"Sorry I was late, you guys." Shaking the blood from his hand, Kazuya's eyes lingered on the two boys who had suffered greatly from their most recent fight. Waves of guilt and shame fought for dominance within the jonin. He had only been the leader of Team 5 for a few days, and he had already made so many mistakes. Maybe he should just resign?
Standing slack-jawed, with eyes as wide as saucers, Anzu couldn't comprehend just what had happened. The kunai fell from her limp hands, hitting the dirt beneath her with a thud. She unconsciously took a step back. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐโฆ She felt sick to her stomach. She had just watched a man have his heart ripped from his chest, and some of the blood had even splattered onto her. Absently wiping the blots of blood from her face, she stared at her blood-smeared hand, most of it came from the villagers she had tried to save, but the newest addition had come from the now dead man before her.
Everything she had experienced that night hit her like a truck at that moment. No longer needing to focus on saving lives, no longer in a life or death situation, no longer fuming with rage, she was justโฆ crying.
Kazuya, ensuring Ren wasn't at risk of bleeding out, glanced over to his sobbing genin. Hesitating for a second, he called out her name. "Anzu."
Still shedding tears, she filtered out the raging vortex within her for a moment and looked at her supervisor.
"I need your help. They need your help." He said softly but with a certain firmness behind his voice.
Looking dumbly at three other members of her team for a time, Anzu did not respond.
"Anzu!" He barked with significantly less softness.
Jumping, she then approached the unconscious Uchiha, doing her best to sort herself out on the way. She was a healer, yes, a healer. That was her role. She would one day become Lady Tsunade's apprentice! She can't just stand by as her teammates, who she had so relied on, needed her help.
However, even if her head had cleared somewhat, that didn't change the fact that she was already running on fumes, and being in a state of distress only made that worse.
"Erm. Heโฆ" She checked his body first for any serious external injuries. "No major external injuries, except for his shattered nose and swelling around that area." Her voice became less weak the more she began to speak.
Injecting a slight amount of chakra into his body, she then searched for any serious internal injuries. It pulsed further and further throughout, allowing her to feel the state of the inside of his body.
"One broken rib, two fractured. None of which are threatening any of his organs." Her eyebrows furrowed. "No, the broken one is pressing up against his left lung, but it hasn't pierced it."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Kazuya then spoke once more. "Do you have enough energy left to check Ren? He doesn't seem as badly hurt, but I'm no expert."
"R-right. I-I can check." Wobbling, she climbed to her feet and dropped to her knees once more when she reached Ren.
Checking the external injuries the Hyuga may have suffered, her face was neutral, almost clinical. "Just the obvious wounds that you've already tended to." However, her mask shattered as soon as she injected chakra and explored his body for internal injuries. Alarm ringed out, first on her widened eyes and then on her quivering hands.
"What's wrong?" Kazuya would have to have been blind not to have noticed there was something very wrong. Inwardly he felt anxiety bubbling up from his stomach, but he didn't let any such feelings show; he was too old and experienced to do that.
Shaking her head, Anzu checked again to ensure she hadn't made a mistake the first time. Slowly pulling her hands away, she looked up at her teacher. "Heโฆ He needs help. Help that I can't give him, even if I'm 100%. He needs it fast."
"How long can he wait?"
"A dayโฆ maybe less, before it gets really dangerous."
"Will I make his condition worse, if I carry him all the way back to Konoha?"
The usually bright-natured girl who now only expressed sorrow mutely nodded her head.
It only took Kazuya a second to make up his mind. "Since we're so far north, we're close to the newly established border outposts, there ought to be medic-nin there. It shouldn't take me very long to get there."
Hearing these unexpected words, Anzu's face lit up in hope.
"Will his condition worsen more the longer it takes to get him to attention or the more quickly I take him an outpost?"
"More quickly."
Kazuya nodded his head thoughtfully. "Alright. Show me how best to carry him. As soon as I go, you take Hikaru back to the village and await my return. I leave you in charge of things until then. You shouldn't have to fend off any bandit attacks, but stay on guard, regardless."
