Heavy muffled breathing could’ve been heard from another room, breathing coming from a man with a broken nose whose mind was violated and invaded by a skilled interrogator who has extracted all that he was able to. Interrogation using illusions was a much slower and a little less potent sort than that of a Yamanaka clansman but Sunagakure did not have too many of those in their roster of ninja. Yamanaka were a proud Konohagakure clan having a several branches in Kirigakure that have split from the main branch shortly before the Second Great Ninja War. The beaten marksman spoke nothing and yet all he knew was known to his captors.
With a heavy metallic screech the door to his containment cell opened. Slowly and confidently, holding all the aces in his playing hand, the Kazekage entered the room allowing brief semblance of light to seep into it. Not that the blind marksman cared too much for he was used to life in total darkness. Even so, right after the Kage entered the marksman turned to the side as if a source of light as overwhelming as the Sun had entered the room. He continued to hide his eyes and turn his busted nose away even as the door was closed and the room sunk into darkness once more.
“You broke my nose…” the blind marksman huffed out, his voice sounded very intimidating by how strong and passionate it was. It was like the man was hungry and a burger cooked to perfection had just entered his room.
“An unnecessary measure seeing how physical torture tends to be ineffective with trained fighters. Nevertheless, you guys aren’t liked around these parts, opposing serenity and peace so actively and all that, so I suppose the interrogators got overly excited” Mugao replied sitting in front of the marksman and slowly placing googles that the man carried around with him onto the man’s snow-white eyes without even a semblance of irises. As the googles were firmly placed on the marksman’s face they lit up in feint yellow glow with a small briefly intelligible dot at the middle that raced around the yellow circles it resided in.
“Why are we alive? Those genjutsu users appeared to be quite thorough with scoping our minds. Overwhelming us with memories and raising fever by aiming at our brain centers. Playing with someone’s body like that… And to think that they tried to restrict only the physical torture” the marksman started casually talking to the Kazekage whom he actively opposed.
“Politicians and diplomats tend to know very little about the world they negotiate about. That being said, even the physical torture Fourth Hokage fought so hard against has never been restricted, no village signed that treaty, a waste of a perfectly good paper” Mugao replied continuing to stare in the slightly illuminated yellow circles that the marksman’s googles made out in the dark.
“Why am I alive? You’ve got information on as many Shaphac bases and operatives as I knew of, obviously for convenience sake no single member knows everything…” the blind marksman finally got to the point.
“What are you guys doing? What’s the point of spinning the circle of war again? Have we not had enough of that lately?” the Kazekage sighed relaxing in his chair.
“We’re doing what has to be done. War is tough business but it’s simple, it’s primitive. Make people, foreigners whom we fought for generations, your friends, let them into your walls and you risk letting the enemy in, this risk isn’t worth a couple of allies you gain this way. Warring with everyone is simpler than playing good-willed but secretly doing background checks of everything” the man replied, his speech did not appear to be nearly as twisted by delusion and passion when he spoke of the Shaphac goals as it was when he spoke of different things.
“No. The reason you’re alive is not because I needed intel or because you don’t seem nearly as passionate towards this pointless infighting as your comrade. The reason is because I need you for a job” the Kazekage spoke clearly, it was good that the blind marksman could not see the awkward and almost ironic smile that the leader of Sunagakure wore on his face as he uttered those words.
“And why would I be interested in that job?” the marksman leaned in very close, as close as his bindings allowed him to the point where his googles flowed right up the Kazekage’s face but Mugao didn’t as much as flinch from this awkward and creepy gesture.
“Because the nature of said job is hurting Konohagakure and taking their asset away from them, delivering it to Sunagakure. The Shaphac are terrorists plain and simple but you are patriots first and foremost. The boy that stopped your comrade “ “Poncho Assassin” as he insists to be called, sent something to Konoha, we’ve managed to stop that delivery halfway somewhere in Agbarah Sheikhate but the Konoha genin believe the delivery to have went on successfully. We need you to pick it up and return it to the village, if somehow Konoha will get in your way well… The ninja world is cruel, you may need to break some bones” the Kazekage explained.
