Oyashiro guided the team secretly via a secluded path that skirted around the edge of the settlement of Chinoike Clan in the center of the Valley of h.e.l.l. They slowly made their way to the central ruins while avoiding the crude huts of the clan members. When they reached the outer walls of the ruins, Oyashiro showed them an old section of wall and the sneaked towards it. Upon reaching it , he pressed on a specific stone section and the walls slid to the side slowly. Oyashiro motioned for them to get in and he came in last while pressing a different stone section on the inside that slid the wall back. He gestured at Kakashi to keep watch on a specific direction of the ruins while he guided them. While they snuck inside , Kakashi noticed a flickering from the direction Oyashiro had told him to watch. When he pointed that out to Oyashiro, he quickly escorted them to a fallen section of the ruin and made them hide behind it. They soon saw two emaciated middle aged men come out of a broken section of wall that slid aside just like the one Oyashiro had opened previously.Since the wall had been broken and crumbling at place they could see the flaming torch in the hands of men , otherwise it would have been a perfect secret pa.s.sage. Oyashiro motioned for the team to be quite and lie low as they waited for the men to pa.s.s ."Can you believe the stubbornness of the b.i.t.c.h? I just asked for one night with her, and she has the guts to refuse. I mean, shouldn"t she show some appreciation for the men bringing her the precious food from the limited stock of the clan. Its not as if we have to honor the agreement with that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Oyashiro!" Man 1 complained in anger.
"Alright calm down, didn"t the chief say that we only have to tolerate her for a month. The chief has scheduled the awakening ceremony of her daughter the next month. If she survives it , then we have a weapon against that Oyashiro. If she doesn"t , both of mum and daughter pair die together eh ?" Man 2 said with a smirk
Upon listening all this Oyashiro released dense amount of killing intent and rushed forward. Before even Kakashi could react, the two men were tied together with ninja wire and their heads were off their shoulders.
"Sorry, couldn"t help it" Oyashiro said in a flat tone.
"Should I a.s.sume that the mother and daughter in their conversation are related to you?" Kakashi asked
"Yes and we should hurry. They must be in the pa.s.sage these sc.u.m came from . After I find out they are safe, I will guide you further."
They all hurried through the pa.s.sage way , and Jun silently stored the corpses in his inventory as well as erased the blood with a simple water release and covered the area with dust to erase the traces and smell using wind release before following the rest.
The went down the corridor, the ground slanting down at a slight angle all the way. They reached a circular room finally , its walls were leaking red liquid as if blood. Kakashi rushed forward to check it but before he could report what it was , Oyashiro cleared the confusion,
"That is not blood, that is just the special hot spring water of the Valley of h.e.l.l that looks like it. Its really common here, once of the reasons this place was named the Valley of h.e.l.l"
Oyashiro scanned the room and pressed one point of the circular wall. A circular depression of the wall slid back and to the side, revealing a medium sized room with a lantern burning in one corner. As Oyashiro entered, a woman"s hand slapped his face before he could react , stunning the rest of the team.
"Why ?? Why have you returned ???" a voice dripping with anger greeted them
As their eyes grew used to the dim light , they saw a woman with bruises and slap marks on her face and had dry knotted hair. From her trembling hands and the way she was holding her body forcefully upright with a hand on the wall said that her rest of the body didn"t fare much better. Oyashiro gently touched the woman"s cheek but his hand was slapped away by her.
"Mia, I am sorry. I finally had a chance to take you away from here, how could I have missed it?"
"Have you thought about what you would be putting us through if you fail? If not me , have you at least wondered bout how little Chino will be treated?" Mia clutched his collar and asked while sobbing . Kakashi signaled Yugao and Yak.u.mo and they gently held Mia and separated her from Oyashiro. Mia started sobbing while collapsing on the floor while they both consoled her.
Oyashiro stayed quiet without explaining, but it didn"t take a genius to figure what had happened if you connected what they had overheard from the two previous guards Oyashiro had killed to what Mia just said. Mia had apparently been mistreated and taken advantage of in more ways than one ever since Oyashiro had been exiled. And she had apparently let them happen, all to protect her daughter Chino. And she was worried that if they failed in getting them out and they got caught, Chino might suffer the same fate as hers.
"Don"t worry" Oyashiro said as he turned to leave "I will fulfill my obligations to these people Mia. And in turn they will help us get out of here and we will leave this place behind forever, I promise." saying so he left and the rest followed. Only Jun noticed a section of the room whose wall slid open slightly, reveling to eyes and a bit of light blonde peaking out.