and sharp metal ones, which I carried at all times.

Having taken care of him, I moved deeper into the base, and managed to find the other one, who was walking away. I quickly approached him, and followed him I managed to sneak into the interrogation area.

My heart was beating loudly in my chest as I passed by several Chunins. They all were stronger than me, and if they spotted me, then I would be dead for sure. Thankfully, we were underground, and the lighting was rather poor. This helped me with my stealth.

And it seemed that for once in thsi mission, I actually got lucky as I did not meet a single Jonin. I'm far from confident of sneaking past them.

Arriving in the interrogation area, I saw several cells, with different kinds of sounds coming from them. Wails of pains, or whimpers of pain too, made most of these.

As the Chunin I was following walked away, I crawled toward the other end of the interrogation area, where I could hear a soft breathing. The door was opened, so I managed to spot several important things.

A set of keys, a Chunin, and images showing the inside of cells.

However, the moment I saw the Chunin, he also saw me, so without any hesitation I used the Body Flicker to arrive before him.

Inside though, I knew he was stronger than me, and killing him silently was near impossible, meaning this could be my failure.

However, as I arrived before him, and swung my sword, I was shocked to see he did not react. My sword easily swiped through his unprotected neck, severing his head.

Confused, I looked at his head, and saw his face was frozen in fear. Slightly hitting his body, I found it stiff. Then, after a moment of confusion, I was remembered a moment from Naruto. The Chunin Exams, in the second phase.

Orochimaru had managed to freeze Sasuke with his killing intent. Was that what I did, unconsciously?

Whatever the case was, that was close.

Grabbing the set of keys, I looked at the livestream of the cells, and was able to find all three of my teammates. Cell 14, 17 and 20.

Izumi and Laiko were alone, so they were easy, but Sensei… there was someone else in his room, currently beating the shit out of him.

I felt anger upon seeing this, and moved away. I quickly arrived before Cell 20, where I could hear the sound of flesh being hit.

Unsheathing silently my katana while behind the door, I slowly opened the door.

The door didn't make any sound as it opened, and so I saw the scene live. Sensei was covered in blood, his face had multiple cuts on it, and he didn't even look conscious.

With a single stab, I drove my sword through the jailer's heart, shocking him as he tried to turn. However, I twisted my katana, before pulling it out and severing his head, killing him for sure.

As the body fell to the ground, I heard a cough from Amai-Sensei, and looking over he was trying to say something. I quickly got him out of his bonds, and heard him ask, "How did you get in here?"

I struggled to understand him, he was in a bad shape, but I still managed to make out what he said, so I said silently, "We need to leave ASAP. Can you walk?"

Amai-Sensei slowly shook his head and said, "You should leave me behind."

I rolled my eyes and asked, "Really? Here, now? Shut up and cling on me."

I grabbed him by the waist, and helped him out of his cell. I set him against the wall, not minding the blood as I entered Izumi's cell.

She was in a better condition than Amai-Sensei, but her face was bloody. She too had been beaten. However, she was unconscious. I tried waking her up, but she wasn't moving. She breathed, but she was too out of it to be waken up.

I moved her to Amai-Sensei, whom I also found had fallen unconscious. Cursing my luck, I approached Laiko, and he too was unresponsive.

I quickly took him out of his bounds, and dragged him next to the other two.

Looking at those three sleeping next to each other, I now understood that in my current situation, carrying them out was not even a possibility. I could sneak by myself, but even then I was lucky. I'm not even sure I'll be able to sneak my way out alone, let alone while dragging three people bigger than me.

So, I was left with a single option. Kill everything that moves in this base. Crazy, but my only chance.