She tried to calm her racing heart, pulling back all her senses. If she lost control even for a second and let her emotions run wild, her chakra would fluctuate, and she would be found out.
She used her training to hold her chakra tightly, not daring to move a muscle at the same time. She took deep breaths slowly, worried about making a noise.
The man was wearing a hood that covered his face and body, so she couldn't tell anything about his appearance. He walked around a bit before settling down in the clearing.
He seemed to be meditating, which made it extremely dangerous for her. She hoped he wasn't a sensor. Her seals should be able to hide her presence, but if he was a strong sensor, she would be exposed.
She focused on keeping her presence small. Blending in with nature, she wasn't about to solely trust the seal. A few more minutes and nothing happened. She didn't let her guard down.
Something strange was going on. She didn't dare use her sensing but she could tell something was wrong. Half an hour later, the man rose to his feet. He dusted his robes and headed deeper into the woods.
She didn't dare follow. She had no idea of how sharp his senses were, and she wasn't about to find out. She used her binoculars to follow him as far as she could. He seemed to be hunting.
He was clearly a warrior, but she wasn't sure if he was a shinobi. His movements weren't like a shinobi. He also pulled a bow and arrow out of his hood.
She lost sight of him after a while, but she waited. He came back a few hours later from the same direction. He was carrying two rabbits with clear arrow marks on them.
He headed inside the cave and didn't come out again.
She kept the same routine the next days. Like clockwork, the man would get out, meditate, hunt, and go back. Once, he had a bag and shovel with him. he dug a deep hole at the edge of the clearing and dumped the contents out.
It was the unedible parts of animals he had hunted. He buried them deep and covered the hole again before meditating. It was the same routine again.
Shiori used the routine to her advantage. She spent the part of the day she was free to treat the villagers. It was good to increase her savings a bit. She was also listening to her patients and their stories to see if there was anything else to be aware of.
But today, it was time to act. When she was sure the man was gone, she sneaked into the cave from the same entrance as before. No need to risk a new path and hidden dangers.
The woman was in the same position she was at the last time. Shiori made her presence known.
"It's you again." She said, looking surprised.
"I promised I would come back, didn't I?" Shiori said with an innocent voice.
"But why?" She asked. Sounding so sad.
"I want to help people," Shiori said with a smile. The woman looked taken aback.
"You can't help me, child." The woman said. Her voice was lowered to a whisper.
"Why is that. You are just in a cage. I'm sure there's a way to break the lockdown." She said, looking around the cage for a lock or way to open it.
"No. There is no way, I'm afraid. I've been trapped here for years. He wouldn't let me leave." She said. Her voice was shaking with unshed tears.
"Can you tell me more?" Shiori said as she sat a little distance away from the cage. There was something about her voice. It had a musical tone to it, like a soft melody.
"I guess there is no harm in that. It's been so long since I've been able to talk to anyone. It all happened years ago. I was a happy young woman living my life in the village. My family owned a small farm, and I couldn't be happier."
"Then, one day, I was in the southern woods gathering some apples when I saw him. he was a hunter heading back to the village from his hunt. He was tall, handsome, and was carrying a big deer on his back."
"I felt my heart long for him. I shared an apple with him, and we headed back to the village together. After that day, we met in the woods in secret. I knew my family wouldn't approve of our marriage. I was an only daughter, and they wanted me to marry a man who would take care of the farm, not a hunter."
"He was such a free spirit that I knew if I asked him to become a farmer, he would, but it would hurt him inside. He was the kindest man I knew, and I knew he would give everything to be with me. I was the same."
"We were careless and got caught. My parents separated us and wouldn't let me leave the house afterward. I was crying and begging my parents, but they wouldn't budge. Then, one night, he came for me. It was the middle of the night."
"He knocked on my window and woke me up. I packed a bag, and we ran away. I couldn't be happier. We were finally together. We found a cabin in the woods and made our own home. He was my everything. I didn't care about luxuries when I was with him."
"Everything was amazing. Then, one night, I woke up in the middle of the night, and he wasn't next to me. I went out to search for him. I was afraid to call out his name since I knew there were some dangerous animals in the woods. I had a hunting knife, but I didn't want to confront a wolf on my own."
"I went deeper and deeper into the woods as if a force was guiding me. Then I heard some noises. I followed the noises, and there he was. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He was above a dead human. But it wasn't just anybody. It was my father's body."
"I was so shocked. I couldn't even call out his name. But he must have heard me because he turned to look at me. He looked shocked and angry. I was so afraid. He grabbed me and yanked me all the way back to our home."
"We had a huge argument. He told me that my father attacked him, but I knew it couldn't be true. My parents were harsh, but my father never even raised his voice, let alone attack someone."