After instructing the jonin how best to carry her injured teammate, Anzu saw them both off and then stared down at the boy beneath her.
Grasping her shirt in worry over Ren, she suddenly let loose a small laugh. "How am I even going to get him back to the village?"
Although she didn't like the idea of leaving him here, all alone, she had no choice but to first return to the village and enlist the help of a couple of young men.
Panting wildly, a young boy scurried beneath a blood-red moon. Frantically shaking his head from side to side, he searched the dark forest around him for signs of movement, of pursuit.
Finding no one near him, the boy sighed in relief and rest his head back against a tree.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ดโฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ. ๐'๐ฎโฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ดโฆ
"Found youuu!" A malignant voice appeared behind him, the steam in the person's voice wafting past the boy's face.
The boy's heart stopped cold. He slumped his shoulders in defeat and turned to face his pursuer.
"Hehe, you thought you could escape me? Foolish child."
Offering no resistance, the boy was then yanked into the darkness.
With a start, Hikaru awoke. Cold sweat clung to his back as he sat upright.
Light filtered in through a window to his right, and a gentle breeze followed not long after, swaying the curtains as they passed.
"Whereโฆ" Glancing around, Hikaru found himself in an unfamiliar room, alone.
"Argh!" A piercing pain throbbed in his head, forcing him to clutch it as he closed his eyes.
"That's the past! It's just the past. It doesn't matter anymore. Things are different now. I'm different nowโฆ." Ranting to himself, he only noticed someone entering the room as they opened the door.
Quickly suppressing the pain, he pulled his hand away from his head and opened his eyes, gazing upon the newcomer.
"I thought I heard something. How are you doing?" A woman he didn't recognize came over to him and checked his condition.
No, wait. He did recognize her. Where had he seen her? ๐๐ฉโฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต.
His being so comfortable and her being here meant they had successfully defeated the bandit last night, even if he was unconscious during their triumph.
Feeling uncomfortable, he realized that she had been staring at him with concern after he did not immediately answer. "Ahโฆ I'm uh, alright. How is your daughter?" He asked in order to glide past the awkward pause.
The women then beamed, radiating pure joy. "She's doing just fine, thanks to you and your friends." She then placed a hand on Hikaru's wrist, "I really can't thank you enough."
"I-it's my job, ma'am, as a shinobi of Konoha it is my duty to protect those within the Land of Fire."
In response to this, the woman just chuckled merrily. "You look far too young to be saying such things. Gods, you're barely older than my Ichiki!" Her smile turned from cheerful to soft and sad as she gently brushed his badly bruised face.
Feeling strange at such familial contact from someone who wasn't his parents, Hikaru coughed lightly, only to suffer the aftershock of his body trying to force air through his ruined nose.
Witnessing her saviour sputter and grit his teeth as he shook in pain, the woman sat beside him and held him, caressing his hair as she did so.
It didn't take long for Hikaru to reign in his shock and pain, partially due to the soothing effect of the woman's motherly embrace but primarily due to his strong mental state.
"Hahhhโฆ" Slightly peeved that his attempt to end such touching had only made things worse, he gave up on trying to end it. If he were being honest with himself, it felt nice. "Sorry, I never asked your name last night."
"Hmm? Oh, I'm Yua. Your name is Hikaru, right?"
"Pleased to meet you, Yua. Yeah, that's me."
Yua smirked, "A fitting name."
Startled by such a comment, Hikaru couldn't help but ask what she meant. It was often remarked that the name expressly did not suit him.
"Well, you certainly seemed quite radiant when you saved not only my life, but that of my daughter's. Like a shining star in the darkness." Before the boy's miraculous arrival, she had all but given up hope and only wished that her daughter's suffering would be short, that they would pass together.
Silence reigned for several minutes following that as Hikaru digested his words. No one had ever said such things to him before; it felt strange. It wasn't a bad feeling by any means, but it was weird nonetheless. Yua just continued to caress the boy.