The yellow circles continued to stare the man down with the black dots being fixed on a random spot somewhere close to Kazekage. It was impossible to tell just what the man was thinking about for sure.
“That’s doesn’t sound very nice of you… I thought you loved your union with Konoha and treasured that friendly rivalry with the Fifth Hokage” the marksman uttered and sat back down
“That is why I need you to do it. You guys are terrorists, someone I have no control over. If you happened to intercept the delivery I could just say I had nothing to do with it, I’d have ample proof that I am doing all in my power fighting the Shaphac but also a bag of Audra alloy shards as an asset for the village” Mugao explained himself.
“And what if we take the package and disappear halfway? What if Fennec or the Agbarah Sheikh and his asthmatic wimpy legion stops us and gets the package?” the marksman asked with the returning passionate tone in his voice. He was clearly thinking about it.
“That means you aren’t trying hard enough, in this world people who don’t try their hardest and don’t live up to their potential don’t live too long. You are terrorists and I have plenty of information on your organization’s heads and headquarters. I have weaponry beyond your wildest dreams and while some Sheikhs supported your cause I would spit in all of their faces and leave not a stone on a stone or a single tooth remaining in each of your mouths”
“You really need those shards badly, don’t you?” the prisoner wished to assure himself. To some extent he wished to agree but he was still suspicious as he felt like being used only for his body to disappear in the desert sand after he had served his purpose.
“I’ve seen a man tear through neutron star alloy as if it was toilet paper with his bare hands, I’ve seen that same man withstand a fiery inferno hotter and more pulsing with destructive chakra than tens of thousands of dying stars. I’ve seen Lady Fifth shrug off black holes like they were beehives that just barely stung while managing to keep perfect control of the situation and not letting a single ounce of chakra leak to the side and destroy the world. If any of those two ever decided to attack us, if any of them ever wished to destroy us we may not last too long, not while I can’t make a single decision without having to get the Sheikhs onboard, not while my own people wish for me to go to war with those people. All I wish is for my village to make it into the records of history and be there to read it, all I wish is for the next generation to not have to put up with the shame that I had to put up with. Being crushed in the war and spared, beaten to the brink of extinction and left to ourselves to recover. Right now there are so many things that keep this village from blooming: the Shaphac trying to make us go to war with every other village, Fennec unifying the desert raiders and building an army, the Sheikhs meddling with the village affairs just because they can and they control vast land and influence. I could deal with all of them but doing so would needlessly threaten my village and cost lives I cannot risk”
“I’ll help you” the marksman’s reply followed almost immediately after. “But if I do this I need permission to at least kill some of the Konoha ninja in case of a clash”
“Out of the question” the Kazekage swatted the idea aside almost instantly.
“We’re going to fight in the Agbarah Sheikhate. If they have women among them it wouldn’t make sense for them to leave that place alive, you know Sheikh’s stance on them” the blind man explained himself.
“Very well, avoid conflict at all costs but if they follow you to Agbarah you can kill the females, we’ll play it down to Sheikh’s madness. Maybe that’ll make the Fifth help me deal with that old sexist asshole”
Loud clangs and metallic noises followed, a sharp and black puppet arm reached for the marksman’s bindings and pulled hard tearing them apart.
“Are your optics still working?” Mugao inquired as one last parting question.
“I don’t need these googles for shooting, I may be blind but I am still a sensor, these googles just keep sand from getting in my eyes. While my eyes are blind as a mole they aren’t immune to sand itch…” marksman’s answer echoed before the man’s figure disappeared from the cell. Mugao stood up and looked at the open door behind him. He wondered for a moment about how the marksman would sneak out from the containment facility but Shaphac were good at infiltration and extraction. They got in unsighted, did what they had to and disappeared. That was why the Kazekage contacted them for this job.
Audra alloy by itself was not too valuable, it was inferior in toughness when compared to ordinary chakra infused steel but if someone found a way to artificially manufacture it and make actual Audra ores it interested Mugao a great deal. The tools he could make using such ores would greatly improve the village’s arsenal.