"He insisted, and when I asked about what, he wouldn't answer. I tried to leave him, but he grabbed me and slammed my head on the wall. When I woke up, I was tied up."
"He kept promising that he would do better. I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't, and he knew. So he kept me tied up. I tried to refuse food and water, but he threatened he would kill my mother. So I complied."
"He said that he couldn't live without me. He promised that he would do better and that I should forget. I wanted to believe him, so I gave him a chance. We started to act like everything was normal. He even gave me some freedom."
"One day, I tried to run away. to get to my mother. I wanted to escape to somewhere safe with her, but he caught me. From that day, my life was limited to this cage. He specifically built it so I couldn't escape. I've been here ever since. I…." she paused.
"You need to leave now. He is coming back." She said urgency while rubbing the tears away from her face.
Shiori just nodded and rushed to the exit.
There was a lot to think about what she told her. She needed to analyze everything and take action. But she needed to test something first.
She had all her answers now. Today was the day. He waited for the man to leave the cave. She sneaked back in. The woman noticed her quickly. Shiori approached the cage.
"How do I get you out." She said with determination.
"You can't. This cage is built of a strong Iron. There is no lock. It's built to be permanent." The woman said in a sad tone.
"I can try to cut through the bars," Shiori said as she pulled out a metal saw from her bag. She purchased it a week ago. It wasn't the best quality, but she could reinforce it with chakra.
She got to it. The bars were so tough she was barely making any progress. But she only needed to but a few to give her enough room to squeeze through. It was strange how bars were made of Iron, yet there was no rust on them.
She quickly took a mental note to keep the bars she cut for a later experiment.
She focused on her chakra and tried to act faster. She cut all the top parts. Two of the bottom parts were also cut, so she needed to cut two more. The woman was just watching her. Waiting.
Shiori was just done with the third bar when she felt one of her seals get triggered. She had put a few in the woods to make sure the man wouldn't be back before she was done.
She focused on her task, holding her reaction in. She didn't want to scare the woman. And just like that, she was done.
As soon as the bar was down, the woman pounced toward her. But she was ready and managed to roll to the side and hold the bar she had in her hands as a weapon.
The woman was now staring at her from a few steps away. There was no sign of the friendly act she had a few minutes ago.
"How did you know." She growled in a dangerous voice.
"I didn't. At least not for sure. You gave your own hand away." Shiori said calmly.
"How. No one has ever seen through it." She said. Her stance was ready to attack, but it was clear she wanted answers.
"It was all the little signs. Your story was full of holes. I may be new to this village, but even I couldn't tell from a little research. In this village, men are traditionally hunters, and women are farmers. Of course, there are other jobs for men, but women are the only farmers."
"I learned this from helping an old man. He has a small farm, and everyone looks down on him for it. It's a strict tradition. But I have to say, your story would definitely work on someone who isn't aware of this tradition."
"There is also the fact that there are no apple trees in the southern woods. It's only found in the north and west. Also, deer are in the north as well. Your story was full of holes, which made me do some research."
"There used to be apple trees in the southern woods, but they were cut down years ago when the new road was constructed. Then there were the stories about the people who lived in this village before."
"the village was surrounded by a wall. The walls were made of Iron and wood. The Iron was so durable that they decided to use it in the construction of the new village. I saw some pieces of it that the main statue of the village is made of."
"Your cage is definitely made of the same material. Which made me think. I looked at the blueprints of the previous village and noticed something strange. Instead of being designed to keep people out, it was designed to keep them in."
"Then there is the decaying woods. He makes a hole to bury the remains of animals every few days. Yet he digs the hole at the edge of where the healthy woods are. Somehow, it makes the trees of that spot start to decay."
"the roots of the healthy trees come into contact with a vile chakra, and they slowly die out. But this is not all. The vile chakra on the man is not his own. But it's like a blanket on him. covering him."
"His own chakra underneath it is quite normal. Which can mean one thing. He is constantly in contact with the source of the chakra. You may be great at hiding your own chakra, but I felt it slightly when we met the first time. When he was coming. For a second, you lost control."
"At first, I believed that it was from him. But now that I remember, it was from you. Then there was your voice. Whenever you were talking, it made me want to hang onto every word of yours like it's the absolute truth. It was easy to notice the genjutsu when I noticed the effect."
"It's the same from the stories of the village. People near the lake hear sounds and are never found. It is your voice from the tunnel. The tunnel has the structure to amplify the voice."
"they would come to the lake to fill their water, your singing would make them curious, they would approach the tunnel, fall in, find you here, and when they got to your cage, you could easily finish them."
"I could see it even from the first time how your eyes would shine with excitement whenever I got close to the cage. I knew to keep my distance. I'm not sure of what his role in all this is, and I may not have all the answers, but you are the one who killed all those people, aren't you?" Shiori said, letting some of her KI out.