When he finally parted his lips to speak again, it was about a completely unrelated topic. "Is it okay for me to take an entire room by myself? There can't have been many houses that survived."
Her hands stopped moving all of a sudden. "No need to worry about that." She whispered. "With how many of the men we lost a couple of days ago and with how many we lost last nightโฆ."
Immediately understanding her meaning, Hikaru then became quiet again. "Was your husband one of the ones that went out to fight the bandits?"
Tightening her embrace on the boy, Yua whispered once again. "Yes."
๐๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏโฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐บ.
Some people in his circumstance may have offered condolences or given hollow words, but Hikaru wasn't so stupid as to do that. So, they just sat together in silence.
Only until the light shining through the window began to get smaller and smaller as the sun rose did they engage in conversation once more.
"Where are my teammates?" He asked out of curiosity. It was strange that not even Kazuya had made an appearance, let alone the usually warm Anzu, whose role was to tend to her injured teammates.
"Ahโฆ" Blinking from her melancholic daze, she hesitated to tell him what had happened to his team but figured he deserved to know. "That boy, Ren, I think his name was, he had a bad injury. So your jonin took him to a nearby outpost. Gods, why couldn't the shinobi at the outpost just come out and help usโฆ."
"They're there to monitor external threats, not internal onesโฆ." Hikaru muttered. ๐๐ฐ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ? ๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ-๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต, ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต.
Since they both knew they could never win an outright fight with the bandit, they needed to defeat him using traps and surprise attacks. However, they also strongly suspected that the bandit was a sensor of sorts, rendering any attempts at surprise attacks useless, as they had already experienced in their attempts to defeat him.
Thus, Hikaru came up with an idea that addressed both issues. First, he would hasten back to the village and fetch Anzu, while Ren remained in the mist and dug a small tunnel beneath the ground. Then, after bringing Anzu back to where he had not long left Ren, he would enlist her help in deceiving their enemy.
So far as the marauder was concerned, he was only dealing with two genin, and he had no reason to believe it would be otherwise after the short break in battle. Therefore, using Anzu to fill Hikaru's shoes, the Uchiha could lay in wait, ready to spring a surprise attack on the unsuspecting enemy. Such an attack would work exceptionally well when said opponent had already lowered his guard, believing to have foiled their surprise attack. There is always a trap behind the trap, a core tenant of shinobi.
Furthermore, by hiding underground beneath Ren's position, Hikaru's chakra signature was both muffled by the earth and concealed by Ren's aura above him. Even if the bandit perceived small amounts of his chakra, he wouldn't think anything of it since he already "knew" that Hikaru was behind him and planning a surprise attack from that direction.
Hikaru was many things, but he was not such a genius tactician as to devise such devious and intricate strategies on the fly. He first thought back to the most impressive strategies he had seen employed in the Naruto series and naturally lingered on the Fลซma Shuriken shadow clone strategy Naruto and Sasuke had used on Zabuza, but then quickly dismissed it since they were unable to replicate such a thing. Then, he recalled Naruto's winning punch against Neji during the Chunin Exams. From there, his mind began spinning at a million miles an hour, coming up with ideas on how to take advantage of such a tactic successfully.
The numbing poison Ren had used to disable their enemy's hand naturally came from Anzu.
Yua's snort brought Hikaru back to reality. "What good does protecting our borders do when the country within is ravaged and its people slaughtered?"
Not wanting to argue over the importance of separating responsibilities between different military forces to a grieving widow, Hikaru shifted topics once more. "What about Anzuโฆ The uh, orange-haired girl?"
"I know her name, silly. She's the one who has been in charge since last night." Patting Hikaru's head, she continued. "That girl seemsโฆ low on spirits. Not sad. More shaken up."
"I seeโฆ" Pulling the covers off of his body, Hikaru tried to stand. If Anzu had truly been in charge of things since last night, then regardless of her mental state, she would physically be on the verge of a breakdown, Military Ration Pills or not.