*****
Loud burping sounds combined with some sort upchucking noises came from the bathroom. Meiko relaxed and tapped her belly that shot out from her tracksuit and lifted up her t-shirt.
“Justice has prevailed!” the blacksmith declared lifting her fist in the sky.
“It’d be quite nice of Justice to also pay her own bills for once” Shimo angrily remarked looking at the ladies room from which all manner of horrible sounds were coming from with awe and pure horror in his expression.
“I hope Tiwul is okay…” Kouta nodded his head lower as if feeling ashamed by the people staring at Meiko’s eating competition with the Sunagakure girl. They’ve been waiting for an answer from Konoha for a couple of days now and it couldn’t have been too far away. In the meanwhile the four trained extensively preparing themselves for another journey, whether it’d be home to Konoha or to Otogakure to solve the music puzzle.
Finally Tiwul left the bathroom and smiled with a little healthy blush on her cheeks since people still continued to stare at her and Meiko in horror as they’ve been doing since the eat-off started. Meiko was adamant to try every single one of the desert delicacies and while most of them didn’t look like edible things at all to Mana the blacksmith made sure to devour them faster and in higher quantities when compared to the Sunagakure competitor.
“Round two?” Tiwul jokingly asked to which Meiko shook her head.
“You threw everything up, I’m at a disadvantage here…” Meiko declared, it was quite possibly the one of the very few times that the magician had seen Meiko say she’s had enough.
“That camel stomach was not very good… I’d rather have that horrendous egg jelly than have to eat that crunchy-munchy mess again” Meiko stuck her tongue out complaining about the quality of food she may have devoured at some point post factum.
“You didn’t tell Meiko what that actually was?” Mana quietly whispered into Shimo’s ear to which the swordsman just maliciously laughed out.
“I’m reserving that for a future moment” Shimo shook his head, the young man appeared to not be overly fond of Sunagakure’s kitchen as well, that being said some of their desserts were quite lovely.
“You guys should know better, really, that was very rich in protein and is considered quite the delicacy. The desert raiders live exclusively on that diet during hard times” Kouta tried to look sophisticated and educated but he just came off as slightly pretentious and very much continued the joke that made Mana and Shimo crack up grasping at their sides.
“Well, I’m off then, I need to train those calories away…” Tiwul declared slowly stumbling out of the small restaurant that the five genin decided to eat at. Shortly the remaining Konoha four also decided to head home before checking in at the Aviary if they have received the reply from Konoha.
Strangely enough they have received news from the village. Shimo took the entire message wrapped in a small scroll and attached to a hawk’s leg and then placed the majestic bird back at the stand letting the hawk to soar back to where the birds resided. Since there was quite a lot of decoding to be done with the message the four decided to carry it back to the hotel they stayed in for the couple of days. Since Shimo and Mana were the best in decoding Meiko decided to go out and train meanwhile Kouta decided to check the bags and see if they did and packed everything.
The magician looked at Meiko shadow boxing and lifting a large sword that reminded much more of a mast of a ship made of solid iron than a sword. Only then did she remember the promise she made to the blacksmith to train her a little about how to defend from genjutsu attacks. After all, Meiko did so much to train Mana before…
“Shimo, could you maybe decode the message alone? I need to help Meiko with something” the magician asked to which the swordsman just nodded and swung his hand indifferently around gesturing that her presence may have been more of a nuisance than actual help.
Mana came up to Meiko and asked her to train the blacksmith in defense against genjutsu just like she had promised to do before. The armored kunoichi appeared to be quite excited about it, she dropped the giant chunk of iron she was swinging around and stood in a defensive fighting stance as if she was about to engage in a sparring match with someone.
The magician shook her head. “Defense against illusion is a more spiritual and perceptive craft than it is physical. You’ll need vast resources of chakra but also you’ll need much more than that “ concentration and patience”
Meiko pouted, “Can’t you just hit me in the face a lot before I learn it? It worked really well for you…” she complained.
Mana sighed, she may have signed up for quite a long day. The magician calmed herself and sat down crossing her legs.