Sighing, Yua stood as well. "I should've known you wouldn't have stayed resting for long. I'm guessing I can't convince you to stay in bed?"
Shaking his head, the Uchiha replied curtly. "No ma'am. I have duties to attend to. I can't lie here, while Anzu does all the work."
"I thought as muchโฆ." She replied a little regretfully.
"See you soo- Oh, do you know where my tanto is?" He asked, suddenly realizing that he didn't feel its usual comfortable weight on his back.
"Ah!" Yua reached under the bed, pulling his scabbard and blade out and handing them over to him. "Here."
After leaving the room, Hikaru left the house searching for his only remaining teammate within the village.
It didn't take long for him to find her; he just had to look for the most bustling and busy building. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ.
Everywhere he walked, he met grateful faces and words of praise. It was a thoroughly disconcerting experience. Sure, he'd been thanked by individuals like Obito, Guyโฆ and Kakashi. Still, those were all completely different from being thanked by dozens of strangers who owed him their lives.
Entering the largest building still standing, he walked past several people laid out on the floor. Most people here seemed to not be in critical condition. Looking around, he couldn't find the person he was searching for until an elderly man hobbled over toward him.
"Hello there young man, are you here to see dear Anzu?"
Nodding, Hikaru cast a curious gaze at the man. "Say, who are you, sir?"
"Oh hoh. Me? I'm just an old man, through the years I picked up some things about medicine, so I've been helping treat the others. Oh, but never mind me. If you want to see Anzu, then she's just in the room over there, resting."
"Thanks." Nodding his head respectfully, the Uchiha swiftly departed. "When she wakes, tell her that I want to speak to her." Not wanting to disturb her much-needed rest, he decided to leave her be.
Leaving the makeshift hospital, he was unsure what to do. Usually, when he had free time, he'd train, but in his current condition, any training he might engage in would only injure him further. His chest felt much better than it had the night before, but it still didn't feel fine enough for him to perform any exercises.
๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ขโฆ ๐๐ณโฆ A thought came to his mind. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ตโฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด? The scene of quietness that followed Yua's admission that her husband had either been killed or captured by the bandits flashed through his mind.
Content with this idea, he began humming as he searched for something that could help him in his quest. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆโฆ Passing by several buildings, most of which smouldered and lay blackened, he arrived before the second largest building still standing in the village. Outside stood a young man on guard, one which he had recognized.
"You." He pointed, making the man jump.
"Yo-you, you're the one who-"
"Sorry, no time for pleasantries. This is the holding place for the captured bandits, right?"
Straightening his back, the man replied. "Yes sir. I volunteered to guard the exit. There are seven prisoners currently inside and another person watching them."
"Good job. You've done very well. I'm guessing you've already tried to find out where their hideout is?" Although it appeared that the village had known the bandits' location, it would be too idiotic of the marauders to not move locations after being assaulted.
"Yes! So far, we have had no luck, thoughโฆ." The guard's face fell, hating the fact that even though they had survived the raid, they still didn't know the fate of all of the village's men that had attacked the bandit's base of operations.
"Understood." Patting the guard's shoulder, Hikaru spoke again. "Tell your man inside to stand guard out here with you, I'll see if I can extract the location from them."
Shocked at this request, the man didn't know how to respond. "I uhโฆ"
Sensing his hesitation, the Uchiha coaxed him some more. "Just trust me. Either I succeed and we get their location, or I fail like you already have and all I did was waste a bit of time. There's no harm, right?"
"S-sure, I guess. But, why do you have to be alone?"
"Hmmโฆ" Tapping his nose, the boy responded. "Secret shinobi techniques. Can't use them in the presence of civilians."
"R-right. That makes sense. Sorry." Finding this a reasonable explanation, the guard entered and came back out with another man in tow a few minutes later. "They're all yours, sir."
๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ
"I ain't telling you nothing! What could a little runt like you do to make me?!" Huffed an arrogant brute of a man in response to Hikaru's polite request for information.
The polite, kind facade fell to pieces as the boy's voice became strangely lifeless. "Tell meโฆ Did you notice that of every one of you that is alive and in this little prison, you all fought my comrade?"
"Yeah, so what?" The brute sneered.
"Did you not wonder why that is?" Raising an eyebrow, the Uchiha had a mocking face.
"Wellโฆ not really." Slightly uncomfortable, the prisoner faltered and revealed his true nature.
This time, Hikaru's lips curled up into a vicious grin. "Because they fought me, instead. Out of the nine of you that my comrade fought, he only had to kill two because the situation demanded it."
Eyes widening, it was clear that the brute had understood what Hikaru was saying.
Moving closer, Hikaru began caressing the man's head, his hand going down from his hair to his neck. "Do you honestly believe that I had no choice but to kill every single one of the ten bandits I met?"
"I-I-" Panicking slightly, the man found his mouth to be extremely dry.
Leaning forward, he whispered softly into the man's ear. "I didn't. I had plenty of opportunities to spare the lives of those I fought. But." Hikaru then paused, refusing to continue.
"B-but?"
"Every time, I chose to snuff their miserable lives out. Every. Single. Time."
Pausing to let the man take in his words and their implications by himself, he breathed hot air into the bandit's ears, making him shiver.
"Nowโฆ unless you want to be just another number on my kill list, unless you want to be number elevenโฆ I suggest you open your mouth and start squeeking, like a good birdy."
Pulling back away from the almost sensual contact, Hikaru's eyes gleamed coldly, entirely devoid of warmth, as he eyed his next kill. To the brute, he seemed almost hungry, as if he was already barely holding himself back from murdering him, and given the wrong answer, he would stop holding his hunger back.
"Alright, alright! I'll tell you the location of our hideout! Not like it matters anymore, anyway." The captive said, spitting out his words at a rapid pace.
๐๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ
Hikaru strolled outside the makeshift prison as the sun shone high above him. Wiping his hands, he couldn't contain a small smile of satisfaction.
After separating all seven prisoners, he used the same tactic on each one to ensure that the information he had been given wasn't false. After each attempt, his skills had increased, and he had only been given incorrect information two of the seven times.
"No honor amongst thieves, eh?" He remarked, still smiling as he looked over at the young man on guard.
"None sir. Those scum don't know the meaning of the word." Looking toward Hikaru, the guard spoke up again, hopeful. "Did you succeed, sir?"
"Hmm, you could say thatโฆ." He replied absently, focused more on his plans than the conversation.
"Really?!" The man who had been guarding the inside of the building asked in shock.
"We should form a group and pay those bastards back!" The young man exclaimed, all fired up.
"Mihiroโฆ" The older guard sighed. "Didn't you learn anything from the men who tried and failed to do exactly what you're saying?"
Clenching his fist, Mihiro dismissed the old geezer's concerns. "That was before! Now we have a Konoha shinobi on our side and the bandits have lost most of their men, including their bosses!"
"I'll pay it a visit myself, first. None of you need to come."
"Wh-what?! No, this is our fight, they killed our people!"
"Relax. It's likely that the remaining bandits have already fled and I can get there faster alone. If they have prisoners, then it's better that we scout it out more quickly, to either catch them before they relocate again or to stop them from harming the prisoners further." Turning his head to Mihiro, Hikaru gave a comforting smile, "Besides, if I'm gone then who is gonna defend the village if any stragglers attack? I saw your fighting ability last night and it was quite good. No. Better that you stay here and protect those that need you."
Gripping his spear so hard that his knuckles turned white, the young man finally relented. "Fine."
"Good. I'll be back soon. It's not too far from here." Stretching his legs in preparation for his outing, he pointed to the older guard. "You, tell the others that I'm going to attack the bandit hideout, but that I'll be back soon. Make sure that my teammate, Anzu is told as soon as she wakes, provided I've yet to return."
"Got it! good luck!"
"Thanksโฆ but I think the bandits will need it more." With a grin and a wave, he bounded off toward the bandit hideout.