“Most common illusions attack your mind, injecting the chakra of your opponent into your body and disrupting your chakra flow. You would never notice any changes however unless you possess certain abilities that allow you to sense chakra or see it clearly. That is to say, unless you belong to the Uchiha or Hyuuga clans or if you’re a sensor you’ll have to rely on perception to identify an illusion” Mana explained to which Meiko just mimicked the magician’s movements. The kunoichi wasn’t sure if the blacksmith was mocking her meditation like position or if she was just not good at sitting still and concentrating, most likely it was the latter.
“Why would I want to identify an illusion? Can’t I just dispel it by bursting my chakra?” Meiko pouted looking for an excuse to not have to sit still and concentrate for a while.
“You could, but then you’d wind out instantly or tear your network apart. You’d never know when exactly you need to disrupt your own flow to overcome your opponent’s disruption so you’d have to constantly mess with your own chakra, you’d both be fixed on messing with your own body instead of fighting your opponent and you’d risk to pointlessly tear your own network apart ending up being a useless burden to your team like me” Mana tried to be a little stricter because she was starting to think that this may have been hopeless. The magician now knew how Meiko must’ve felt when she saw how bad Mana was at physical combat before. It wasn’t like her friend looked incompetent, Mana herself felt incompetent at tutoring and guiding her friend through it making the magician feel more and more frustrated.
“Okay, I get it, identify the illusion first, kill it with chakra disruption later… But what if I don’t have enough chakra to force the disruption away or if I can’t identify an illusion?” Meiko’s hands sunk down, Mana understood what the blacksmith meant, she remembered her friend having trouble managing precise chakra control before. She even messed up a couple of Academy techniques several times before.
“Well, that is a possibility, some illusions are extremely powerful making them so hard to dispel that dispelling them would leave you without enough chakra to stay alive, also the illusions that target brain centers instead of chakra are much more dangerous because they can be used on just about anything with a functional brain. Theoretically someone else may also dispel the illusion for you by moving your own chakra using their own chakra injection, sort of like dispelling a bad illusion by using their own illusion on you. That is why it is important to identify the illusion and its potency before trying to dispel it yourself, illusions like those of A-Rank or even S-Rank require pooled attempts of multiple people to defeat completely because of how potent they are” Mana tried her best to explain it to Meiko in a way that would make sense for the blacksmith’s simplistic yet effective mind.
“It’s too bad you can’t use illusions anymore, it’d have been great for you to put me under a genjutsu to give me some practical experience…” Meiko spoke before realizing what she just said and that she may have brought up some bad memories to Mana. The blacksmith jumped up and started apologizing to which the magician just stood up and turned away.
“It’s alright, for today just try learning to identify your surroundings. The caster of an illusion needs to emulate the world around them starting from sight to even the smallest details like air temperature and humidity. It’s almost like creating an illusionary world of your own and placing the target inside it at times. Write down everything you feel around you: what you see, what you hear, what you can touch and the tastes you feel in the air, how humid and how warm it is. Learn to concentrate on your environment and once I see that your level of perception is sufficient we can move on”
After leaving her friend with some instructions as to how to move on forward the magician rejoined Shimo who looked pretty hyped up. Mana didn’t really wish to talk to anyone right now, she was in a state that made her wish to just fall down in her bed and be left alone. She felt like bursting into tears and crying until she died of dehydration and her own sorrow for being reminded of how weak and pathetic she was. By being reminded of the new identity that was forced and shoved down her throat on her.
“Mana! It’s okay, we’ve got a green light to look into the clue but our mission remains “ we don’t retrieve the Box unless absolutely necessary, Hokage-sama just wishes us to confirm the information and our gut feeling. She also noted how many distractions we’ve been engaged in and urged us to be more careful! We can go on to Sound Country!” the swordsman gleefully declared. Mana just nodded with an indifferent “That’s great” and rushed on to her bed wrapping herself under layers of sheets and pillows.
Kouta and Shimo looked at each other and then at Mana’s slightly twitching buried body. An awkward silence took the room over.
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